Oddworld Questions & Answers VI
Welcome to the sixth edition of the Oddword Questions & Answers thread!
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ModitorialHaving exceeded the size of the fourth edition in less than two thirds of the time, the last version had become the most lengthy, most brief, and fastest growing incarnation of this age‐spanning tradition to date. However, there were fewer questions asked in it. It’s clear that a sizable proportion of the questions developed into longer discussions.Since discussion is not the aim of the Q&A thread, you may find longer topics being given their own threads in General Oddworld Discussion. It remains to be seen whether or not I can be bothered to keep doing that, so this is a somewhat experimental edition. Let’s hope it doesn’t get messy. :D Credit forever goes to TheKhanzumer for devising our Q&A tradition. Our ever‐growing bank of useful links will follow in the next post. Happy Q&Aing! |
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When did the Clakkers make their homes on the Mongo River? I mean, it seemed like they weren't well planned or built in a haste, because when the Dam burst, many of the homes were flooded. (as seen when the Clakker is on top of his home.)
Or has Sekto Springs been around long enough for the Clakkers to build their communities without fear of an eventual flood? |
I think current fanderstanding is that the Clakkers didn’t arrive at the scene until the Mongo river had already dried up. Certainly Gizzard Gulch, Buzzarton and New Yolk City were built after the dam. There might be nearby towns that are older and above the past water table, but I strongly think Clakkers are real newcomers to the area.
Outlaws are more tricky. Their social evolution has clearly taken place in a harsh environment, making them well adapted to rugged life, and they seem to use a great deal of Clakker/Wolvark technology. One wonders whether they followed the Clakkers in, were able to settle in the drained region before the Clakkers arrived, or are somewhat native to the area. |
I heard from somewhere that the Clakkerz left their mysterious origins for unknown reasons (there's a fanfic epic in there somewhere, if only someone took an interest in the species) and journeyed across Oddworld. They built their towns wherever their wagons happened to break down.
The outlaws seem to have a predatory, or at least parasitic, society. They settle wherever there is prey. A host settlement, unable to adequately defend itself, off of which they live. At least those that we've met, at any rate. Blisterz Booty was a (possibly part-time) poacher, as was Lefty Lugnutz, though Lefty wasn't in quite the same league. |
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Also what do you mean by they aren't in the same league? |
At this point I have no idea where I found that out, but I know it does have something to do with Boilz.
Whereas Lefty poaches slegs, I think Blisterz poaches everything, including much bigger prey... but mostly because the distinct impression I got from the outlaws and other subtle cues was that Blisterz was a big player in the outlaw world. Which is perhaps why Stranger had to set up traps and stuff beforehand to capture him, and that OWI had his capture in the FMV instead of playable. It does beg the in-universe question of why his bounty was so damn small, unless Gizzard Gulch really is that poor from the loss of the water factory and wagon train deliveries. |
Eerily, I was thinking about this just t’other day. BM has got everything right. Blisterz has attained great success and notoriety as a poacher of endangered species, while Lefty poaches Slegs. I suspect the low bounty on Blisterz must be a combination of Gizzard Gulch’s poorness and the possibility that Blisterz’ hunting might not affect the town’s income. New Yolk City seems to benefit from Sleg hunting if they have a proper hunter (Corn Jaws), yet don’t want to overhunt them (foresight then, seems to be something they are better at than truely industrial races).
The relationship between Blisterz and Boilz, as well as their claims to fame, were described in a document detailing the characters and story of Region One of Stranger’s Wrath. I’m not entirely sure it was meant to be released publicly, but it was downloadable from EA, so Xav and I put it on TOL. It’ll be back when the The Oddworld Scriptures is redone. |
The Oddworld Scriptures, do you know how long will it take for it to open?
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No, sorry. I’m very busy with university and get little time to work on TOL. Right now I’m concentrating on Odd Blog’s archives. Once they are working, I’ll move on to the Scriptures.
Unfortunately, The Internet Archive doesn’t seem to have preserved The Oddworld Archives. |
On the top of one of the Hand of Odd pages there is a little picture of mudonkons and sligs running into battle The mudonknos are riding elms but what are the spider type creachers that the sligs are riding?
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I guess that would be the idea of what kind of animal Sligs rid back then. Or maybe Mugs were not as of yet given a accurate describation at the time. Either way, they probably won't pop up in games.
I have a question. In the Art of Oddworld, they say the Scrab temple in Scrabania can only be accessed through wind or wells of the such. But then how did the Scrabs get into the temple in the first place if that was true? |
I suspect they meant that at the time of Abe's exploration of the temple it was only accessible through the wells but there may have been other entrances in the past. Or perhaps the scrabs were on the rocky outcrop first and the temple was built around them.
Bonedust - what HOO page are you talking about? |
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The painting by Raymond Swanland at the top of page 29. It looks to me to be exploring the mood and scope of the Hand of Odd concept more than visualizing its contents. I agree the spiders seem a bit lame, and would probably have looked different if their role remained.
Slaveless, maybe the Scrabs were put into the temple via the wells. What worries me more is why the Mudokons would imprison the Scrabs like that. True they’re protected from the Magog Cartel, but it also seems cruel. |
It seems very cruel, but Scrabs are nasty, but I suppose they wouldn't hurt the Scrabanian tribes, hmm...
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Maybe eggs were siphoned through to there?
The totally unrealistic thing is how, in those small rooms, they find anything to eat. I'd think a struggling Scrab would somewhat wreck the wind pipe. Perhaps originally, in the past, the tribes would have cared for the Scrabs and fed them, but made sure they kept their wild streak for the tests on Mudokons like Abe. The fact the Scrabs remain, without breeding partners and being grumpy old gits due to their seclusion, probably means that the tribes 'finally' died out not too long ago. The fact they survive without food or water is very confusing. There doesn't seem to be a logical explanation for that, though. |
I thought the Scrabs in the Scrabanian temple still bred, hence the nests. It being their breeding season was one reason (admittedly of several) OWI gave to explain Scrab solitude in the Abe games, as opposed to their running in herds in Munch’s Oddysee.
Plus who’s to say they don’t get food? Who knows what lesser desert creatures survive in the desert and find their way into the temple? We only get to see short periods of time in the games. |
The Scrabanian Buzzard, for example.
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But all the other Scrabs in the other rooms surely have no way to get out, above the walls, to find a mate?
The short periods of time thing...perhaps, but even so, it seems unlikely that so many small animals find their way into individual Scrab rooms to support such large animals? Scrabs are pretty massive, after all. |
What about all the other Mudokons that have tried to pass the temple trials?
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Now that I think about, maybe when the Glukkons were enslaving Mudokons the temple was connected to the ground. Yet when the Glukkons captured Scrabs, the Scrabs got scared and hid in the temple for protection. The Mudokons probably tried to protect the Scrabs from the Glukkons, yet the Glukkons probably cut off all ground enterances for the Mudokons to get into the temple from. Maybe some Mudokons used the wells to get into the temple from secretly. Yet too many Industerial possibilities are open with this idea.
To respond to Zerox's question, there is plenty of small animals in the temple. There are flocks of bats that Scrabs probably use for food. There are also birds that Scrabs could sneak up on, or maybe the Slogs and Sligs that invade the temple could be used for food. |
Is Oddworld Inhabitants dead? I got no Christmas Card this year :(
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No one did, there's been nothing major released lately, but it would still have been nice to get a Citizen Siege card!
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No, they definitely look like some kind of arachnid creature. You can see the three body sections, and then three of the four legs that would be on either side... if you look close, infact, you can see just a bit of the fourth leg.
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Ok so here's my question.
http://i10.tinypic.com/33lijo6.png Who's the dude with the arrow upon him?....and where can i find anymore artwork or concept peices on him?. He really interests me...seems like a true oddworld inhabbitant. |
That’s a Wolvark Slog Handler: your arrow is actually just pointing to his backpack, with a Slog’s mouth poking through. :p
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I never noticed how freaky slegs looked! That poor handler, I'd never be able to do that, I'd be afraid of getting bitten! :lol:
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*face palms* all i saw was a wolvark and a guy behind him being muscular and lacking eyes! XD....i didn't even remember that >>;;; thought it does look like a weird char if you look at it ...
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They're Slogs? They look freaky, are they a different color because they're in another region?
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I've got a question: When you go into the program file of Abe's Oddysee and open up the .exe file to Properties, under "Creation date" does everyone's say October 22, 1997, or is it different for everyone?
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Something like that. Mine says:
Created: 10 February 2006, 19:25:51 (which was when I installed it) Modified: 22 October 1997, 14:33:22 Interesting! So would that be the exact time the EXE file was edited? Is the time different for people in different time zones? :
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This means, though, that 22 October is exactly AO's birthday...10 years, coming up...yipee! |
More likely that's just to do with the way that WinXP occassionally decides to change the times and dates because of time zones. Have you moved since you installed the game?
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Me? Not to a different time zone, no...
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Ten years since the PC EXE file went gold, but not ten years of Abe’s Oddysee. The PlayStation version was released earlier, in September. :p
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Q. Is vykkers labs one company or is it lots of company's all inside vykkers labs?
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Very good question! I think it’s one company, or rather a facility belonging to one company: Vykkers Pharmaceuticals. Off the top of my head, I don’t remember any technology being developed in VL, except Munch having the SkullJack installed, but that’s the personal work of Humphrey.
Then again, there are Labour Eggs and Gabbiar being auctioned. Maybe Vykkers Fine Foods Division and Slave Aid are renting or otherwise borrowing VL’s auction hall. All I’m certain of is that the divisions of the Vykkers Conglomerate are not fully understood. |