How has Oddworld changed your life?

[skillya_glowi]

Maybe you're just Mr. Your Average Fan and you think of Oddworld as just a cool game. I've said this before, but I believe than anyone who starts to play Oddworld with a game other than AO will never be a real fan. AE was an excellent game, no doubt, a masterpiece, but it just wasn't the same. Perhaps the gameplay was better, more interesting, perhaps the scenery was more detailed, but it just didn't convey the atmosphere of Oddworld to the gamer.

Or maybe, you know that Oddworld is something more than a game. It's even more than a concept. More than a universe, in some ways. Its strange beauty and complexity bordering with simplicity was what intrigued me. Thanks to Oddworld, I became more aware of the environment. I didn't give a shit about what was cut up in the hamburger, and, even though cows don't have the grace and beauty of Scrabs and Paramites and are nowhere near extinction, still...I'm by no means a vegetarian, just the thought of those baby back ribs make my mouth water, but still...
I didn't even appreciate the beauty of nature before. I was just a cynical little bitch who, when she saw, say, a chinchilla, didn't think "Oh, what a cute little animal," she thought, "Wow, just think of the wonderful pair of gloves it could make". Now, I take a little more time to appreciate the beauty of our world.
Oddworld also helped me get by when I was feeling down...whenever I felt depressed or sour, all I had to do was look at some of the videos, and bam! my good mood was baCK. Oddworld made me laugh in the hard moments of my life.

In other words, how did Oddworld help you and/or affected your life? Or, did it at all?

PS: I always wondered, if I revere Oddworld so much, what does that make its creators?

[Wil]

Awesome post, Skillya—it’s been quite a while since this topic was brought up. It’s always humbing to learn that something like a mere videogame can inspire somebody to open their eyes to the world around them. Oddworld means a lot to me too, nurturing as it did a deep tendency to investigate such a wide range of issues in the world. It’s also always been there for me through some troublesome times—something to keep me going.

PS: I always wondered, if I revere Oddworld so much, what does that make its creators?

Talented individuals.

[Bullet Magnet]

One of the defining moments for me was Stockyard escape and the Abe's Moon FMV. The music there was just so special. It changed me.

I have become so much more creative and I now observe everything I can and see beauty and interest in them that no one else does. And they don't take kindly to my attempts at sharing that same interest.

It also created a neurotic obsession with all things Odd, and forever put my life on a course that looks set to involve an unhealthy number of crustaceans.

[E'l Scrabino]

Oddworld got me into drawing sharp, pointy things .

[Jordan]

Oddworld made me realise the beauty of the night, the moon, and the stars, after playing the Stockyard Escape so many times, and now, I hate bats!

[DarkHoodness]

Oddworld. . . Maybe the games themselves didn't change my life much. They were fantastic stories, but I already knew about the meat industry and the human impact on the planet. I appreciated nature and the environment by then anyway. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I liked the Oddworld games so much. :P Oh, and the story and the atmosphere of them. Perhaps because the universe they were set in was so vast and imaginative too, even if it was a little cheesy and full of small inconsistancies. :P

Nah, the games themselves changed me as much as the Half-Life series has. I've had fun playing them again and again over the years, and just another experiance for me. . . Although what they did do was lead me to the Oddworld Forums.

Here, on these boards, I met many specail people, most of whom I'm still friends with. It was nice to be part of a community who were interested in Oddworld and similar things to me (after all you have to be a certain type of person to like the original OW games). And some of these people lead me to other people on the 'net, too.

Pathetic as it sounds, these people changed my life by simply talking to me, telling me things about thier experiances - They moulded my late childhood a little. :P Taught me many things.

Heck, one of the people I met here on these forums even ended up becomming my girlfriend after a 6 year 'net friendship, and I've never felt closer to anyone else, especailly when I went to meet her recently. . . But I won't ramble. Probably no-one reading this anyway.

Life is a funny old thing, hmm? :P And this is all from a couple of games.

[Dusan]

I've said this before, but I believe than anyone who starts to play Oddworld with a game other than AO will never be a real fan.

Totaly! AO is masterpiece, the most original part of the most original game serie. AE is good but not good as Ao.

Well, since I have problems with inspiration, I have to find a muse once in a while... Oddworld was one of my best!

Oddworld didn't changed my views about nature, meat etc. I allways was nature-keeper guy.

[Luskan]

oddworld has changed me to...its just something about it which makes me shiver with delight everytime i think about it.i just love the whole concept and all the charcters. i Agree that the first oddworld is the best.It just seemed so serious and scary..and that was what i also liked about it.when i proposed the idea of getting the art of the oddworld inhabitants book and even the games earlier to my dad..he just thought whats the piont of getting this book for the amount of money it cost. But he just didnt understand what the game's trying to tell you. he just saw it a a mere video game. and its a shame that many other people out there see it as that to.

[Zerox]

AE I first was given and I loved that for its gameplay, style, humour...well, everything. The species are really cool, too.
I bought AO a fair few months ago off of Ebay. I loved the Stockyards there, too.
MANY many years ago, before AE, I borrowewd AO a bit from someone. I was very young, so i sucked at it, but I rememeber using the FMV cheat, I think...otherwise, I remember little about the experience. I think I got to the stockyards and past it...
It is most certainly more than a mere videogame. Well, videogames rule actually, they're not mere...but still, the messages are so blatant. Glukkon's would dream of having places like Tesco. But they'd only make food healthy if for the sake of keeping they're customers alive long enough to continue buying merchandise.
My parent's don't really care much for videogames. They don't dislike them, but...I know my mum has never played a videogame in her life. Ever. No, not even Space Invaders, Pong or Pacman. So asking her would be pretty useless.

[used:)]

Oddworld has definately had a big influence on my creative side.

[skillya_glowi]

Wow. The Free-Fire Zone is my favourite level, as I mentioned before, and certainly the longest I took to stare at every screen. You know, first time you play it, bladibla, you're concerned with getting the game done, right? But when you go through it the millionth time, you start to notice little things like the giant star cluster right above you, or the amazingly realistic...tree, or something that you never bothered to notice before, and it's these details that really...get to you.
Oddworld has even influenced my goals for the future. I have an art talent, but I shunned it most of my life, studying things that I sucked at but loved, like math. But, you know, aside from Lorne Lanning, I guess the production team (especially Farzad) really has the most of my role models, because when I look at the concept art, or even the finished look of Oddworld, I think, "Wow, all this actually came from their heads."
I really don't know why some people appreciate the beauty of Oddworld and some don't. You'd think that with art and stories like that, Oddworld would have millions of loyal fans, but when you look at this forum, there are only about 250 members that cared enough to stay all the way.

And that's really why I protested so much to the release of Fangus. Because people would see it, buy it, play it, and stash it in their closet to gather dust over the years, all the time thinking that that is what Oddworld's all about, just a series of your average 1st-person shooters.

I'm going off topic again...somebody stop me

And DH, I read every single post

[ANGRY ELEPHANT]

I haven't played AO (but I will soon) and I'm a real Oddworld fan.Oddworld isn't just a game,but a state of mind.Words can barely show how I feel about Oddworld.Has anyone found themselves feeling sorry for Munch after watching the beginning FMV?

[OANST]

Tissues! Tissues for a dollar! Get your warm, dry tissues here!

[skillya_glowi]

I haven't played AO (but I will soon) and I'm a real Oddworld fan.Oddworld isn't just a game,but a state of mind.Words can barely show how I feel about Oddworld.Has anyone found themselves feeling sorry for Munch after watching the beginning FMV?

Definitely. I don't know how anyone could not feel sorry for him...but apparently, some people don't. I've always wondered about that.

Anyways, BUY AO.

[scrab queen]

my lor- i mean- Odd! i wonder how proud Lorne would be if he saw this. anyway...

Oddworld has opened my eyes to the beauty of nature and has increased my hatred for new york (i have only seen two square feet of grass during my whole time living here!). it has also unleashed the fury of fandom unto thee, and a never ending pity for the diminishing wildlife. creativeness increased, i made an oddworld painting that has gotten me fifty moolah! i have so many stories swimming in my head about oddworld and mixes of inspiring stuff, i'm tempted to post a new fic every two days! unfortunatly, i never have enough time to maintain them. oddworld has opened up the more spiritual side of me; i can now stop rain if i meditate deep enough, but then i need a five hour nap. the whole concept of oddworld is solid enough, that it could make a real planet (we just need to fill in the rest of the gaps), and when they come out with the planet builder and creature creator (sold separately) in 3045, you bet i would be there keeping the dream of oddworld alive. i have been swallowed whole into the depths of the Odd.... and i havn't even scratched the surface yet.

[Nate]

Scrab Queen, i've already warned you over PMs to reduce your sig. This is your last polite warning before you get an official one.

[scrab queen]

sorry bout' that nate. i really don't have any friends yet, so i don't check my PMs very often. it's fixed. acceptable?

[E'l Scrabino]

I was told (by Bullet Magnet methinks) that the max amount of lines you can have in a sig without a picture is 6. The amount with a picture is 4. That includes smileys.

[Nate]

The rules page can be found by clicking on the button at the top of the page.

The rules regarding signatures are as follows:

* There is a limit of one image per signature including smilies.
* The dimensions of the image must not exceed 400 pixels in width, and 125 pixels in height.
* The image itself must not exceed 35 kilobytes (35840 bytes).
* The image cannot be hosted as an attachment on the Oddworld Forums.
* There is a maximum of three/four lines of text. (depending on where you read in the rules page)

Which means that, yes, scrab queen is slightly over her quota of lines but also that you, E'l Scrabino, have too large an image.

I probably wouldn't have pointed out either of them if you hadn't brought the rules up.

[OANST]

Get em! Let em know who they're screwing with! They can't talk to you like that! You're a moderator for god's sake. Learn some damn respect, people.

[metroixer]

Oddworld made me love industrial places, music, and scenery more. I don't know why. It just made me feel that these places have some ominous feel in them and if you've played AO/AE(mostly AE) and then look at some huge industrial plant near you, you just start thinking "Man. I wonder how this place works, what it does, does it harm the enviroment or not? Is it as bad as rupture farms or soulstorm brewery?" Then again this is just me. But don't get me wrong it got me more into nature to (Mostly AO did) because the places like paramonia and scrabania....They have something in them that shows just how much of life you're missing. It's wierd I know but it's how oddworld changed my life :P.

[toxicity]

. . . But I won't ramble. Probably no-one reading this anyway.

I'm reading it... I'M ALWAYS READING!!! MWAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!

[Kamille]

Oddworld never changed my life but it sure has an inspirational story and characters Abe is definitely my favorite video game character hes probably one of the bravest, **** I missed talk like a pirate day.

[Monsaic]

Oddworld made me love industrial places, music, and scenery more. I don't know why. It just made me feel that these places have some ominous feel in them and if you've played AO/AE(mostly AE) and then look at some huge industrial plant near you, you just start thinking "Man. I wonder how this place works, what it does, does it harm the enviroment or not? Is it as bad as rupture farms or soulstorm brewery?" Then again this is just me. But don't get me wrong it got me more into nature to (Mostly AO did) because the places like paramonia and scrabania....They have something in them that shows just how much of life you're missing. It's wierd I know but it's how oddworld changed my life :P.

I second that motion. <3

[magic9mushroom]

It made me into the depraved bastard I am and got me on these forums

[Arxryl]

Oddworld made me realize a lot more than I had originally... It also allowed me to notice what people that are selling products are actually doing to the enviroment and things like that... or maybe it's just telling me to save my cash.
It also made me more of an individual. I mean, made me more "odd" than I have been. I have my own interests, my own goals, and no one else has these except me! Woot!
It also kinda pushed out there the importance of thinking. without thiknking I would have never finished even one of the games....
That's all I have for now. I'm sure I'm forgetting somehting but ...well... I can't remember.

[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.

[ODD-BOD]

i learned not to bait animals that outnumber you. lol

[Arxryl]

Or tick someone off who has a gun.

[ODD-BOD]

yeah but especially dont kill modokens because it comes back at bites you in the ass