I’ve played a few chapters now and got a bit into the dinosaur part of the game. I am having a pretty good time with it, with some minor hiccups here and there. The evolution concept is really cool and I am having fun choosing parts to make my own little monstrosity. When I made my two legged dinosaur’s body size smaller I almost clapped. Although, so far, the evolution mechanic feels somewhat under developed. It’s great, but I can just imagine how this could’ve been developed further with more installments, especially in 3D. I suppose Cubivore is the closest comparison I can think of right now.
The grinding is alright for the most part, always being slowest right at the beginning, but dang some of the looping music in the dinosaur period is grinding my gears, haha. Having to run back and forth killing enemies while that 7 second loop is playing might drive me insane.
And the bosses, my god. Most of them have been absolutely atrocious. The way they are able to stun lock you into oblivion sometimes is some next level shit. Queen and King Bee were particularly wonky and could pretty much nail me down in mere seconds of the battle beginning. I had to find ways to cheese them to be able to even have a sporting chance.
Once you figure out that you can choose a cheap evolution and have your health be replenished in the middle of battle the bosses become somewhat trivial, but still not particularly fun. Heck, they still got me a few times regardless. I don’t think this was intended, but if the bosses are being relentless to me I gotta take what I have!
Figured I’d give this a replay since I just finished a big game. And yeah, those bosses. Oof. I just got past the queen bee after what felt like a hundred tries. It felt like I couldn’t properly dodge her attacks and they did an absurd amount of damage besides. Rest of the game is fun though! I forgot how cutesy everything is.
I watched while Alicia was playing and I had forgotten some of the little scenes. The part in chapter 2 when the bees are just perpetually grabbing amphibian babies and dragging them away is dark as all hell.
One observation at a glance is how some of the antagonists seem to express conservative ideas in contrast to the ever-adapting protagonist. The shark boss wants to stop life from moving to land, he wants to remain the apex predator at the top of the food chain, he is scared of this order changing. The insects go even harder and want to stop amphibians from further evolving, going straight into genocide. I think it’s neat to frame this mindset through evolution, where the player will most likely already understand how the story is bound to go. The fish must walk on land, the amphibian will become a reptile, and the dinosaurs will go extinct. Complacency will only lead to stagnation.
Oh, hey, one of my all-time favorites! I’ll have to keep up with this thread.
I first was introduced to the game when cloud/sephiroth kid in my 5th grade class showed me emulators for the first time around 2003. I’ve written the full story here before, probably the final fantasy thread. It was cool and pretty alright to play on keyboard. I still remember the mapping.
Then I beat it myself shortly after, got all the secret stuff and best ending using the same gameFAQ he did.
Then much further down the line I got a Japanese CIB copy. They’re hard to find for a good price!
It is so wild that it ever came out in the US. One of my rich friends had his copy since childhood.
Yeah the music is a mixed bag LOL. starts out strong.
If you like to experiment, the game can also be very very grindy. You can get yourself messed up with shitty parts. Using a guide / FAQ is recommended. There are really cool missables. There’s a point in the game where you need a very specific combination of parts that is hinted at by NPCs, and it can be confusing due to 1990s translation… Something to do with like, a rabbit’s head and a cat’s body or something.
You want to witness the best ending and the secret areas.
I just went through and got the secret evolutions in the final ocean that I had never seen before. The mermaid is sooo fast, and kisses things to death! That’s just fantastic. The seal and dolphin were cute. The dolphin/monkey hybrid, or dolphmonculus, was not so cute. those were definitely worth seeing!
I think the ideal route sees those, and then does the “head of a cat body of a rabbit” one for the finale. Or it would be if the final boss wasn’t so horrible as a human.
I had heard there was a mermaid form, but had never seen it before. Between this feminine mermaid form and the masculine human form, I applaud the protagonist for their exquisite gender queer energy. Slay!
I’m playing on a Super NT, so save states are unavailable to me. Thanks for the tips! I’ve enjoyed this first section of the game despite the frustrating boss. I know I’ll get it! I just ran out of time today.
Yeah, the first boss kind of takes you by surprise with how quickly he can charge and kill you. Pretty much have to start the battle by instantly pressing down to even have a chance to dodge him. I mostly just circled around him and let him hit the rocks like has already been mentioned here. Takes a few hits too.
If you have trouble you can choose a cheap evolution option during battle and restore all your health too.
The best part of Spore was the creature creator they released before the full game. I made so many cool critters in that thing. The full game was quite disappointing.
