Mass Effect Was Inspired by Final Fantasy (The Movie)

[King Toasty]

I actually really liked spirits within I also liked advent children never really understood why I flopped.

I swear I'm one of maybe 10 people on the planet who actually enjoy(ed) that film. I actually still own it. Yes it is cliched, no there is no FF magic. But darn it, its fun and I like it.

Make that 11. I felt a little sad inside when the comic relief pilot dude died.

we are not alone we exist also make it 12

13. That pilot reminded me of Wash from Firefly.

"Like a leaf on the win- blarrggg" :c

 

[mad825]

Wouldn't HCI be more of a technical term instead of GUI?...ah, never mind.

I guess I can see where they are coming from however it's really rather generic regardless.

 

[carpathic]

Funny, I just liked the first Mass Effect because it felt a lot like late 80's sci-fi movies like Total Recall, Aliens and such. Especially the atmosphere and the openess and emptiness of the assorted worlds.

I saw spirits within and I can see some of the things they are referring to, but I think it was one of many influences for certain.

 

[penguindude42]

Great. Just great

Now I want Bioware to get back to Sonic Chronicles even more.

This is the worst news I've ever heard, ever.

~Tom</3

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

Well at least they're taking the one good thing about the movie - its art. For all its many problems, it was a pretty, pretty movie.

 

[Worr Monger]

Damn it Bioware... I love you and all.. but don't try to tempt me into watching Final Fantasy...

.... And Van Damme's Street Fighter was awesome.... That movie was so good that Raul Julia decided to end his career on it.... But to everyone else... it was Tuesday.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

Wait . . . what attack helicopters? I don't remember any attack helicopters in Mass Effect One or Two . . . are there some in three? Why would they use helicopters in space? Even if it was for atmosphere only, they already have things that can hover . . . this makes no sense.

 

[Ghengis John]

It's slightly amusing to think that one of the most infamous videogame box office busts of all time could inspire one of the most successful game series in recent memory, but the world is strange like that. At least Mass Effect isn't taking cues from Van Damme's Street Fighter.

I also like the irony. Of course you can't say that final fantasy the spirits within had a bad look. It's problems probably stemmed more from a nonsensical script than anything else. That being said though, Pliny the Elder used to say "no book is so bad that it is without it's good passages.". There were some things to be salvaged apparently and I'm sure somebody involved with the spirits within is probably glad to get a little recognition.

As for taking queues from Street Fighter. I was trying to think what a first person shooter taking visual queues from Van Damme Street fighter would look like. I was thinking about it. There was a lot of concrete and industrial stuff in that movie. Suddenly it hit me. That first person shooter exists. And it is called Killzone.

Ten years from now we're going to hear the admission from Jan-Bart van Beek, "Yeah, you know we actually reference a lot from Jean Claude Van Damme's Street Fighter." Calling it now.

 

[Ravison]

I swear I'm one of maybe 10 people on the planet who actually enjoy(ed) that film. I actually still own it. Yes it is cliched, no there is no FF magic. But darn it, its fun and I like it.

I love that movie, too.

 

[theriddlen]

Well, i always knew that ME universe took the best elements from many other universes, and well, now I know where planetary elements come from (space is mix of best elements of Star Wars and Star Trek and rethought and re-imagined versions of worse elements) - it looks exactly like this FF movie.

 

[Disthron]

I really liked the Spirits Within when I saw it back in the day. Though I think the "shouldn't have been called Final Fantasy" thing is also a bit unfair. Isn't Final Fantasy referred to as a franchise rather than a series because almost none of the games have any relationship to one and other. With the only things really connecting them being similar game play and story themes? Even there settings are wildly different, ranging from high fantasy to a science-fantasy hi-bred. The themes of Spirits Within fall directly into the Science-Fantasy aria.

Anyway, I feel like going back and renting this again.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

You know. Actually the FF movie was one of few things about FF franchise i enjoyed.

Agreed. Also when I saw it they had the first screening in Australia of the original Spiderman movie trailer, which me and two friends promptly stood up and applauded at the end of it. It was downhill from then on, but as far as a totally CG movie goes it was not too bad.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I swear I'm one of maybe 10 people on the planet who actually enjoy(ed) that film. I actually still own it. Yes it is cliched, no there is no FF magic. But darn it, its fun and I like it.

Hey man! I liked that movie. It came out about the time that Titan A.E. did. Unfortunately, both were flops. Both were flimsy as movies, but both were fun to watch partly for their awesome animations and partly because they were just plain fun great movies.

EDIT: Also, I never really thought about it but I can see some bits of the influence.

Not to mention Titan A.E. has a pretty sweet soundtrack (I also own that movie, 2 copies actually, was lucky enough to marry a fellow Nerd and she had her own copy as well)

Oh yeah! Powerman 5000's "The End is Over" was worth the price of purchase alone. I thought it was a really good movie and my son like it too.

 

[pixiejedi]

I swear I'm one of maybe 10 people on the planet who actually enjoy(ed) that film. I actually still own it. Yes it is cliched, no there is no FF magic. But darn it, its fun and I like it.

Hey man! I liked that movie. It came out about the time that Titan A.E. did. Unfortunately, both were flops. Both were flimsy as movies, but both were fun to watch partly for their awesome animations and partly because they were just plain fun great movies.

EDIT: Also, I never really thought about it but I can see some bits of the influence.

Not to mention Titan A.E. has a pretty sweet soundtrack (I also own that movie, 2 copies actually, was lucky enough to marry a fellow Nerd and she had her own copy as well)

Oh yeah! Powerman 5000's "The End is Over" was worth the price of purchase alone. I thought it was a really good movie and my son like it too.

HA! watched Titan A.E. just a few weeks ago. Amazing voice cast considering the end piece. I like the movie but what are Drew Barrymore and Matt Damon doing there?

OT: I liked Spirits Within too. I always get misty eyed at the end with Alec Baldwin. I love him more the older I get. I see the connections but I always see Mass Effect through Blade Runner lens'.

 

[Knight Templar]

I loved that movie, it's what made me try out Final Fantasy games, specifically Final Fantasy X. That was a massive disappointment.

And somehow Mass Effect still turned out good.

Huh. Just goes to show...

That's because they stole the story premise from somewhere else.

I was going to make a joke about them copying the entire 80's in regards to sci-fi, but in a later post you reference "Revelation Space", which I've never heard of.
So now I'm intrigued, how close is the similarity? Without giving anything away because if ME did draw inspiration or even copy this/these book/books then they would be worth a read once I run out of Wheel of Time books.

 

[w00tage]

I thought it was a good flick too. They just lost people with the whole spirits and Gaia thing. Japanese have much more of a cultural history with those concepts and I can deal with them, but most other people I know just lost their suspension of disbelief when Dr. Sid started talking about the 8th Spirit & stuff.

 

[LazyAza]

Never did understand all the hate Spirits Wihin got, I love that movie, mostly because I'm a digital artist (and thus a cgi nut) but still, far from as terrible as its reputation made it out to be.

 

[Oroboros]

I knew that Mass Effect and Dragon Age were heavily inspired by other works (Babylon 5, Wheel of Time, etc), but this particular source of inspiration is new to me.