Oddworld approaching more real life?

[The Shadowman]

Well, throughout Stranger you are under the impression OI is moving to a more realic theme, with more emotion. Some things in the game will strike right home. Some are even based here on Earth. I know what you are thinking "name one". Well at the end of the game (very last thing you see on the movie) is a quote by Suoix Indian Cheiftin. Well that struck as home as you can get, because I am part Suoix Native American as matter of fact. It would seem that there is evidence Oddworld is looking more home from seeing CS too. So share your thoughs...please

[Kimon]

I agree. Incorporating reality into the games is good, first of all because it conveys a good message, and second of all it relates Oddworld to Earth, which it is in many ways related to.

P.S. I'm part Sioux, too.

[Dipstikk]

I think it's great that Oddworld is reaching out emotionally instead of resorting to goofball antics. It shows a level of maturity in the atmosphere that seemed to be at a low in Abe and Munch's games.

P.S.: I'm only Swedish/German/Czec...

[TheLonelySteef]

That's really cool that you are part Sioux Indian, I bet the ending of Stranger really struck home with you. I'm part Cherokee Indian my dad says.

[ConkerTribe]

Well there were other parts as well, and whole concepts too. For instance the whole southern atmosphere, the southern twang in the clakkerz voices, and etc. It's not a bad thing though, as I see it as a great parody on Westerns and the Oddworld humor is still there. Meh, that's just me though.

[Angalok]

I agree that Stranger's Wrath is the most serious of the four games. Sekto is a villain who's cruel, ruthless, and organized, unlike the bumbling enemies in the previous games. Stranger's plight is also the most dramatic; I was really affected when Stranger's secret is first revealed, especially when the Clakkers screamed "He's a stupid beast, he can't understand us!" He was good enough to save them from Outlaws and be a hero when he had two legs, but make him a quadroped and suddenly he's a monster; very heavy commentary on racism there.

To be honest, though, the game has its fair share of goofball moments. All the Outlaws' names are ridiculous puns, Stranger taunts the Lootin' Duke about "smackin' it up" with Boilz booty in the cell, and I needn't go into the Clakkerz conversations.

Personally, I feel that Abe's Oddysee is quite serious as well. The poetry narrative gives the story an epic quality, and the backdrop social issues are slavery and extinction. The realistically threatened world setting that mirrors our own situation so well was set up perfectly in the first game.

[Esus]

I disagree. I think this is just as 'local' as any of the other games. All of the plights and predicments in some way reflect similar Earth plights. This does use a Native American quote which I suppose does make it even more obvious of what inspiration was gathered from the Native American plights, but such reflections on Earth are in all the other games.

[Kimon]

I think it's more realistic, not neccesarily more serious. The first game in my opinion was the most serious, because it had to convey a mood of hopelessness and industry taking over the world.

[The Shadowman]

I agree. Incorporating reality into the games is good, first of all because it conveys a good message, and second of all it relates Oddworld to Earth, which it is in many ways related to.

P.S. I'm part Sioux, too.

That's really cool that you are part Sioux Indian, I bet the ending of Stranger really struck home with you. I'm part Cherokee Indian my dad says.

Wow! I had no idea there where other Native Americans on the forums. We should have a chat sometime, I would be very happy if we could talk sometime about our hertiage.

Esus, but wouldn't you agree there is more "feeling" in this then the others. More emotion, more dramatic, more...real I guess. It has a deep heart to it. When you get the game you may see what I mean. It is of coarse still Oddworld but more emotional detailed though of Oddworld, it goes outside the bounds of Slap-Stick humor.

Thanks again to the Native Americans for your responce

[Volsung]

If we're talking about earthiness, I can't imagine that "being emotional" makes it more real. The designs are certainly more earthy. There are a total of three characters that aren't humanoid in proportion, and the ammo is so similair to the creatures they've been modeled on that no review I've seen has bothered to distinguish Chippunkz or Stunkz from Chipmunks and Skunks. And while Clakker towns have a slight barrel theme, its been reduced so much that the only thing odd about any of the western theme architecture is the scale and neon. Why are we talking about Stranger having more "feeling" than Abe or Munch?

I thought the Abe games had a deep heart to them. I thought they had the feel of something so true and painful there HAD to be slapstick moments, or you'd be too depressed to move on.

I think the only thing Stranger did differently (in terms of feeling) was have no humour in the FMVs. (making a slight exception for Blisterz Booty). I'm sure there were multiple reasons for this, but it seems like a big one--for mood development--is that Stranger is a badass. And a badass doesn't fart and make a funny face upon success.

This post isn't intended to downgrade the emotional impact of the game or suggest that SW doesn't more blatantly wear its influences. But if you consider the first three games to be nothing more than Slap-stick humour you're drinking something a helluva lot stronger than tea. Well, that or you equate comedy with lack of relevance, whichever.

[The Shadowman]

No I'm not saying the others games had no feeling, just a different feeling, the tother games show comdy and the darkside of Oddowrld, this game shows Stranger's reactions in a more Count of Monte Cristo feeling. More of the sadness of death and such. And there is nothing wrong with Slap-stick humor, that is what established Oddworld. As for more emotions it does make things more real if you can relate to it. If it was a game about some guy just starts shooting people well that doesn't seem real realisic does it. But if he is shooting these people because they murdered his wife and children, you can sort of feel his pain. Emotion makes things better, and you know it. It would seem dipstikk would agree with me

I think it's great that Oddworld is reaching out emotionally instead of resorting to goofball antics. It shows a level of maturity in the atmosphere that seemed to be at a low in Abe and Munch's games.

P.S.: I'm only Swedish/German/Czec...

So...stick that in your pipe and smoke it! Ah whatever...what I am saying is that the other Oddworld games are different, but personaly I liked the previous Oddworld games more in some ways.
I am going to let your last 2 sentences go as comedy Volsung, just don't keep doing it, please

[Kimon]

Wow! I had no idea there where other Native Americans on the forums. We should have a chat sometime, I would be very happy if we could talk sometime about our hertiage.

Talking about Native American heritage would be super-cool. We should definetly do it. I have a lot to learn because I've never met my father (the Sioux one).

As for lack of humor in SW, thats bullshit. There's a deep sense of situational irony and a hell of a lot of subtle humor. The last games reside in slapstick, but they work, as does SW.

[Abeguy]

Yeah, I like the Slapstick Humor. Stranger is too...too...serious.

[Volsung]

My last two sentences are joking, in the sense that I doubt you weren't sober when you posted. The other points I made in them still apply. If you think that the heavier comedy severely impairs the emotional impact of seeing the mudokons beaten and routinely electrified in AE, then you're a much more thick-skinned person than I am.

I may have been harsh, but it bothers me that you would equate a change of tone with an increase in realism. (I'm not entirely sure why.)

Stranger feels no more based on earth than the previous games, in my opinion. The Abe and Munch games are like Dark Comedies; you laugh, and then have to think about why you're laughing when all these terrible things are occurring. Stranger's a Historical Drama, only funnier. If one or the other reaches you better, that's fine, but don't imply that the former sends a weaker message or has less "truth" to it.

I guess my underlying point here is what Esus and Angalok have already stated--namely, that the inspiration for Oddworld has always been drawn from Earth and events that transpire here. A sub-point being that the plots have always been hung on equally serious issues: Genocide, Slavery, Imperialism, Racism, etc.... You won't find a single Oddworld game that doesn't incorporate these issues (though SW has opted to marginalize and systematically destroy the Grubbs instead of enslaving them. A slight break from the historical plight of Native Americans).

Still, its possible I'm finding slights where there are none. Its been known to happen. I just think that what sets Stranger apart from the other games (aside from the obvious) is that they're pursuing a different way of telling the same story. I don't think that anything other than the designs are becoming more Earthly than they were before.

Oddworld is a way of looking at the past. If OWI wants to be "real" I believe that they'll show us the future, via Citizen Siege.

[The Shadowman]

Oh I agree with you Volsung. There is not less emotion in the previous games, its just that Stranger has a few different emotions, a "i'm all alone" emotion. The other games are use comedy which I was disappointed to see the lack in humor in Stranger (there is humor in it just not as much). I stated what I was trying to say wrong because I was half asleep. I want to let you know I agree with you. As for the Native American thing, at the very ending of the game comes up a quote from the a Sioux cheiftin.
-Shadowman

[sullytheraptor]

I think the biggest difference between Stranger's Wrath and the older games is the character types. Stranger is sort of a self-made, more traditional type of hero. Strong on the outside, which makes his plight mostly an emotional one. Abe just wound up by fate or random chance as the savior of the Mudokons, and he's none to happy with it. He's physically very weak and clumsy, which is naturally going to lead to more slapstick events, and the same is true even moreso with Munch.
The opening scene in Abe's Exoddus should tell you that the old games definately hit home as much as Stranger's Wrath. The first living creature you see in the game is a slave with his eyes sewn shut so he won't know he's mining the bones of his own ancestors. That ruthless, oppressive nature of mankind has always been apparent in Oddworld games. That's actually been the entire driving force behind them.
I like Stranger's wrath a lot, not because of the difference in serious to humorous ratio, but because it tackles some of the same ideas in a completely different way.