While I'm sure there actually are Akamai Canny ettins out there in some shape or form, the Ettins ylukyun linked are actually Jessica's improved Canny ettin, which were released, I believe, before full-blown Akamai Cannies were a thing (someone would have to confirm or deny this, though), or at least before all their instincts were reworked (since I had to do it with that genome anyway). Iscah ettins were actually made from these improved Jessica's Cannies with her permission. The brain lobes do suggest they have Akamai Canny brains over Canny ones, it's just that the CCSF 2011 version still has a lot of 'junk' instincts.
As far as Iscah caretaking is concerned, it's probably best if I mention here that they may need a lot of fruit laying around, but it's doubtful they'd perform badly without it. Because of their short lifespans they go from Baby to Child relatively quickly and the only 'big' difference about them is that the instict to eat food doesn't activate in them until the Child stage (while instincts to eat roots and fruit are in them since baby-dom).
TL;DR the version ylukyun linked are a form of canny/akamai canny brained ettins prior to instinct reworking that I actually based the Iscah-s on.
This town is coming like a ghost town
All the sites have been closed down
This place is coming like a ghost town
Games won't play no more
Too much problem with DirectDraw
"They are excellent for use in wolfling runs, as they can learn to feed and rest themselves without the need for a human to guide them." (A description of the Feral2 Genome). The download links seem to be broken, though. I'll try to find a mirror and/or ask Lost Download Detectives about it.
Oh man... Alright, I think I'm doing the Feral2 Norns before the Iscah Ettins. These seem really great.
Awesome suggestion, Malkin!
On another note, I assume everyone just kinda... forgot this game, right? And I thought Creatures 4 looked bad...
It hasn't aged well, especially in terms of graphics. The minigames, clothes and so on are fun enough on their own, but not really "Creatures" as we know it, and the goofy looking plasticine Norns are the A-life equivalent of a pet rock. Still not a bad way to introduce very young kids to the series, although I think they overshot with the recommended ages. If the kid is older than 5 or 6, C1 is probably a better bet. It's simpler than C2 or C3/DS, but not as dumbed down and babyish as CV, which is better suited to the Sesame Street demographic.
The big worry was that C4 (supposedly a sequel to the main games and supposedly aimed at adults) would wind up as a glorified, freemium version of CV. It certainly looked like one, even if Fishing Cactus was very insistent that it wasn't.
Anyway, looking forward to your Feral2 and Iscah runs.
Thanks for the posts guys! The reason that I haven't started a run yet is that I'm planning on finishing my new world beforehand. I'm almost done with it, and it will make all future runs much easier.
I've checked these Feral-2's out.
Genetically and in terms of biochemistry they don't feel 'cheated' yet, although I only had the time to take a small look. They have a couple minor advantages over other Norns.
One thing to note is that they age to adolescence incredibly quickly (18 minutes) and readily begin breeding after that.
They're completely unrelated to the previous 'smart' breeds, have a massive Concept lobe (Akamai Cannies have 867 neurons in it, Nova Subterra have around 1350, and Feral2's have 2000 neurons) but no new brain lobes or brain-affecting chemicals, it seems. So far they were not good at travelling (One norn bothered to cross the bridge) and they take some time to 'do things' except make babies and play with toys.
Like, seriously, they're massively fascinated by toys. Also, I'm not yet sure if it has a genetic basis, but they're... bad parents. Like, seriously, the ones I got they love slapping their own kids for some reason.
However, they generally can take care of themselves i.e. their needs tend to be on the lower side, although that's only 45 or so minutes worth of a pure Wolfling run.
Also, they gather up on the right side. They're rightsiders. Kannova Venterra would have something to say about that.
This world is intended for Wolfling Runs, but it can also be used as a place to have a normal game sans-storyline. You're out in the empty arctic wasteland, with nary a wall to bonk into.
Now that my first world has been released, I'm going to have a Feral2 Wolfling Run inside of it as a test. This made my life a million times easier, to be honest.
For this next run, I'm going to be using a modified (by Venithil) version of the Feral2 Genome. They're supposedly really great, but as Vene also said, toy addicts.
From what I can tell, Venithil's norns are an... interesting looking bunch. The two Spikey Norns are super happy, while the Gargoyles alternate between sad and mad.
Do you see how the snowglobes keep moving in between screenshots? It's because they pick them up and drop them all the time. They're really spamming the toys like an angry feminist would spam about Tracer animations. I can't wait to see how these guys do!
In general, the Feral2 Norns interact with EVERYTHING more than most Norns I'm used to. Toys mostly, though.
I'm really loving Nerinath. It takes ALL of the normal preparation out of starting a Wolfling Run. It's my summer Christmas present to myself and the community.
Powernapping is one thing; THESE Norns lay down for a single (literal) second before their sleep need is full! They hardly ever need to sleep, and when they do, they wake up quicker than the runtime of Kung Fury.
Speaking of Kung Fury, here's this David Hasselhoff single that made its debut alongside the movie. It's GLORIOUS.
For good measure, I've imported four more of the Feral2 Norns (And since they're import Norns, that means that there are now 4 clones of the original four, making eight total Norns).
We're looking at six Norns right now. I like to call this an "idiot clump". While socializing, these guys like to clump together, typically around some toy or food source. They pet each other unto eternity, to the point that the "happy, has been pet" sound effect at one point played for a continuous stream of times equal to about 5 seconds. They're crazy about hugs and kisses!
There is at least a slight difference in aging, as Nanabi #1 there is the same age as Adria #1, yet only one of them is an Adolescent at this point. It was only the span of about 20 seconds difference, though, so it could be attributed to being imported and hatched at different times.
Yaknow, there's also the original Feral 2s and my second batch of altered Feral 2s to choose from. They can make healthy babies just fine and the second set of kids only requires Frog and Golden Desert Norn sprites [The former need an update to display children correctly, the latter are added to any GoG version of the game].
Just in case you wanted more varied appearances.
But yeah, Feral 2's seem to have a general behavior to push, pull and stop stuff until they find something that 'ticks', and when hungry they'll try to eat a lot of stuff (which may unfortunately cause them to eat detritus or weeds). When they find toys actually do things when pushed they start developing a strong love for toys and pushing toys is the only thing they'll do obsessively even when their needs have already been met (occasionally the same applies to petting each other). I think the difference seems so massive because it was not easy to actually teach the regular Norn breeds to play with toys in the long term, and I'm not sure even Akamai Cannies have an instinct that specifically recognizes toys as something that helps fight boredom or need for pleasure. I did give such instincts to Kannova Venterra version 2.0 and Iscah Ettins but they never worked anywhere near as strongly as the Feral 2 obsession.
This weirdo stared at the screen for what seemed like a single minute before moving on (This is a bit odd; usually Norns have the attention span of a 4 year old hyped up on Dr. Pepper). Maybe the lack of things to look at in Nerinath cause these Norns to be a bit less frenzied to explore their surroundings?
Oh yeah. I remember that guy. I only gave these Norns the most basic education, particularly the guys, but the spike male for some reason once displayed a habit where he'd recite words or say what he was going to do while staring right at the screen as if asking for approval or showing off. It's not genetic based, just a personality quirk of some sort. Should disappear with time or be gone in the offspring.
Here are the newcomers. I really like the blue Frogs.
So, here's why they're called Spike Norns. They've got little spike nubs on the back of their heads that you can vaguely see from the side if you're paying attention.
Well, here's the entire Norn population standing in one spot around a snowglobe. Blechrechhfchh. I guess I typically don't get a chance to photograph an entire population of 11 Norns...
I can't catch it on screenshot, but these Norns really like to throw these Snowglobes like footballs. I'm glad they're made out of Norn-proof glass, I guess.
By the way guys and gals, I've recently saved the entire series as .html backups. If this website ever goes down, or if my series is mistakenly deleted, I can upload it back to the internet with no fuss whatsoever.
Despite not being crippled, vigilance from earlier has decided that his lot in life is to sit in this singular spot for the past 20 minutes or so. He isn't crippled, by the way. He just seems to like sitting there. Forever. Occasionally he'll get up, walk 5 feet, and then sit back down. This Norn is weird man.
The group segmented into two groups. One group is focused on a toy; the other group is focused on a meat vine.
By the way, are there still 2 Spike Norn males in the world? As in, technically they come from the exact same place, so is it only one of them that does this continuously?
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