I second this. Of course, the Stockyards suddenly becomes a much longer level if you include that ball-aching secret area with the scrab run.

Fleeches in stockyard, now that's vicious enough ;p

I'd like to see Abe return to Rupture farms from Stockyard then through sewers instead of a simple bird portal, a new short zone maybe... just an idea

Sewers are far too cliché.

Still, making that area longer/perhaps adding new parts that weren't seen when you first went through that area seems like a good idea.

Maybe instead of sewers he could crawl in through the air vents. Or the sewer... vents.

I always liked how you passed places you had already been on your way back. What irked me more is how there's just a random hole in the side of the factory with Mudokon writing on the stone walls, fenced off by nothing but an electric fence. And there's a Mudokon working on the outside of it. Then once you save him the fence goes off. It makes no sense, never did.

As a part of getting back in to save your buddies you should at least have to go trough some trouble to turn that fence off. Maybe deal with some sligs guarding the entrance and pull a lever to turn it off.

Having rocks in a metal factory is out of place any way imo. Havoc brings up a good point, perhaps the entry could have a little more realistic screen.

I disagree. I absolutely love that part of the game. It reminds me of the 'secret' rooms in Portal with the writing on the walls from the trapped test subjects.

I like that part as well. If you go to the screen with the rock art when you escape Rupture Farms, I think it's nice how it kind of gives you an idea of what's to come. I think it's a nice touch.

Also, sometime I had thought about the return to RF being longer. What if the bird portal that would normally take you there took you closer to the Stockyards? I imagine Abe wouldn't originally have returned through the Stockyards because of how the sky looked in those screens. If he returned through the Stockyards, the sky could remain dark. Maybe throw some Paramites in there too... Just a thought. Though I'm not sure how well Paramites would work in that area.

This. Take note of this, Glitch. That could potentially be a great bit of the game!

I personally assumed that it implied the factory was built over some kind of Mudokon structure, possibly a cave system. It’s mostly sealed off but perhaps construction hadn’t got round to cementing every last hole.

And I agree with the other guys, it’s a nice hint as to what lies outside RuptureFarms, and perhaps even a hint that the Cartel isn’t as almighty as it first seems.

Oh hey that first idea is actually quite interesting, I've never thought of that.

here's an idea had a long time ago, On the return to RF, I want to see Wanted: Abe posters everywhere, even Sligs holding them.

Really? I mean what else could it have been? Did you really think there was just a random rock face sitting inside RuptureFarms? :p

I say keep it, but perhaps make the transition from nature to industry more than one screen. Maybe Abe teleports into one of these subterranean caves and enters RuptureFarms from below. I like the idea that RF was built near or directly on-top of Mudokon territory.

To be honest I thought it was a plot hole Sekto.

Or maybe there's an entrance to the cave in the Monsaic Lines. Abe enters the cave, travels through it, and ends up in the part of Rupture Farms where the rocks are.

That would cut out the return through the Free-Fire Zone, which was a pretty memorable challenge.

To be honest, I thought it was a plot hole as well, and just tried to rationalize it as intentional. I do love that screen so.

See, that's a good way of expanding the return to RF through the stockyards. Maybe make some ruins in there too, perhaps a puzzle or two to solve in order to get back. It would add contrast, and further show how down-trodden the natives are. And it would be less cliche than a sewer or a vent.

The Stockyards give the impression that Monsaic Lines are quite a distance away from RF. Unless it was a big level, the caves wouldn't give the same impression - Plus going through the stockyards, a way that you already went through, gives it more of a feeling that you're infiltrating RF.

Are you suggesting that the entrance to the Monsaic Lines was right next to the outer wall of the stockyards? I always assumed that Bigface transported Abe, in addition to healing him.

I don't really see how it could have been a "plot hole". Since a lot of planning and effort goes into every individual screen, it would have to have been an extremely intentional plot hole.

Wait, did I miss something? He was suggesting that Monsaic Lines is in fact far from RuptureFarms. Not so much suggesting as outright stating. But yes, I got the same impression that Abe was teleported. The map also confirms that Monsaic Lines is a respectable distance. Paramonia is even closer.

http://oddworldlibrary.net/archives/...O/RAMO0187.jpg

The way I interpreted his post was that he was saying that the Stockyards are a long and difficult level in order to express the distance travelled between Rupturefarms proper and the Monsaic Lines.


Whilst we're actually in agreement on the broader point, the map is the last place we should look for canonical information. Oddworld isn't even a water planet.

Ah yes, I forgot just how flexible Oddworld's canon tends to be.
As for it not being a "water planet", I guess that's the only way to rationalize it's 10x surface area. Could a planet lacking that much water sustain as much life as it does?

You wouldn't need any less water for a planet to have ten times the surface area, although it would help if you were just counting land surface area. Maybe that's what Lorne's doing but he hasn't worded it well.

That version of the map is old... Paramonia is farther away from Rupture Farms on the map in the art book.

I never got the impression that Abe was teleported anywhere, I presumed monsaic lines was relatively close to the free-fire zone. As much as I like the idea that Rupture Farms was built on top of Mudokon territory we don't know that for sure, although that would be a cool thing to implement into the game. I like the idea of Abe's re-entry being a bit more grand, and more of a transition from Rocks to factory. It would make a heck of a load more sense in my head if that happened. He could re-enter through one of those 'condemned' doors or something after making his way back in, rather than just turning off an electric door thing.

Golly all this brainstorming is making me excited about the re-release of my favorite blue guy!

Also the boardroom should be much much harder. It is relatively easy to complete, even for a player that isn't that good at Abe.

Says you. That area was murder on me the first time I played it. Especially without Quicksave.

The return to RF is by miles the hardest bit of Oddysee. I get so stressed out when I play it.

I still find AO and AE really hard to complete, There is always parts where I get stuck on, no matter how good I've gotten at the games

I gotta say, I've been playing AE again lately (Thanks Crashpunk) and I had to redo extremely little up until now. I rushed trough Necrum and the vaults in record time and I hate those levels. The only part that fucked me up good a couple dozen times were the falling boxes in the Bonewerkz and the Glukkon run there.

What if the cave entrance was at the end of the Stockyards? This could make returning to Rupture Farms slightly longer or much longer depending on how long we want it.

Compared to other area's of the game, e.g Stockyard Return, it's not that bad at all.

I too always got the impression that Big Face teleported Abe away from the stockyards, in the same way that he suddenly teleports to where Abe is being held captive by Molluck at the end of the game (good ending).

I imagine Rupturefarms being a bit isolated in terms of its surroundings. Glukkons love to monopolise, so I think if there were any other factories/villages/Mudokon caves directly outside the RF walls, Molluck would have bought them out, destroyed them, or sent out sligs to capture the natives and put them to work in RF.

I just can't imagine Molluck happy to leave Mudokons to go about their business so close to his empire. He wouldn't want anyone interfering with his business plans. You could of course say that maybe the caves are unknown to him, but that would eliminate being able to have the cave connect directly to the factory. Surely it would have been investigated for potential threats if this were the case?

Aren't all the Cartel's companies in the middle of nowhere? Nobody is meant to venture outside (Especally the Mudokons) That's why they have FeeCo trains going to and from.

I'll love to see a secret where you can see the FeeCo platform for Rupture Farms and a train stationed there.

The explanation for Rupturefarms being out in the middle of nowhere was that, in the grand scheme of things, that particular factory was little more than a third world outpost. Molluck was a big shot compared to the rest of the local businesses, but was a small fry in the bigger picture.

I imagine all the industrial buildings in AE are surrounded by desert for similar reasons.

I always assumed that Rupture Farm's viscinity to the Monsaic Lines and Paramonia/Scrabania was due to them having to get their livestock from there, so they forcefully made a patch of land their own. Probably for storytelling purposes as well; literally encroaching more and more on the native's lands with each passing day, hence the Sligs in the lands and the temples.

I also thought that SoulStorm Brewery was build there due to its viscinity to Necrum, with everything else just following suit. FeeCo is probably in a central location, which might happen to be in the middle of a desert. Was always the way I saw it, anyway.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, but yes, it seemed like Abe's return should have been more grand. I remember first playing, seeing the Shrykull cutscene and being like, "YEAH! THE POWER TO FIGHT BACK!" - but then having to use it while still in the Monsaic Lines, and never getting to use it in the Stockyards... and very little in Rupture Farms for that matter. Basically, more of a 'the saviour has come!' mood might have been expected?

Rupture Farms was the biggest meat processing plant on Oddworld. How did we get from that to it being nothing more than a third world outpost?

It's big. That doesn't mean it's good.

Alternately, Abe could be misinformed and/or ignorant.

Now you're just twisting things to match the theory. Canon established well enough that RF was the biggest meat factory on Oddworld. There's little room for speculation there. But let's untangle a few things just to be sure.

http://nomnom.info/wp-content/upload..._billboard.jpg

To me it always made sense that Rupture Farms was built in the direct vicinity of Paramonia and Scrabania. It's where they got their lifestock and the slig presence in both areas indicates that Rupture Farms has a firm grasp there. If RF is indeed in the middle of nowhere then the picture above has to show nothing but factory buildings attached to Rupture Farms. Those buildings go on for miles, it easily supports Abe's claim that it's the biggest factory on Oddworld.

Considering those buildings stretch on for miles, did anyone else think that while playing through the stockyard escape level, the transition from industrial land to natural (if heavily encroached-on and patrolled) land was a little too quick? It's smooth enough, but the actual "stockyards" seem to only be 6 screens across.

However maybe those 6 screens do their job to give you your first, terrifying glance at scrabs in the shadows, without being able to see them clearly, and before you really know what they are. I do feel that this area could be expanded upon though - Maybe an area where you have to cross some paramite pens too.

Also, I patched together the first 7 screens of Stockyards - Something I don't think has been done before (unless I'm mistaken). Wow, this game is pretty.

I always felt the stockyard portion of that level should have been much longer. However, I'm not really sure how you could lengthen it without it getting tedious. I suppose you could add a lengthy scrab or paramite run, or perhaps integrate the secret area into the main path as opposed to making it a secret.

I always felt like I was out of the main industrial area once I hit the stockyards. I don't imagine anyone would want to live/work near scrabs. I just assumed the barrel ride took me a reasonably long way.

That stockyard montage is interesting to see. The background walkway and any kind of industrialisation just stops so abruptly. That should definitely be addressed.

Biggest meat processing plant, not biggest factory. It's possible that meat processing plants don't generally get built very large; they would be built, wipe out the local wildlife, then shut down and move elsewhere. It's also likely that the largest meat processing plant would be built out in the middle of nowhere, but close to populations of scrab and paramite.

Frankly, I really doubt Abe's claims about it being the biggest meat processing plant on the planet. Given the size of Oddworld and the poor quality of the communication channels (especially for slaves), how on earth would he know about any factories outside his immediate region, let alone beyond Mudos?

In any case, we have it on Lorne's authority that the Abe games exist in the equivalent of the third world.

I never noticed the rainbow pattern before. That is pretty.