Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-86.46.22.35-20130403153709/@comment-1672596-20150408020159

64.33.250.214 wrote: Final Fantasy, however, actually DOES deal with religious elements of various bits, not just Christianity, but also Buddhism, Judaism, Gnosticism. Heck, Final Fantasy XIII even included a bit of a reference to Deism as well.

And I know about the Solid Snake and Goliath bits in there. I'm the one who added them in. However, we still don't know if it's actually the case that Kojima named him after that. He has, after all, indicated that he named Solid Snake such as a reference to either 2001: A Space Odyssey or Policenauts. And in any case, considering the rather disgusting things in MGS2 and MGS3 especially with the Patriots in the former, I doubt Kojima has many good things to say about the Christian religion or about the Bible anyhow.

And actually, I'm saying that we don't know for sure if Eli and Liquid are the same thing. We also thought just because Kojima said so in TGS2009 that Liquid would actually have a major role in Peace Walker, maybe even find out how he went bad, yet when push came to shove, the only real reference to Liquid was in the secret call, with little suggesting what actually made him go bad. Heck, Kojima also indicated that Nixon's resignation would play a major role in Peace Walker, yet there was absolutely nothing to suggest Nixon resigning was even mentioned, directly or indirectly, in Peace Walker at all when it was released. Not to mention Kojima usually actually strongly hints if not outright states whether characters are either the same as prior characters or otherwise related to prior characters, like how he revealed Ocelot in MGS3, Naked Snake is Big Boss (all before the game was actually released), how Kazuhira Miller and Master Miller are one and the same, and strongly implied that Huey is Otacon's father in TGS2009, yet he hasn't done anything of the sort with Eli and Liquid. Use common sense, if Kojima really intended for Eli and Liquid to be one and the same, he would have revealed it by now, not keep quiet about it, especially considering that's exactly what he's done before with Kaz, Major Ocelot, Huey, and even Naked Snake being Big Boss.

Final Fantasy doesn't deal with mainstream religion besides using it as a point of reference. Final Fantasy Tactics and FFX dealt with fictional religions inspired by real ones. They did not, to my knowledge, base characters after Judeo-Christian prophets. There are images and names of Biblical characters, like the Leviathan Summon, but they are not essential. Many Japanese games have alluded to other religion without actually making them central to the plot.

If you don't believe Kojima was intentionally referencing Biblical characters with names like David and Goliath, then why did you write that on their respective Wiki pages? That's like me writing that Solid Snake is named David after David Duchovny from the X-Files, simply because the franchise has dealt with the paranormal.

Drawing inspiration from Biblical stories doesn't mean Kojima is necessarily endorsing Christianity. Perhaps he finds those stories relatable and relevant to struggles humans face. The battle between David and Goliath is a famous war story. Metal Gear deals largely with the subject of war, how soldiers confront it, and how the aftermath effects them.

Liquid isn't confirmed to be Eli, but there is overwhelming evidence. You keep bringing up that Kojima spoiled Ocelot, Big Boss, Miller, and Huey. Are these the only examples you've got? We all know Kojima kept Raiden a secret, but what about Solidus and Liquid's Arm? Did he spoil that Gray Fox and Olga were the Cyborg Ninjas, or that The Sorrow and The Boss were Ocelot's parents? It seems like to me that Kojima has kept more things secret than he has revealed. Largely because the name "David" was first used with King David, and Goliath was first used in the Bible and is the most common source material. And as you said, most Japanese games alluded to other religions without making them central to the plot. It's the same deal here.

And as far as your examples, 1. Most of that was before MGS2 (in fact, if I recall correctly, the backlash regarding Raiden replacing Snake was actually quite horrible, especially after Kojima went as far as to replace actual gameplay footage of Raiden with Snake just to sell the act that we'd play as Solid Snake again), and 2., regarding The Boss and The Sorrow's familial ties to Ocelot, he actually DID reveal it in an interview.

And for the record, FFX, FF:Tactics, and the like actually DID base several things on actual Christian prophets and even the Messiah, albeit in a very blasphemous way (Final Fantasy X had the religion of Yu Yevon, which was a pretty obvious dig at Roman Catholicism. And Final Fantasy Tactics had a bastardization of Jesus's crucifixion, with even the implication that the "Jesus" character was actually closer to the anti-Christ, and also the Judas-type character actually going against him for more noble reasons).