JAW is building the games but as far as I know, Lorne is still overlooking and actively doing the art direction. It's his vision they are rebuilding, I doubt he would let it be done in a way that doesn't completely satisfy him. MO is a good example of this. The gameplay and ingame art sucked big time, but the FMV's had the same high quality and attention to detail we're used to from the first two games. This is because Lorne is first and foremost a story teller. The story is told primarily trough the FMV's so it makes sense Lorne puts the most effort into making those look as good as possible.

TL;DR: As long as Lorne is overlooking any new FMV's we have nothing to worry about.

I don't really take anything for granted though. Capable hands or not, they explicitly asked for my opinion and I gave it.

When you take the wells to Scrabania and Paramonia, maybe there could be a transition into some speedy landscape going by before the screen ripples/fades/whatevers into the vision cutscenes. The speedy landscape could then resume at a latter point briefly before coming to a halt ready for Abe to exit the well into the scene.

I don't know if that makes sense. I can see it in my head.

+1. I liked how vocally quiet Abe's Oddysee was. Just the machine noises in the background and subtle environment music and abe's footsteps was all I think it needed.

The best thing in Abe was Shrykkul...

I think the Sligs having mindless conversation would be good. They can have conversation without humanising them, as long as they appear either very stupid or rotten to the core. Make it reflect their sadistic nature, and have them tell crappy jokes and stuff. With the right dialogue they'll seem even more inhuman than they did before. The Super-Mutants in Fallout 3 had some mindless chatter which made them a little more believable, without generating much sympathy for them, so it can work.

Also, I sort of agree with Sekto - somewhat scripted animal deaths could add to their brutality. Maybe not to that extent, but certainly having several different ways of being mauled by a slog after being taken down could be quite entertaining. Think when you're killed by Necromorphs in Dead Space.

I dunno if I'd like sligs talking. Maybe beating up a mud together and laughing, but no conversations. Like has been said, it will get repetative really fast. Once you hear the exact same line more than once the depth is gone and you realize you're playing a game. That sucks IMO. Do it right (one unique line per slig per event or something) or don't do it at all.

Maybe just an occasional "aye" or BS on passing.

You do have a point. There'd have to be either a lot of lines or good situational dialogue. Or else...

"What's going on with you?"
"I ran into a couple of Fleeches not long ago. Annoying creatures..."
"Well, at least they're slow - and not too bright! Their tongues are sticky, though..."
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye."

You'll know the reference if you've played the game :p

MOD EDIT: This and the next few posts (up until my one) were mistakenly posted in the Dev Question thread.

One subtle touch I thought would be good for the Free Fire Zone would be to have the loin cloths of the impaled mudokons flailing in the wind. I can't be arsed to think of anything more detailed right now.

Its always kinda bugged me the way that almost every enslaved mudoken is knelt down scrubbing the floor. I reckon it'd be good if we saw the mudokens doing other jobs like operating floor cleaners (like the ones Abe uses in the first cut scene in Oddysee) or maybe see them carrying crates or even polishing a sligs legs? even if they were just scrubbing something else like a wall or some machinary.

If you remember at the start of Rupture farms theres a single Mudoken wiping a wall why cant we have more slaves like him ?

AWESOME!

I love that idea!

If they put a paramite or 2 in the background of the Free Fire Zone I will be happy.

I like that idea SS.

I think it'd be nice if the Stockyards were a bit longer and more vast, showing more creatures than Scrabs, as Phylum suggested with the Paramites. It doesn't have to be live creatures, possibly carcasses of things Glukkons forgot to feed. I love the Stockyard Escape, and I'd love to see what more can be done to it. :D

Definitely agree with this.

"SS" huh? That takes me back.
Sorry, I had a bit of a derp moment. I was seriously minutes from passing out tired when I wrote that post. Oh well, out fastidious super mod is on the job to keep my sloppiness in line.

Anyway, I second adding more variation to the Mudokons' tasks.

I also remember someone mentioning graffiti before. I'd love if there was a greater abundance of anti-Magog graffiti. Perhaps the words "hero" or "savior" spray-painted on some of Abe's wanted posters.
Inversely, the RF staff should respond to this increasingly rebellious behavior. Upon returning to RuptureFarms, you found how much they beefed up security. As if the excess of hovering mines and death traps wasn't enough, perhaps the sligs put up graffiti of their own. Signs that say "turn back". Or maybe even a burning effigy of Abe covered in his wanted posters, strung up between the impaling posts in the Free Fire Zone. :p

However, this implies that they assumed Abe would be coming back, and that he would somehow pose a threat. So maybe not. Just a thought.

You're still SS, though.


EDIT: also, good God; your first post is terrible.

I dunno about other jobs... cleaning floor and wiping wall (eventually hitting them with head) are the most climatic jobs they can do

I think we all agree with Phylum there. We've wanted paramite in stockyards in the real game for years now.

I would love to see what Paramites and Scrabs are like with each other. You could open a door letting a Scrab into a Paramite room/cage/thing. You could make it into a achievement as well.

I don't mean in gameplay. I just want one in the background.

I like how everyone keeps saying to keep the atmosphere, but can't explain what exactly the atmosphere is.

I think the point is we shouldn't have to.

I summed it up best as I could.


I don't really like this idea. In the first game, Abe is a nobody - some shmuck that managed to break out. There's no mention of him being a savior except when Big Face first meets him, and I doubt the natives have much communication with the muds in RF.

The mudokons as a whole only start viewing Abe as a savior at the end of the first game, after he's freed the entire workforce and shut the place down. Having graffiti calling him a savior would be a tad anachronistic.

Yeah, but the word would have spread around to the mudokons, and the sligs would have noticed all the disappearances by the time Abe got back, especially considering that if you've saved every mudokon so far, when you return to the Stockyards, half of them are gone.

You could have a Mudokon cleaning up the graffiti like the one who was cleaning the doodles on the Rutpure Farms logo.

The Mudokons would be confused or even scared more than anything, I think. They wouldn't have realised well enough what was going on think of Abe as a saviour.

Mudokons could glance around nervously while following Abe. That would create a bit more tension.

"I don't think we should be here!"

"I hope he knows where he's going"

I always thought one of the best paintings of the atmosphere of Oddworld was the intruduction of AO. When Abe sees those Glukkons laughing at the idea they proposed for the fate of the Mudokons was a defining moment in what this game respresents. A bunch of odd figured, weird critters, wearing suits, working machines, wielding guns, the works. Base every idea of the 'atmosphere' on the feelings you get from that Intro and you'll always be right on the money.

I actually really like this idea. The Mudokons always seemed just slightly too cooperative. A little trepidation on their part would make it more realistic.

Also, I don't know if this came up yet, but be sure to include "All a'ya!". One thing that drove me mad about AO was having to keep going back to get another Mudokon's attention. Also quicksave.

I think in abe HD the 2 player option should be player 1 is abe and player 2 is a mudokon follower who is actually the 99th mudokon to be saved, so he jumps into the portal before abe drops into the boardroom, the cutscenes can remain original with just abe, so the following mudokon jumps into a portal and re appears in the next level

Make player 2 Alf. I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

Canonicity dictates Alf wasn't a lasting companion of Abe before the end of AE, certainly he isn't mentioned at the start, it is debatable therefore if the two even met in RF, rather I quote him in saying that the two were friends in the desert, I therefore refuse to entertain the notion that Alf and Abe were friends travelling through RF together when we never see him in the game. Rather I expect he was just another mudokon to Abe until later on.

So yeh, let's not be Alf.

I thought Abe and Alf were together in RF. I didn't think he was a born native, but when and where their friendship started is ambiguous, and I can't vouch for the canon. Maybe Alf himself can clear this up should he read this.

Regardless, Abe and Alf's meeting was never included in the canon (which is already ever-changing to accommodate production). So you could feasibly have him in RuptureFarms (or anywhere) whilst only upsetting the most captious of fans. :p

Then again, I wasn't even really serious about that suggestion. So...

Also I just realized there's no page for Alf on the Oddworld Encyclopedia. What gives?

^ Yes.

Disclaimer: I'm tired after work, sorry if this may not make much sense.

EDIT: SS sorta beat me to it and worded it better than me. Ah well though.

---

I can't be bothered to look through all the old Dear Alf questions, but I'm pretty sure that the person/people assuming the character of Alf hinted towards him working alongside Abe in Rupture Farms before he was rescued by him during AO. One example of this is here, from Dear Alf 12:

But of course it's hard to know if Alf's responses to fan questions are considered to be canon or not. Also, he didn't exist as a character until AE. If he was working with Abe in RF during AO, it would have to be something that Lorne retconned in.

That's also assuming that people take Oddworld's lore that seriously too, though - It is a parody of our world after all.

Oh and BTW people should read through Oddworld Library's FAQ, it's reminding me of stuff that was forgotten long ago. This is of particular interest:

It makes me wonder what other planned features AO didn't originally get because of time and technology constrains. I also wonder if any of those dropped features could be realised in the HD remake.

Though that particular event could be realized, it was ulimately agreed that it was far too "deus ex machina" and would pretty much change the entire history between the Glukkons and Mudokons.

Noooooooooooooooo!

Don't like the idea. Don't use it.

I would personally kill for Quick Save in Oddysee.

So you enjoyed playing the same area a hundred million times over before getting right? Have fun with that.