Creatures Caves

I used to love creatures, and I still do. I greatly enjoy the games and don't intend to stop playing any time soon, but I certainly used to find them more entertaining and immersive several years ago.

"What can I do to make it more interesting?" I asked myself.

After a long time pondering this question, I realised, that it's not because I have been playing the games for so long, it's the games I am playing. I think that Creatures 1 is not only a funner game, it's a more interesting, challenging, immersive, and charming game than Creatures 3.

For a small start, the graphics. The graphics in C1 are much warmer, more welcoming, and generally more charming than the C3 graphics (though I am well aware that the latter's is more advanced.) The dark, gloomy machinery of C3 is barely a comparison to the warm and bright backdrops of C1 (with the little touches like the mushrooms, the "lover's leap" sign, the scarecrow, and the curious buildings on the mountains completing the picture.)

Second, the sound. I won't lie, the piano of C3 is very good, and the way it smoothly makes transition from happy to sad depending on world events is inspiring. However, for some reason, I prefer the strange, charming music of C1 (I even have bits of it on my desktop.) C1's sound effects are also superior, in my opinion. The drippings in the caves, the beepy-thingies of the submarine, and on top of everything, the ticking of the clock in the norn house made and still make me feel happy and right at home.

Now, for the gameplay itself. The ability to hold creatures in C3 was very useful and all, but one, made the game much too easy, and two, undermined the Creatures experience of raising a creature. Above everything else, I find C3 to be easy. Too, too easy. You can take your norns where ever you want them to be in seconds, with a mere click, carry everything around with you in your inventory, cure your norns of any ailment at the touch of a button, make as many geats as your heart desires with machinery, under the pretence of "bioenergy" which is basically another name for "how quickly you can make eggs and stuff them into a bio-degrader", summon a huge pile of food with naught but a click, and as if that wasn't enough, you can take your norns to a medical bay and inject them with whatever chemical they need- starch, protein, energy, even LIFE!

I did not need, miss, or want these things in C1. I made do with what I had. The game was difficult, and funner for it. It actually needed my focus to keep my norns alive. I had to teach my norns english (which, incidentally, was much more satisfying when it was not achieved in twenty seconds by the learning machine in docking station) and decipher their babble to see what they needed, and then find the appropriate fruit, vegetable, herb or medicine to help them. Now, it is all done by a "rocket-doc".

Lastly, it all comes down to the norns. Ah, the norns. The crux of the matter. How they look nicer in C1 than C3. They seem to have a lot more texture and character in C1. And the norns in C3 are most often just stupid (Harlequins excluded, for some reason) I mean, purple with orange spots and red hair? Silver with a yellow quiff/mohawk/thing? I certainly prefer the C1 look. (Whats more, I swear their babble is different between the games.)

The norns seem alot more resistant to hand learning in C3. Saying "Norn push herb" or "Norn push toy" seems to never have any effect. Not so in C1.

Lastly, and most importantly, is the individuality of the norns. In C3, you can hatch as many norns of as many families as you wish, and this, I think, was a biiiiiiiiig mistake. The little things breed like rabbits, and most of the time, you can barely name them all, let alone appreciate their unique personalities. The norns lose their individuality.
In C1, you have but six precious norn eggs, knowing nothing about what lives inside them but their gender. That, I think, is the beauty of it. The last six eggs of nornkind. A single family, generation by generation by generation. You name them, teach them, play with them, learn their personalities, take pictures, get attached to them, feel proud, upset, angry, worried, and are saddened when they die. You put careful thought into their headstone, and miss them.

In C3, you will spend a while naming your first norn. You will carefuly let it explore the safety of the hatchery before letting it see more of the world. Then, you will bustle it off to the learning room, and spend a while teaching it. After that, a newborn will be lucky to have a name, luckier to have thought put into its name, luckier for the owner to take the trouble to teach it and play with it, even luckier if it gets its death registered, and supremely fortunate to have a thoughtful epitaph. Then it only gets worse. Eventually, you kill your norns for fun- partly because you have too many, and partly because its amusing. You cannot do this in C1- Every egg, every norn, is precious and cannot be wasted, because you have so few, and you are all the more attached to them for it. By having so many norns in C3, possible bonds are severed before they began.

Phew. Lordy, did that feel good. I have been fermenting over this for god knows how long, and it feels good to finally have it off my chest. Yes, its probably extremely biased, but its what I think. I would appreciate it if this was not locked, though I understand if it needs to be moved.

I did my best to put my thoughts down, though I am not sure if I succeeded. Please, post your thoughts.

Oh, and if anyone has ideas for a more thoughtful and appealing title, they are welcome.

One more thing: No, I sadly have not yet played Creatures 2.