Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-86.46.22.35-20130403153709/@comment-64.33.250.214-20150411075016

Weedle McHairybug wrote: I'd respond, but then it would detract from the topic. I will mention this, though: Kojima ALSO cited John Carpenter and other film makers/films as inspirations for the Metal Gear series. In fact, he's pretty much influenced by movies overall.

And exactly how is Kazuhira Miller obvious? Before the game came out, heck, before Kojima even revealed they were the same character, people thought he may have been Master Miller's dad, NOT Master Miller himself (and even in the actual game, it wasn't really made clear that he and Master were the same person until the second ending timeline), and even afterwards some people still thought Miller was Master Miller's dad until possibly getting the second ending (just look at some topics on MGSForums and GameFAQs if you don't believe me). Don't forget, before Peace Walker, Master Miller had a completely different backstory, not to mention a completely different name (it was McDonell Benedict Miller, something that was even stated in Metal Gear Solid, The Twin Snakes, heck, even Metal Gear Solid 4 via the flashbacks), so yes, revealing Kazuhira Miller is the same as Master Miller is indeed a pretty huge spoiler, even if you give the argument that Ocelot and Huey were obvious from the get-go.

And as far as Eli, had they wanted to avoid spoiling a plot twist relating to LET, heck, even any hints that other LET children like Solidus and Solid Snake were going to be involved, they wouldn't have even MENTIONED the fact that Les Enfants Terribles was shut down in 1976 in the ending timeline of Ground Zeroes, period. And besides, do I really need to remind you that Liquid Snake would most likely have needed to go to military school during that time? I could buy his going to Afghanistan and the Middle East, but NOT to Africa, especially when AFAIK there wasn't anything during that time where the British entered conflict (most if not all of the British colonies in Africa pretty much declared and won independence anyhow). I might as well also remind you that around the time that The Phantom Pain was first advertised as a different IP from Kojima Productions, Kojima indicated that he was planning on redoing the whole MGS2 plot twist (and considering how far too many people managed to predict his stunt, some of which he even dropped a lot of hints on Twitter, I really doubt the faked IP was what he had in mind). And no, this wouldn't be a similar switcheroo. What would be a similar switcheroo would be constantly advertising Big Boss to be the playable character, only to reveal last minute that he was actually someone else. We barely even got much indication on Eli right now, which is another significant difference with a distinction (heck, they haven't even released any information on who his English voice actor is going to be). The only thing it MIGHT be similar to is the plot twist that Paz was a Cipher agent in Peace Walker, something that aside from a brief bit of dialogue with Miller in Chapter 2, there was literally no hint at Paz not being what she claimed she was, or to Armstrong, who BTW was actually so secret that not even the official website for Rising ever covered him (in fact, the only hints to his existence prior to the game's release was a WarOnOurShores viral video, a poster posted at Zavvi of Snake Soup's high school, and a leaked trophy/achievement list).

Anyways, for the topic, like I said three times by now, I doubt Ishmael is an illusion, but we do need to find out his identity soon. Kojima has indeed cited many famous film directors as influences. However, Kubrick's filmography as a whole seem to have the most references in the franchise, compared to other famous directors who inspired the franchise.

Otacon wasn't even born during Peace Walker's timeline, making it far less likely for him to have been Huey. Miller, on the other hand, was old enough to have been around during that time. Even without knowing Miller's birthday, he was clearly older than the clones, having been an instructor to Solid, who was conceived in 1972. His character model looks younger than his portrait from MGS1 as well, though it's difficult to completely discern age through a drawing. It may not have been obvious to some people that Miller in PW was the original Miller, but evidence was there.

LET is not a spoiler. It has been a plot element since MGS1, and is mentioned in nearly every game. If it were revealed before release that Liquid is Eli, it could tip off the fans that LET may take on a central role in PP's story. As it stands, Kojima has left enough to keep us guessing, while heavily hinting at Eli being Liquid.

Liquid's Wikia entry doesn't mention anything about military school. All it says is that he entered SAS at 18. Standard training isn't exactly The Patriot's MO. The Patriots could have given Liquid special training (imagine a retro style of VR Missions), or perhaps they sent him into Africa with little training in order to test his natural adaptability to new environments. Like putting a rat in a maze and seeing if it can find the cheese. Liquid did say that they used him as a guinea pig.

In what way did Kojima imply that he was going to do the same plot twist as in MGS2? When the first trailers for Phantom Pain were released, a lot of people (myself including) were predicting that it was a teaser for MGSV. The words "Metal Gear Solid V" were even hidden in the word title for Phantom Pain. There's little to indicate that the first trailer for PP was intended as an entirely new property. Kojima did a similar kind of publicity stunt with PT, which players had to complete in order to reveal that it was actually a teaser for a new Silent Hill game.

Note that I said SIMILAR switcheroo, and not SAME switcheroo. Implying that Eli is Liquid in the trailers, then having him turn out to be some random newbie, is SIMILAR to showing Solid in MGS2 trailer, and finding out he was replaced by a totally unrelated blonde guy. No, it's not the same situation, but there are similarities. I feel confident in saying it's implied that Liquid is Eli. He's roughly the same age Liquid would be, he's blonde, has an aversion to shirts, and is wearing JACKAL TEETH (Jackals being the animals Liquid said he hunted).

If you look up Phantom Pain on IMDB, a young British actor is listed as the voice for Eli.

Paz working for Cipher is a plot twist similar to Ocelot working for The Patriots in previous games. A better comparison would be if Paz had been teased as possibly being Sniper Wolf in Peace Walker trailers. Rising was created under a different development team, with Kojima only listed as a supervisor. Kojima also had minor involvement with Portable Ops. However, he has put distance between himself and those projects, as they are not truly his own directed works.

Much of this relates to the topic of Ishmael. It shows that Kojima has left some things in the dark before, and is entirely capable of doing so. He has left clues, albethey scant, concerning Ishmael's identity. Although you don't personally see a connection, I believe the clues are in the character's name. Where I disagree with you, is in the suggestion that we need to decipher his true identity before the game releases. My original point was to stress that the hallucination theory is not as sound as others have claimed. As long as we're in agreement there, then I don't feel the need to convince you of my own theories regarding who Ishmael really is.