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I don't think any of us are under the impression that Exoddus is more than Oddysee 1.5. I mean OWI were always clear that this was a bonus game rather than the next installment.
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OWI are always throwing around meaningless words, AE is still a sequel.
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The biggest issue I can think of with Exoddus is it's story. It's a retread of Oddysee plotwise without the Quintological significance (great word eh?  ). BUT this time around OWI decided to flesh out the characters, define their personalities, and actually write a pretty good script. This, in my opinion, trumps the fact that Exoddus doesn't take the series to new places. And compared to Munch - which was supposed to take the story somewhere new - you can see how Exoddus succeeds in telling it's retread of a story. |
I would agree with this, but in a game where story takes a backseat (and like it or not, it does), this isn't very significant. My points were about the gameplay.
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I can not agree. Maybe the hub structure of the entire game feels a little played out for some but I've played the game so much I can't remember if I thought this initially (I certainly don't now). The more puzzles the merrier... the puzzles...
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The more, of the same, puzzles, the merrier of the same puzzles?
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I personally don't think the Brewery overstays its welcome at all - and the variety in puzzles keeps things paced well. And the Brewery is comparable to Zulags 2-4 of Rupture Farms. Not the final level.
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Yes, that is what I was referring to. I also don't think that the small variety in puzzles is enough to trump the fact that everything else is basically the same, and that's a good solid 1 and a half hours for a new player.
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Similarly the Necrum Mines isn't too long either and it introduces new concepts as a good pace - how the game works, blind Mudokons, flying Sligs, Mine cars.
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Ah, I knew this would be
somebody's trump card. "But they added new concepts and new mechanics! Flying Sligs, Greeters and Mine Cars, oh my!"
Here the issue is not with the concepts but how they function as gameplay elements. They're fun for a while after they're introduced but quickly become the norm, and you realise that they aren't different or interesting enough to stay fresh, as the mechanics from the original did. In some cases, it's the opposite. Look at how many times we use Mine Cars. What, 3 times? They could have implemented them more in clever ways but they chose not to.
With Fleeches it's the opposite. They're used too much and quickly become infuriating, they're essentially just the bees from AO except you can kill them. I never liked them anyway so that's probably entirely subjective.
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And possessing the creatures. Which stopped those areas feeling like a complete redundant retread. The most obvious example of sequelitis but I think they hold up gameplaywise.
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Yes, and this would be fine if it weren't for the fact that everything else is exactly the same. You go to a Paramite area in the wild, then you go to a Scrab area in the wild. Of course those are very vague ways of putting it, but you get what I mean. They could have done more interesting things with these creatures and the new mechanics they brought to them, like having more sections with them in industrial areas spread throughout the game as opposed to having dedicated segments for them. I think not only would it flow much better, but it wouldnt get stale nearly as fast. And hey, haven't you always wanted to see what happens when Paramites and Scrabs meet?
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See man, completely wrong. I mean, technically, your first paragraph is what AE is. Not a proper innovative sequel.
But the new concepts aren't uninteresting.
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I never said they were.
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Blind Mudokons, Flying Sligs, posessing Scrabs n Paramites, Greeters, Glukkon puzzles all work very well. The game's not actually as long as you think it is (if AO is like 3-4 hours long AE isn't 9-12 hours long) which, personally, stops every area from overstaying its welcome.
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For a first-time player who took 4 hours to beat Oddysee, I'd say it would take them at least 6-8 hours to beat Exoddus.
Not all areas overstay their welcome. I very much enjoy disk 2 up to the Brewery. It had what, 20-something Zulags? And that's not overstaying it's welcome?
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The art direction in the industrial envrionments are a lot better than in Rupture Farms. They're not as pixelated and there's a lot more visual variety between screens throughout (except the Bonewerkz - it kind of sucks a bit).
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I partly agree with this, AE definitely is more detailed, though I enjoy the more isolated feel Oddysee has.
Oddly, I disagree with your point about Bonewerkz. I love the grim tone it has. Very much like AO, except more like a Victorian-era factory. It's probably one of my favourite looking areas.
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This is like Arkham Origins to Arkham City. But where Origins sort of just expanded things without really bringing new design with it - and thus feeling like an unnecessary retread for some - Exoddus did bring it both on the story front and the gameplay front. Which stops it from feeling like the unnecessary sequel no one wanted. But more like the game we wish Oddysee was.
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This is precisely my problem with Exoddus, though. It's the game OWI
wanted to make first. So they remade it and added the bits they left out in the first one. The small improvements made to the actual gameplay are trivial when you compare the two games, because in my opinion if Oddysee had those improvements it would be a perfect game. Abe's Exoddus has them, but it's almost like a 1 step forward, 2 steps back scenario.
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I know I prefer some of Oddysee's more mysterious atmosphere - and at its core the journey of Abe has more weight to it. But Exoddus really holds it own and trumps the original in many respects.
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AO's atmosphere was unlike anything else at the time, which is why it saddens me that AE went with a completely different approach. The result is that, AE is more dated and AO is timeless. I guess that's my conclusion.
