The English speaking Inhabitants of Oddworld.

[Wolfpac]

Now lets look past the fact that they shouldn't speak English because it's set on another world. But would you rather Abe and the crew speak English or speak in a made up native tongue. Yes Abe's narration would be in English, so would any FMV, but for stuff like Game Speak, would you like it to be in native tongue. It would be good and bad, but either way, it would add another element to the Oddworld Games.

[Sal the Mudokon]

Well, for starters, it'd be too complicated. Not too complicated to understand, but too complicated to the average gamer, who wants to pick up a game and play it... not spend alot of time learning calls in a non-existant language. Tolkien: Yes. Oddworld: No. Star Wars: Brit's in space? And about the English thing in general (being the American version that I played) adds to the earth-like mystique. But in a way, the natives DID have their own language, a code language made up of whistle (and farts) to help connect muds together. The sligs, scrabs, paramites, and other creatures had their own native forms of communication, but the Glukkons (as far as we know) only speak English, adding to their connection to Earth.

[brewmaster]

It would be cool if it had the English sub titels below but I prefere it as it is.

[Kesiah]

One problem with sub-titles is that they could get annoying and you would miss some of the actions of the characters because you were reading the text.
Another problem with using a 'native' language, is that it would have to be created properly in order to seem realistic, like in Tolkien's works and Star Trek. I can imagine several fans who would be more annoyed with waiting for the next game because of someone creating the language, rather then the characters speaking English.
Sal's comment on the added connection to Earth is very true, players can realate better to different accents in a familiar language than a new one.

In favour of a 'native' language, if OWI felt that they did want to create such a language, they could consider recording the English and Native words, and allowing the players to switch between the two in game play.

I suppose one of the major problems is the amount of time and effort would have to go into just that small area of the game.

[souled out]

obviously the inhabitants are speaking in the basic language of their oppressors (probably glukon or viker). since the gluks vikers muds gabits and possibly interns (if they did not have stitches) all speak the same language and speak interchangibly to one another we can assume that there is ONE laguage in question. so now we have 2 options

lorne made sure he picked a world with english speaking inhabitants so that the gamers would understand

OR-

they are all speaking native oddworldian and we have a 3rd person semi-omniscient view on the game (the "narration" is so good each person has a different voice) and if we did hear what they were saying then the narration would be too bothersome to listen to/ read (like one of those eyewitness accounts from WWII where they speak in german and you hear english over it so you cant pay attention to anything going on)

[Jacob]

Anybody notice that the Glukkons speak totally differently in AO then they do in AE...Just something for you fanatics to mull over...

[Nate]

Originally posted by Jacob
Anybody notice that the Glukkons speak totally differently in AO then they do in AE...

Yeah, though the words were recognisable in AO. It made the glukkons more menacing and also showed the huge difference between the muds and the gluks. When I first got AE I was disappointed that the gluks spoke proper english. On the other hand, it's good bcos it propels the plot along - they couldn't make FMVs of a bunch of gluks grunting at each other! I suppose it's like other people said before about different languages - it would be cool but confusing