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Oddworld Stranger's Wrath

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I'm not sure there is an existing thread on this game, I searched. If there was though, it'd be locked by now.

I love the Oddworld games so much, I love the art, stories, themes, characters, environments, puzzles, gameplay, flow, and creativity. I just never got around to playing Stranger's Wrath when the Xbox version came out even though I had purchased a copy. I had just started college and by that time, I was constantly working on projects and holding a full time job. Those years allowed no time for involved video games and only small handheld type affairs. When the HD version was announced, I was ready to get around to it, but I think it took about two years to come out. It's for the best though as it's not rushed like so many other HD collections and is one of the few to really take advantage of the title HD.

So this game is really interesting to me. It is a very disjointed experience compared to any Oddworld before. It lacks the flow, story, and charming characters (for the most part) of the ones before but definitely plays better than Munch's Oddysee. I also don't play FPS much so this probably skews my vision somewhat. I also played on hard and found the game very punishing if not for the Quicksave function, I would have gotten no where.

However, playing on hard did make for an intense experience where I had to really take my time to cover myself and be inventive on capturing enemies. I also really had to think about my strategies and figure out which ammo to use when turning the next corner throughout the whole game. I did play the first half of the game again on easy to get the money trophy and easy mode just doesn't do it justice. It's not even the same game, I could just rush into areas on easy and not even die while taking tons of shots.

Just the major problem with the game is that the first half or so is great in terms of executing stealth (much like Metal Gear Solid) and being involved with capturing enemies alive (which I tried to constantly do, much like Metal Gear Solid again). The changing from third person view to first is very streamlined and easy to do. The ammo is all very inventive and differing, making almost all of your arsenal useful and keeping you collecting the live bait. But the whole bounty thing is just too much, too many bosses, too much repetition, too many chicken characters that aren't that funny, and no story whatsoever on this part. The suddenly the game turns on it's head right after this and is more of an action game where there is little stealth needed and lots of big guns (your ammo almost entirely changes).

There is no ease into this, the game just suddenly changes. While suddenly the story starts progressing into break neck speed, the game becomes more mindless in a way while still being more engaging than the first half. I wish the two halves had much more of a balance in the middle, I think this would have fixed the whole game.

The story was very harrowing though and left an impact on me. I think I found some of the subjects and imagery more upsetting than previous Oddworld games as the violence or devastation was portrayed less goofy than before. I did not expect to see dead Grubbs strung up on poles for instance. The story was great actually, but very little was sprinkled around the game and the prerendered cutscenes, which I always found a major treat with the Oddworld games, were less around than ever.

Really glad the HD version came out and I could finally play it though. I think the game is definitely worth a look.

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I hear only good things about Stranger's Wrath. I've never properly played an Oddworld game (only the Abe's Odyssey demo), but I do love reading the thoughts behind these games. The creator (I forget his name) is always pouring these super interesting ideas into them, really above and beyond what you'd normally see in gaming or any entertainment.

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Yeah that's Lorne Lanning. The funny part of Stranger's Wrath is I see in the credits that he did the voice work for almost all of the characters in the game. I would have never have guessed.

One thing I do really appreciated about all of the Oddworld games are the analogies of native American suffering, environmental issues, and corporate greed. Stranger's Wrath of course still had it's fair share.

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I think Exoddus would be a better place to start. It has a nicer save system than Abe's Oddysee, has much more fleshed out ideas and inventive use of the gamespeak and possession, and a larger story. It also has a video you can watch which quickly recaps everything that happened in the first game.

Stranger is a good place to start if you like shooting more than playing platformers, as it is unconnected to the story of the previous games and can easily be played alone by anyone without them missing anything important.

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I think Exoddus would be a better place to start. It has a nicer save system than Abe's Oddysee, has much more fleshed out ideas and inventive use of the gamespeak and possession, and a larger story. It also has a video you can watch which quickly recaps everything that happened in the first game.

Stranger is a good place to start if you like shooting more than playing platformers, as it is unconnected to the story of the previous games and can easily be played alone by anyone without them missing anything important.

So even though Oddysee is the first game (I'm presuming) I should just skip it entirely?

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No, if you're going to play both, play Oddysee first. If you start getting frustrated at Oddysee's checkpoints, though, you might want to skip ahead to Exoddus, though know this: even I (toblix) managed to play through both Oddyseee and Exoddus just last year, and I get really frustrated really fast.

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I recently beat that game and I agree that the "change" is a bit jarring.

I too played it in a more or less strategic way up until the "change", but then it's full on action, the game just keeps giving you upgraded versions of your more "aggressive" ammo and stealth is not an option. You might be able to kill a few with the sniper mosquito silently, but that's about it.

The most upsetting part is that the change seems to take away ALL the upgrades you bought, which makes sense story-wise, but is a dick move gameplay-wise.

I don't know if you keep the knuckle upgrades or the stamina upgrades, but the ammo upgrades and ammo bag upgrades, which are the ones you'd think you need for the second part of the game, are gone.

Also, it was liberating to play a Oddworld game where you didn't have to rescue 100 Mudokons to get the good ending. :mock:

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So even though Oddysee is the first game (I'm presuming) I should just skip it entirely?
No, if you're going to play both, play Oddysee first. If you start getting frustrated at Oddysee's checkpoints, though, you might want to skip ahead to Exoddus, though know this: even I (toblix) managed to play through both Oddyseee and Exoddus just last year, and I get really frustrated really fast.

Yeah I mean Oddysee is definitely worth playing, it's just you can just conveniently skip it if you want since all of the back story is covered in an intro video that you can decide whether you want to watch or not. I think Exoddus is just a meatier game. It's about twice as long as Oddysee if I remember.

I don't know if you keep the knuckle upgrades or the stamina upgrades, but the ammo upgrades and ammo bag upgrades, which are the ones you'd think you need for the second part of the game, are gone.

It seemed like you got the upgrades to your stamina and knuckles even though they disappear from your inventory. My guess is that you get these upgrades anyway like the ammo, whether you purchased them beforehand or not. It seemed like I kept my strength and stamina the same way throughout the second half.

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As the resident Oddworld nerd, I'd suggest playing Abe's Oddysee first, if only because once you've played Exoddus with quicksave, you'll find AO kinda frustrating. Also, it sets up the mythos for the rest of the series, which you'll miss out on if you skip straight to AE.

Munch's Oddysee is worth playing if you have time to spare, but it's not a great game. Stranger's Wrath is a lot of fun, but is very different to the others.

The most upsetting part is that the change seems to take away ALL the upgrades you bought, which makes sense story-wise, but is a dick move gameplay-wise.

I don't know if you keep the knuckle upgrades or the stamina upgrades, but the ammo upgrades and ammo bag upgrades, which are the ones you'd think you need for the second part of the game, are gone.

You do get other upgrades from that point onwards, though. Also, with the HD upgrade you actually receive health and stamina upgrades as you receive more armour, which didn't happen originally because of a bug.

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As the resident Oddworld nerd, I'd suggest playing Abe's Oddysee first, if only because once you've played Exoddus with quicksave, you'll find AO kinda frustrating.

I haven't played Exoddus, but I assure you that doing so isn't a prerequisite to finding Oddysee frustrating.

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I haven't played Exoddus, but I assure you that doing so isn't a prerequisite to finding Oddysee frustrating.
Heh. You're right. I should have said 'moreso'.
Wow, I am glad I played the HD version, that glitch sounds terrible!
If you mean the

armour glitch

I mentioned, nobody even noticed it at the time. It was only when Just Add Water were going through the source code that they realised what had happened.

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So even though Oddysee is the first game (I'm presuming) I should just skip it entirely?

Might have to pick this up now that the PS3's up and running again, I had the original Xbox version back in the day but I don't think I had the patience for it. It's under a tenner I think isn't it?

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They're 2.50 a piece on Steam, which is a fantastic price, and well under what they're worth. That said, if you insist on consoles, I can't help you with prices.

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I picked up the Oddboxx in the summer sale but I believe the update for the pc version isn't due to roll out for another few months.

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Might have to pick this up now that the PS3's up and running again, I had the original Xbox version back in the day but I don't think I had the patience for it. It's under a tenner I think isn't it?
Don't bother with the PS3 version of the Abe games. I can only speak for the PAL version, but the upscaling is abysmal. Go with Steam; they're cheap as.
I picked up the Oddboxx in the summer sale but I believe the update for the pc version isn't due to roll out for another few months.
Stranger's Wrath is going to be updated to the HD version in a few months. Munch's Oddysee is going to be updated to HD on PS3 some time this year and then on Steam a few months after that. And JAW are developing a 2.5D HD Abe remake for all systems, with no release date given yet.

I've been warned that Stranger (and possibly Munch too) don't work well on all ATI graphics cards. Caveat emptor.

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I've been warned that Stranger (and possibly Munch too) don't work well on all ATI graphics cards. Caveat emptor.

Behold terrible graphical bugs.

Shit gets weird with the Strangers PC remake.

Edited by Orvidos

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Man Stranger's wrath has been a bugbear for me for a while, I got the original xbox version just before the 360 came out and I been sitting here for a fucking decade waiting for the 360 compatibility patch, and there's a PS3 HD remake but still no goddamn 360 update patch, Motherfuckers.

I was really e-joying it until I got to a part where I just had to quicksave it but They sniped me every time just after the quicksave. I gave up quicksaving becasue of this fukcing game man.

It's only important to me because Stranger's wrath is a great game, I want to get around to finishing that one.

EDIT: Hey hooly shit I already done bought that in that oddworld steam sale that I saw on Idle Thumbs! Wuxtry!

Edited by baconian

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Man Stranger's wrath has been a bugbear for me for a while, I got the original xbox version just before the 360 came out and I been sitting here for a fucking decade waiting for the 360 compatibility patch, and there's a PS3 HD remake but still no goddamn 360 update patch, Motherfuckers.
That's Microsoft's decision, not OWI's. I guess the game didn't sell well enough for them to make it a priority. Besides, they stopped adding games to the compatibility list years ago.

Shit gets weird with the Strangers PC remake.

Woah, man, can you please shrink that image down a bit?

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Don't bother with the PS3 version of the Abe games. I can only speak for the PAL version, but the upscaling is abysmal. Go with Steam; they're cheap as.

I'll steer clear then being a fellow PAL'er, cheers ears.

I've been warned that Stranger (and possibly Munch too) don't work well on all ATI graphics cards. Caveat emptor.

Good job I still have my trusty 9800GT then!

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Wasn't feeling confident enough to make a new thread for the Oddworld oriented talk by Lorne Lanning and Steward Gilray from Just Add Water, but I like a lot of the things said here concerning digital distribution continued rise and how smaller developers can better reap profits directly from their fans.

I know it's preaching to the choir at Idleforums, but it kept my interest.

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For those still interested in Stranger's Wrath on PC , the patch from last week looks like it cleared a bunch of issues. On my side at least, the performance and stability have improved significantly.

The controls remain not remappable, you don't auto switch back to FPS after using ropes and the 3rd Person camera still has this antiquated behaviour of colliding with the environment, but it doesn't look like they're going to adress those issues... and so the game is probably in the best shape it will ever be.

You should try it, get through the first two tutorial missions and enjoy it's unique take on FPS. :tup:

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I thought I'd heard something about PC purchasers getting upgraded to the HD version whenever it finally comes out for PC? If my memory is correct, I'm still going to hold out for that.

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The HD version has been available on Steam for a few months I think, but that last update really made the difference for me.

Also, don't expect too much from the HD version: they did a good job at upgrading most of the models, but the animations, skinning and a big part of the texture sets remained the same or close.

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