if i remember correctly they originaly made FF to be a last ditch effort to save their company, they decided on a game model that they hoped would be able to compete with Dragon Quest, both series' highly steeped in D&D but with much less focus on manual stat manipulation, and yes Square likes to pay tribute to Star Wars too but if i remember correctly the Star Wars referances didn't begin untill FFIII... Star Wars referances can also be found in the Chrono series, Biggs, Wedge, & Piete with Biggs translated incorrectly on the first release of CT as Vicks, for example, Square loves them some Star Wars...