Former BioWare developer James Ohlen reveals in an interview that Final Fantasy inspired him to come up with many ideas
Baldur’s Gate 3 has taken the hearts of role-playing game fans by storm this year. The game thus follows on from the success of the second part, which was also convincing with its exciting and popular characters.
Baldur’s Gate 2 was still created at Bioware. And as former lead designer James Ohlen reveals in a (interview with Rock Paper Shotgun) another role-playing game had a significant influence on the development of the characters – Final Fantasy 7
Baldur’s Gate 2 was inspired by Final Fantasy 7
It happened during a smoking break. A producer from publisher Interplay mentioned to Ohlen that the characters from Baldur’s Gate were nowhere near as well-developed as those from Final Fantasy 7.
Ohlen, who describes himself as “very competitive”, wanted to see for himself.
“I played Final Fantasy 7 and I thought, ‘Oh my God, against these characters, ours look like a bunch of cardboard cutouts. That’s terrible.'”
James Ohlen
The depth and complexity of Cloud and the other characters in the Japanese role-playing game made Ohlen, as well as Bioware, put more work into their own characters.
One result, for example, was the development of the Hafnerin Jaheira. Her world is shaken by loss and grief. In Baldur’s Gate 3, she is once again available to you as a companion.
What made Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 so special, we have summarised for you in this video:
The Star Wars Thing
Although Ohlen wasn’t a fan of the game mechanics, the Squaresoft (later Square Enix) games remained a great inspiration for his work. Bioware’s Knights of the Old Republic was partly influenced by the role-playing game Chrono Cross
The story of Kotor is known to have another origin, which Ohlen is also all too willing to name:
“I actually The Empire Strikes Back stole in such an obvious way. “
James Ohlen
The rest, as they say, is history. Looking at James Ohlen’s, from Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, through Kotor, Dragon Age: Origins, Jade Empire and Mass Effect 1, it’s a pretty successful one.
No doubt the influence on Bioware by Japanese role-playing games has been good for the studio. Baldur’s Gate, Kotor Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 1 – which of the aforementioned classics are among your favourites? Have you possibly played all of them? Or have you deliberately left out one of these classics until today? If so, why? Feel free to write your opinion in the comments.
