Part of it is due no end to the fact that Olds and Farzad were there from the start and had a blank slate to work with. That then cramps the style of any and every future artist aiming for the fans' universal praise. Though of course you all knew this.
Were it the other way around, things might be different. then again, the original fanbase would have been different also. "What the hell's up with these paramites? They're just so weird, not like Oddworld at all!"
Actually, I quite liked Silvio's character designs as depicted on the page, they looked far Odder and less Terran than the final models. If there were only more familiar species in SW too, the transition and contrast would have been far easier and felt less like two different worlds.
But even with Munch, I remember flicking through the strategy guide many years before I owned an XBox, looking down horrified at the Meeps and fuzzles. And the Vendos and spooce, too. There are a few characters that could be redesigned to stay true to both their original conceptions and the early Oddworld.
Another thing, although I loved the industrial levels in AO and AE, and the designs and architecture used for those same environments in MO and SW, they were my least favourite levels. For me, they were not translated into 3D that well. It was all too clean, misty and toon-gothic for me. The quick-fix that would have done it for me? Shadows. For hiding in.
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