Digital Life

Just some random stuff I've run across.

The easiest way to collect the archives is to unlock the horse as quickly as possible. Why? Because it's large and extremely fast. You can travel to any area in minutes if you've got the paths down. You can also outrun pretty much anything quite easily. It's not difficult at all to collect all three archives then sacrifice yourself to get the next story episode in less than five minutes. Or keep playing if you wish, I'm just impatient.

Speaking of, the story episodes definitely put more of an emphasis on the environmental gameplay elements like sneaking and ambushing. So do some of the animal unlock challenges in survival mode.

When playing survival mode, decide if you're going to take the animal unlock challenge first. Maybe I just suck at it but be prepared to sacrifice yourself if it's a battle or territory challenge.

This is usually what I do, particularly with the later challenges that require you to breed two or more generations to access it: first, check to see what the goals are and what you need to do to unlock an animal. On the ones that require multiple generations, I don't even bother ranking up, I just mark the Shibuya Station territory and claim a desperate mate so I can get that out of the way. Then go for the stat bonuses from completing challenges. The goal is to unlock the 'Boss' challenge within 22-24 years so you have enough time to actually complete it. Yes, they are all on time limits.

Take your time with the second mate; make sure you're up to boss rank and marking as much territory as you can in your travels to maximize your chances of getting a prime mate. There are two huge advantages to having a prime for a mate: first, greater chance of passing stat boosts to the next generation. Second, larger litters, aka extra lives/cannon fodder. Then when you do go on the offensive, pick up a mate along the way (but don't actually mate) to boost your numbers that much more.

The catch the boss challenges are by far the easiest; just chase the target animal into a dead end and lunge into it when it turns to come back the other way.

The battle challenges are annoying because the game tends to up the difficulty with numbers, hence the need for a large battle party. The boss is also pretty much always at the end of whatever area it's lurking in. Be careful and try to take down as many minions as you can safely via ambush.

The territory stealing challenges are, imo, by far the hardest. Again, numbers are a concern and you don't have just one target, you have to mark all four spots before you get killed. Depending on which area this takes place in, it can be easy or very, very hard. It also depends on the animal. So far boars and cheetahs have been the most difficult for me. Be very cautious, hide whenever possible and ambush whenever you get the chance. And don't be afraid to run, sometimes for long distances. Still faster than redoing the whole challenge, after all.