How one man stopped Square-Enix from letting gamers kill Yahweh

[Yggdrasil]

"The attempt to include overt references to Judeo-Christian figures in the classic role-playing game Xenogears caused a few translators to quit — they feared a violent backlash — and prompted a change in the name of the game's final boss, according to one of the people who brought the game to America." -- Kotaku.com

8-4 Play 4/22/2011: PROJECT CAFÉ OLÉ (starts around the 1:19:20 mark)

[cj_iwakura]

Pfft, we've been killing Yahweh in SMT for years.

[Ashtrot]

Probably why SMT didn't make it here until the PSX era, and even then it was horribly mangled.

[Dice]

Best not to mess with people and religion.  That shit has led to wars in the past.
I dunno... it's kinda hard NOT to offend some niche audience somewhere.  Some Christians probably would have hated the God Killing (especially the name, despite god being a... ... ...well, a bot[?] thing), some wouldn't give a damn given its a work of fiction and all that.  *shrug*

Name the last boss "Anus" and we all get a big laugh out of it.

[Tomara]

I dunno... it's kinda hard NOT to offend some niche audience somewhere.

It is. I've met someone who didn't want me to blog about Devil Survivor 2 on Sundays.

So... does that mean that it's okay to kill God on any other day of the week?

[Dincrest]

Name the last boss "Anus" and we all get a big laugh out of it.

Reminds me of when an old 'fanner mentioned how he renamed Griever to Your Ass so Ultimecia would say "I shall now junction myself unto Your Ass."

[Cyril]

Honestly, considering some of the subject matter in Xenogears, I'm amazed they hesitated with a name.

[Mym]

I actually thought that as far as Japanese games with religious content go, Xenogears was on the more lenient, balanced end of the spectrum. Many if not most JRPGs that present religion and divinity (Breath of Fire III, Grandia II, Tales of Destiny II, Takahashi's own Xenoblade...) have gods that are petty, flawed, controlling and ultimately antagonistic, and religions that are usually part of some nefarious scheme or another. Xenogears, on the other hand, contrasts its sham religion (the Ethos) with one that venerates a very real god and pretty much embodies all of the virtues that real religions preach (the Nisan sect). And though it has you kill a false god (Deus), it also has one that is shown to be both entirely real and entirely benevolent (the Wave Existence). The message of most JRPGs in regards to religion is "gods and religion are bad, and mankind doesn't need them", but Xenogears's is more like "religion isn't inherently bad, but venerating false gods and false religions can lead to catastrophe". Which is... pretty consistent with the teachings of most major religions out there.

Of course I'm not devoutly religious myself, so this is just an outsider's perspective, but I think if I were, Xenogears would be one of the few Japanese games that deals with religion that I'd actually be okay with. I think people just saw phrases like "kill God" and all the Judeo-Christian terminology and assumed it was much more blasphemous than it actually wound up being.

[MeshGearFox]

@Mym: Kato's stuff is based on Gnosticism, which has the conflict of an evil demiurge against the true god as a central theme or w/e so that makes sense.

I thought LoM handled religion in an interesting way, with the Mana Goddess being corrupted as a result of the peeps in the game using religion as an excuse to do wrong.

And then you have Dragon Warrior 7:

[Tomara]

Oh, yeah! He only wants to live in your town if it's a farmtown. Dragon Quest VII God hates towns filled with annoying religious people.

[Yggdrasil]

Dragon Quest VII Gods hates towns filled with annoying religious people.

That's... amazing.

[Tomara]

Even the guy who tracks your town's progress hates it:

Sim's Diary: "Page 250 - The city has grown bloated with clergy. The women that have been drawn to this town are so cold and demure. I went to the temple again this morning. It's become a part of my daily ritual. Every day, I pray for God to annihilate the religious zealots that now choke the roads of 'town name'. I pray that they all die suffering."

Well, he doesn't like the farm either, but atleast that version gets God's seal of approval.

[MeshGearFox]

Oh, yeah! He only wants to live in your town if it's a farmtown. Dragon Quest VII God hates towns filled with annoying religious people.

It makes sense though. If the town is religious they'll just be all HAY GOD HAY GOD HAY GOD HAY GOD HAY GOD HAY GOD HAY GOD HAY GOD HAY GOD BOTHER BOTHER BOTHER HAY GOD constantly.

[Der Jermeister]

Good article, for once.