Star Wars-references in Final Fantasy is old news and predate FFXII with over a decade.
Besides Biggs and Wedge hiding inside most of the FFs (and even Chrono Trigger) from the mid-90s to early 2000 (wedge was such an awesome Blitzball-player, which you never could've guessed in A New Hope) there's also the fact that FFIV is HEAVILY inspired by Star Wars, not the least with the Red Wings and Cecil's relationship with Golbez.
That doesn't make Star Fantasy Wars XII any less relevant, because it basically screams of the movie.
Metal Gear and innumerable movies. Really, it would be too much to list them all hear, but even Back to the Future is singled out as an inspiration for one aspect of one of the MGS games. Anyone else know which game and what aspect it is? Just wondering if anyone else has read and remembers this, as it is kind of obscure.
I thought that was what most people would guess, and it could be related as well, but I know what you're saying about the time paradox thing, it's just that we know Kojima has seen Back to the Future, but who knows, it could really be from anything.
Anyway, you would probably never think of this without the direct reference made, since this is really something that could have been attributed to anything if they didn't specifically point out BTF as the source. I'll just go ahead and tell you if you want.
It's not really a big deal, but in The Document of MGS2 it says that Solidus's flame trail created when he jets across surfaces is supposed to be reminiscent of the flame trails left behind by the DeLorean from Back to the Future. The verbatim quote is something like flame trails "à la Back to the Future."
@Larry Horse: I disagree (obviously) because with the Matrix sequence, even though the game was full of parody, I was getting to wall jump and shoot simultaneously, and I may be mistaken but I think time slowed down. This is pre Max Payne.
So even though the context was parody, you as a player are still "doing" it, so it can feel similar to the movie in one form or another.
@Larry Horse: Well I am not sure the article is primarily concerned with with theme alone, and parody couldn't be considered "inspired", I think it's mostly individual reader's interpretations.
I can see this is definitely parody, but think of the time it was made. There was no Matrix game. And I can totally see the developers wanting the game to play like what they saw in the movie. Regardless of the tone of the game, I would say it is hard to refute the inspiration there.
But without the parody, you would need quite a disconnect from the source material to not plagiarize. You might say Max Payne was heavily inspired by The Matrix, but at a cursory glance someone may not see the connection because it looks so vastly different on the surface.
I feel so awesome for realizing that Star Fox picture before reading about it. great memories.. and I never even realized until now that it borrowed from Independence Day. the thing about media these days is, no idea's original.. everything released these days has had some kind of influence from old media, and sometimes the creators don't even realize it (like you already noted with Aliens).
It's well known that every Metal Gear Solid game is inspired by Hideo Kojima's love of cinema, and he regularly throws in homages to his favorite movies.
Metal Gear Solid 3 in particular had several homages to Cold War era films.
The most obvious was the opening structure of the game which was a direct homage to the James Bond films; we had an action packed semi-cold opening to the story, followed by a musical title sequence.
One of the multiplayer levels in Perfect Dark was based on the lobby section of the Matrix where they go in to rescue Morpheus.
Vast swathes of the COD games are from "Enemy at the Gates".
In a preview of MW2 they mentioned a Special Forces missions where you infiltrate a prison via the shower room while being shot at from enemies on higher ground. Which if you love awesome movies, you might remember this from the Rock.
In rainbow six 3 they had a level that took place on Alcatraz that pretty much played out the same way as the rock. and I remember in syphon filter 2 they had a level in a russian prison as well.
I don't love Star Wars but I love FFXII. Maybe it's because I'm not in love with Star Wars that I didn't see any similarities between FFXII and the Star Wars franchise. Also I've only ever seen the one where the anakin turns into darth vader at the end.
@Omegastrider is playing FFVI: The final battle, the opening and a whole bunch of other scenes and ideas are very sta war-ish. Aside from cast and story: Cloud City/Burmecia, many vehicles in the game, like Fran's flying bike, the Death Star and Bahamut, The opening parade, even basch's brother has a darth vader element to him.
FF12 is awesome, provided you have a copy of the guide laying around. So much requires the player to look stuff up, as the game gives no hints on a lot of things, and youd never discover them by chance.
I've seen the movie and I've also read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, something which most people who extol Blade Runner cannot claim. It suffers from the same flaws as the Dune film, primarily the attempted conveyance in some other way, or not at all, of the narration of thought from the novel. I don't love the book, but it is worlds better than Blade Runner.
@BigManMalone: You may not like something, but you can still recognize it's significance to cinema and culture as a whole. Choosing to ignore something simply because you don't like it is a bit childish.
Blade Runner has shaped many people's view of the future -- it's one of the few films that, 30 years on, still looks like it could be talking about a coming future. AFI marks it as one of the best 100 films ever made and the 6th best sci-fi film ever made. Of course, that's debatable, but the point is the movie has value and shouldn't be ignored.
Syd Mead's designs were inspired and are copied still today. Ridley Scott's blending of cultures in LA was way ahead of it's time. The moral, ethical, and philosophical questions that were asked and explored were world's apart from the novel, which was wise, allowing both to explore different themes while using a similar plot.
If you're attempting to imply that I haven't read the book, you're completely in error. I have a huge library of Phillip K. Dick books on my shelf (I'm partial to The Man in the High Castle).
@Kuwabara Kazuo: I'm curious what you found cliched about Blade Runner. Something being cliche means that it has been overused -- so, using examples from before when the film came out (1982), could you described how it's a cliche?
I'm being serious ... most people would say that Blade Runner broke new ground, meaning the cliches were the similar films, movies, and books AFTER it was released.
@BigManMalone: So because the movie ended up different from what you expected it is a bad movie? What about the movie by itself? Blade Runner is pretty good, regardless of how it deviated from its inspiration source.
Not only that, but it created the visual language for cyberpunk settings. It can't be ignored.
No, I wasn't insinuating that you had not read the book; I had no idea whether you had.
Anyway, relax, I was just playing on the first commenter's wording. I don't really think it should be ignored; I did take the time to watch it, after all.
Even so, just because it inspired myriad other films, games and books doesn't mean it has any intrinsic value to any given person other than its utilization as a window into other works one might be interested in.
@jayntampa: Roy's speech and the white pigeon so cornily bursting from his hands like an erumpent spirit typify the cliche I was referring to. It can be found in movies, books, and murals alike. It asks why I am without bothering to answer or even guess -- as if the question alone mattered. It uses music to lend profundity to meaningless scenes. It seems to me not unlikely that the pigeon bit would have sent audiences into fits of hearty laughter had it not been accompanied by Vangelis's score.
@Kuwabara Kazuo: Ok, so you're referring to the use of monologue in that scene ... hmm, I don't believe it's as maudlin as you do, but it's a valid point - and, yes, that particular use of imagery does strike me as cliched.
@BigManMalone: I've read Androids and I've seen Blade Runner. To me it isn't so much "The film of the book" as an "inspired by". I read the book before I saw the film and the film succeeds in communinicating more about it's world than the book does.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqpPyhE5x2M
Ehhhh?
07/16/09
Besides Biggs and Wedge hiding inside most of the FFs (and even Chrono Trigger) from the mid-90s to early 2000 (wedge was such an awesome Blitzball-player, which you never could've guessed in A New Hope) there's also the fact that FFIV is HEAVILY inspired by Star Wars, not the least with the Red Wings and Cecil's relationship with Golbez.
That doesn't make Star Fantasy Wars XII any less relevant, because it basically screams of the movie.
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That's not what I was referring to, but that could very well have been influenced by Back to the Future as well.
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The other thing I can think of is the comedy movie with Raiden travelling in time to kill snake.
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I thought that was what most people would guess, and it could be related as well, but I know what you're saying about the time paradox thing, it's just that we know Kojima has seen Back to the Future, but who knows, it could really be from anything.
Anyway, you would probably never think of this without the direct reference made, since this is really something that could have been attributed to anything if they didn't specifically point out BTF as the source. I'll just go ahead and tell you if you want.
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It's not really a big deal, but in The Document of MGS2 it says that Solidus's flame trail created when he jets across surfaces is supposed to be reminiscent of the flame trails left behind by the DeLorean from Back to the Future. The verbatim quote is something like flame trails "à la Back to the Future."
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So even though the context was parody, you as a player are still "doing" it, so it can feel similar to the movie in one form or another.
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I can see this is definitely parody, but think of the time it was made. There was no Matrix game. And I can totally see the developers wanting the game to play like what they saw in the movie. Regardless of the tone of the game, I would say it is hard to refute the inspiration there.
But without the parody, you would need quite a disconnect from the source material to not plagiarize. You might say Max Payne was heavily inspired by The Matrix, but at a cursory glance someone may not see the connection because it looks so vastly different on the surface.
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Metal Gear Solid 3 in particular had several homages to Cold War era films.
The most obvious was the opening structure of the game which was a direct homage to the James Bond films; we had an action packed semi-cold opening to the story, followed by a musical title sequence.
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Speaking of which, I just remembered that Snake's Stealth Chip arrival during the intro mirrored the arrival of the Terminators.
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Vast swathes of the COD games are from "Enemy at the Gates".
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In rainbow six 3 they had a level that took place on Alcatraz that pretty much played out the same way as the rock. and I remember in syphon filter 2 they had a level in a russian prison as well.
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FF12 is awesome, provided you have a copy of the guide laying around. So much requires the player to look stuff up, as the game gives no hints on a lot of things, and youd never discover them by chance.
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I just can't grasp what you said? Ignored why? It's one of the best movies ever made. I just don't understand... my head hurts.
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I've seen the movie and I've also read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, something which most people who extol Blade Runner cannot claim. It suffers from the same flaws as the Dune film, primarily the attempted conveyance in some other way, or not at all, of the narration of thought from the novel. I don't love the book, but it is worlds better than Blade Runner.
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Blade Runner has shaped many people's view of the future -- it's one of the few films that, 30 years on, still looks like it could be talking about a coming future. AFI marks it as one of the best 100 films ever made and the 6th best sci-fi film ever made. Of course, that's debatable, but the point is the movie has value and shouldn't be ignored.
Syd Mead's designs were inspired and are copied still today. Ridley Scott's blending of cultures in LA was way ahead of it's time. The moral, ethical, and philosophical questions that were asked and explored were world's apart from the novel, which was wise, allowing both to explore different themes while using a similar plot.
If you're attempting to imply that I haven't read the book, you're completely in error. I have a huge library of Phillip K. Dick books on my shelf (I'm partial to The Man in the High Castle).
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I'm being serious ... most people would say that Blade Runner broke new ground, meaning the cliches were the similar films, movies, and books AFTER it was released.
07/16/09
Not only that, but it created the visual language for cyberpunk settings. It can't be ignored.
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No, I wasn't insinuating that you had not read the book; I had no idea whether you had.
Anyway, relax, I was just playing on the first commenter's wording. I don't really think it should be ignored; I did take the time to watch it, after all.
Even so, just because it inspired myriad other films, games and books doesn't mean it has any intrinsic value to any given person other than its utilization as a window into other works one might be interested in.
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