Final Fantasy XII = Star Wars

All it takes is seeing one Star Wars movie to start seeing references all over the place. >.<; I'm not a huge Star Wars fan myself... Don't think I've even bothered watching any of the movies in years, but it's still obvious as hell.
 
sorry can't use the quote thing... but what sapphirestar said i just got back from my university screenwriters camp and was excited about getting some things i learned across i didn't mean to sound like i was better then everyone or putting down people

i don't like star wars but FF 12 still had the same Norse mythology in the story that the FF creators love to use so for me it was still an enjoyable story and felt final fantasyish
 
sorry can't use the quote thing... but what sapphirestar said i just got back from my university screenwriters camp and was excited about getting some things i learned across i didn't mean to sound like i was better then everyone or putting down people

i don't like star wars but FF 12 still had the same Norse mythology in the story that the FF creators love to use so for me it was still an enjoyable story and felt final fantasyish

You just go to the post you wish to quote from and it will appear in a reply thread box for you. Trust me, i couldnt handle it lol.

Hey, dont apologise man. Yeah it kinda sounded like that, but you wanted to show people what you learnt and thats all good lol.


Im not the biggest SW fan either, for me its over hyped. But as you said people are influenced by others. Thats Hollywood.
 
Wow nice putting all that together,
i never realized it until now
it does seem like a whole star wars thing is going on in ivalice.
 
now i may be stupid but i didnt notice any of these links while playing, its only now reading these post that i realise that there is a resemblence
 
I think this is partly down to the odd reference, as with Biggs and Wedge, but also because Star Wars itself copies lots of old fantasy stories and takes inspiration from other historical sources. For example, the Jedi are rather a lot like samurai, the relationship they have with their lightsabre is a lot like the relationship a samurai has with his katana, the force is like bushido and even the word Jedi is like the Japanese word jidai, which is often seen in the phrase "sengoku jidai" which means something to the effect of "The era of all-out war" - a time period strongly associated with samurai.

There's actually a set of elements that make up a classic fantasy story. These are the elements which Lucas intentionally used to make Star Wars like a classic fantasy, only set in space. We were taught about the different elements at college and told that they crop up in not just fantasy but, by being superficially changed, are also used in things set in the modern or real world.

The traditional archetypes of a fantasy story include:
A naive young farmboy or other lowly character, maybe a street urchin, who lives with adoptive parents or relatives other than his father and mother. The reason usually being that he is actually blood-related to a very famous, plot-centric character - usually a knight.

The dashing, cheeky rogue and his usually silent and very physical sidekick who only he seems to understand. There are usually hints of a certain history that binds them together.

The princess who needs to be rescued and who usually falls for the hero, or in the case that she is related to him (quite commonly the case) she will fall for the rogue. Her presence is usually more symbolic than anything - the decisive fighting is left to the hero, the rogue and the sidekick while she provides inspiration to them and to the rebels (she symbolises the true sovereignty of the state; what they are fighting for).

The wise old hermit who used to be incredibly relevant to the situation upon which the plot is based but now, for one reason or another, is living away from civilisation where no one knows his history. It is he that will teach the naive young hero about his destiny and how to take the pressure it entails.

An evil empire, usually led by someone who is evil in a rather straightforward way rather than having any sort of human element (i.e. they're doing it for power, not due to some tragic history).

A dark knight: This is the guy that the heroes often bump into rather than the Emperor. This is mainly because (a) the Emperor is kept away until the final act, to make his appearance more climactic and (b) the dark knight is used as the hand of the Emperor and is an embodiment of his power. It's also a potential part of this archetype to actually come over to the heroes side since the dark knight used to be a regular knight - a good guy.

The rebels. These are the guys that the heroes meet at some point and join up with. After all, they heroes need an army of their own to take on the empire's. They may often start out strongly, usually inexplicably bolstered by the arrival of the heroes (who will only add about 5 new members to a force consisting of thousands) but will later be almost wiped out by the empire. This is to show that the empire's power is deep indeed and they were only perfunctorily defending themselves during the rebels earlier attacks. It can also be used to make the hero more important - after all, if the empire could be overcome by just a large army, what place does the hero have in the story. The plot is usually resolved with a combination of the two: the rebel army battles the imperial army while the hero battles the emperor.

There are usually also elements like a new fortress being built or something being researched that will give the empire a huge edge over the rebels. In fact, a film that Lucas drew heavily upon was The Hidden Fortress by Akira Kurosawa. It features many of the elements listed above and was actually stated as being a big inspiration by Lucas himself.
 
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I really didnt think that much about it until close to the end. With the cutscene of the archadians and the rebels fighting in there airships and all the little fighters flying around blowing stuff up. Basically that was a clone wars spaceship fight
 
In the first FMV at the battle for Nalbina, the airships there immediately reminded me of Star Wars. But that was the only similarity I caught during my first playthrough. :P
 
FFXII = Star Wars? (possible spoilers)

ok, i know this is gonna sound kinda ridiculous, but did any of you think the story of FFXII felt a lot like star wars (the original trilogy)? Maybe not the story but for some reason, i came out of the whole thing feeling like i had played an FF version of star wars. now before you guys rip me a new one, here's a couple comparisons i thought were (if not valid) worth thinking about.

vaan = luke
balthier = han
fran = chewie
ashe = leia
basch and penelo = ? (but if you're stretching i guess you could say wedge and antilles or 3po and R2 but even i think that's too far)
reks = like uncle owen and aunt beru
strahl = millenium falcon
vayne = the emperor
gabranth = vader
(I guess you could say that the emperor was like the emperor and vayne was like vader but whatever)
other judges = storm troopers
marquis = lando
the three banga that try to hunt you down = jabba's crew or boba fett, take your pick
at the end, vayne's ship = death star

there were more plot related similarities. here's the one that i remember the most:
when at the end, the war seems to be going poorly and then the strahl shows up and saves the day. just like how in the final battle of IV the battle is going poorly and then the falcon shows up and saves the day.

here's another:
at the end when they are trying to mask their voices, they use the intercom thing just like in star wars.
anyways, that's just how i felt. maybe i'm totally off base, but i think the comparisons are somewhat valid. maybe it's because both stories are very stereotypical and follow archetypes that have been pinned down as good storytelling.

but yeah, discuss.
 
Threads Merged, I wish Id looked in here before looking for the original topic, would save dmyself 3 pages of searching -_-
 
There really are a lot of Star Wars references in FFXII and FF games in general, but ever seen the movie The Chronicles of Riddick? Looks so much like FFXII. :P
 
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