Thoughts on how things unfolded

souled out · #1 03-11-2005, 06:26 PM

Best game since Ninja Gaiden. I loved every minute of it. Sadly as with the last oddworld i couldnt seem to stop playing it so i beat it in 3 days again. *sigh i know i should pace myself but man its too hard to not play it.

so i want everyones thoughts on:

1 Stars over peoples heads ; it was ok but seemed kinda cartooney, i could have lived with the ability to turn them off and just know when hes collapsed on the floor hes either unconsious or dead (after moolah was unimportant i just killed most people)

2 NO QUARMA?! This game was made for it! kill or dont its up to you! Rob clakkerz or bounty bad guys. they could have totally made this work

3 ONE ENDING!!!??!!! i liked it but more would have been better. Though it makes sense with no quarma. more videos would be nice too because the gameplay graphics are almost on par with cutscenes. I like being rewarded with a 2 minute vid at the end of each level. I know its more work, but i can hope

4 no horns?!!? i wanted to see steef go insane and grow horns and be an avatar (though this would be similar to abe) instead i felt gypped like all other steefs were cooler. I understand his lack of horns were crucial to the story (which i do like); i just wanted to get to play a level (a very easy level with millions of bad guys) as the baddest ass, most butt kicking, insane steef on a rampage ever. LOOK AT THEM they were made to brawl. Seeing a steef head made my bloodlust rise, and i just wanted to break everything (like in otagi). The armor kind of tried to make up for that but i didnt feel the berzerker side of it. Running faster and ramming was a nice touch though.

5 change in values. I love how money was important and leveling your character up was awesome; until that no longer mattered and you started over. What a great idea to make us NEED money and then completely abandon it.

6 1st/ 3rd person i love it. I would like to see a way where you could complete the game using just one if you wanted (i wanted to go hand to hand more than i did) but this was a great idea to make it switchable (*it fixed any camera complaint about not being able to see an area i could have had)

7 Slow building story ; i like that you get options about which to complete but i think we shoul have started with a more clear story agenda. i didnt really feel the story until the doc vid. This fits the outcast/ stranger idea but i felt they could have given me an incentive (like i was tracking someone into buzzardton but i caught him when i arrived and thats why they know i can be used to get outlaws.

8 steefs surgury; wow i cant even get into this. I thought he was going to get a sex change at fisrt because i couldnt figure out what he would need surgery for. This topic is a thesis in itself. As best i can sum it i believe that this (unwanted) sugery was for survival (and revenge) purposes because steef are hunted relentllessly. I think that this specific steef would be willing to undergo such an operation because he is already an outcast (no horns) and has nothing to lose but at the same time can protect others. -or maybe its a female and we cant tell because they are furry and deep voiced.

this touches a lot on acceptance, appearance, costmetics and self esteem. i dont want to open that can of worms right now

9 docs lynchin - Best part of the game. So completely nessesary/appropriate/stylistic for the genre/changed the point of gameplay/ powerful/dramatic/and downright dark. I love it. GOOD JOB

10 Voice talent -i would like to see better voice talent for things like riverfolk. Sekto was awesome, but steef sounded altered and the riverfolks dialogue/candor was overlookable at best. I think the problem is that the game needs some voice TALENT. Lanning can keep doing key roles but please dont skimp on the little details (they need to match audibly the product that they have presented to us visually. The score was wonderful. The VO needs improvement.

ok that is my first 10 q. i know ill have more. but this is a good start. As you can see its impossible to make the replys simple but try (i did and look how long it was)

also as an idea for next time. I would love to see a level with some random character that threads into the main storyline but does not interact with the main character. Something like an inchworm "minigame" level ever 4 levels about chewing through a vine. and then later in a cinema you could see a bad guy chasing stranger and swinging on that vine, but it breaks. they dont know why but we do. (inclusivity is a key part of audience "participation" and i think this "omnipresence" makes us enjoy it more. Much like camera angles can be used for impact; onlyt instead of camera placement its storyline)

ok have at it

Kimon · #2 03-11-2005, 06:37 PM

1. I liked 'em. You need some sorta gauge. Not having them would be dumb in my opinion.

2. This game wasn't made for Quarma. It's about a bounty hunter. Wether or not you kill evil creatures, you're still putting them in jail. Either way it sucks for them.

3. It might have added replay value, but I think the ending is well-done and fulfilling.

4. Seeing as how we don't know Stranger is a Steef in the beginning, it woulda been a dead giveaway if he had horns. However, I'm looking forward to them in SW2.

5. I agree.

6. Absolutely. Best use of multiple genres in any game I've ever seen.

7. Yeah. I wanted to know more about Stranger. The way OI went was done well, though.

8. Yeah, I was a little dissapointed that it didn't go into depth why Stranger wanted/needed that surgery. it wouldn've been a cool look into his life.

9. Eh. I would've liked to see another movie with doc in it. THEN he can lynched. I'm just disappointed about the lack of FMV's, I guess.

10. I LOVED the voice acting in this game. The only negative thing for me is that there weren't different voices for males and females. Other than that, FABULOUS.

Dipstikk · #3 03-11-2005, 06:50 PM

:

10 Voice talent -i would like to see better voice talent for things like riverfolk. Sekto was awesome, but steef sounded altered and the riverfolks dialogue/candor was overlookable at best. I think the problem is that the game needs some voice TALENT. Lanning can keep doing key roles but please dont skimp on the little details (they need to match audibly the product that they have presented to us visually. The score was wonderful. The VO needs improvement.

THANK YOU.
Seriously. Lorne makes great games, he has an incredible imagination, and his storytelling and ability to compel his audience is astounding. But Lorne isn't that great of a Voice actor.
He HAS improved a great deal since his early days. Let's face it, some of AE sounded like he was acting for Dora the Explorer ("Not until the spirits of those bones paid me a visit" was done almost like he was talking to an infant), but now it's much better and done with much more heart. But he's still not...I mean, as I watch, I keep catching things he could have emoted on better, or something he could have improved on.
I know I'm being harsh, but I'm just saying what I think. I have nothing against Lorne, I just think his company would benifit from having some outside voices. Not nessicarily big-wig celebrities, just people who have been around in the business.

***Wil*** · #4 03-12-2005, 10:42 AM

I disagree complete. The goofiness of all the characters is an integral part of their characterisation. Grubbs have the greatest voices in OSW, in my opinion, asides from Sekto. It adds so much character to them, and I've always admired the acting of all the characters.

I'm also very glad the females in the game didn't just have predictably feminine version of the male voices. Girl Grubbs had skimpy bras and huge eyelashes - how much more obvious would they like it? The horse, unfeminine voices were entirely appropriate and needed.

souled out · #5 03-13-2005, 03:00 PM

11 whats up with disapearing slogs and slegs? im not so happy that once they bit you they just dissapeard. It would not have been THAT much harder if they just made them stay until they were dead because you could whomp them in 3rd person mode even when they were in large groups.

12 the fortune teller machine. ; i loved them showing the future mayhem but i would like to see them use this in a less frantic way. For instance i would love for them to show something like the dead steefs face with sekto marks. we wouldnt understand until we saw the end but then we would be like whoa. I would also love to see this used to make a monster seem scarier like showing a pair of eyes and teeth in the dark but not quite showing what it was in the darkness. Or better yet, use it to show the most important moment in the game (like steefs death or something) i woulnt mind if there was a sad ending, then you could be stuck in denail the whole game and then hate it when you cant change the outcome. (strong emotions are fun to toy with like that in film and media)

sligster · #6 03-13-2005, 03:05 PM

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11 whats up with disapearing slogs and slegs? im not so happy that once they bit you they just dissapeard. It would not have been THAT much harder if they just made them stay until they were dead because you could whomp them in 3rd person mode even when they were in large groups.

it was annoying having them disappear

and, if you look at the character models, you'll see that there are absolutly no Slogs in the game, even though the Wolvark SLOG Handler is suposed to release Slogs.

Havoc · #7 03-13-2005, 03:32 PM

:

11 whats up with disapearing slogs and slegs? im not so happy that once they bit you they just dissapeard. It would not have been THAT much harder if they just made them stay until they were dead because you could whomp them in 3rd person mode even when they were in large groups.

12 the fortune teller machine. ; i loved them showing the future mayhem but i would like to see them use this in a less frantic way. For instance i would love for them to show something like the dead steefs face with sekto marks. we wouldnt understand until we saw the end but then we would be like whoa. I would also love to see this used to make a monster seem scarier like showing a pair of eyes and teeth in the dark but not quite showing what it was in the darkness. Or better yet, use it to show the most important moment in the game (like steefs death or something) i woulnt mind if there was a sad ending, then you could be stuck in denail the whole game and then hate it when you cant change the outcome. (strong emotions are fun to toy with like that in film and media)

Fortune teller machine? Did I miss something in the game?? Or what are we talking about O.o??

Dipstikk · #8 03-13-2005, 04:32 PM

In each General store, in the corner, is a big machine with the X button on it and a mechanical female clakker in a blue dress inside the machine. Press "X" and watch the fortune teller machine tell your fortune.

Havoc · #9 03-13-2005, 04:39 PM

why the hell didn't I ever see that O.o

Elodie · #10 03-14-2005, 03:21 AM

I didn't see that either, man I'm gonna have to go back and check it out.

Did anyone notice in the opple farm when you have to defeat the outlaw in the farmhouse, that there was a metal door inside the house with HELP! written on it. I tried to see if i could get into the door but it wasn't possible, any ideas on what this was? I can only think that it's either 1 of 2 things. Something really cool that we don't know about, lol, or it was where a Clakker hid while the outlaws invaded the place.

Another thing i wanted to mention, was while i really enjoyed this addition the the oddworld franchise, i felt that the GUI on the head up display could have done with some more work, especially when you bagged a bounty and the picture slid across it wasnt the best quality, however im glad they concentrated on the more important parts of the game, however its something that should be mentioned.

mudling · #11 03-14-2005, 10:23 AM

i saw the fortune teller machine, it was great and was basicually teaching you stratigy and fighting.

and that help sign is where clackaz run when they are in trouble/danger.

Jacob · #12 03-18-2005, 03:53 PM

The game could've been longer, methinks, with more movies (obviously!).

The voice acting was thooperlicious, though on the odd occassion music and/or the charging of the Zappfly drowned out the dialogue. Poopness!

More melee abilities would've been a nice option. As would more Bounties.

I was quite surprised at the fact that when you walked through grass, it didn't sway or move out of the way.

Loved the Vykker Surgeon. Especially the lynching!

Also loved how the bodies decomposed!

Love the enviroments.

I thought the Grubbs were well done as well.

I did think there should've been a referrence to Abe, Abe being wanted and all. Maybe a wanted poster nearby the Surgeons surgery?

I would say the ability to replay and "direct" your completed mission, 'Driver' stylee, but i don't think it'd work too well with OSW. Meh.

Elodie · #13 03-19-2005, 06:04 AM

While this game was in my opinion longer than Munch, i still feel i finished the game fairly quickly, as compared to the first to Oddworld games. However I wouldn't call it short, satisfactory. As Jacob's said some more movies, i love the movies, and always welcome one after a mission. However i know some people cannot stand them, no matter how beautiful the rendering is, so i guess they cannot put too many in. Also they start to use much more in-game graphics for the cut scenes. Where as in the first 2 Oddworld games it would be a renedering CG animation of a trian passing by, now it's much easier to use in-game graphics to produce that. Although something that would have compensated for that would be some more easter eggs. I mean maybe i haven't found them, but i haven't really found any, unless you call a pair of underspants with Josh written on them an easter egg. One thing, were those crystals that you collected just to gain more moolah, or could you do something with them? And there seemed to be a lot to collect, as everytime i collected a set of crystalls it said 24/1204 or something like that.

One thing about the zappflies were that when you were in first person mode and then i think it was pressed start to look at the game menu and then went back into the game the zapply had to recharge again. I can't remember exactly what it was, but i remember that there was a point where the zappfly had to recharge before you could use it and you shoudn't have had to.

Swaying grass would have added more realism, but it wasn't essential i guess, perhaps in the next game, we will get more dynamics like that. I thought the water was done well. The lighting was good also, and the character modeling was very detailed.

I thought the map layout was great, i spent most of the time galloping around environments in third-person mode just because it was so smooth. And even jumping over clackers seeing how many i could dodge without hitting one. I liked how everyone talked while you were on a mission, and i liked how the grubbs would come up to you when you completed a mission, and huddled round you. There was one quote that a grubb shouted out when you steal the idol, "Just because we're d**ks doesnt mean you can yank us around!" that made me chuckle.

I liked how towards the end it became a war epic type scenario, i felt like there was really some reason for my character, and the other characters for being there.

The blue targets that you could activate or deactivate by using the zappfly seems something i wasn't going to use at the begining, but as the game progressed i found myself using them more and more, and found them pretty fun and useful. Sort of reminded me of the old days when Abe would pull a leaver and the unsuspecting slig would get shreded to pieces with chunks of meat flying towards the screen, and Abe woud giggle, made you feel good. I feel that in the future these blue targets could be a real asset. They just need to think of some unique and orginal ideas for the scenario's they might be used in.

There just some more thoughts on the game i have.

SeaRex · #14 03-19-2005, 08:59 AM

I've harped on it before... the poor quality voices. Poorly rendered. Almost every single one. Hell, as cool as Sekto's voice was, I found it to be almost unintelligible during the final boss fight.

Dip and I were talking the other day about unlockable ammo. I think that would be a cool addition to the game. Well, ANYTHING unlockable would be nice, but I would prefer ammo. You could have...

Fleeches - Could cause only lethal damage on up to two enemies using its tongues. Upgraded version could chase enemies.
Slurgs - Could cause an enemy to slip and fall (KO damage only). Upgraded version could make a big, nasty slime slick.
Ratz - I don't know... telekinesis or something.

Also would have liked to see a "good" and a "bad" ending. Like WDS said, Quarma would have been great. In fact, it would have made infinitely more sense for Quarma to have been in SW instead of MO. MO could have just used the traditional system. Whatever. MO sucked anyway.