Baldur's Gate writer says the RPG's cast was "a bunch of cardboard cutouts" compared to Final Fantasy 7's, and the JRPG drove BioWare to step it up

Baldur’s Gate 2’s more complicated companion characters were unexpectedly inspired by a JRPG from across the globe: Final Fantasy 7.

In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, James Ohlen - who was once a veteran developer at BioWare, working on everything from Baldur’s Gate and Dragon Age to Star Wars and Anthem - revealed the unlikely connection between two RPG heavyweights. According to Ohlen, during one freezing winter, a producer at publisher Interplay namedropped the seminal Squaresoft JRPG and said Baldur’s Gate’s characters weren’t half as complex. 

“I’m very competitive,” said Ohlen. “I went and played Final Fantasy VII and was like, ‘Oh my good god, these characters make ours look like a bunch of cardboard cutouts. This is terrible.’” Playing Final Fantasy 7 supposedly influenced BioWare as they then developed Baldur’s Gate 2. You can kind of see the similarities between Final Fantasy 7’s Barret and Baldur’s Gate’s Jaheira if you squint: activists forced to put aside their grief for a greater cause. 

Squaresoft continued to influence Ohlen, namely with Chrono Cross’ twisting story, although the now famous twist from Knights of the Old Republic actually came from, well, Star Wars itself. “I actually totally, entirely ripped off The Empire Strikes Back in such blatant fashion,” revealed Ohlen. “You basically go to face the dark lord by yourself, and then you get into a lightsaber fight with him, and he kicks your ass. And then, after kicking your ass, he does the big twist. Then you don’t die because you’re rescued by your friends on the Millennium Falcon - I mean, the Ebon Hawk. It’s beat by beat the same thing.”

Elsewhere in the RPS interview, Ohlen revealed that he in fact piled up 20,000 hours playing Dungeons & Dragons to prepare to write on Baldur’s Gate. Despite decades of experience, however, the veteran developer doesn’t see himself returning for a Knights of the Old Republic 3.

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