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My whole world came to a smashing hault when I descovered one of my favorite characters wasn't original (at all). It all started when...

I was playing Suikoden II one day after beating the first theday before, and I entered a City. I talked to a man in the game named "Rikimaru". Nothing about him seemed firmiliar untill.... I got into battle!
He stood just like Auron with a robe with one arm sticking out casually and the other holding a large sword rested on his Shoulder. Sound fimilliar yet?
And then when he attacked he had a small bottle of Sake in his robe. The only thing different was that his Robe thingy was blue. But other then that he was a splitting 2D image of Auron from Final Fantasy X. Same Weapon. Same Stance. Same Clothes. I guess it could have just been a coincidence but I don't know the ressemblance was uncanny...

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- The problem isn't relgion, the problem is religious tolerance -

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Auron is a Rip Off of another Character!

Moderator Edit

It's cute that you've become a complete troll, DP. I think maybe the comics have warped your mind. Post removed for inappropriate profanity and trolling. -R51

Edit

Actually, I haven't been able to get any of the new ones for a few weeks. As seen by this post, any kind of warping would be beneficial to you.

This post has been edited by Dark Paladin on 5th July 2005 04:52

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

Both characters are intended to be references to ronins - samurai without a master. Ronins would rest their arms in the very same way and were always accompanied by a jug of sake. Resting a large sword on one's shoulder is a common stance as well. I've never played Suikoden II (only Suikoden), but in Auron's case it's 'cause of the loss of Braska, his former "master". I believe I mentioned this same info in another topic a while back.

So rest easy - Auron's not a rip-off of Rikimaru. Or at least that's not indicated from your explanation.

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Yeah, they're just BOTH rip-offs of real-life characters!

Nah, I'm just kiddin'. But seriously, they're both supposed to be Ronin, and that's kinda what a Ronin generally looks llike, as Fork said.

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Distant hills wear a shroud of grey
A lonely breeze whispers in the trees
Sole witness to history

ICO-You were there-

Just because a character is similar to another doesn't necessarily mean it's a rip-off. Well, okay, things 'inspired by' other things could be rip-offs, but for one thing, if the creator(s) of Auron really were 'inspired by' Rikimari, they might actually be honoring Rikimari's character design. And if that's not the case, there are lots of character frames/stereotypes/categories/models already in existence; I mentioned in another thread that the 'caped villain' wasn't something started by Sephiroth, but reached back to Dracula. Most of us non-Japanese fans of the FF series might not recognize things like 'ronin' (including me; I had no clue what that was), but it's also natural for story-writers to base their characters on cultural elements they're familiar with, which makes it more likely coincidence that these two characters are so much alike.

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Quote (SilverFork @ 2nd July 2005 01:32)

Both characters are intended to be references to ronins - samurai without a master.

This is what I was going to say.

Similarities in characters from different games doesn't indicate that either is a "rip off" of the other.

Rikimaru is a bum you meet because he can't pay for his food. He loves to eat and he loves to fight, but he rarely discusses any greater aim in life. He seems generally downtrodden and out of place. To me, that seems like a typical background for a down on his luck former samurai.

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

And there are MANY characters that are similar because they follow the same stereotype, the most common being the NINJA. Ryu, Shadow, and many others look similar to the steriotypical "ninja" character of Western pop culture.

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The island bathes in the sun's bright rays
Distant hills wear a shroud of grey
A lonely breeze whispers in the trees
Sole witness to history

ICO-You were there-

Eevryone else said it first, but yeah, based off traditional character roles. At least you didn't say Barret from FFVII was a rip off of Auron, like my friend did.

::feels like being an ass::

Sephiroth is such a rip-off of Alucard, Folken, and Magus! And Folken and Magus are such rip-offs of Alucard, 'cause he came first!


Honestly, certain character design types are as common to Japanese Manga, Anime, and video games as trenchoat wearing folks are with Western media.

Anyway, here's Rikimaru and Auron. Sure there's some resemblances, but it's hardly a rip-off:

Rikimaru.
Auron.


An inspiration, perhaps? Maybe. But, hell, again, if we're going to call him a rip-off, we're going to have to take about half of all male Anime, Manga, and video game characters from Japan and label all of them rip-offs for having long, silver or white hair and fancy outfits. Alucard demands royalties, dammit!

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Where do you think most ideas stem from? Inspiration, baby!

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I've seen both pictures and it looks like a coincedence. Given the time between games I doubt SquareEnix will sink low enough to start ripping off other characters. Besides where is Rikimaru's booze hmm?

It's behind him in his robe honest to god. When he attacks in the game his robe lifts up and the Sake comes out. And he sits in a bar and drinks when he's not in your party. But I guess it could be just coincedance.

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- The problem isn't relgion, the problem is religious tolerance -

one time i saw this movie called ronin and it had nothing t do with samurais even though in the beggining it explained what a ronin was. it had robert deniro.

anyway, i don't think they're that similar, exept for the arm-not-in-sleeve thing

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Quote (kuetipo @ 1st August 2005 07:17)

one time i saw this movie called ronin and it had nothing t do with samurais even though in the beggining it explained what a ronin was. it had robert deniro.

It also had Jean Reno, who's friggin' awesome. But yeah, that movie didn't have anything to do with Samurai. At all. It was basically a modern crime movie set in Paris, if my memory serves.

Anyhow, you didn't need to revive such a long-dead thread for that observation, and I should probably be sent to the corner for feeding the trolls, but I'll weigh in. Auron and Rikimaru are ronin, and wielding long katanas and carrying a jug of sake around wherever you go are very ronin things to do. Nothing more.

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END SPOILER

Just to add: All characters are ripped off each other/some other source now a days. Expect it...

Quote (Spiffyness @ 3rd July 2005 13:49)

Ryu, Shadow, and many others look similar to the steriotypical "ninja" character of Western pop culture.

That's an interesting thing to say given that the characters you mentioned were from games developed in the Far East.

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But what I mean is that REAL ninjas vary greatly from the Western PERCEPTION of ninjas, and although the games were developed in the East, they still fall closer to the "western stereotype" than they do to the "actual ninja." The first 6 Final Fantasy games had a DISTINCT Western-Medieval setting, even though they were developed in the east, so why shouldn't they have western-view-ninjas? Since America is a huge market, there are a lot of games that are "made for us," so to speak.

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The island bathes in the sun's bright rays
Distant hills wear a shroud of grey
A lonely breeze whispers in the trees
Sole witness to history

ICO-You were there-