Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-86.46.22.35-20130403153709/@comment-64.33.250.214-20150408043516

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). Yeah, but you're denying that Kojima is even alluding to Bible. So why add it to the Wiki entry if you don't think he intended it as a reference?

Did Kojima in an interview say that Solidus was in the game, before the game released, or that Cyborg Ninja was Olga? Because the trailers don't spoil anything. Also, you didn't specify whether Kojima revealed Ocelot's parentage before or after MGS3's release. If you can direct us to an article, that would help your case.

Reread what I said. Yevon was a fictional religion, very vaguely based on real religions. Not a direct reference. What I'm talking about is literally naming characters after real-world religions, having their backstories allude to those religions, and making them integral to the plot. Like naming characters Ezekiel or Isaiah, who have prophetic powers, or flat-out putting Jesus in a game.

David, Eli, and Ishmael, are names that originate from the Bible. Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick, based Ishmael on the Biblical character. Kojima would know this.