Dancing with Wolves: The Creature Phase
The creature phase is the second phase in Spore and represents the stage of evolution from when your creature emerging from the sea to your creature developing sentience and a sedentary lifestyle. As with the previous phase *enter link to cellphase*, the main aim of this phase is to gain DNA points, however the way this may be achieved is dependent on your creature and style of play. By this stage, your creature will have already developed a diet: carnivorous, herbivory or omnivorous which has a great affect on the way this phase is played out, as well as your creature's consequence powers.
During this stage you play the role of one of your creatures, using the traditional WASD controls for movement around the planet. There are other members of your species but you do not directly control these individuals. Upon starting the Creature phase, you are taken to the creature creator screen which allows you to shape your creature. Aspects such as body length and diameter are independent from DNA points and therefore you can manipulate these at will. Body parts, as in the cell stage, cost DNA points but at the beginning of the stage you'll only have a few of these unlocked and addable to your creature. Different types of body parts can be found by exploring the world. Once you have created your creature, you are taken to your nest where there are usually a few other critters milling about. It is here you return to for mating and healing. You are completely free to explore the rest of the continent, just avoid the seas as if you go too deep, you'll be eaten by a giant fish.
The great aspect about the creature phase in my opinion is the world itself. Since you are playing just one animal, compared to you the world is vast. Rendered in 3D, you fully get the impression of being a small creature in a vast, virgin world untouched by civilization. The world is populated by many different creatures, giving the impression of a rich diverse environment. Many of these creatures may be creatures created by people throughout the world which have been uploaded to the Sporpedia and then downloaded into your game automatically. As well as small bands of creatures, scattered throughout the world are rogue creatures which are larger than usual creatures which roam independently and finally so-called 'epic creates', huge behemoths, the size of trees, that roam the land destroying anything in their path. Sounds dramatic, but if you see these creatures it is advisable to avoid them! Not just in terms of animal life, a great deal of biodiversity is shown in the form of vegetation, of which there are many types, beautifully rendered forming forests and woodland areas The graphics in the game world are pretty impressive too. Grass waves in the wind, the waves break upon the shoreline while a constant day/night cycle brings an atmospheric touch to world as night falls and the sun sets over the sea. At night, the moon rises and looking up, can be see hanging in the sky like a big pizza pie (or not) but either way, it is certainly visible and a nice touch. As well as this, every now and then it may start raining or even a meteor will strike the planet, causing no harm to your creature but leading to fire raining from the sky in a somewhat dramatic fashion.
As mentioned previously, there are multiple ways to gain DNA points. The first way is by 'impressing' various groups of creatures and making them become your allies. For each creature you impress you get a number of DNA points and once you impress a specific number from a species, they become your allies (allowing you to heal at their nest and potentially add them to your herd, more on that latter) and you get a bonus amount of DNA points depending on how difficult the species is to impress. In order to impress them you have to use one of the following social actions: Singing, dancing, posing or charming, responding to the creature your trying to impress with the same action they use. Each action has a specific level depending on the physical attributes of your creature, and in order to be successful your level for an action (e.g. dance) has to be equal or greater to the other creatures'. Depending on the creature, you may have to match it's action multiple times before being successful, each time you do an action, the semi-circular bar above the creature will fill up slightly, untill it is fully filled or your attempts to impress the creature are failed. If you are unable to do the action (i.e. your creature doesn't have the ability to dance or sing for example), then it is quite likely that you won't be able to impress it. However, even using a different action does fill this bar slightly
The second way of getting DNA points is a lot less complicated, simply through hunting. As with impressing creatures, you get DNA points for each individual creature you and once you eliminate enough creatures from a species, it becomes extinct and you get a bonus amount of DNA points. This is particular important for carnivores due to their diet. With these DNA points you can buy extra parts for your creature and at various stages, your creature will become ever so slightly more sentient. When this happens, it allows you to add an extra creature to your herd. This is done in the same way as impressing creatures to become allies, however since you are already allied it is generally pretty easy, usually you don't even have to match the other creature's action to get it to join you. These creatures then help you both in fights and in attempts to impress other creatures and are highly useful, especially when you're a herbivores.
While DNA points may be used to buy body parts for your creature, as you start the creature phase you will notice that many of the body part options in the creature creator are blacked out. These have to be found in the world by exploration, similarly to during the cell phase. Body parts are stored in skeletal remains and when you investigate one of these remains, an info box appears giving the stats of the body part you have found. In this way you may find different types of limb, feet, graspsers, weapons or other parts. Generally the size of the remains relates to the power of the body part, with more powerfull body parts being found in larger remains.
Diet is another important aspect of your creature. Below your health bar is another bar displaying your creature's hunger. When this bar empties, your creature's health will start to decrease and you will no longer be able to heal at your nest until you eat, which also has the advantage of healing your creature. For carnivores, obviously this requires the hunting of pray while for herbivores food can be obtained by finding fruits which grow on various plants throughout the world. Of course, Omnivores can eat both as the situation requires and this versatility can be useful on occasions.
Depending on whether you finish the cell phase as a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore, during the creature phase you'll be able to utilize a consequence power. For omnivores this is summon flock, a power which summons a number of creatures which are useful as acting as bait or helping to 'socialize' with other creatures. For herbivores, their ability is the 'siren song', which charms other creatures stopping them in their tracks if they happen to be attacking you and making them easier to socialize with and therefore impress. Finally, carnivores have the 'raging roar' ability which causes creatures to flee from you, very useful for isolating creatures to take down individually.
The creature phase plays a major role in determining the rest of the game depending on whether your creature turns out more aggressive or social or a mixture of both, which has an influence as you continue to the next phase... the tribal phase!
Written by Neothain
