Well,I guess this goes back to that long argument about whether NnT should be replicating Oddysee's atmosphere 1:1 or should be more in line with Exoddus which created comedic personalities for Mudokons, Glukkons, and Mudokons when, before, they essentially had none (although Mudokons were still comical in a slapstick sense).
Exoddus was the first game I played so Sligs only intimidated be in the sense that they'd kill me - and Abe's deaths were quite brutal - since they were humourous in cutscenes. But still, in that game, there was no idle dialogue so I guess their intimidation carried on from Oddysee.
But that was only a year after Oddysee, Abeguy, so I don't think they care less about their message. The impression I get is that Lorne doesn't want Oddworld to be unbearably preachy - and wants to balance it with humour. Or at least I believe that's what he's said in interviews. He does also seem to have an awareness about his own preachiness too.
So in Oddysee that was simply farting and some slapstick humour and in Exoddus they transitioned that into dialogue - I guess since they wanted to write an actual script that time around. In Munch it went a bit too overboard but they reigned it in a bit with Stranger and seemed to strike a similar balance as Exoddus.
So there's a balance to be struck here. I like the idea of NPC dialogue since it doesn't create this tonal divide between cutscenes and gameplay. But it's clear hat less is probably more. And as much as Oddworld is a comedy it's also got a serious underbelly. And too much funny NPC chatter - particularly for creatures that had none in the originals - is probably favouring one too much over the other.
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