My absolute favorite thing about Xenogears is the inconquerable mass of references to religion, literature, film, and other inspirations. While every other aspect of the game was enjoyable, the initially intriguing plot fell apart in the end, the fighting could get tiresome, and the graphics and general atmosphere were astounding at their best but extremely bland at their worst. However, the numerous references always kept it interesting, and it made me feel special to notice some of the more subtle ones.
Here's a partial list. It's by no means complete, and I left out a great many minor Biblical references and namechecks because it would be extroardinarily long if I left them in. However, any contributions with more substance than just weird names being used without significance would be appreciated. Later note: I've added a lot of namechecks and random ones because I like them. I also haven't assimiliated much from online lists because there's really too many, and I wouldn't have noticed most by myself. I will make this more complete eventually (through simultaneously replaying the game and research, probably), and contributions would be appreciated
It's alphabetized by what is referred to, not by what refers to it in the game (mostly). There are SPOILERS AHEAD. You've been warned.
- Babel - The tower that must be used to reach the city of Shevat is named after the Biblical tower that was intended to reach God.
- Balthazar - The old scientist is named after one of the three wise men present at Jesus' birth.
- Calamity - This evil, white version of Seibzehn is named after the evil, white version of the title mech from the original Giant Robo series.
- Cain - The Emperor of Solaris is named after the Biblical murderer.
- Captain Harlock - Emeralda may be named after the character of the same name from this classic anime. (Or the name might've been chosen randomly because she has green hair)
- Catholicism - The Ethos, an organized religion that is actually a front for nefarious activities, has as their emblem a cross with horns atop it. Their uniforms, buildings, and other trappings of ceremony strongly resemble Catholicism's.
Emeralda's Gear is named Crescens, after a Catholic saint who was martyred under Trajan.
- Darth Vader - Grahf is a mysterious masked man who attempts to get Fei to join him. He is thought to have killed Fei's father, Khan... but it's not that simple.
- Deadlock - the exploding collars that are placed on prisoners in Nortune's D-Block prison are based on those in this Rutger Hauer film.
- Deus - The true name of the enormous computer/weapon/machine that impersonated God is, in fact, Latin for "god".
- Dora - Aveh's enormous artillery Gear is named after Dora, the world's largest railway gun.
- Eldridge - The starship carrying Deus and Zohar is probably named after the USS Eldridge, supposedly involved in the Philadelphia Experiment. It sounds appropriately similar to the word "eldritch".
- Fatima - Bart's family name could refer to Muhammad's daughter, or to the Portuguese town where the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared.
- Freud - A violent, repressed element of Fei's personality has named itself Id.
- GaoGaiGar - When the Elements combine their Gears into a large robot, the combination sequence is very reminiscent of the one from this anime, right down to the spinning fists, the purple tornado surrounding them as they combine, and the lion's head on its chest. It could be referring to super robot anime in general, but I think it's supposed to be like GGG.
Also, Calamity and Seibzehn have a "rocket punch" attack that is particularly reminiscent of GaoGaiGar's "Broken Magnum".
- Giant Robo - the Gear named Seibzehn (German for "seventeen") strongly resembles the redesigned, modernized title mech from the Giant Robo OVA of the 90s.
- Gundam - At one point in the game, some Gears are launched from an underground dock in Bledavik - the catapult mechanism that launches them, and the camerawork in this scene, are clearly based on the omnipresent mobile suit launching scenes in the original Mobile Suit Gundam
Also, the Hatamoto, an enemy Gear encountered in the Kislev Battling and the Underground Base, looks like a Gelgoog from Gundam, right down to the double-bladed naginata.
Your characters' Gears' ability to change into a more powerful "Hyper Mode" may be a reference to G-Gundam, or just a generic anime reference.
And when Grahf shows up in his Gear, the mech almost always assumes the crossed-arm position characteristic of the Master Gundam from G-Gundam.
- Jesus Christ - The first thing ever said in the game is "I Am Alpha and Omega...."
- Jewish Calendar
- Kislev - The northern of the nations involved in the game's initial conflict is named after the third month.
- Shevat - The not-so-evil, sky-dwelling empire is named after the fifth month.
- Nisan - The peaceful cathedral-centered town is named after the seventh month.
- Tammuz - The floating city of Thames could be intended to be this name of the tenth month, but the Japanese spelling is ambiguous.
- Aveh - The southern of the nations involved in the game's initial conflict is an alternate or incorrect spelling of Av, the eleventh month.
- Jung - "Animus" and "Anima" are used as terms for a man and woman who have been reincarnated many times throughout the world's history and who are somehow spiritually linked to each other and to Deus... it's used in an incorrect, incoherent way, but it's a reference.
- Krelian - This immortal representative of Solaris' rulers to its public might be named after the apparantly sinister Karellen, the representative of the alien Overlords in Arthur C. Clarke's "Guardian Angel" and "Childhood's End".
- Languages
- Neon Genesis Evangelion - In both, the characters pilot giant robots and fight "Angels". In both, the protagonist is very good at fighting but hates to fight. In both, There's lots of heavy-handed symbolism and weird religious references, and the ending doesn't make much sense. One could go on and on about it...
Thanks to J. Parish of toastyfrog.com for a hilarious article on this that he did a long time ago...
- Norse mythology, miscellaneous
- Andvari - Bart's Omnigear is named after this ring-guarding, ring-cursing dwarf.
- Fenrir - Citan's Omnigear is named after the enormous wolf which will participate in Ragnarok.
- Heimdal - Citan's first gear is named after the sentinel god and enemy of Loki.
- Thor - The Weltall II's "Thor wave" weapon is named after the god of thunder.
- Sigurd - Bart's old friend and protector is named after the guy who killed Fafnir and took his treasure.
- Ramses II - Egotistical general Kahran Ramsus is probably named after this pharaoh.
- Sentai - The Elements are surely such a "task force" or "super team", since they are color-coded and pilot animal Gears that combine into one robot, both hallmarks of this Japanese television genre.
- Soylent Green - The Soylent System on Solaris recycles the remains of Solaris' biological experiments into food for the people.
- Star Wars - The makers of Xenogears started in the middle of a longer story. Xenogears is actually "Episode V".
- Super Dimensional Fortress Macross - When the Yggdrasil combines with the core building of the city of Nortune, which then takes flight, it strongly resembles the SDF-1 from Macross - and it then transforms into an enormous robot, which is immediately subtitled as "Super Dimensional Gear Yggdrasil IV".
- Solaris - the evil, sky-dwelling empire is probably named after the novel Solaris by Stanislaw Lem.
- Thames - The seagoing ship-city is named after the English river, for some reason. Also possibly intended to be Tammuz; see "Jewish Calendar" above.
- Ourobouros - The "Urubolus Ring", a phenomenon occuring in some characters' genetic sequences, is named after the world-encircling serpent.
- Yggdrasil - the mile-long desert/underwater/air vehicle is named after the World Tree of Norse mythology.
- Zeboim - The Zeboim Era in the game's history is roughly equivalent to the 20th/21st century. It's named after one of the cities of Sodom.
- Zohar - The monolith that powers Deus and has influenced human history is named after a Jewish cabalistic book. The fact that it's a big buried monolith is probably a reference to 2001, too.
A few from Heaven Can Wait ( http://www.mancer.net/xeno/ ). And, of course, a lot of Googling.