Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-86.46.22.35-20130403153709/@comment-64.33.250.214-20150704215526

TheGentlemanGhost wrote: You're turning anthills into mountains if you really think them putting a custom character in the game is such an obsticle to put into canon. It's seriously no different than them adding Quiet or Skull Face into TPP, it's new character and that's about it. They are both playing some key roles yet we NEVER heard of them until now, what really makes a custom character any different???

I'm very aware of Kojima using Biblical references for names but the previews have stated that their are multiple Moby Dick references. Besides Ishmael, him calling BB Ahab, the whale, and knowing Kojima called his fake studio Moby Dick, the helicopter is apparently called Pequod. So I think it's pretty safe to say the he's going for intentional Moby Dick references throughout the first sequence of the game.

Ishmael can be just as much story as game-play and they've had the previewers keep quiet about him. It's pretty much all proven that they're keeping the customization secret since multiple journalist have removed their references to it. An incomplete customization feature pops up in story mode, yet no one is allowed to mention it.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this but it's also confirmed that we will be able to play as our DD soldiers on missions instead of BB. So if Ishmael is a part of DD and our custom character, then we can also choose to deploy and play as him in missions. Used differently from buddies. I'm assuming that's how the GZ characters we extracted and transfer over into TPP are used as as well. But I wouldn't down play the buddies, they seem VERY vital judging from the previews. People took Kojima's "they don't affect the main story" quote all wrong imo. It didn't mean they don't offer anything relevent it just meant the game will end the same no matter what. But we've seen multiple cut scenes with Quiet involved, so I'd assume they definitely can add to the story. I explained why it would be difficult to make a custom character canon, and it has nothing to do with being a new character. The issue is making sense storywise of a character you can't describe, because each player can drastically change their appearance. Quiet and Skull Face are entirely different stories. You can identify them by physical traits, and by mannerisms and how they interact with other characters. In games that give you customization options, you're able to decide how the story ends via multiple endings.

How would Phantom Pain incorporate similar customization, allowing your own personalized character to engage the plot, without it effecting canon? Nothing like this has ever been done before in MGS, and for a good reason. Kojima has always attempted to keep the story tight-knit, which has proved such a difficult task at times that it's required retcons. Now imagine throwing a character with indefinable traits into key missions and scenes with Big Boss.

Kojima has been known to use names that has multiple interpretations. For example, he acknowledged that Diamond Dogs was named after the David Bowie album and song, as well as African blood diamonds. Solid was named David after the character in 2001: A Space Odyssey. David and Eli are also the names of brothers in the Bible, which was one of the earliest clues that Eli is Liquid. "Eli's Coming" is the name of a famous song from the 70s by Three Dog Night. Other 70s songs have been used or referenced in MGS, such as "The Man Who Sold the World", "Diamond Dogs", and "Here's to You". If it wasn't intentional, then it's a huge coincidence that Eli shares the same name as the title of a popular 70s song. The band name "Three Dog Night" is a perfect parallel to Diamond Dogs and the three clones.

Considering the mulitple-meanings behind names in the franchise, it's possible Ishmael is named after both the Moby Dick character and the Bible character. In fact, the author of Moby Dick named Ishmael and Ahab after the Bible characters. It would be unwise to ignore the symbolic importance behind Ishmael's name. The reason some theorists suspect Ishmael is a major and possibly returning character is because of the biblical allegories.

The previewers were ordered to keep quiet about a lot of things, especially pertaining to the story. I fail to see how a fully customizable can be relevant to the story, and be shown in cutscenes, without it potentially negatively effecting the plot.

Here's a list of questions: Who's going to voice the characters in cutscenes? Are we to believe Ishmael will have no voice acting outside the hospital? Why use an actor like Keifer if Ishmael was meant to represent the player? What about characters who want female customization?

It's not clear at this point what missions DD soldiers will be used for. Some say it's for Side Ops only, and not main story missions. The DD soldiers briefly shown in the demo go by code names like "Sadistic Kitten". Ishmael is a name like Eli or David, not like Venom Snake. If you can miss Support Buddies entirely, then they don't offer anything crucial to the plot. Their stories may be able to add some clarity or fill in gaps, but the main story wont depend on them.