Maybe its just me...

[mrfridays]

So, I am about 30 hours into the game, of which a good 25% of that time has been spent leveling off Skeletons in Lhusu Mines. I have however advanced the storyline to just after the rescue on the Leviathan.

I have noticed alot of similarities so far between this story and another, older story you are all probably familiar with: Star Wars.


1) Young orphaned boy as the Protagonist, who lives in a desert area.

2) A "rebellion" fighting an "Empire".

3) The young hero meets up with a Rogue pirate, and his tall humanoid/beast companion.

4) The CS of Balthier's ship taking off from Rabanastre for the first time strikingly similar to the Millenium Falcon taking off from Tatooine.

5) A princess, who is vital to the resistance movement, needs to be rescued from the clutches of the Empire.

6) Said princess is being held captive in the detention center of a monsterously huge ship, full of endless corridors.

7) The group of heroes seek temporary refuge and assistance in a city in the clouds.

8) The city in the cloud's main source of income is from mining.

9) The leader/administrator of the city makes a reluctant deal with the Empire to keep them out of his affairs.


There is more, I'm sure, but that's all I can think of at the moment. I know this wouldn't be the first time FF has either made reference to or drawn from Star Wars (hello Wedge...etc), but I still found it amusing.

[Tonko]

Almost creepy....

Nice insight.

[Koyangi]

I always had the inkling that this seemed a lot like star wars, some of the music and the environments, but this data is a very nice find indeed.

[Thames]

The whole first few days I played the game, things wouldn't stop reminding me of either Star Wars, Tactics, Vagrant Story, or FFXI. Strange strange combination.

[Elesirdur]

FFXII's story is pretty much Star Wars meets Lord of the Rings inside a FF-based context. By no means is that a bad thing, I love the story and the way the characters and locales were designed, developed, and executed.

[untouchable]

you forgot judges = darth vader amirite

[Murataki]

Vayne: Yes, I assure you, we are quite safe from your friends here.
Vaan: Your overconfidence is your weakness.
Vayne: Your faith in your friends is yours.

Gabras: I find your lack of faith disturbing. *force chokes Judge Master Drace*

[Kaylia]

So, I am about 30 hours into the game, of which a good 25% of that time has been spent leveling off Skeletons in Lhusu Mines. I have however advanced the storyline to just after the rescue on the Leviathan.

I have noticed alot of similarities so far between this story and another, older story you are all probably familiar with: Star Wars.


1) Young orphaned boy as the Protagonist, who lives in a desert area.

2) A "rebellion" fighting an "Empire".

3) The young hero meets up with a Rogue pirate, and his tall humanoid/beast companion.

4) The CS of Balthier's ship taking off from Rabanastre for the first time strikingly similar to the Millenium Falcon taking off from Tatooine.

5) A princess, who is vital to the resistance movement, needs to be rescued from the clutches of the Empire.

6) Said princess is being held captive in the detention center of a monsterously huge ship, full of endless corridors.

7) The group of heroes seek temporary refuge and assistance in a city in the clouds.

8) The city in the cloud's main source of income is from mining.

9) The leader/administrator of the city makes a reluctant deal with the Empire to keep them out of his affairs.


There is more, I'm sure, but that's all I can think of at the moment. I know this wouldn't be the first time FF has either made reference to or drawn from Star Wars (hello Wedge...etc), but I still found it amusing.

1) Could say it's similar, but how many type of "starting town" could you have. Small town, advanced technology, port and desert? There isnt that many, and even then, both desert still look pretty different. I think its too general to mention as similarities. Personally, i thought Vaan looked more like Alladin than anything from Star Wars. Poor thief with big dream.

2)Political situation is still very different. It's empire vs empire, and people are stuck in the middle. SW was empire vs a few rebels

3+) Guess I can agree with most of those. Cloud city with mining as first income made me laugh, but it's also true.


I think most of the similarities are caused by the fact the story try to be epic, and use "epic" cliché. Ship are big because small ship wouldnt be as impressing. You help a princess because its more epic than helping a commoner.

[mrfridays]

1) Could say it's similar, but how many type of "starting town" could you have. Small town, advanced technology, port and desert? There isnt that many, and even then, both desert still look pretty different. I think its too general to mention as similarities. Personally, i thought Vaan looked more like Alladin than anything from Star Wars. Poor thief with big dream.

2)Political situation is still very different. It's empire vs empire, and people are stuck in the middle. SW was empire vs a few rebels

3+) Guess I can agree with most of those. Cloud city with mining as first income made me laugh, but it's also true.

1) Small town, advanced technology, port, young orphaned protagonist, and desert are more than just "a few" similarities. I think this is one of the more obvious of all the similarities on my list actually.

2) Regardless of what faction the FF12 rebellion used to belong to, the point is that now they are rebels. There is no longer any power held by their former Empire. So it is in fact an Empire vs. a Rebellion.

I am sure some people living in the SW world, before Palpatine made changes, probably considered the Republic something of an intrusive "empire" of sorts. It's what forced the outlying outer rim planets to disassociate themselves with the republic (ie, Tatooine, the Hutts...etc). They didn't want to live under Republic rule, nor the Empire later. You can see the same thing in Serenity/ Firefly to a degree.

I think most of the similarities are caused by the fact the story try to be epic, and use "epic" cliché. Ship are big because small ship wouldnt be as impressing. You help a princess because its more epic than helping a commoner

I really don't think the similarities I listed were borne from the fact that both stories are epic, that is just another trait they both share. It is the details within that story that contain the similarities I've posted above.

A large ship is certainly more impressive than a small one, but that is not the connection I am pointing out. The connection is that both stories involve, at some point or another, a large forboding ship, with endless corridors, that has a princess in its brig, that gets rescued by the young orphan from the desert, who is aided by a pirate/rogue and his tall beast-like companion. Just the fact that both have ships was not what I was pointing out at all.

It is the circumstances and details surrounding the act, not just the act itself.




At any rate, I am probably all over the place with my writing as I am very tired and should be getting some sleep before work.


Cheers.

[Kaylia]

1) Small town, advanced technology, port, young orphaned protagonist, and desert are more than just "a few" similarities. I think this is one of the more obvious of all the similarities on my list actually.

2) Regardless of what faction the FF12 rebellion used to belong to, the point is that now they are rebels. There is no longer any power held by their former Empire. So it is in fact an Empire vs. a Rebellion.

What I'm saying is that most of those settings are extremly cliché, and the probability to find another similar setting is still high. Orphan hero in a desert is far too large to make a direct connection imo. If he was raised by his uncle, after her mother, the queen, died, maybe I would agree more easily.

Also, it's very arguable that Vaan is the hero, even if he is the main character. He is never leading, and rarely make a choice or action that have any impact. (personally, I thought it was interesting to see that kind of main character.)

I am sure some people living in the SW world, before Palpatine made changes, probably considered the Republic something of an intrusive "empire" of sorts. It's what forced the outlying outer rim planets to disassociate themselves with the republic (ie, Tatooine, the Hutts...etc). They didn't want to live under Republic rule, nor the Empire later. You can see the same thing in Serenity/ Firefly to a degree.

I guess I will let you finish the game before replying to this. I think I would agree with you if I had only played up that to point, but my vision of both empires and the war is different after seeing the whole thing. There is a rebellion, but it's not real one like the one you see in SW.

A large ship is certainly more impressive than a small one, but that is not the connection I am pointing out. The connection is that both stories involve, at some point or another, a large forboding ship, with endless corridors, that has a princess in its brig, that gets rescued by the young orphan from the desert, who is aided by a pirate/rogue and his tall beast-like companion. Just the fact that both have ships was not what I was pointing out at all.

It is the circumstances and details surrounding the act, not just the act itself.

The Leviathan is one of the bad guy flying fortress. How could it be "small"? There is nothing special about it when you compare it to any flying fortress in other story

Beside, Vaan was tagging along more than anything.
VOSSLER: I'm getting her out. I need your help
Basch had to help her too, so the rest was pretty much stuck following them. Also, keep in mind they were captured more than anything, Vaan didnt went there to rescues the princess.


Balthier could have been influenced by Haan solo, actually, it was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw him. For the rest, I think it's mostly coincidences due to both series trying to show you impressive environnment

[Kaylia]

1) Small town, advanced technology, port, young orphaned protagonist, and desert are more than just "a few" similarities. I think this is one of the more obvious of all the similarities on my list actually.

2) Regardless of what faction the FF12 rebellion used to belong to, the point is that now they are rebels. There is no longer any power held by their former Empire. So it is in fact an Empire vs. a Rebellion.

What I'm saying is that most of those settings are extremly cliché, and the probability to find another similar setting is still high. Orphan hero in a desert is far too large to make a direct connection imo. If he was raised by his uncle, after her mother, the queen, died, maybe I would agree more easily.

Also, it's very arguable that Vaan is the hero, even if he is the main character. He is never leading, and rarely make a choice or action that have any impact. (personally, I thought it was interesting to see that kind of main character.)

I am sure some people living in the SW world, before Palpatine made changes, probably considered the Republic something of an intrusive "empire" of sorts. It's what forced the outlying outer rim planets to disassociate themselves with the republic (ie, Tatooine, the Hutts...etc). They didn't want to live under Republic rule, nor the Empire later. You can see the same thing in Serenity/ Firefly to a degree.

I guess I will let you finish the game before replying to this. I think I would agree with you if I had only played up that to point, but my vision of both empires and the war is different after seeing the whole thing. There is a rebellion, but it's not real one like the one you see in SW.

A large ship is certainly more impressive than a small one, but that is not the connection I am pointing out. The connection is that both stories involve, at some point or another, a large forboding ship, with endless corridors, that has a princess in its brig, that gets rescued by the young orphan from the desert, who is aided by a pirate/rogue and his tall beast-like companion. Just the fact that both have ships was not what I was pointing out at all.

It is the circumstances and details surrounding the act, not just the act itself.

The Leviathan is one of the bad guy flying fortress. How could it be "small"? There is nothing special about it when you compare it to any flying fortress in other story

Beside, Vaan was tagging along more than anything.
VOSSLER: I'm getting her out. I need your help
Basch had to help her too, so the rest was pretty much stuck following them. Also, keep in mind they were captured more than anything, Vaan didnt went there to rescues the princess.


Balthier could have been influenced by Haan solo, actually, it was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw him. For the rest, I think it's mostly coincidences due to both series trying to show you impressive environnment

[Po]

2) A "rebellion" fighting an "Empire".

I definitely agree.
I quoted this specifically since it is exactly what I thought of. The first time this was mentioned I immediately thought of Star Wars.