Darwin's Rolling in His Grave! Let's play EVO: Search For Eden!

So, I'm not sure if a Let's Play has been done for this one before, but it seemed like a good contender for my first attempt, so let's launch ourselves into this Darwinian Odyssey!


Always a welcome screen to my eyes.


For a game based in evolution, I should probably hold them scientifically accountable for referring to planets (and planetoids, doh!) as stars. But then, I can see the parental vibe here, and I feel we're going to be creating some scientology-esque mythos here... Let us see!


And, so, we open to a nice graphic of the undulating flames of Sol, as the planets (and planetoid) make their orbit about him. At this time, we see one further planet (err, star... whatever) slide quite physics defyingly from stage left of the solar system.


Here we see that they have indeed represented all elements of our circa 1990's solar system, though Gaia seems to not be looking so well. For that matter, settings in which our planet is called Gaia always make me feel uncomfortable about Uranus. Particularly in settings such as this, where the planets are sentient. However, father Sun seems to be keeping a watchful eye on his stars to ensure no violent incest occurs, so our game is free of Titans. A shame.


And, lo, Sun speaks unto to his baby girl!
The Sun: "My dear, Gaia! Please listen to me.
From this time forward, every 1 billion years, you will have children
called "Life". One of them will be able to help you to
build a new era.
Each child must endure a difficult trial. You might think it's
too severe, but it is necessary.
The trial is a test of Nature: "The survival of the fittest".
If he passes, I will allow him to be your partner and to enter
Eden.


Realizing that Gaia has at last become a woman, her father instructs her on her biological clock, and gives some parenting tips. He also creates world peace by telling his Greek-named New Age diety of a daughter that through scientific evolution, creatures can enter Judeo-Christian paradise. Astounding! And so, young Gaea puts on her little blue dress and sets out to get some buns in her oven. I couldn't be prouder of the little tramp` ;_;


And so, as epic trumpets build to a crescendo, we get the effect of a dawn sweeping across the surface of Gaia as our logo rises from below, proudly displaying the title of our new endeavor, "E.V.O.: Search For Eden." I don't think that's how acronymns work, but fair enough. It should also be noted that this title screen bares a striking resemblence to the PAL release of another Enix SNES game, Illusion of Time (Illusion of Gaia in the states).

You might want to check this out.

Indeed. I am a horrible person. I have hereby made an attempt to formally request I be qued for an LP, and now await my punishment for this transgression.

Now now, nobody ever said that!

Maybe you'll get lucky and someone will give up their spot and let you have it. It seems to be happening a lot lately.

So, this LP got off to a rough start, moving in an erroneous direction. However, these missteps are common on the path towards evolution! But now, at long last, we can begin afresh on or path towards Eden!


Upon passing the title screen, our mother Gaia presents herself to us, and isn't she lovely! This game makes plentiful use of multi-layer paralaxes, and it comes out nice here on her hair, which seems to constantly have clouds and sea drifting through. Gazing upon her, I can think nothing other than, "Rule34, go!" I jest, I jest... This is our mother, that would be quite eerie. With that awkwardness established, let us hear her words, and hope that they distract us from our shame!

Hi! My name is Gaia. I am the one who watches over all
life, including you.
You will journey through many periods of time on this
planet. A journey of change.


The journey will not be easy. Only the strong will
survive. This is a trial given by my father.
I hope you can survive this trial and meet me in Eden. This will be
the end of your journey. Well the time has
come. You may go now. You are already a fish. It took 3
billion years for your body to evolve. You must travel alone.
Please be careful.


Such words should be spoken to all at birth!


And triumphant music plays as our first chapter begins! I presume I won't be playing the entire time-window displayed, so I really wish they'd be more accurate with their gargantuan dates so prehistoric that I couldn't possibly have any frame of reference to make my opinion of one year within it differ from another.


As we see now, I am indeed a fish. "If I were a fish, would you still love me?" The current cascades slowly overhead, and we can see some volcanos in our marine trench, and a small isolated area further north that seems to bridge to land above sea level! This era is a horrid misnomer! Try as we might, our fins and tail will guide us neither this way nor that, and so we proceed with the random button-mashing that causes us to finally enter our first area for gameplay!

So, via Gaia hacks, we get to skip our 3 billion years of playing Spore, and leap straight ahead to our guppy years in the appropriately titled "Ocean of Origin." But we are not alone in the world, as we can see our fellows in the animal kingdom swimming in the background. But, our attention is more directly called to the invertebrae undulating before us. A few quick button presses reveals to us the 'Y' button will cause us to snap our jaws foreward. And so, eager to prove our strength to Gaia, we move to devour our first rival!


However, as our jaws begin to close around our prey, it seems to entrap us in a pocket of time! Suspended in this dread moment, we have no alternative but to listen to its words!
Jellyfish: "What! We have another newcomer?"
Welcome to the world, where the rule is only the fittest shall
survive. Look newcomer!
You better listen to the rules of this world.
There are the three. One- "Fight for survival and
for food." Two- "Only move forward never back."
The last is, "Evolve and become strong."
Well, this is a very dangerous world, isn't it?"
Are you afraid of it?
The weak and flabby will be easy to defeat.
What about you, newcomer?


Aww, snap! How goes that for a reply? Truly, our jaws are already a masterpiece of evolution, for a mere two claspings of our maw upon this jelly delight somehow trims it down to a single bone covered with more meat than that creature could ever have contained in its tiny, boneless self... wait... But I will not question, I will only devour, as I have not yet left my amoebe-like ways behind, and this creature's very own advice demands I devour it!

But why would it impart such advice, when the advice itself encourages my slaughtering of it? Undoubtedly, it saw my superior form, and accepted that I was a superior physical specimen. But, wise jellyfish, it saw that if its genes could not carry on, its knowledge could, and it saw fit to pass its knowledge on to the most powerful creature to have ever graced Gaia's great blue seas.


Though I could press 'Y' and devour this morsel with my powerful -1 damage jaws, I will instead devour this sage foe in a respectable manner, using the 'X' button to use my non-aggressive, cheek-bulging method of eating, displaying that I have the capacity to become a true glutton, like any great species. But what are these numbers displayed upon me!? Well, the "+10" in white is my gain in Evolution Points, as displayed on top-right. The red "+2" is my increase in Hit Points, displayed top-left. As you can see from my having 20 EVO Points, this screen is actually from our second victim, as our hunger is already proving insatiable! But we are no carnivore! We are the terrifying omnivore, and even the helpless plants will not be spared. As they offer no words of wisdom, we give them no quarter, and use our powerful jaw attack to rend their fronds asunder. Though their lack of wisdom seems to correspond to a lack of EVO.P. from consuming them, their energy still serves to revitalize our engine of destruction. Truly, we are the epitome of evolution.


Now that our appetite is whetted, our lust for more EVO.P. cannot be sated, and we proceed to commit genocide against all jellyfish present. As they grow desperate, they reveal they do have a sparingly-used electric whip they might strike at us with if we wander too close. But, with our god-like HP of 20, their paltry 2 HP ensures their demise.


As we proceed, already new powers are unfolding before us! A swift double-tapping of the controller will propel us about at speeds these lower creatures could only dream of! Nay, beyond their wildest dreams! Furthermore, should we tap the 'A' button once our powerful tail has sent us tearing through the water, we will thrust foreward in a devastating ram attack. It looks a lot like the first frame of our bite, and does the same amount of damage, but then, how could any of our attacks be more powerful than the others, when we are a perfect being?


Though the 'B' button seems useless, should we crest upon the aquatic firmament of our kingdom, we find that it will cast us forth, into the great beyond where other creatures can only watch in wonder! Though it serves no purpose, we gleefully skip about the surface of the waves as we proceed only forward, according to the creed of the sage jellyfish. Whee~


And now, reaching the end of this place, we realize it is not worthy of our presence. Choosing to leave it behind, we once again move to the highest highs, and leap from the waves, and from this stage.

Returning to the world map, we see a blinking yellow circle was apeared to the north! This is a new area that we have pioneered our way to, and as we move on, we see that the conquered area we have left behind has been turned red with the blood of the lesser sea life we destroyed in our wake. We'll likely be doing no back-tracking in this simple introductory chapter, but the game's maps become increasingly diverse with each era, eventually providing alternate routes and hidden stages.


Cave of Guidance, eh? Could this perhaps be a knowledge even greater than that of the jellyfish sage? On that note, jellyfish seem scattered about here as well. What a delicious surprise!


We come to a dead end, at which the rock face abruptly halts, yet we find ourselves unable to progress! Damned invisible walls, how I curse you! Filled with rage over this oppression, we descend down to the very ocean floor, slaughtering those foolish enough to get in our way, which reveals... an entrance to an undersea cavern! Could this be the fabled Cave of Guidance we had been promised!?


What manner of creatures are these!? Certianly not fish, but much closer kin than the jellyfish. This approach towards our state of perfection must be halted!!


Unfortunately, these eels prove to be a greater foe than the jellyfish! Though they might occasionally swim at you aggressively and strike at you, it's very rare and ineffective. Their main problem is that they seem to like swimming in your direction when you bite at them, so you often end up trading blows with them, and then finding yourself unable to bite them again, as they float around on top of you, perpetually damaging you. EVO has little immunity after being hit. After taking damage, you will freeze briefly to display a damaged animation, but will only have a microsecond to move again before taking damage again. Many later enemies take advantage of this, but these eels are too weak for it to normally be very effective. Though it is annoying. They have 3 HP, and give 15 EVO.P, so overall aren't worth messing with. Regardless, we slay them all before proceeding.


And what, hey, now? Apparently we happen to overhear some cucumber gossip.

Rumors circulate among the cucumbers.
"The Angler's horn attracts enemies because of it's great light!"
"They say we can't return here if we cross the third volcano in the sea.
It is Gaia's plan to lead the fish to a new world."
"Hmm... A new world."

A whole new world! With new horizons to pursue! The other info matters little to me at current. This cucumber sewing circle having concluded its discourse, I show my method of appreciation for the wisdom they have shared.


Delicious~ However, chatty and crisp though they may be, the cucumbers provide no EVO.P. But what is that object floating above us? Is it an animal? Is it a plant? It matters not. Is it edible? That is the question!


Hmm, this one's a little slow. Everything else has spoken BEFORE we ate it, rather than AFTER.

Something in your body speaks?!
How are you progressing? Don't worry I will
help you evolve, You may call me crystal.
I will give you advice on how to evolve.
Evolving your jaws will increase your biting strength.
Evolving your body will increase your defensive power.
Evolving your horns will increase your attack power.
Evolving your hands, feet and dorsal fin as well as your tail,
will increase your Hit Point level, agility and strength.
Be careful, evolving one part of your body may decrease another
part.


We should consume random found objects more often! This is great news! This is also the core of this game's RPG mechanics. The EVO Points we've been gathering count as experience, which we choose what to spend on, ala Zelda II. You could also think of it as currency you spend to buy better bodyparts, if you were so callous as to reduce our fishy friend into a flesh-organ mech of sorts in your mind. Regardless, as this chapter of the game is lacking in open paths, the main viewer interaction at this point will be in deciding how to make our perfect being more perfect. We can only hope that one day his perfection will be absolute!

That said, we have precisely 200 EVO Points at current! This can buy us the first improvement on a couple menus. Should we buy a simple something now, that we may gain EVO Points quicker in the future, or should we save up for something more precious, struggling to tough it out until then? Maybe blindly pursue the advertised Angler's Horn ('I' don't trust cucumbers, myself). Or even just continue with our current state of perfection (if you are cruel people that hate me). Let me know!

Jaws: Horn(s): Body:
Hands&Feet: Dorsal Fin: Tail:

I vote for the jaws. Let's show these jellyfish who's the real boss around here. They'll never dare to deal us 1/20th of our max HP in damage again!

Should I have a child some day, totally going to say that at his birth.

Let's improve our body! We will become durable like the clam, healthy like the bear, and delicious like the turkey.

The Jaws must be increased. And only the jaws.

Jaws is where it's at. Glass cannon all the way.

Don't horns give you a ramming attack? I gotta go with horns in that case.

Grind up those extra Evo Points for the Angler horn, son. Make your dinner come to you.

I vote for EVOs to be in this order for sea world:
Jaws
Tail
Body
Dorsal Fin
Hands and Feet
Horn if you don't finish before then
And make a beeline for the highest before moving on! :P

I'd like to see you have the angler's horn before crossing the volcano.
If we are already perfect then the only way to improve us is to have more perfection. Increase body size please.

It's too bad this game wasn't more popular. "Rumors circulate among the cucumbers" would have been a great catchphrase.

Kuraselache sounds like a swell fellow. Take his jaws.

The angler's horn is dumb swordfish horn rocks!

increase size and get a shell body

Oh, the timing! I actually just got done writing this game up... I hope you're happy, totally spoiling GameSpite Quartery #6.

No seriously, I'm totally looking forward to this. Game has a few issues, but there's a lot of fun to be dug out of it.

With furious frequency, an update approaches! I don't really have a regular schedule planned for updates, save that it will be often. Maybe not always 2-3 days often, but it will definitely never fall behind weekly. But, darn, I would've gone with my notion to do an Umihara Kawase LP if I had known my karma would cause Kirin to simultaneously write GSQ6 content for my subject matter. ...And I'm only now noting the irony of my debate being between a game about a girl with a fishing rod, or a game where you begin as a fish. Umihara-san versus TT-bred Babelfish, go! Digression...

So, it looks like the jaws win out the general election. I've noticed there were no votes whatsoever for Dorsal Fin or Hands & Feet, and only a brief mention for Tail. These are normally the zones I focus on, going for a speedster, so this'll be a bit interesting for me.


Going back to our basic menu with the Select button, let's check out the Capability window. Here, we can see a breakdown of our form and it's statistics, which don't see very impressive, even if they are decimating the sea creatures around us. Let's see if we can't change this by investing in the Kuraselache's Jaws, eh?


Whenever we evolve, we get the sound of trickling timestream, which sounds much less ominous than the timestream in Chrono Trigger. Feel free to hum the Digimon theme while watching this animation.


And our face of young, starry-eyed innocence is left behind, replaced by a look of grim determination. We have slain many lesser creatures, but only now does the gravity of our actions affect our heart (err, and jaws). Realizing now the cruel role we have been placed in, we accept it, and move on, that we may fulfill our mother's wishes. +2 to Biting, by the way. As best I can tell, Kuraselache is Engrish for Cladoselache - a prehistoric shark whose earliest approximation for existence seems to be about 416 million BC, just outside the timeframe of this chapter... We are ahead of the times! Huzzah!


Our future biology jaws allow us to one-shot the eels. Our new species has no natural predators, and so we devour with reckless abandon. There would be great imbalance in the ecosystem, were we not so intent on leaving nothing but void in our wake. The jellyfish's rule of moving only forward, never back, is swiftly proven false, as sometimes moving forward leads to a dead end in a cave. Having entered the cave, we are now able to leave the stage the way we came in to reach the next stage. Having devoured all once more with astounding speed, we move on to the next cave.


Our newest restaurant seems to be known as the Cave of Temptation. Sounds sexy. I suppose the ultimate being IS obligated to procreate a bit, is it not? The entrance to the cave is a boring little space speckled with jellies and eels, which we swiftly sweep into our gullet, little satisfied. However, upon entering the cave, we happen upon these curious creatures. These seem to be some prehistoric Sea Slugs, more scientifically known as Nudibranch. Wait, nudey?" Is this the temptation? I am not tempted. This species seems to be about the appearance the designers had in mind, but I got bored before digging up a prehistoric variety that could supposedly split. As these things annoyingly do! Self-propogating nudey slugs are not tempting at all! A single point of damage is enough to kill one of these harmless, lazy creatures, but upon this act, it will spawn two smaller ones that aggressively pursue you. They can get mildly troublesome if they get in the right pattern of alternating turns hitting you, but it's not too hard to just squeeze in one bite that nabs them both. And a 20 EVO.P meat drops from each! This could make these a decent EVO.P farming venture!


Our battles compel us to devour the nearby sea anemone to restore our health. But upon doing so, what is this we see before us? Another crystal, albeit a different color.

"Hi there fish!"
"Try eating a red
crystal. You may
evolve into a strange
creature."

i totally want you to evolve fins.

Mysterious Crystal uses Mysterious Power to cause Mysterious Evolution via Mysterious Time Stream! Why would I want to be this lame brown sting ray? When I just finished slaughtering similar creatures? And when its bite does a mere 1 dmg? It's a mystery to me!


Wait just a minute! Our ramming attack now does a whopping 10 points of damage! Pulling up our capability menu, we now see that our Strength is 10, which is apparently what determines your ramming damage! And our HP is up to 80! D-Does this mean there was a higher form we could take through an outside power? Does this mean that we have been wrong? Struggling to devour all and evolve slowly over time through the farming of EV was a waste, when a simple Fire Stone could lead us to our next evolution?


No, it doesn't, because the radical evolution caused by the red stones is only temporary. Trying to use a quick fix to feel good about about yourself is only a temporary solution. In the long run, hard work and the slow and steady devouring of all opposition is the only way to lasting power! Don't give in to Temptation, be it from caves, crystals, or any other source! Remember kids:


Besides, the ram was next to useless once the sea slugs split into the smaller pairs. I'm going to take this moment to get a little more in-depth about some of this game's features. First of all, let's cover the last feature of the main menu we haven't addressed yet.


Record of Evolution. What this does is provide us with 50 records of our current creature that we can make. Very handy for making a scrapbook of who you've been over the eons. This also has a relevant use later in the game, but we'll address that when we get to it. You get to name your creature when you log it for scientific posterity. I'd ask TT what to name this particular entry, but I'm eager to press on, and I have an idea what might be recommended anyways.


Another system aspect to address. Most (all? there's only one I'm unsure about) red crystals actually have two different creatures that they can turn you into. I thought for years that which of the two you became was determined by whether you were small or large-bodied when you ate the crystal, but when I reloaded my game to show some more features I'd forgotten, I became the second creature. So, via some experimentation, and a lack of any other source on the internet seeming certain, I've concluded that there is the "weak" and "strong" creature for each crystal, and which of the two you get is somehow determined by how much you've evolved. I've never become the sting ray while large-bodied. That said, let's take a moment to reveal the alternate creature for this crystal. I'm large-bodied in this screenshot to ensure I get it.


The eel isn't able to do as much instantaneous damage as the stingray, but it has more HP, and a bite as good as our natural form's. More importantly, it has an Agility of 12, meaning that it does a good job of booking it. We'll make a record of this one as well, since all save files utilize the same Record of Evolution (this means that if you start a new game using a cart on which someone has cleared the game, you'll have a rather vast list of teasers for you at this point).


Our next destination is to the east! Going east seems quite contrary to our goals if we're searching for Eden, but I suppose we don't have much of a choice, as our jelly sensei told us we could only move forward. To the east lie several volcanos, where the hot blood of Gaia surges to the surface. I think it means she's blushing with pride at our incredible progress! But I'll acknowledge now that we do have an overworld menu. This is simply where we save/erase games (3 save slots) or review/erase our records. Our Eel appropriately named considering it's sister evolution.

Well, hey! This volcano isn't that bad at all! The water is nice and warm, there's these soothing jacuzzi bubbles tickling our delicate tail fins, and this happy looking school of fish smiling at us! It looks like they want to be friends! Hmm, maybe we've been going about this all wrong, maybe- HEY! Where are they going!? ...I guess they've heard of us?


Our feelings are hurt! Devastated! We have evolved a heart, and it is broken! We must turn away, and bury our face in a pillow of bubbles. And no one will ever know we cry, as our salty tears float through the sea. Oh, hey, it seems the wall of bubbles is trapping us here. I suppose we should go chase down the Terodus and see if we can't make amends for our past transgressions somehow. They are very swift, and it takes pretty much the entire length of the stage for our sprinting form to close the gap. This means we ARE faster than they, but by far too slight a margin! Though their smiling faces were appealing, our urge to be the greatest being so that we may join Gaia in Eden leaves us a bit perturbed. Annoyingly, the Terodus turn at right angles upon reaching the opposite end of the stage, and resume their fleeing. Also, it seems there is a bubble wall on the opposite side. We are trapped here with Terodus! How will we pass our eternity here? Well, maybe by investigating what Terodus is... My best guess is that it's another mistranslation, this one of Thelodus, a prehistoric jawless bottom-feeder that scientists suspect swam quite well, but they are actually estimated to be from the time period this chapter is set in. Wait... jawless!? Their smiles are lies! How dare we let ourselves be deceived! If we are trapped in this bubbly prison for all of time, then we shall chase these deceivers for all of time!


And holy hell, these guys offer up 25 EVO.P a bite! As they come in groups of 4, this would make them an exponentially better EVO.P grind if only they weren't so hard to catch! We have enough EVO.P gathered from our embarrassingly easy devouring of creatures up until now for an evolution, which we could use to become faster... But, instead, I'll go with what the second most requested evolution was last update: the Angler's Horn. This particular adaptation isn't estimated to have developed until around 130 million BC, so we are incredibly advanced now! We are millenia beyond these pathetic creatures! Though in reality, this adaptation is actually an extension of the dorsal fin rather than horns, but, we'll forgive Enix.


The Angler's Horn offers no change in our stats, and adds no special properties to our ram, unlike most horns. But sure enough, the Thelodus swim slowly, but happily, towards the ball of light upon our horn. They are enraptured by our light, as a son of Sparda might be to a fluorescent fairy-girl dancing through the snow. But we know that their smiles are false. As their hearts tremble in extacy as they muster the courage to draw ever closer, we press but a single button, and four of them have become a meal. That's 100 EVO.P in one bite, friends! But if you think that's something, then you should observe the seemingly rancid green meat in the screenshot here. This meat is actually rapidly oscillating in color! Every meat has a random chance to be SUPER MEAT! This prime quality aquatic angus is not "double-meat," but quadruple. Yes, that +100 EVO.P screen is from eating a single one of these. And as quickly as we are slaughtering these bottom-feeders, we are able to get our fair share of these!


Suddenly, we are interrupted from our all-you-can-eat buffet by a tremendous trembling of all about us (despite the lack of waves on the perpetually halcyon surface of our sea), and a great roaring sound.

The wall of bubbles has
disappeared because
of the explosion from
the volcano.

Oh, well, that's nice - it means we can leave now whenever we tire of feasting upon these helpless OW OHMYGOD, I am being viciously assaulted by rocks that each do 25% of my health! Oh~~~, mother Gaia, WHY are you hurting me so? I've only been doing this so I can be with you, owowow-!!! If we stayed at the seafloor for long, we'd be guaranteed a swift death. Fortunately, the volcanic debris isn't quite as dense near the surface of the waves. As we rush towards the stage exit, should we notice a rock launching towards us, we can also leap out of the water, as the ones that actually break the surface are fairly rare. Although if you can't tell from my HP in these screens, I did indeed die here. I'm not used to not having evolved body parts for speed and HP here, and so I found myself too weak and slow to escape the wrath of the earth. But, I'll save game over details for a sparser update.

Following this, I went back to this stage for a second run, as it would just be a sin not to. As a result of another full run there with the Angler's Horn, I ended up with 2395 EVO.P. That'll buy a good bit of gene splicing from our broken timestream. And we'll need it, as the first real dungeons of the game follow! Honestly, you have to make an effort to not come out of the fish kingdom with the best evolution in everything, and the next update will probably bring this first, brief, introductory chapter to a close. So, now's the time to argue over any pariculars you want me to strive for, as well as my immediate evolutions.

Also, feel free to let me know how I'm doing, especially with the length of these.

you're doing great, leetspeekname. i'm really enjoying this =)

You know, viewing your LP got me to play E.V.O. again. I loved this evolution game so, so much back on SNES. It's a prime example of one of the many niche Enix-published titles I wish would be put on Virtual Console.

Also: Holy crap, Koichi Sugiyama did the soundtrack for this. O.O;

I still think you should do body evolutions, but I am okay with being a bit front-heavy.

I always get to the age of reptiles and then bow out...

Having tried it recently myself, I say go for the swordfish horn. I wanna see you suffer with having a strong ram attack at the expense of really crappy jaws. =P

Fun game, fantastic writing. Looking forward to your next entry!