The Purpose of LuLu Fund

[TomFrogman]

I've always been somewhat confused by the concept of the LuLu Fund and was hoping someone could finally explain it to me. In Munch's Oddysee, why is it necessary to go through the trouble of making LuLu filthy rich for the Gabbiar Auction when Abe and Munch could just as easily of possessed a Glukkon whom had already obtained the status of Glockstar; for example, Tex.

Was this a part of the story that had to be re-written at the last moment by the crew due to the change in consoles or was the information as to why simply left out? I'd appreciate the clarification from some of our Oddworldian experts.

[Havoc]

You're making a good point there.
I think it was Lulu they chose because he was stupider then stupid and it would be easy to get the Gabiar from him once they made him buy it. With Tex, that would have been a lot harder, since a Gluckstar usualy has tons of security around him.

Honestly, I couldn't give you a straight answer. Storywise, they could just as have broken into Vykers Labs, possesed whoever bought it and get it somehow. But I think that in this case the story was alterd for the sake of the gameplay.

[Wil]

I'm truely stumped on this one. The only thing that I can think of is security, but we have no idea how much security Lulu had compared to any of the other bidders. I have a more tenuous idea: in telling Abe and Munch that they must help Lulu, the Raisin actually managed to get them to close a number of factories in the Wilderness Region. There's a retrospective suggestion.

Kind of on a tangent, but the purpose of the Lulu Fund itself was to allow Abe and Munch to build Lulu's fortune without having to actually control Lulu himself. I'm fairly confident that was the designers' way of keeping Lulu from becoming as important a character as Munch, which I know was an issue they had with the original idea.

[Xavier]

yep I agree with Max, Lulu had to stay aside and not become the main character.
And what's better to screw economy then to put all the money in the fund of someone who is to dumb to know what to do with it?

[TomFrogman]

I've stumped Max? All hope is lost!

In hindsight, I wonder if perhaps it would arrise less suspicion of foul play for someone like LuLu to blow all his moolah on the Gabbiar. Do you know if this was always the intended story arch for Munch's Oddysee?

[used:)]

Thy chose Lulu because of his stupidity. They knew if he became one of the top dogs in the Magog Cartel, then the cartel would most certainly be doomed. Pretty clever huh?

[Cullen Heath]

I think it was Lulu they chose because he was stupider then stupid and it would be easy to get the Gabiar from him once they made him buy it. With Tex, that would have been a lot harder, since a Gluckstar usualy has tons of security around him.

I agree with you, Havoc. If Abe would have used Tex, he most likely would not have been able to get the Gabbiar and then Munch and his race would be "Doomed to croak"

[Nate]

Kind of on a tangent, but the purpose of the Lulu Fund itself was to allow Abe and Munch to build Lulu's fortune without having to actually control Lulu himself. I'm fairly confident that was the designers' way of keeping Lulu from becoming as important a character as Munch, which I know was an issue they had with the original idea.

Based on Paul O'Connor's designer diaries, I'd say that the fund was established when OWI realised they didn't have the technology to allow Abe/the player to control Lulu directly and cause his advancement. The level description Paul gives is highly complex and even at the time I couldn't work out how they would achieve it.

[Shrink]

Though I normally love thinking up ideas that fit into the continuity of the Oddworld world, or thinking of things in terms of story, I'm just gonna say it was 100% done for gameplay purposes.
Giving the player something to do and work towards for 2/3s of the game. Another one of the reasons Munch's Oddysee is not my favourite Oddworld venture...

[SeaRex]

Wasn't the point to drain all of the major Glukkons' accounts so that no one would be able to outbid LuLu? I don't know... I don't even remember if Abe and Munch specifically drained every rich Glukkon that would be in the auction or not.

[TomFrogman]

And then came along SeaRex with an answer so obvious and simple it just makes you want to slap yourself for not having thought of it first...

[Nate]

You couldn't drain the bank accounts of everyone in the Magog Cartel, although that would be an admirable aim. Besides, why were most of their targets low-level schlubbs instead of the Glockstars who would have been the prime bidders? Also, many of the bidders were Vykkers and Abe and Munch never touched them.

So no, their purpose was not to push out the opposition but to increase Lulu's wealth until he was able to enter and bid for the Gabbiar.

Why Lulu? Because a more intelligent Glukk may well have realised that he was being used.

Another question: Did Lulu only start his fund under Abe's 'influence', or was it his own hare-brained scheme?

[Wil]

Abe is visible possessing Lulu as he opens the Lulu Fund, so it's implied it was Abe's doing, or else why would it be necessary to possess him?

If Abe and Munch didn't bother with Lulu and just stole the Gabbiar from whoever the highest bidder turned out to be, they wouldn't need to bother using them in the same way as Lulu. It'd just be a plain theft.

[Dark Elite_H2]

I've always been somewhat confused by the concept of the LuLu Fund and was hoping someone could finally explain it to me. In Munch's Oddysee, why is it necessary to go through the trouble of making LuLu filthy rich for the Gabbiar Auction when Abe and Munch could just as easily of possessed a Glukkon whom had already obtained the status of Glockstar; for example, Tex.

Was this a part of the story that had to be re-written at the last moment by the crew due to the change in consoles or was the information as to why simply left out? I'd appreciate the clarification from some of our Oddworldian experts.

Simple, really.
The Almighty Raisin explained Munch's and Abe's difficult mission to get in to Vykker's Labs, to get Abe's unborn brothers.
The fact of the Lulu fund was to make Lulu goddamned rich. He was the only key to get in to Vykker's Labs.
So, the Lulu fund was made, so Lulu could travel to Vykker's Labs, so Abe and Munch can get in, and get the Labor eggs.
If you listened to the Almighty Raisin, you'd figure it out easily.

[TomFrogman]

Ironic that there are so many different answers, and so many that sound rather definite about their own answer. I of course realise that LuLu needed to be made filthy rich in order to enter and bid on the Gabbiar, but the question is why did Abe and Munch have to go through the trouble of making LuLu rich when they could have already possessed a wealthy Glukkon such as Tex?

Obviously this was just a gameplay thing, but storywise the only thing that's made sense to me so far is that they were either emptying the pockets of possible bidders; those being Glukkons within the general area and not Vykkers seeing as most would be located inside of the laboratory.

Maybe it was that all the other Glukkon's capable of possession for the auction were already within Vykker's labs before this quest began, although LuLu was dirt poor from the beginning, so it might have made more sense to go straight after a Glockstar and getting them to enter the auction.

Everything we've discussed so far have just been theories and speculation, though.

[Shrink]

Of course, Abe and Munch also use Lulu's transport to sneak onto Vykkers Labs - so, assuming the other bidders were all ready there, that could be a reason.

[Dave]

Isn't it part of Abe's quest to shut down glukkon facilities?
Before MO, we saw him clean shop in Rupture Farms, Necrum Mining Co, Feeco Depot, etc. etc.
And in MO, there were more places that Abe could force into closing by bankrupting the businesses.
Abe likely had to start small so that, to the glukkon world, it would look like other glukkons were throwing in laughably small amounts to Lulu, and as things progresses, it looked as though the Lulu Fund was gaining steam by obtaining larger donations.

[Cullen Heath]

Exactly. This way, they do what they need to get done AND shut down some buisnesses aswell. This is a much better deal for Abe, maybe if he wouldn't have bankrupt and shut down these buisnesses, they would have grown into bigger and more powerful ones and Abe would have had to deal with them in the future.

[Xavier]

So with that technique Abe is always the winner.
- He bankrupt the factories, and so shut them down
- He puts all the money in the hands of an idiot and so screws the Magog economy
- He finds an easy way to get to VykkersLAbs with Lulu's blimp
- He lowers the concurence of other potential Glukkons bidders
- And when Lulu finally gets the can, it's easier to steal the can from him since he doesn't have much more security gards then his valet Slig.

any other good reasons?

[Nate]

- And when Lulu finally gets the can, it's easier to steal the can from him since he doesn't have much more security gards then his valet Slig.

The valet slig wouldn't have been much use for security because he would have been out of the job once Lulu paid the cheque for the Gabbiar. Even if he had been paid in advance, he would not have felt too protective of his boss (especially as he would not be in a mental state capable of work after his apparent mental breakdown )

[OANST]

Sure he cleaned out all of those glukkon companies but he also just handed all of that money to the Vykker's. I'm not sure that's much better.

[Cullen Heath]

Oi!
Didn't think about that one!
That's a very good point you have there Old And Not So Tasty.
I wonder if in the future, it will be a goal for Abe & Munch to get that Moolah back.

[OANST]

I don't want to see anyone saying that the money got burned up in the explosion. It was obviously an electronic transaction in which the funds were ACH'd from Lulu's account.

[Havoc]

Lol.

Look we can jump high and low to why it was done, but I think it was just a plain old gameplay issue. Abe and Munch could have gone up to Vykers Labs anytime, posses whoever buys it, and then make their victem toss it overboard where on the ground some group of muds will catch it or something. But then it would have gotten the prize of shortest game of the year.

The storyline was kinda rusty in multiple ways. And was obviously alterd for the sake of gameplay, which is a shame IMO. Hopefully we will see the real storyline when the movie comes out.

[Shrink]

I like how that's a "when".

[TomFrogman]

I like how that's a "when".

No harm in being optimistic, eh?

[Havoc]

It is a matter of when, Tom. OWI announced their working on a movie. So I'm not being optimistic.

[TomFrogman]

As far as I recall, it wasn't Oddworld Inhabitants themselves who announced they were working on a movie, so there's nothing official just yet - although a movie does of course look very probable. You implied we would have to wait until the Munch's Oddysee movie comes out, and as of current we don't even know if things will progress that far or even what the first movie will be about.

All signs point to them working on the Quintology in movie form, of course, but there are a number of variables that may come up between now and then. To me it's still optimism... and why not be, I might add? This is big news, regardless of who it came from.

[Xavier]

actually all we know just now is that they are probably making a film...
we just don't know exactly what it will be about

[metroixer]

Can I ask something? How come the glukkons have Lulu's funds with them in the first place? I mean were they just being to cocky or something and said "Hey. This will look great in my room.".