Tue, Jun 28, 2011 | 08:11 BST
Quick quotes: BioWare admits Final Fantasy inspiration with Mass Effect
“Yeah, you know we actually reference a lot from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. We used a lot of their GUIs and the way they did their ship – that was kind of like in some of the early designs for the Normandy. Our attack helicopters are loosely based off that movie. There’s some great stuff, especially their glowing GUI screens; we used those a lot. I keep a folder of that stuff and I still actually tell the guys ‘just go back and look at that. Change it like that!’” – Mass Effect 3 art director Derek Watts, speaking to X360W, on the inspiration CG movie The Spirits Within has given to the threequel.
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Posted in: Action, EA, PC, PS3, RPG, Xbox 360
Tags: bioware, Derek Watts, final fantasy, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, mass effect 3
10 comments
#1
Strandli
28/06/11, 8:28 am
And in retrospect, it’s so bloody obvious (if you’ve seen the movie) that it hurts to think about. I never saw the connection myself, before this guy pointed it out. It’s frustrating.
#2
Blerk
28/06/11, 8:54 am
I’ve kind of blotted The Spirits Within out of my memory. Don’t make me remember it!
#3
Deacon
28/06/11, 9:02 am
As unsuccessful as it was, I liked it
Some great soundtrack moments too.
#4
Moonwalker1982
28/06/11, 9:08 am
Yeah, i enjoyed that movie too. Never understood the hate.
#5
Blerk
28/06/11, 9:15 am
I didn’t hate it as such, it was just… boring. And had practically nothing to do with Final Fantasy.
It was certainly better than the fanboy wankfest that was Advent Children. Man, that was just… bad!
#6
Khakimzhan
28/06/11, 9:16 am
#7
viralshag
28/06/11, 9:48 am
Well I liked both Advent Children and Spirits Within. I thought they were both decent movies. I’m sure I even own the special edition blu-ray of Advent Children o.O
#8
Freek
28/06/11, 10:24 am
The storyline was garbage but the art direction was fantastic, so to see them take some inspiration from it is not a bad thing.
Especially the “folding flapping” ship design, that was really cool and works verry wel for the Normandy too.
#9
Aimless
28/06/11, 1:56 pm
I always thought Square-Enix missed a trick by not taking a stab at a Deep Eyes third-person shooter.
Aesthetically and fictionally they’re perfect for one, and there’s a lot of scope for it taking it in interesting directions over your usual Gears clone; who doesn’t want to jump off buildings into gel-gas grenades?
#10
YoungZer0
28/06/11, 2:49 pm
@9: Funny you mentioned Gears, i actually think the normal Grunt looks like a Grungy version of the Deep Eyes soldiers.