Oddworld Questions & Answers VI

[Marvak]

That’s only in a production painting. Details could have changed. Then again, the description of the Shrink was quickly removed, and could also have changed. We likely can’t be certain of the canon until the Munch’s Oddysee film.

Just seeing the words 'Munch's Oddysee film' puts chills down my spine.

About the Shrink/s hating Sam, I don't think they hate her, just their job. A psychiatrist who didn't care about their patient wouldn't be very helpful or effective, and the Vykkers would at least try to make their creation worth making. They wouldn't want to waste their precious moolah on something that didn't work.

[Nate]

Not necessarily; a good psychologist would be able to do his/her job irrespective of his/her opinion of the patient. In particular, the Shrink is operating under the fear that if it doesn't help Sam it will be shut down and replaced.

[Shem]

Hi guys.

I know i only have like, 3 posts and all of them are asking for something (I'll try to be a more active member from now) but i was wondering, does anyone know where i can get a 1024x768 wallpaper of the oddworld moon (Abe's paw). I tried TOGG but it wasnt big enough. Thanks people!

[Wil]

There ent anything that big. If there were, it would be on TOGG in a flash.

/me moves this to General Discussion, then to Q&A.

[Slaveless]

I have another question. I may have asked this before, but.... Were Necrum Mines (I mean the Industery) made immediantly after Rupture Farms went down? Because in the The Oddworld Library it explains it that way. It just does not make sense to me at all.

[Wil]

Supposedly, yes they were. The point was that, in destroying RuptureFarms, Abe deprived SoulStorm Brewery of its primary source of Mudokon bones. In this way he was, although not intentionally, responsible for the destruction of Necrum.

All this wasn’t made clear in the game, but it was mentioned in interviews and previews. It’s part of Abe’s character that his good intentions often have unforeseen and undesirable outcomes. It’s a lesson to those of us that want to remove the heartlessness from capitalism: know thine enemy!

[Nate]

But surely that conflicts with the timeline that shows Abe heading to Necrum the day after returning from RuptureFarms? The mines are huge - they could not have been set up in one day. What's more, Mudokon Pops are a new recipe, given that they were only presented to the RF shareholders at the beginning of the game, which implies they had not yet started production. Sure, some bones would have still come from the muds killed in workplace 'accidents' but it's unlikely that the primary source of brew bones would have been from RuptureFarms.

[Wil]

It doesn’t explicitly say when Abe set off for Necrum, it just says it took a day’s walking to get there. And don’t forget the LED screen that boasts ‘only’ 1 236 work‐related accidents that month. Maybe they weren’t all casualties, but maybe it wasn’t yet the end of the month.

[Zerox]

It may not have originally Mudokon bones that were supplied for Soulstorm Brew (it is not specified on the bottles or anything), and all the corporate slander everywhere could be very misleading to each other with lies and stuff. It may just have seemed logical that, after one bone source was gone, that since they only wanted bones and didn't want to bother with meat, to go to Necrum.
We don't know how long things take to build in Oddworld, and it may have been quite a while before Abe left for the mines (given the rather large increase in his ability to possess things, as he's suddenly able to get Paramites, Scrabs, the works), so that would have given time for some construction. It's obviously not 100% complete perhaps, there's still alot of scaffolding present, and lots of stone showing up in the walls, which I'd have thought would have eventually been covered over with metal, but I can't be sure in that respect.

Perhaps work related accidents may include Sligs too? Though that's still a ridiculous figure. It seems more of a sort of joke than literal, but nonetheless...

[Slaveless]

@Zerox: My explamation for Abe's sudden ability to possess new creatures is related to his hand prints. They made him have a more powerful chant, as Abe said. It could simply imply that not also did he have the ability to become Shrykull, but possess the creatures he had just overcame.

@Max: That still doesn't explain some things. Like how come the blind Mudokons appear that they been inside the mines for months, not simply over a day. There are normal Mudokons in there which I doubt they had just arrived to the Mines only a few minutes before. Another thing is that it wouldn't seem like that straight after Abe had eliminated Rupture Farms, the SoulStorm Mines began. It would seem like that, since shortly after Abe got into the Monsasic Temple, the spirits said that their bones were being taken away. One last thing is that the SoulStorm Mines has a sign that says it is under new mangement. That wouldn't make sense if it just opened.

[Wil]

It may not have originally Mudokon bones that were supplied for Soulstorm Brew

Love this idea! Mudokons were deliberately not mentioned on SoulStorm Brew’s labelling, and the connection had to be uncovered by Abe and reported by F.U.D. In support of this idea, I do recall it being said that it was the Brewmaster who first came up with the idea of using Mud bones in Brew, implying that Brew was produced before that.

Perhaps work related accidents may include Sligs too? Though that's still a ridiculous figure. It seems more of a sort of joke than literal

I find it harder to believe that RuptureFarms 1029 is the biggest of its kind, but only employs 100 Mudokons, and fewer Sligs. These are the kinds of consessions that backstories and settings have to make to gameplay and plots. RuptureFarms always did seem to be endless expanses of pointless corridors rather than slaughter, processing and packaging. We never did see any Mudokon butchers, which is exactly why the game is set in an abbatoir: the Muds should have been literally, blissfully killing their sacred creatures.

In exactly the same way, I can see the ‘bone shortage’ point as being sacrificed for the sake of a more direct connection between AO and AE (and also a bit of slapstick never hurt anyone).

There are normal Mudokons in there which I doubt they had just arrived to the Mines only a few minutes before. […] One last thing is that the SoulStorm Mines has a sign that says it is under new mangement. That wouldn't make sense if it just opened.

I see you point about the blind Mudokons clearly having been kept in shafts for a long while, but why couldn’t the sighted Mudokons have been brought to the mines just hours before Abe got there? And the ‘Under new management’ makes perfect sense if the Cartel had just barged in on the unoccupied grounds.

…shortly after Abe got into the Monsasic Temple, the spirits said that their bones were being taken away.

This is very true, and the most sufficient observation to debunk the ‘bone shortage’ idea. All right, so the consensus seems to be that the intended continuity between AO and AE is not just inexplicit in the final game, but very much counter to what we see. If it makes sense to everyone, I’ll change this on TOE when I next revise… whichever article it is.

[used:)]

Perhaps it was forseen by the ghosts before it was all completed. We don't know how long that journey to Necrum took. Oddworld was said to be 10 times the size of Earth (and I know what that actually means has been the subject of much debate. For theoretical purposes, let's say it's geographical).

And slightly off topic: Max, was it confirmed that Mudos is approximately the size of Nicaragua?

[Slaveless]

But that wouldn't explain how come the spirits lacked certian body parts. They would have to have known it when it happened to their beloved Necrum.

[Wil]

Used, it was said by Lorne years ago, but hasn’t been confirmed in any way since. If anything, it may have been retconned. No idea why. It would make Oddworld a smaller place (effectively).

[Shem]

Does anyone know any of the cool proverbs/poems found in AO and AE?

For example, the only one i know is "Single Blue hands shall bear the brands and unleash the power to destroy false lands..."

[Venks]

Use the search engine, somebody wrote up all the poems in AO I believe.

[Wil]

Here is a zip file containing the Monsaic Lines backgrounds. There is a whole bunch of them in there.

[Shem]

thanks Max ^-^

[Wil]

I should have mentioned that we owe Paul and Xav for their being available in the first place.

[Hulaabeo]

Hi im new and i have a quistion what does a searex look like? can somebody post images of them if you have one. Thanks

[Wil]

Hi Hulaabeo. Here’s a screenshot from the Movies of Oddworld DVD, courtesy of Atusiya:



There’s an even clearer image in The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants, which you might be interested in buying from Ballistic Publishing. But that’s me advertising.

[Slaveless]

I forget pretty much everything there is to know about Searexes. Why exactly are supposily extinct? And how fast is that Searex going? It supposily was only around for maybe a second.

[Zozo the Zrilufet]

Hi Hulaabeo. Here’s a screenshot from the Movies of Oddworld DVD, courtesy of Atusiya:



There’s an even clearer image in The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants, which you might be interested in buying from Ballistic Publishing. But that’s me advertising.

:?Looks more like a small fish to me.

[Wil]

Why exactly are supposily extinct?

They’re not. Who suggested that?

And how fast is that Searex going?

It can pass a stationary point in a couple of seconds, if the video is anything to go by.

:?Looks more like a small fish to me.

That’s because there’s nothing to compare it to. It’s pretty darn big.

[Hulaabeo]

Thanks nw i have to find out what its face looks like

[Zerox]

Well, I made up a skeleton quite a while ago, hopefully it'll give you a vague idea of what it's face looks like...I think they have small eyes...or is it none?

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/35672323/

[moxco]

Picture request!
Don't worry this time I searched Togg first.

In the book of art under 'Inspiration, the brain' theres a Hand of Odd section. on that page there is a pic which has sligs and muds at war.

[Nate]

I don't remember seeing that one on the internets. Either way, you'll probably have to wait until Xav gets back from his holiday before you get a response.

[Xavier]

That pic was new to me when I opened the book, so I guess it's not available on the net

[bestmen]

I not have question with this topic