I would suggest that it was a ratings issue.

I was actually the one to bring it up first. But what do I know? I'm just impossible to please, right?

A lengthy explanation has been offered multiple times. I even think it's in the FAQ in this very forum.

Wow...XD jokinnn

The story behind the vanishing of Mudokon fingers has been told over and over, but before the Art Book implicated current events in Japan in the change of the Mudokon Pops ad, I for one just assumed it was a later revision to make Mudokon Pops more marketable.

Ah, right.

"Incredibly hard" is what I said, not "Impossible". And I wasn't singling out just you, look at some of those idiotic comments on the PlayStation blog.

So what were you expecting them to do?

Man, what is it with Oddworld and running into problems in Japan.

I respectfully disagree. Abe has, I think, always been touted as the main hero of the series; he was the catalyst that woke the Natives up to their oppression, the beginning of a slow uprising against the Industrialists; and I don’t believe his story would be over as long as there are more Mudokons to be rescued, more Native species in danger and more Industrial hellholes on Oddworld.

Bringing the focus back to Abe way down the line is fine. Even though they were most likely referring to Abe HD, I wouldn't be on board for a new Abe adventure so soon. Abe hogs the spotlight.

Oddworld is massive. I feel like they aren't doing their universe a justice by constantly focusing on one character on one landmass. We haven't even left Mudos yet. SW was great in that it went in a completely different direction visually and creatively, and it still took place on the same continent. I want them to go even further, and show us just how "odd" it gets. New characters, new locations, new messages. Abe's plight represents only one of Oddworld's many conflicts.

Well who knows where Squeek lives you poop?

My one problem is that I don't think SW is the best game to start with to promote Oddworld. For better publicity, it should have been one with a character more people will recognise- Abe! Playstation's former unofficial mascot, once on par with Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon! Should have released MO HD first, perhaps. Still, it looks good of course :)

Bear in mind that Abe was the posterboy for games... in the 90's. Everyone who knows about Abe already likes and knows Oddworld. Stranger's Wrath is more recent, and the gameplay is more accessible to next-gen gamers. I think from a marketing standpoint, it's better promotional material than classic Oddworld.

Ah, of course- everybody loves a first- person shooter ahaha

Not everyone. But yeah...

Stranger is the perfect place to start. Of all the games, it was the most polished and refined. It's the one with the greatest appeal to the modern market, and the one it'll take the least effort to patch up to something closer to today's graphical standards. Munch would be the worst possible game to try and sell Oddworld to a new generation of gamers. Throwback gameplay, monotonous environments... At least there's a chance JAW will fix the clunky controls and annoying sounds.

I agree, unfortunately the current good game is shooty shooty, not story story, and while SW is shooty story not shooty shooty it's closer to the average retarded gamer than story story.

Abe isn’t the entire Oddworld franchise, I agree with you there and I will welcome any additional side-stories in the future.

However, I think the Quintology very much is Abe’s story. The idea behind the Quintology is that it focuses on five characters that start taking back the world from Industrialists, and Abe is definitely going to be the leader of any kind of five-man band.

It’s like Middle-Earth: there’s a huge world out there to be explored in extra stories, but the central story focuses on certain characters and their journey.

Abe may not be the only OddWorld character, and I agree the game play made AO awesome - not necessarily Abe; but fuck, gabbits are ugly and so I'd really rather we didn't have another game staring Munch.

That said mudokun character designs really are a bit bland, their pretty much just green humans. What about a game starring grubbs (or a scuba toad!) they look pretty cool; still human like but not as much as mudokuns.

I liked Munch. I thought his characterization was a bit lacking, but he was very "ugly cute", which sums up Oddworld pretty well.

Mudokons are the most humanoid (comparatively, anyway), but that's the point. When you present a humanless narrative, you have to have a few very human characters for the audience to relate to. That considered, I don't think the Mudokons are too humanoid. They could have gone full Na'vi with their design, but they took a risk and kept them a little ugly, ensuring their congruity with the rest of Oddworld's denizens.

They're supposed to look pitiful. Y'know, so we pity them.

Why do people keep sayin' that SW is the most polished title from oddworld games? What makes it? I think AO was a more polished game.

I couldn't agree less. Mudokons are much more intricate, original and Oddworldy than Grubbs and especially Scuba Toads.

Only because you know details of their lifecycle and culture. Based only on the physical appearance, Muds are not quite as Odd as those other two.

I am talking strictly about physical appearance. Scuba Toads are blobs with limbs and a face for goodness sake. I've gone on and on about it, mostly during the early days of Stranger being revealed to us.

I don't think 'Odd' in the context of Oddworld would be defined as being least human-like. What makes them more Odd, in my opinion, is when they are more human-like, 'cause they are easier to relate to (as someone said) and so the higher level of real-ness is odd in an exciting way.

Edit: I take all that back. i've confused myself

I think they mean that it’s nice and 3D. AO was polished in its heyday, but nowadays its sprite-based system tends to look ugly on larger monitors.

I agree, also it seems oddly fast and sometimes a little unresponsive, nevertheless even on the PC the backgrounds are remarkable.

From a conceptual standpoint, AO has alot more creativity behind it. SW is "polished" in that it's more tailored to modern gaming trends, but also managed to keep some of Oddworld's signature uniqueness.

Interesting point about Munch; in the original design document it says that munch is devastated by his position as the last remaining gabbit, and if given time alone to think about it he starts to sing/cry (the same noise he makes in the intro movie when calling the other gabbits I imagine). The design specifically says that he would stop if there was a chance of enemies hearing him, or when abe came back to him.

So even though it wouldn't affect gameplay, they removed it. Which I found quite interesting

Maybe they removed it to better suit the young target age range, like, they wanted to keep the story all happy and optimistic for the children.. -_-

Maybe they removed it because they removed pretty much everything interesting about that game?


That's not me being snarky; I'm just making the point that once you start this line of questioning, you'll never stop.

It was probably removed during the production crunch because it wasn't imperative.

More like it was probably never programmed in the first place because it wasn't imperative.

Yet that didn't stop them from intending it's implantation. Where, anyway, were they going to find a sound effect for an amphibious organism simultaneously singing and crying that does not sound, to the general adolescent video game audience, somewhat orgasmic. After a while (as with almost all repetitive sounds) it would have seemed to sound really stupid.

it's unfortunate that munch's Oddysee turned out the way it did; it's original scope was so much grander than it ended up being. However, I actually quite like Munch as a character; I just wish his game was more fun.

the fuck kinda shit are you into

Well considering your a developer actively developing a HD port why dont you guys make it more fun ? :P I know you guys are held back in a lot of ways due to how old the game is but im sure you could a add a few minor things like Munch crying when hes alone. sometimes the little things go a looooooong way.

If we do have the time to try and add stuff to the game then I will definitely do my best to make the game better, problem is, every day we spend on Munch is a day not spent on Abe.

Oftentimes when I'm playing Munch I have to pause and think to myself "What this game really needs is even more annoying noises."

You could make the game 500% better just be removing that boing Abe makes when he jumps.

I found Munch's bounce noise even more annoying.

I think it goes a lot deeper than that personally.