[MiyukiMiyazaki]

Oh God. This is a deep one. First of all, I got goose bumps when I saw Abe's moon in AO. I cried when I saw Munch's moon in MO. I cried buckets when Stranger was revealed as a Steef and at the end when the old Steef died. There's a richness to the story behind the gameplay that I find refreshing and touching. There are so many stories that have gone untold by the storytellers (or half told) that I don't think the games (and forthcoming movies) will ever lose their freshness...there's always something new to learn about Oddworld.

I came to Oddworld at a difficult time in my life. The puzzles allowed me to lose myself in the game, sometimes for 12 hours or more, which gave me relief from my problems. I still come back to Oddworld when things get tough. It's a messiah story like any other, but through it's humor it made the messiah pill an easy one to take. Which in turn, helped me to learn that no matter how much I whine and complain and feel completely stressed out, I can overcome my problems. I mean hell...Abe might say "This is too much stress and pressure" but he still slogs through those slog huts, he still frees his Mudoken brothers. Stranger might be afraid for his life in the beginning and want to change himself drastically to make himself more likeable, but he learns to love himself no matter how he looks or how people feel about him.

And that's the big lesson to learn...no matter what people think, no matter who's making fun of you, you need to find your own strength and learn to love yourself and just BE who you are. It's an honest, genuine lesson that everyone should learn.