23 years after Baldur’s Gate 2, developer reveals surprising role-playing inspiration

Former BioWare developer James Ohlen reveals in an interview that Ultimate Fantasy impressed him to give you many concepts

Baldur’s Gate 3 has taken the hearts of role-playing sport followers by storm this yr. The sport thus follows on from the success of the second half, which was additionally convincing with its thrilling and standard characters.

Baldur’s Gate 2 was nonetheless created at Bioware. And as former lead designer James Ohlen reveals in a (interview with Rock Paper Shotgun) one other role-playing sport had a major affect on the event of the characters – Ultimate Fantasy 7

Baldur’s Gate 2 was impressed by Ultimate Fantasy 7

It occurred throughout a smoking break. A producer from writer Interaction talked about to Ohlen that the characters from Baldur’s Gate have been nowhere close to as well-developed as these from Ultimate Fantasy 7.

Ohlen, who describes himself as “very aggressive”, needed to see for himself.

The depth and complexity of Cloud and the opposite characters within the Japanese role-playing sport made Ohlen, in addition to Bioware, put extra work into their very own characters.

One outcome, for instance, was the event of the Hafnerin Jaheira. Her world is shaken by loss and grief. In Baldur’s Gate 3, she is as soon as once more accessible to you as a companion.

What made Baldur’s Gate 1 and a pair of so particular, we’ve got summarised for you on this video:

The Star Wars Factor

Though Ohlen wasn’t a fan of the sport mechanics, the Squaresoft (later Sq. Enix) video games remained an awesome inspiration for his work. Bioware’s Knights of the Outdated Republic was partly influenced by the role-playing sport Chrono Cross

The story of Kotor is understood to have one other origin, which Ohlen can also be all too keen to call:

The remainder, as they are saying, is historical past. James Ohlen’s, from Baldur’s Gate 1 and a pair of, by way of Kotor, Dragon Age: Origins, Jade Empire and Mass Impact 1, it’s a fairly profitable one.

Little doubt the affect on Bioware by Japanese role-playing video games has been good for the studio. Baldur’s Gate, Kotor Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Impact 1 – which of the aforementioned classics are amongst your favourites? Have you ever presumably performed all of them? Or have you ever intentionally not noted one in every of these classics till at present? In that case, why? Be at liberty to put in writing your opinion within the feedback.