Abe HD Ideas

[Varrok]

I have nothing against J.G. Abe's Voice.

[DarkHoodness]

Yeah but can they employ him again?

[Varrok]

I'd be glad if they did

[Sekto Springs]

I'm sure his voice has changed since then. Would be interesting to hear him give it another shot though.

[Manco]

Bear in mind that it was Josh Gabriel who did the voices for Abe in AO. If the voices are re-done by Lorne, Abe will sound like he did in AE and Munch.

I remember this being brought up by me a couple months ago, and it was established that Lorne did Abe in AO also. Josh and Lorne both recorded the voice and some of Josh made it in, but most is Lorne’s work; or something along those lines.

Abe sounds different in AE because they decided to make him sound sadder. MO has the voice try and balance the two tones.

e: Here we go. http://www.oddworldforums.net/showpo...8&postcount=18

[AstraVexx]

I'd really hope they'd use professional voice actors unless they find fans who are exceptional at voice acting... And that's unlikely.

*Raises hand* I've been doing cartoon voices for nearly 10 years, Slig character tones and phrasing are not a problem for me.

[Wil]

I remember this being brought up by me a couple months ago, and it was established that Lorne did Abe in AO also. Josh and Lorne both recorded the voice and some of Josh made it in, but most is Lorne’s work; or something along those lines.

Abe sounds different in AE because they decided to make him sound sadder. MO has the voice try and balance the two tones.

e: Here we go. http://www.oddworldforums.net/showpo...8&postcount=18

Despite what Lorne remembers, it's all Josh Gabriel. All the GameSpeak, at least.

*Raises hand* I've been doing cartoon voices for nearly 10 years, Slig character tones and phrasing are not a problem for me.

Your profile says you've been an Oddworld fan since you were seven, but Abe's Oddysee wasn't released until you were eight.

[AstraVexx]

Your profile says you've been an Oddworld fan since you were seven, but Abe's Oddysee wasn't released until you were eight.

Actually, you're correct, that makes more sense in my head now, let me correct that

[DarkHoodness]

Despite what Lorne remembers, it's all Josh Gabriel. All the GameSpeak, at least.

Oh okay good, I thought I remembered incorrectly.

[AstraVexx]

Speaking of unheard voices, Do you think you'll add in any additional cutscenes that don't feature any dialogue?

Maybe something like what the sleeping cells in Rapture Farms would look like?

(E.g "I was working late one night, at Rupture Farms". Panning shot of rows and rows of cells, cut to Abe sleeping on a single hammock full of holes and stains, no pillow or blanket, one leg hanging out the hammock, and then a massive fire-alarm siren alarm clock strikes midnight and flashes the Text "GET TO WORK, CHUMP!" over and over as Abe falls out of the hammock and fades into the floor-waxing scene.)

Or maybe how the Mudokon Paw got on the moon? Lorne explained that he originally wanted to have an FMV of a meteor storm slowly forming the paw as Abe was escaping from RuptureFarms, but couldn't do it due to budget limtations. That being done on the BitSquid engine would look incredible

[Manco]

Despite what Lorne remembers, it's all Josh Gabriel. All the GameSpeak, at least.

Is the cutscene narration Lorne? That voice sounds closer to what we hear in AE/MO, and sounds significantly different to the GameSpeak in AO.

[Wings of Fire]

Adding on to the voice thing, if Abe HD covers Exoddus stuff as well, I'd like to see Abe's rhyming kept consistent throughout.

My biggest disappointment with Exoddus is Abe had stopped rhyming, it's what makes cutscenes like Abe's Moon still such a joy to watch.

[STM]

Although, Abe had no one to interact with in Abe's Oddysee in the cut-scenes, WoF, perhaps he should rhyme only when he is by himself. Not guiding mudokons or saving them.

[Wings of Fire]

Well, sure. But if it's going to be one continuous thing then there should be a precedent for Abe not rhyming before he suddenly stops doing it.

[Sekto Springs]

I agree with WoF. When Abe narrated in prose, it gave a sort of fairy tale feel to Oddworld, whether intended or not. It felt like a very dark bed time story.

The thing about that is, Abe was specifically narrating a flashback. I don't recall whether or not Abe was narrating in past or present tense in AE, but it certainly felt like it was happening in real time. Maybe Abe's just bad at rhyming on the spot.

[Manco]

I think with the amount of narration in AE, rhyming consistently throughout could become quite difficult.

The rhyming in AO is nice, but it could be kept to just that game. It’s the introduction to the story, and is the only one which really gets treated as a flashback. Perhaps the rhyming could be brought back for the last Quintology game, as a sort of bookend.

[Jordan]

I also liked the rhyming and I'd love to see more of it.

[Wings of Fire]

Would be great if every Quintology hero had their own distinct manner of narration.

[STM]

I would like to point out that in AE clarity of speech was a new factor. You could hardly understand Molluck, and most of Abe's speech was indistinct mumbling. In AE glukkons were fleshed out and given proper linguistic capabilities, as was Abe. I preferred how it was in AO to be honest, so if glukkons went back to their mumbling, grumbling ways, I'd love to see Abe rhyming again. But perhaps AO was a flash back told before AE began.

[Sekto Springs]

When I first played AO, I just assumed that we were hearing things from Abe's POV and he simply couldn't understand the Glukkons' gruff vernacular.

[Wil]

I loved the incoherency of characters in Abe's Oddysee; I think that is a significant part of their appeal. However, it's something of a relict from earlier iterations of the game's design where no language was comprehensible except from intonation and context. It lends to the alien and forboding atmosphere, but as the Quintoloy moves forward and we need to see and understand the industrial forces more, it's going to get in the way.

We could leave the language hard to understand, but that will in the future raise the question of why Mollock staffed his factory exclusively with hard-to-understand employees when there's no shortage of more well-spoken inhabitants. Making Abe HD we're going to have to figure out how best to balance the unique, unrivalled charm of the original with the tone and canon Oddworld has evolved since then.

[Manco]

I’d love to see the rhyming and coherence of the antagonists be worked into the development of the story.

So, at the beginning we have a simple plot with stereotypically evil one-dimensional guys who mutter incoherently, and a humble protagonist who speaks in rhyme.

Then as the plot develops, we get acquainted with those characters. We learn the backstory, influences and pressures on those bad guys, and as we do they become more coherent, more fleshed-out solid characters. As the protagonist grows as a character, learns about the history and plight of the inhabitants, he loses his naivete and charm and so too his rhyming subdues.

[STM]

If it could be done seamlessly, then OH has a good idea.

[AvengingGibbons]

I've just been dreaming about Abe HD lol.. the sligs walk towards Abe after they shoot him, and start kicking him, like the outlaws in stranger's wrath

[Crashpunk]

I've just been dreaming about Abe HD lol.. the sligs walk towards Abe after they shoot him, and start kicking him, like the outlaws in stranger's wrath

As evil as that sounds I actually like that. "Did I get him?"

It's definitely better then "BS" and "S'mo BS" over and over again.

[STM]

Aww, but everyone loved BS, S'Mo'BS XD

[pupbenny]

Wait a minute!

So.... I only read it briefly.... but.... well....

So, Lorne Lanning didn't do Abe's voice in the Oddworld games!?

[Wil]

He did, just not the GameSpeak in Abe's Oddysee.

[Crashpunk]

I really didn't like Abe's and the Mudokon's voices in Abe's Oddysee. It was improved so much in Abe's Exoddus.

[Clannfear]

Voices in Abe's Oddysee were the best. Every aspect of the game (comparing to the Exoddus) was better in my opinion.

Abe's Oddysee was dark and weird. As Abe, you felt so lonly in this big odd place. Characters don't speak so "humany". There was nothing which could be compared to our world. Also, I'll always love the atmosphere of the ending credits (with those arts and stockyard music).