After the Eruption

Today I noticed that somewhere along the way I picked up a follower. I have no idea when this happened. I wasn't paying attention because I kind of didn't think anyone would actually want to read this! I probably should have put a little more thought into the URL if it's going to turn into a real blog. But thank you if you're visiting, and especially thanks to ArchDragon of The Arch for following!

Anyway, on to Creatures 2!

You can see just from looking at the Hatchery that C2 has a very different aesthetic than C1. Personally I prefer the warmer-toned steampunky look of the first game to the more sterile machinery that dominates in the second, but both games are lovely, especially for their time.

All six of these eggs contain Norns based on JayD's 10-Hour Nova Subterra genome and were created with Egg Maker. Unlike my first generation Norns in C1, I'm not editing their genetics aside from their appearance genes. There are a male and a female of each of the three base C2 breeds (Types H, I, and J). Their pigment and pigment bleed genes have been semi-randomized, so their colors will be a surprise!

After some deliberation, I decided to start with a female. I choose the plainest egg, the second from the left, to hatch first. After a few moments in the incubator, out popped a Creature far less plain than her egg, a little magenta Hebe with lime green eyes! I fell in love with her coloration the moment I saw her. I'm especially fond of her striking eye color. Unlike C1 Norns, C2 Norn eyes can vary drastically in color due to the effect of their new pigment bleed genes (although there is no specific gene for eye color).

Starting a very different naming trend than in my C1 game, I named the new Norn Darwin. I thought it was an appropriate choice! I led Darwin to the verb computer, and she proved to be a very quick learner, grasping all the verbs with only a couple repetitions. She was also a bit distractible, but who could blame her with a whole new world to explore? Her attention was stolen away several times by the various fruits and foods lying around the incubator area, a good sign for her future! As in C1, it's important to get your Creatures eating early in their life so they develop good habits.

Another major source of frustration in both games is convincing Norns they also need sleep, and I think that getting Norns to sleep is especially hard in C2. This was the reason I chose the Novas over the more popular Canny Norns. Both breeds are good and much, much smarter than the default Norns, but I find that Novas tend to be somewhat better sleepers (but worse breeders) than the Cannies. After some tossing and turning, Darwin managed to settle down for a nap. Hopefully she will keep this up well into adulthood!

Begin at the Beginning, Again

I haven't been playing Creatures much lately. School has started back up, for one thing, but I've also been reluctant to play because I know that some of the older first generation Norns will probably pass away soon. I know that nature must take its course, as always, but perhaps taking a break from C1 will soften the blow when the inevitable arrives.

Creatures 2 is sort of the black sheep of the franchise. Graphically, it's a definite improvement, although honestly I have to say I prefer the old-timey look of the C1 world to the more sterile machinery that dominates large portions of C2. The C2 world is also much bigger and more varied, with rougher terrain and actua physics. C2 expanded on the concept of lifecycles for non-Creature objects, as introduced in the add-on Beelecanth Flower and Cloud Layer Butterfly for C1. A good portion of the plants and animals in the world grow, reproduce, and die, although many are also stationary to avoid catastrophic extinctions. There are seasons and a day/night cycle, but, unfortunately, the visual changes associated with those cycles are limited due to the technology of the time.

Gameplay-wise, there were also a few improvements. For one, "push" and "eat" are separate verbs. The vocabulary in C2 borders on being too large for my tastes, as I never get around to teaching any individual Creature all the words, but it's much smaller and more intuitive than in C3. Also, there's now a computer to teach Creatures emotion words without resorting to cheats. Creature genomes are more complicated and code for actual organs, which have their own life forces and can suffer damage individually. Also, the digestive system is much more complex and realistic. A Norn's life no longer depends almost solely on its glycogen level.

However, there was one enormous problem with C2 as it was shipped: the Norns were horribly broken. Due to a number of genetic bugs, the Norns would suffer from "One Hour Stupidity Syndrome," which caused them to suddenly become, well, stupid as they aged. By default, they also live shorter lives than in C2 -- about five hours as opposed to nine or ten. Even after an official update became available, most C2 players prefer to use a third-party genome. The two most commonly used genomes are the Canny Norns and the Nova Subterras.

Even with a new genome, C2 is the hardest of the three games. I've never been able to get into it quite like the first game, but it's never too late to try again! I'll be using the 10-Hour Nova Subterra genome by JayD and the Creatures Albian Years version of the game available from GOG.com. C2 is notorious for being the only Creatures game that won't run on Vista or Windows 7 in its original form, but I have been able to run the GOG version under Windows 7 with no problems by switching to 16-bit color before launching the game. By the way, when I run C1, I must run it as an administrator for it to work properly, but if I do that with C2, it just crashes, so make sure you try different combinations of settings when you're trying to get it to work.