Was Anyone Suprised About Who Stranger Was.

ElumFan · #1 01-09-2008, 12:46 PM

THERE ARE VERY,VERY,VERY,VERY,VERY,VERY DEADLY SPOILERS BELOW. IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED "ODDWORLD:STRANGER'S WRATH" OR HAVEN'T GOTTEN AS FAR AS THE
AREA IN WHICH A CINTEMATIC PLAYS WITH STRANGER ALL TIED UP, DO NOT LOOK
BELOW. I AM BEING SERIOUS NOW, YOU WILL SPOIL A LOT OF THE GAME FOR
YOURSELF.

Ok, if you're here and haven't met my advice yet, spoil it for yourself. I was both freaked and suprised about Stranger's origins. I had thought he was a normal, two legged creature. I think Oddworld Inhabitants were snipers with this one. They kept hidden for so long, and
then they gunned me down with that cutscene in which Stranger is revealed to be a Steef. I was going "Holy (Poop)" in my mind. I would've never, ever thoughten Stranger
was a Steef. The freaky part though was that Stranger looks a little weird, now that
I know who he is. The suprising part, like I said before was that I would've never
imagined Stranger being a Steef. Considering he was AFTER a Steef to get
20 Grand...

Did anyone else get suprised like I did about this little secret?

Slaveless · #2 01-09-2008, 01:08 PM

I haven't played the game (and most likely will not for a very long time, if in any case that I even do get to play it) but it wasn't like a huge surprise. I had heard of videos that actually protrayed little bits about the next Oddworld game, and they already confirmed that Stranger was a Steef. (which probably was a big mistake) So, no, not so much.

However, the fact that he had four legs was a bit surprising for me. I thought they had changed the concept of Steef to a bipedal creature, but I proved to be wrong.

***Wil*** · #3 01-09-2008, 01:30 PM

It was absolutely no surprise to me. Far from keep it hidden, OWI were calling the character ‘Steef’ and ‘the Steef’ long before they ever referred to him as ‘Stranger’ or ‘the Stranger’, back in the Inside Microsoft’s Xbox documentary. They even showed his bipedal and centaur forms next to each other in a split screen, making it very obvious from the start that they were one and the same. What’s more, Lorne says in the documentary something along the lines of ‘We wanted people to grow attached to the character before revealing what he really is,’ so we immediately figured that the character’s being a Steef would be hidden at the start of the game and revealed as a twist later on.

For anyone paying attention that early on, it was absolutely no surprise at all. I’ve also read that many gamers who never saw the docu guessed Stranger’s secret identity as soon as the Steef statue was shown, let alone when the Steef bounty offer poster or mounted Steef head were shown. Frankly, I’m surprised anyone was surprised by the time the ‘Captured by Outlaws’ FMV played, but it really makes me glad to hear that somebody was. OWI tried really hard to make a really god twist that would test th player’s emotional attachment. Of course I still found the video to be very moving and beautiful even though I virtually knew what was going to be revealed , which I personally thought was far too little, if you know what I mean.

ElumFan · #4 01-09-2008, 04:58 PM

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It was absolutely no surprise to me. Far from keep it hidden, OWI were calling the character ‘Steef’ and ‘the Steef’ long before they ever referred to him as ‘Stranger’ or ‘the Stranger’, back in the Inside Microsoft’s Xbox documentary. They even showed his bipedal and centaur forms next to each other in a split screen, making it very obvious from the start that they were one and the same. What’s more, Lorne says in the documentary something along the lines of ‘We wanted people to grow attached to the character before revealing what he really is,’ so we immediately figured that the character’s being a Steef would be hidden at the start of the game and revealed as a twist later on.

For anyone paying attention that early on, it was absolutely no surprise at all. I’ve also read that many gamers who never saw the docu guessed Stranger’s secret identity as soon as the Steef statue was shown, let alone when the Steef bounty offer poster or mounted Steef head were shown. Frankly, I’m surprised anyone was surprised by the time the ‘Captured by Outlaws’ FMV played, but it really makes me glad to hear that somebody was. OWI tried really hard to make a really god twist that would test th player’s emotional attachment. Of course I still found the video to be very moving and beautiful even though I virtually knew what was going to be revealed , which I personally thought was far too little, if you know what I mean.

Hmm, the thing was, I never even heard of Oddworld till a while after. So I didn't know anything about Stranger's Wrath until I rented it and played it. That's when I went on to buy it, and I got to the point where he's revealed to be a Steef. So yeah I never even heard of the game until very early last year.

Bullet Magnet · #5 01-09-2008, 06:02 PM

My answer is the same as Max's, though I was still surprised on some level, I think the way he was hiding himself, although I picked up on all the clues beforehand I was still puzzled about how he was doing whatever the hell he was doing.

Although I missed the early stuff as Max knew about it, although I have been a fan from day one I only recently became well connected, certainly to the community. The first I heard of SW was my brother telling me he saw a clip during a preview segment of a game TV show, and warned me that I was (Deep Thought's voice) "not going to like it". Ha!

Though I later tracked down as much as I could about the new game online some months before release, so knew much of was the guys here knew, if a little out-of-chronologically-released-order.

:

which I personally thought was far too little, if you know what I mean

That's interesting. For instance: I guess a more in-depth revelation about his people would have felt far more significant than his quadrupedal revelation.

***Nate*** · #6 01-10-2008, 02:08 AM

No, Max is just being one very sick puppy.

***Wil*** · #7 01-10-2008, 02:19 AM

Also, BM’s post wins an award for containing the highest density of the words ‘though’ and ‘although’. If we add ‘thought’ to the list, it’s even more impressive.

Bullet Magnet · #8 01-10-2008, 03:21 AM

Argh, the later I stay up, the more delirious my posts. See, my internal thesaurus was already on the blink at just 3 a.m, it's remarkable that I even managed "quadrupedal revelation".

***Xavier*** · #9 01-10-2008, 05:00 AM

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It was absolutely no surprise to me. Far from keep it hidden, OWI were calling the character ‘Steef’ and ‘the Steef’ long before they ever referred to him as ‘Stranger’ or ‘the Stranger’, back in the Inside Microsoft’s Xbox documentary. They even showed his bipedal and centaur forms next to each other in a split screen, making it very obvious from the start that they were one and the same. What’s more, Lorne says in the documentary something along the lines of ‘We wanted people to grow attached to the character before revealing what he really is,’ so we immediately figured that the character’s being a Steef would be hidden at the start of the game and revealed as a twist later on.

The funny thing was Lorne trying to get the surprise back on and telling everyone in the last interviews right before the release that the Stranger wasn't a Steef

Guess he wanted the fans to discover the story as it was intended too, but it was a bit too late

***Wil*** · #10 01-10-2008, 05:01 AM

Yeah, that just made it all the more obvious. It wasn’t just Lorne, it was Alf and Alf’s Assistant, too.

mudling · #11 01-10-2008, 10:28 AM

I thought it was quite funny that the majority of us at the time (of course there were expections), thought the steef concepts to be cut and the stranger ones to be chosen so yeah I was kinda of surprized, thing is, I found out on the forums rather than by playing the game, people didn't think spoilers were such a big issue I guess, but still, nethertheless, I loved the twists, in fact, it was that that rivaled AO's story, seems like OW realy gave that extra effort to live up to the standards AO created.
Still think it's kind of stupid that Stranger had a head of a steef, and no one could tell it was him, I mean, do horns realy make that much of a difference.
Almost as stupid as no one knowing who Superman is despite that fact he doesn't wear a mask, or antyhing, may just be my interpretation though.

waaaaaaah · #12 01-10-2008, 10:37 AM

I had never heard of Oddworld before, until I saw the preview for it in OXM. I was a bit surprised when Stranger was revealed to be the Steef, but not that much.

***Wil*** · #13 01-10-2008, 02:10 PM

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thing is, I found out on the forums rather than by playing the game, people didn't think spoilers were such a big issue I guess

Shouldn’t have gone in the Spoiler Forum. Or you shouldn’t joined OWF after the Spoiler Forum was closed and all its contents were put in GD.

mudling · #14 01-10-2008, 07:12 PM

Actually I'm not sure how I found out, maybe I was curious, or maybe some spoilers into the GD
Think back to then, that was a long time ago, haha, it brings back memories.

Tristan · #15 01-13-2008, 04:51 PM

I actaully thought he was a steef like 3 lvls before that.

Oddey · #16 01-14-2008, 09:20 AM

I almost exploded with shock. I did read a bunch of things about steef but I never paid much attention. Quite surprised, yeah. So that's the end of discussion for me.

***Xavier*** · #17 01-14-2008, 10:26 PM

Actually the thing I was most looking forward in the game is how they would unveil it...
I wasn't disappointed, the scene is very well done

skillyaslig · #18 01-15-2008, 12:16 AM

Well, I was a moron and was sniffing out Stranger stuff on YouTube, And, Lol and behold, I found a clip that showed Stranger for what he was. I actually though, when I watched the clip, that when He (Stranger) was lifting up Sekto, he was the olden steef, cause he had horns. I was quite confused when I actually played the real game. But It certainly shot my duck outta the water, I'll say.

Fuzzle Guy · #19 01-18-2008, 09:04 AM

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It was absolutely no surprise to me. Far from keep it hidden, OWI were calling the character ‘Steef’ and ‘the Steef’ long before they ever referred to him as ‘Stranger’ or ‘the Stranger’...
...For anyone paying attention that early on, it was absolutely no surprise at all.

Wasn't it first rumoured that Squeek was the Steef?

Anyway, as Max said, it was of no suprise to me because OWI were always calling him the Steef, it was only as the games launch drew nearer they began calling him the Stranger. But it was sort of a shock to me to find that he had to bag a Steef head. At first I thought "They're asking him to murder one of his own" but then I realised that they didn't know he was a Steef. That was the real "shock" for me.

***Wil*** · #20 01-19-2008, 05:50 AM

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Wasn't it first rumoured that Squeek was the Steef?

Just a misunderstanding. People thought Munch would be followed by Squeek, and the names ‘Squeek’ and ‘Steef’ are slightly similar.

Alf Shall Rise · #21 01-19-2008, 07:07 AM

I wasn't surprised because I used to live on the Depths on Oddworld, and somewhere on that site it said that Stranger was a steef or something. Soon enough I knew what a steef was. But what did surprise me was what he wanted the treatment for.

mudling · #22 01-19-2008, 07:50 AM

So that no one knew he was a steef, and so no one would want to hunt him down.

Matriar · #23 01-19-2008, 12:19 PM

ElumFan, I really think that anyone was shocked/surprised/speechless when the scene was shown where Stranger's pants got off. Personally, I don't think that this is worth making a thread about it.

In case you guys haven't realized it, in any Oddworld game is a part where is a kinda surprise. Abe was a slave at first but he suddenly was able to change in a monster, as an example.

Okay, Stranger's example was a big surprise (for those who haven't studied spoilers before playing the game

). But I think this is what the game makes awesome!

Kimon · #24 01-19-2008, 12:28 PM

I pretty much realized it before I played the game, I remember getting really hyped up for it and looking for as much information as I could. Seeing the Steef head statue was also a total giveaway.

:

It was absolutely no surprise to me. Far from keep it hidden, OWI were calling the character ‘Steef’ and ‘the Steef’ long before they ever referred to him as ‘Stranger’ or ‘the Stranger’, back in the Inside Microsoft’s Xbox documentary.

By the by, what happened to that documentary? It isn't a part of the Oddworld Library, is it? I've been looking for it for a while now, I think. Is it the one that shows early demos of the Steef with a crossbow that shoots (God-forbid) arrows? Maybe I'm thinking of something else. Hmmmm.

Matriar · #25 01-19-2008, 12:40 PM

I also found that Stranger looks similar to a steef when I saw the wanted poster. But didn't really thought so much about it since I still had much bounty to hunt... guess, I'm not as smart as you.

ziggy · #26 01-19-2008, 01:56 PM

I kind of knew the whole time, because I didn't think they were trying to keep it that much of a secret anyway. At least that's what I assumed. OWI never were good at surprising you very much: Just like how in the first game they revealed that you must rescue the other workers too early when you think they shouldn't have. Wasn't there a big discussion on that a while ago?

mudling · #27 01-19-2008, 11:53 PM

They tried to keep it secret, but I think all of the twists were last minute, anyways, I loved them anyway, and the story.

OW is realy up there in terms of stories, of course companies like Bioware are ahead, but they're still up there.

***Wil*** · #28 01-20-2008, 03:29 AM

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By the by, what happened to that documentary? It isn't a part of the Oddworld Library, is it? I've been looking for it for a while now, I think. Is it the one that shows early demos of the Steef with a crossbow that shoots (God-forbid) arrows? Maybe I'm thinking of something else. Hmmmm.

Behold! (at the bottom)

***Nate*** · #29 01-20-2008, 04:03 AM

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OWI never were good at surprising you very much: Just like how in the first game they revealed that you must rescue the other workers too early when you think they shouldn't have.

The example I think of is how they gave away the plot twist about Mudokon tears in the AE manual. 'twasn't shocking at all when I came to that FMV.

Kimon · #30 01-20-2008, 12:14 PM

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Behold! (at the bottom)

Whee!

*Jumps in joyousness*