E.V.O.: Search for Eden/Chapter 3: Age of Dinosaurs

The Age of Dinosaurs is the time where large reptiles roamed the Earth. It was the time where bigger meant better.

Hints and Tips
Once again you start with no EVO points, with a weaker creature that can become even stronger.

As a reptile, your creature has three possible postures: quadruped (the initial posture), hunched (velociraptor-like) and biped (human-like). Quadrupeds are strong but slow; bipeds are agile and jump well, but struggle reaching the ground; the hunched is a good middle ground. Pick whatever you like the best, but note the posture has some deep impact on your available body parts:


 * The hunched and biped postures can use the best armour available to them (they can't use the Pronesaurus Body or the Nautilon's Body) and they'll still be decently fast; the quadruped is slow and, with those armours, becomes even slower. So if playing as a quadruped wait a bit until you get speed from other parts before upgrading your armour.
 * There are two sets of jaws: dino-like (stronger bite) and bird-like (bonus agility). For most part the bird-like jaws aren't worth the trouble, maybe unless you're playing with a really slow quadruped. Maybe - at the end of the chapter you'll want the Tyrasaurus Jaws anyway, they're too awesome.
 * The body size is again a choice between a hard but slow tank and a fast but fragile glass cannon. If unsure, go with a large body.
 * Hunched creatures are "stuck" with an extended neck, but this is no issue - a larger neck is more useful anyway, you can reach the enemies before they reach you.
 * Dorsal fins and tails are straight upgrades. You can save a lot of points by saving them for the final upgrades and not bothering with the intermediates. If you're aiming for the Nautilon's body upgrade the fins and tails before it to avoid spending time with an awfully slow creature.
 * Horns are still expensive, breakable, and not worth the points.
 * All three backs of the head are viable choices: the Ptenodon's Crest makes you faster, the Triptops Helmet gives you some strength and defence, and the Horned Helmet gives you a lot strength and a bit of defence. They're best used to compensate something your creature lacks.

Later on this chapter you can transform your reptile into a bird. This change is optional, so you can keep your reptile indefinitely if you want. For all intents and purposes birds are biped dinosaurs that can fly, so they're agile at the expense of defence and can't reach the ground. If you decide to play with a bird:


 * Jaws, horns, dorsal fins, neck, and the back of the head are the same as a reptile, so refer to the list above for suggestions. (The Tyrasaurus Jaws are still the best, even if they look weird on a bird.)
 * You'll have access to two new tails, with the Longtail birds Tail giving you nice all around bonuses.
 * For armour you can get either an Armor Body (more defence, less agility) or a Feather Body (some defence, no agility malus). In general your creature will be faster enough to make the Armor Body still a viable option.

Door to Dina Continent
This region contains a crystal that describes the new features of a reptile, but otherwise it's empty.

From here, you can either head through the Marsh of Prime Frog or through the Domain of Tecodonto. Either path will lead to the Domain of Syrocosaurus.

Marsh of Prime Frog
The northern path contains amphibians watching over the plants and insects. The frogs here have a tongue attack, and unlike most other creatures, can quickly counter attack with their tongue before you can bite them a second time. Usually they aren't worth the trouble, just avoid them.

Marsh of Amphibians
And the Bull Ikustega makes a comeback! This marsh is filled of those amphibians, still living their old way, and still providing an useful early source of EVO points.

Domain of Tecodonto
The Tecodontoes will try to run away from you, but will retaliate any attack you make against them. Worth 12 EVO points each. You're better fighting Ikustegas or Polsauruses.

Domain of Polsaurus
The Polsauruses will show off their head-butt by ramming each other and getting dizzy... or against you, if there's no other Polsaurus nearby. They yield 20 EVO points each.

The best ways to eat those creatures is by waiting until they get dizzy from the headbutts, or waiting until the night and sneaking a bite.

Domain of Syrocosaurus
The sole inhabitant of this region is an adult syrocosaurus, who is angry because his child is missing. Walk to the right (without attacking) to proceed, as the syrocosaurus will retaliate against any attack.

Note eating its meat will outright kill you while being scolded by Gaia.

Domain of Brosasaurus
While the plant eaters are passive, they are large and powerful enough to slow you down. Attacking them thrice aggravates them, causing them to swing their tail at you and continue attacking. Your best means to get past is to jump over their body using a tail (or similar) upgrade.

Domain of Prasauro
Any Prasauro here will retaliate any attack with a loud scream. However, they're worth 50 EVO each, and can be prevented to scream if you bite them fast enough.

Domain of Segosaurus
The segosaurus has a tail swipe, and also an armored back that prevents you from jumping over it. They are worth 80 EVO each.

Domain of Prime Frog
In this area, you will see two frogs teasing a young Syrocosaurus. Chase them off the right of the screen, then re-enter the area for a boss fight.

The Prime Frog has two attacks:
 * She will spawn smaller frogs that will leap and attack.
 * She will leap towards you.

The small frogs provide a constant stream of EVO points that can be used to either evolve further, or to instantly heal by taking a minor evolution.

The Prime Frog can be locked down indefinitely with well-timed bites.

Domain of Tritops
Compared to the Prime Frog, you should have no trouble collecting 90 EVO points form each Tritops.

Ocean of Plesaurus
This is a swimming region. While the Plesaurus is not too difficult, it is able to use a long neck to attack.

The nautilus on the sea floor yield 500 EVO points each, but it'll quickly bounce around when you get near and/or bite it. The only jaws that kills them in a single hit are the Tyrasaurus Jaws.

Because of that, this is a great area to farm EVO points when revisiting later, but probably not on the first time you reach it.

Mt. Brave
If you want to obtain a bird body, you will need to scale the mountain. Since this requires a lot of jumping, you should improve either your tail or evolve into using two legs.

Once you reach the top, you can jump off the side to obtain the bird body. The starting body is weak, fragile, and slow; so if you become a bird, it's recommended to go after the secret location as soon as possible, to get some EVO points from a blue crystal.

Domain of Pronesaurus
The Pronesaurus is heavily armored, and retaliates any attacks. It is not worth eating.

Domain of Omosaurus
The Omosaurus is the second most powerful creature in the area. This is a great place to collect EVO points before heading to the final location.

Domain of Tyrosaurus
This is the final region within the age of dinosaurs. Your objective is to eliminate approximately 10 tyrosauruses. The most effective evolution for this section is an extended neck, which negates almost any threat from enemy attacks.

While the Tyrosauruses give the option of joining them, it is only for entertainment purposes. As shown in the following cutscene, the dinosaurs were wiped out by the meteor that caused the Ice Age.

Mt. Hidden Mammals
To enter this location, you must have evolved as a bird from Mount Brave. A few Deltadiums will walk across the surface.

Secret location
Notice the dark cloud changing locations? If you try to enter a region as a bird when the dark cloud is over it, you'll fly into the dark cloud instead. The maze contains a green crystal, two red crystals allowing you to transform into a dragon and a gargoyle, and a blue crystal.

The green crystal is at the first turn to the left.

To reach the dragon crystal, return to the first junction, and head directly up until the second junction. Fly all the way to the right to find the red crystal that turns you into the dragon. Be sure to record the dragon in your log, it's a great evolution for boss fights.

From the dragon crystal, return left, and head directly down until you reach the second junction. Turn to the right, then down, then right. From here, reach the top of the maze to enter the River of Asteroids in space. There are three asteroids that may be entered, the most important being on the far left; you can eat a blue crystal for 9999 EVO points; I recommend using them to get the Tyrasaurus Jaws again, a Longtail, and a helmet of your choice.

The center asteroid contains a red crystal that transforms you into a gargoyle-like creature, and the right asteroid contains a green crystal. You can also exit directly to the world map by pressing L+R, rather than navigating the maze once again.