FAQ - Guide for Black And White: Creature Isles

                 -*-BLACK AND WHITE: CREATURE ISLE FAQ-*-
                              BY REED BROOKS
                          [email protected]
                              FAQ Version 1.0
                           Published 2/22/2002

Disclaimer: This FAQ is the work of the author (Reed Brooks).  Please 
do not distribute or modify it without the author's permission.  The 
author knows Pikmin, and the Pikmin are watching you.
Software is (c) Lionhead Studios Ltd.  All respective logos belong to 
them, they own your soul, etc. etc. etc.

______
Index:
------
I. Version History
II. Author's Note
III. Overview
 a. Introduction
 b. Island Overview
 c. Villages
IV. Trials
 a. Tyke's Nest
 b. Madino's Bowling Trial
 c. Tyke's Learning
 d. Guddle's Shepherding Trial
 e. Fang's Sheep Stealing Trial
 f. Orrin's Race Trial
 g. Nazzle's Rescue Trial
 h. Flitter's Ballista Trial
 i. Naxo's Fight Trial
 j. Pristax's Board Game Trial
 k. Lukely's Building Trial
 l. Herbo's Protection Trial
 m. Arkle's Crops Trial
 n. Yax's Soccer Trial
 o. Monty's Smashing Trial
 p. Pashar's Shooting Trial
 q. Jango's Marbles Trial
 r. Kula's Missionary Trial
 s. Rufus' Ring Trial
 t. Mercurio's Battle
V. Optional Quests
 a. The Miners
 b. Whack-a-skeleton
 c. Dolphin Shoot
 d. Romeo and Juliet
VI. New Creatures
 a. Crocodile
 b. Chicken
VII. Raising Tyke
VIII. The Source
__________________
I. Version History
------------------
Version 1.0: Initial FAQ

_________________
II. Author's Note
-----------------
As of the date this FAQ was written, I have beaten Creature Isle twice 
with two creatures I raised (a wolf named Kaze, who is most skilled at 
converting villages, and a leopard named Windclaw, the first creature I 
ever raised).  This FAQ was written pertaining to my experiences with 
them.  How you've raised your creature will most likely affect the 
difficulty of raising Tyke, as well as the difficulty of some trials, 
so please keep this in mind as you read the FAQ.

_____________
III. Overview
-------------
a. Introduction
With Creature Isle, the focus shifts from godly struggles to the 
creatures.  How well you've raised and trained your 
furry/scaly/feathered companion will ultimately decide if he joins the 
Brotherhood...or does it?
The answer in a nutshell: yes and no.  There are certain miracles and 
abilities your creature is going to have to know in order to succeed in 
the trials.  However, most of the trials involving your creature will 
have you intervening or directing your creature in some way.  There are 
some trials where your creature isn't even involved at all!  This is a 
mixed blessing: on one hand, it makes the trials a great deal simpler, 
as you don't have to train your creature how to do each one beforehand.  
On the flip side of the coin, some of the mystique of some trials is 
lost when you realize that the creature's actions in said trials are 
mostly preprogrammed.
Ultimately, the better your creature is trained, the easier it'll be to 
complete the trials.  However, you could also just scrape by with a cow 
that knows only water and heal miracles.

b. Island Overview
The majority of the island is self-explanatory, and you can treat it 
mostly like you would any other map in a normal Black and White game.  
However, there are some special areas/things of note, some of which are 
fairly useful, and some of which are simply staging points for trials.  
Note that all compass directions mentioned assume that the temple's 
creature pen is facing north.

Dojo
Location: directly SE of your temple.
The dojo acts as a center for the Brotherhood.  When you succeed in a 
trial, the creature running that trial will report here and raise their 
respective plinth.  Once a plinth is raised, a creature from the 
species depicted on the plinth will appear and take up residence in the 
dojo.  This creature will then be available to fight against as well as 
be switched to.  It's important to know that these creatures are not 
the same creatures that run the trials (ex. You don't fight Madino if 
you click on the cow plinth, you fight a generic cow), so if you were 
hoping to switch your creature to Koax or Mercuio and use the "Source," 
then you're out of luck.

Creature Creche
Location: South of your temple
You don't have to use this if you don't want to, but it's pretty useful.  
When the silver scroll above the building is clicked, the woman running 
the creche will agree to take care of Tyke for you.  Tyke will then 
appear in the creche (regardless of where he is on the island), and 
remain inside the creche until you click the silver scroll again.  This 
is useful for when you don't want Tyke wandering aimlessly while your 
creature is completing a trial, or have Tyke interfering in a trial.  
However, please note that Tyke will not eat inside the creche, so be 
sure to pull him out before his hunger reaches 100%.

Bao trees
Location: at the end of the long strip of land south of your temple
This is where Tyke's egg is found.  Once this is done, however, there's 
never any reason to come back here.

Volcanic area
Location: SW of your temple.
Madino's set up his bowling trial here, proving that some creatures 
never use the sense God gave 'em.  However, you might be able to use 
this area's geothermal heat for something...

The Gates
Location: near the Celtic village
These giant gates are surprisingly similar to the gates found on the 
first land of Black and White.  However, there are no set of stones 
that open them up.  The gates are normally closed; however, they will 
open if Tyke is nearby.

Arkle's Farm
Location: far N of your temple
This is where Arkle's trial takes place.  It seems like a relatively 
boring place to note, but what makes it stand out is the fact that it 
has the only animal herd on the isle (a herd of horses).

c. Villages
With no enemy gods around in Creature Isle, there's no need or rush to 
convert villages.
Thank (insert deity of your choice here).
In theory, converting the two neutral villages is completely optional.  
However, unless you've trained your creature to do the certain miracles 
required in some of the trials, you'll probably find it easier to cast 
them yourself instead.  And hey, extra influence couldn't hurt.

Egyptian village
Miracles: Water (normal and increase), Wood, Food, Heal (normal and 
increase), Fireball, Lightning
This is the village that you start out with on the island.  And 
fortunately, it's got all the basic necessities.  Other than that, 
there's not much to say.

Celtic village
Miracles: Wood, Speed up, Forest, Storm (normal and increase), Strength, 
Freeze
This village is in a valley north of your starting position.  This 
village really doesn't give you much help in village management: you 
already have the Wood miracle, and the Forest miracle fades in 
comparison.  Also, Storm is nice for belief purposes, but since you'll 
probably have only one village left to use the Increased version on 
(provided you haven't converted it yet), it's more or less useless.  
However, Speed Up and Freeze are effective miracles and will come in 
handy later.  This village will also provide you with a Speed Up 
miracle dispenser once converted.

Japanese village
Miracles: Teleport, Wood, Speed up, Enlarge, Shrink, Invisibility
This village is probably the more useful of the two neutral villages.  
You get Teleport, which is fairly useful on this land for getting to 
trials and places quickly.  In addition, you get 4 creature-related 
miracles, all of which will be extremely useful in some of the trials.  
Added to the fact that this village will provide you with a Flying 
Creatures miracle once you convert it, I'd advise you to convert this 
village first.


__________
IV. Trials
----------

NOTE: at the beginning of the game, not all trials will be available.  
If you see a trial that is not yet available, you may have to complete 
other trials to unlock it.
Also, despite what many reviews have said, there are usually a couple 
ways to complete each trial.  The end is usually the same, but you 
don't have to always use the same means to reach it.
Finally, while sometimes tricky, a lot of the trials rely more on 
reaction time than sheer brainpower.  Basically, refer to this guide 
only when you're about to snap.

All trials are listed under the following format:

Name of Trial (self-explanatory)
Creature required: (yes or no.  Some trials you can complete without 
your creature.  Also, if the trial requires your creature, they will 
usually be brought to the trial area when you click on the trial 
scroll.)
Trial description: (another self-explanatory one.  Tips on how to beat 
it will be included in here)
Tyke help: (You don't need Tyke to complete any of the trials, with the 
exception of "Tyke's Learning."  However, he may be able to assist your 
creature with some tasks, and will even do certain actions in certain 
trials).
Difficulty: (rated from * to ****, with one star being the easiest, and 
4 being the hardest.  This ranking is only my personal opinion, and not 
necessarily the end all.)

a. Tyke's Nest
Creature required: yes
Trial description: soon after establishing your godly self on the isle 
and talking to Rufus, the elder of the Egyptian village Shadrin will 
alert you to an egg resting in the Bao trees south of your temple.  
He'll ask you to hatch the egg, as they've been waiting ages.  Get a 
leash on your creature and command him to haul his furry butt down to 
the Bao trees.  You'll notice Tyke's egg sitting in a nest in one of 
the trees.  The evil conscience ("Blacky") suggests that you throw 
something to dislodge the egg.  So, order your creature to pick up a 
rock, and then command it to hurl it at the egg.  If it's got good aim, 
it should knock the egg out of the nest (however, if your creature is 
tall enough, it can simply grab the egg out of the nest without the 
tomfoolery).
After the cutscene with the obligatory local hippie, have your creature 
pick up the egg and take it to the volcanic area.  Once it arrives, 
direct it to drop the egg into one of the depression in the ground 
where steam is coming out, nearest to the red hot lava.
The hippie will appear and tell you to wait until the egg hatches, so 
busy yourself with one of the trials, if you have the time.  Pretty 
soon, the egg will hatch, and your creature will have a Robin to his 
Batman.
Tyke help: Uh...well...you do get him for completing this trial...
Difficulty: * (The game holds your hand every step of the way.  The 
only way you'd have difficulty is if you haven't read any previews of 
Creature Isle in the past year.)

b. Madino's Bowling Trial
Creature required: yes
Trial description: One of the first trials available, Madino the cow 
will challenge you to 5 rounds of bowling.  If you get a strike, you 
get a point bonus on the next two balls.  If you get a spare, you get a 
point bonus on the next one ball.  Sounds simple, really.
I understand some people love this trial.  I personally don't like it 
that much.  First of all, the trial takes a little while.  Second, it 
may take you several tries to figure out the best way to throw the 
marker.  Third, Madino will tend to bowl strikes several times in a row, 
or blow a lot of them and then suddenly pull out some more strikes near 
the end of the game.
Ultimately, the difficulty of this trial depends on how good your 
accuracy is.  If you spent your time in Black and White lobbing 
fireballs around like candy, then this trial shouldn't be too hard.  If 
you're godly accuracy is like mine, however...
Tyke help: Tyke will tend to sit off to the side and watch the game, if 
he's with your creature.  Sometimes, he'll knock down pins for your 
creature.  However, I have yet to confirm if this nullifies the bonuses 
from strikes and spares.  If you do, please contact me.
Difficulty: ** (If you've got good accuracy, subtract a star.  If your 
accuracy sucks, add a star.)

c. Tyke's Learning
Creature required: yes
Trial description: this trial becomes accessible once you have Tyke.  
It's also pretty freakin' easy.  For most of the trial, they'll give 
you exactly what you need to educate Tyke.  The only difficulty is that 
they want you to teach Tyke how to build things, which your own 
creature won't be able to learn until near the end of the trials.  But 
otherwise, this is a cakewalk.
Note that after the first lesson (teaching Tyke to eat from the fields), 
the field will remain until you click on the trial's scroll again.  So, 
until you do, you have an unlimited source of food.  Your worshippers 
will never go hungry again ;)
Tyke help: he's the key to winning this trial, so make sure your 
creature takes care of him.
Difficulty: * (Come on folks, this trial ain't rocket science.)

d. Guddle's Shepherding Trial
Creature required: yes
Trial description: Another trial that's immediately accessible, and 
probably one of the most boring ones on the isle.  Guddle the sheep 
wants you to herd his ten...sheep back into the pen he's standing in.  
Supposedly, the wolf is supposed to make this task more difficult, but 
the only thing he did with me was pick up a sheep and put out a little 
farther away.
Anywho, since you'll probably end up scattering the herd with your 
creature, you'll need to round them up 1 or 2 at a time.  The thing to 
remember is that if your creature gets close, the sheep will bolt away 
from him.  Keep in mind that it's not a directly opposite course change: 
the sheep will often deviate from the one direction its running and 
continue to run in more or less the same direction, unless you keep on 
it with your creature.  This trial is more time consuming than anything 
else, and unless you scatter the sheep very far away from one another, 
you shouldn't have any problems.  I did this trial in about 20 minutes, 
but some online have claimed it's taken them as much as 50 minutes to 
complete, so be prepared to be busy awhile.
Note that completing this trial will open up Fang's Sheep Stealing 
Trial.
Tyke help: you can have him here, but the sheep don't seem to give him 
the time of day.  Considering his method of following your creature, 
that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Difficulty: ** (The most difficult part of this trial is not dying of 
boredom before you complete it.)

e. Fang's Sheep Stealing Trial
Creature Required: yes
Trial description: Fang, the carnivore end of the wolf and sheep duo, 
challenges you to a game of invisible hide and seek.  This is horribly, 
 horribly difficult.  Except that you can still see his footprints.  
And you can hear him howl.  And you can do so the moment he turns 
invisible and keep tracking him with your camera.
Who am I kidding, this trial is a joke.  All you have to do is follow 
Fang's footprints as soon as he turns invisible, and use a leash to 
make sure your creature keeps up.  After about 1-2 minutes of running 
around, Fang will stop, and if you've been following him with your 
creature, Fang will reappear, compliment your impressive tracking 
skills, and repeat the process.  Catch him 3 times in a row to win this 
trial.
The only difficulty is when you lose sight of his footprints.  In that 
case, listen for his howl, and follow that.  Your consciences will also 
alert you to his presence when he's nearby should you happen to lose 
him.
Tyke help: Not sure.  He might be able to find Fang, but with the 
probable size difference between Tyke and your creature, Tyke will be 
lucky to even keep up.
Difficulty: ** (If you lose sight of Fang, it's going to be tough, but 
as long as you follow him carefully, you won't have any problems.  And 
no, you CAN'T bookmark him.)

f. Orrin's Race Trial
Creature Required: hai (yes)
Trial Description: Orrin the tortoise sets the description up simply.  
The only rule is that you have to pass through the stone gates.  
Otherwise, it's a free-for-all.  Kind of like a fight with Mike Tyson.
Anyway, it sounds simple, except Orrin knows the shortcuts and cheats 
like Bill Clinton.  There's a shortcut that you can make use of by 
using the shrinking miracle provided by the Japanese village, and you 
can freeze Orrin with the appropriate miracle from the Celtic village.  
Or, if you have both villages converted, you can use both tactics 
against him.
The easiest way to win the trial is to take the shortcut, as it cuts 
the course distance by almost half.  Unfortunately, the shortcut is a 
valley, and the both ends of the valley are impassible to a creature 
any larger than the ones at initial size (in other words, the size of 
the creatures you find on land one in Black and White).  So, you'll 
have to use the shrink miracle from the Japanese village to make your 
creature fit through.  You'll know you're at the shortcut when you see 
two Egyptian obelisks.  Keep in mind, Orrin will freeze your creature 
just before he makes himself shrink and heads towards the shortcut, so 
stop him cold with the freeze miracle, should you have it.  If you 
can't take the shortcut (because you don't have the Shrink miracle), 
use the Speed Up miracle and have your creature haul tail around the 
track, watching out for the hazards along the way (the volcano spewing 
fireballs just past the shortcut can be a pain).
Also, you can use Orrin's cockiness against him.  If he's in the lead 
when he comes up to the shortcut, he probably won't take it (and will 
probably cast a speed miracle on himself instead).  Remember, it 
doesn't matter how long you're in the lead, only whose in the lead in 
the end.
Keep in mind, there are NO rules (for the most part), so feel free to 
hinder Orrin in any way your twisted little mind can think up.
Tyke help: only your creature counts, I think.  If Tyke can even keep 
up, then you have one special little critter.
Difficulty: ** (If you walk in unprepared for this trial, you'll get 
your butt kicked.  Also, it's easier if you play through it a couple 
times, as you can usually follow Orrin the first time to find the best 
route.)

g. Nazzle's Rescue Trial
Creature Required: yes
Trial Description: Pretty simple in theory: rescue the bear.  
Difficulty in theory: getting to said bear.  The wolves will see/smell 
your creature if it gets too close to them, and the hermit will hear 
him if he walks past.  End result: your creature gets zapped.  So, you 
need to be creative.  There are a couple ways to go about this: 
-At night, while the hermit's sleeping, use the Invisibility miracle on 
your creature to sneak up.  Make sure to stay away from the wolves at 
the base of the hill.  Once your creature reaches Nazzle, have him (or, 
if you have the influence, yourself) destroy the windmill holding 
Nazzle to complete the trial.
-Or, if you have the influence and miracle, create a teleport to where 
Nazzle is and have your creature use it.
Tyke help: dunno.
Difficulty: * to ** (depending on the method you use)

h. Flitter's Ballista Trial
Creature required: no
Trial Description: Flitter's poor pal's been given the head of a donkey, 
and he needs you to fire him (using his trusty ballista) to the three 
herbs scattered around the island.  Note that you can't grab the mule-
headed man and drop him near the herbs (he won't take them, for some 
reason), so you'll need to have good aim.
The three herbs are identified by a blue aura around them, and can be 
found in the following areas:
-on a cliff behind the ballista
-a small island NE of the Aztec temple that the chimps are building
-on one of the cliffs of the canyon that was a shortcut in the race 
with Orrin.
You'll only be able to see the aura of the herb on the island, so 
you'll need to scout out the position of the other two, and aim 
carefully.  If you're having trouble, remember this: for the first herb 
above, aim to the right of the rocky spire.  For the last herb, aim to 
the right of your temple.  Other than that, there's not much I can help 
you with here.  How hard this trial is for you is dependent on two 
things: how well you can mentally judge arcs, and how quickly you learn 
through trial and error.
You can press ESC at any time to cancel your shot.  If the man says 
"looking good," or something to that effect, however, give him a chance.  
He doesn't have to land in the blue aura, just close enough to the herb 
to be able to walk to it.
Tyke help: N/A
Difficulty: ** (This is a trial where you're going to have to use the 
old lobe in order to complete it.)

i. Naxo's Fight Trial
Creature Required: yes
Trial Description: Ah, finally some senseless violence.  Naxo (who's 
obviously watched Star Wars too many times) challenges you to defeat 
him.  Of course, it isn't that simple, as he uses the 
force...er...source to assist him in battle.  A quick rundown of his 
attacks:
-Source push: thin yellow/orange trails will come from Naxo and connect 
to your creature.  The sequence usually goes like this: push back, 
knock to the side, trip.  Although this doesn't do any damage to your 
creature, Naxo often uses this before another source power to make your 
creature vulnerable to attack or to temporarily incapacitate your 
creature so he can heal.  Basically, if he uses this, expect another 
source attack to be coming.
-Source Heal: Naxo's appearance will change, as if he was at 1.00 
alignment, and use a Heal miracle.  Once he starts using this move, 
there's no way to stop it, but you can smack him around a bit to soften 
him up for your next attacks.
-Invisibility: just what it says: Naxo turns invisible.  It also seems 
that during the time he's invisible he doesn't take damage.
-Source lift: Naxo's appearance will change, as if he was at -1.00 
alignment and launch around 3 rocks sitting around the arena at your 
creature.  If they hit, they can take a decent chunk of health off, 
which makes this one of Naxo's more deadly attacks.
-Source lightning: like the source lift, Naxo's appearance will change, 
like he was at -1.00 alignment, and hit your creature with three 
lightning miracles in succession.  Even though if your creature gets 
set alight by this attack, the fire will quickly die away after the 
attack is over.  Unfortunately, while Naxo's using this attack, you 
will be extremely lucky to get a move in between lightning strikes, so 
this can be a D-day attack if your creature's at low health.
Not good, huh?  How do you survive?
-Be experienced with how your creature fights.  It's no big if you 
don't have a combat-intensive creature (apes, sheep, cow, etc.), as 
long as you know how they fight, you should do okay.
-Prepare for the long haul.  Make sure your creature's well rested and 
fed before going into this battle, because it'll last awhile.
-Heal often.  You should make it a rule to heal when your creature's 
around 50% health.  If you don't, Naxo can take you down quickly with 
an unexpected source attack.
-don't waste your time with offensive miracles.  Naxo is immune to them.  
Only use Heal, as other miracles your creature casts on himself barely 
last longer than the time it took to cast them.
Basically, don't let up on Naxo.  It may seem impossible to win, but 
keep on him and you'll eventually triumph.
Tyke help: he can cast miracles on your creature.  But if you do want 
him to help, SAVE FIRST!  If he casts a miracle that disrupts the match 
(Shrink, Grow, Freeze, etc.), the fight will stop and your creature 
won't be able to move, as well as you won't be able to use miracles.  
In other words, unless you find a creative way to get your creature to 
move again and end the trial, you'll have to start ALL OVER.  And doing 
Guddle's Shepherding trial is something no one looks forward to.
Difficulty: *** (If you're good at creature combat, you can take a star 
away.  If you've fought a total of 2 matches ever since you got Black 
and White in April, you can add a star.)

j. Pristax's Board Game Trial
Creature Required: yes 
Trial Description: Another victim of an ogre's curse, this time Pristax 
needs you to beat the ogre at his board game and retrieve the Anti-
Miracle at the top of the mountain to cure him.  At the beginning of 
each turn, you roll a die to determine how far you move.  During the 
game, however, the squares you land on will have certain effects:
-Blank square:  nothing happens.
-Bats square: a picture of a bat, this square will force your creature 
or the ogre back two spaces.
-Combat square: a picture of two people/creatures fighting, usually 
with a grave marker.  The ogre is not subject to the effects of this 
square, but if your creature lands here, he'll have to fight an ogre at 
the top of the mountain.  The ogre is immune to miracles, so you'll 
have to have your creature pound him into submission with his own to 
fists/claws/wings.  Winning combat will advance your creature one 
square ahead.
-Speed Boost square: a picture of a man running, this will add an 
additional two to your next roll (allowing you to move up to 8 spaces 
in a single turn!)
-Swamp square: a picture of swamp grass, this will subtract two from 
your next roll.  However, you will always move a minimum of one square, 
even if you roll a one or two.
-Mushroom square: a picture of a mushroom, this will cause you or the 
ogre to lose a turn.  The picture with a snowflake will trigger icy 
mountain winds, and thus has a similar effect.
-Teleport square: there are two pairs of teleports on the board: the 
first two are linked together, as are the last two.  Depending on which 
one in the pair you land on, you'll go either forwards or backwards, so 
aim to hit the one farthest behind in a pair.
Beating the ogre to the top will win you three things: Pristax's 
support at the dojo, an Anti-Spell miracle dispenser, and your creature 
will also automatically learn the Anti-Spell miracle.  Sw33t!
Tyke help: not that I know of.
Difficulty: ** (it's long, and a little tense at times, but rather fun, 
and the rewards are well worth the trouble.)

k. Lukely's Building Trial
Creature required: yes
Trial Description: the first time you click this scroll, you'll be told 
by Lukely that you need to complete Herbo's trial first.  This will 
unlock Herbo's trial for you.
Once you've beaten Herbo's trial and return, Lukely will direct you to 
leash your creature to the wonder and let them do the work.  After a 
while, your creature will have learned construction (which, if you can 
teach your creature when and where to use it, can be extremely useful).
Tyke help: why not have Tyke with your creature while he's learning, so 
he learns at the same time?  That way, you kill two birds (bad pun) 
with one stone.
Difficulty: * (Listen: you leash your creature to something.  You go 
use the bathroom.  Your creature learns how to build while you're gone.  
How hard is that?)

l. Herbo's Protection Trial
Creature Required: yes
Trial Description: It sounds so simple: keep the giants away from the 
stones.  If they reach the stones, they'll knock down the tower.  
However, the first few times you play this will probably drive you 
batty trying to figure out how to stop them all, because you'll be so 
busy juggling them that eventually one will get the upper hand and beat 
your creature to the rock.
That said, here are a couple things to keep in mind:
-The giants your creature scares won't turn around until he hears him 
roar.  Basically, if you scare a giant, and your creature moves to 
another rock, the first giant will keep walking towards the campfire 
until he hears your creature roar, where he will promptly turn around 
and head back.  Use this to your advantage: don't waste your time 
waiting for the giant to sit down.  When the giant is near his 
corresponding fire, move your creature to another rock.  The giant 
should sit down, even if your creature is no longer in his way.
-Don't always go for the giant closest to his rock.  This seems like a 
strange thing to say, but if you try, you'll end up failing this trial 
because you won't be able to keep all the giants at bay.  Basically, if 
you see a giant close to his fire and one halfway to the rock, scare 
the giant near his fire first to get him out of the way, and as he's 
getting ready to plop down, move your creature to the next rock and 
scare the closer giant away.
This trial takes a few tries to get used to how long the delay between 
moving to another rock and the giant turning around are, but once you 
figure it out, it's easy.
Tyke help: he can't do anything except watch.  What self-respecting 
giant would be scared of a giant chicken anyway?
Difficulty: *** (It's all in your timing.)

m. Arkle's Crops Trial
Creature Required: yes and no (influence depending)
Trial Description: Arkle sets a trial for you as he goes off to join 
the Brotherhood...wait a second, I thought only Brotherhood members 
could set trials.  CURSE YOU LIONHEAD!  CURSE YOU AND YOUR PLOTHOLES!
Er...anyway, you need to water Arkle's fields at least once a day.  
Twice is all right, but three is overkill, and the crops will grow 
little (if any) that day.  If you don't water the crops at all, they'll 
slowly wither and die.
Like your good conscience ("Whitie") says, this is a trial of patience.  
Unless you've taught your creature to poo in the fields (I haven't, yet) 
expect to spend at a minimum 4 game days on this trial.  However, if 
your influence reaches the trial area, you can water the crops yourself.
Tyke help: he can water the fields too.  However, he'll tend to 
overwater them, so it's doubtful if you really want his assistance.
Difficulty: * (not hard, just long.)

n. Yax's Soccer Trial
Creature Required: yes
Trial Description: Yax, the resident Rasta mandrill (mommy, make the 
racial stereotypes stop!) sets this trial.  Basically, you have to kick 
the soccer ball through four gates before you can even attempt to shoot 
it at the goal.  Oh, and his pals are here to make it harder by kicking 
the ball away.  Not to mention a 7 minute time limit.
Here's a crash course on how to aim your shots: imagine a straight line 
starting from your creature, intersecting the soccer ball, and 
continuing through the ball in the same direction.  That's the 
direction the ball will go.
Anyway, here's a good way to go through the gates: kick the ball 
through the first gate on the plateau near the start.  It should 
probably fall into the green grassy valley area, so kick it through the 
gate in that valley, and then kick it through the nearest remaining 
gate, which should be conveniently just above the valley gate.  The 
last gate is tricky.  The steaming pits will set your creature on fire 
if he gets close, and if the ball falls in, it'll be a while before it 
pops out again, so make your first shot count to save time.
The goal can be a pain in the butt.  Often, your creature will just 
lack the extra oomph to get it in the goal, and the goalie Mandrill 
will send it far out again.  Keep on the ball though, and you should be 
able to easily complete this trial with as much as two minutes 
remaining. 
Tyke Help: I swear, the ball's as big as he is...
Difficulty: *** to **** (aiming the ball can be a pain at times)

o. Monty's Smashing Trial
Creature Required: yes
Trial Description: Monty makes it simple: 4 huts plus a Japanese wonder.  
First one to smash them all wins.  Simple, ne?
Basically, how hard this is depends on your creature's size and 
alignment.  Evil gods will have an easier go at this than gods who've 
raised their creature to not harm a fly.  If you're the latter with a 
large creature, if you click the leash of aggression on a hut that your 
creature is extremely close to, they'll quickly stomp it flat.  This 
can be a lot quicker and a lot less time consuming than casting 
miracles and/or setting the huts on fire.
Note that the sparkle around a hut indicates that it still needs to be 
destroyed.  Only when the hut's sparkle disappears is it considered 
destroyed.  You'll have to probably hit the Japanese wonder a couple 
times to see the sparkle, and once or twice more to finish it off.
Finally, just so you know, even if your influence reaches to the trial 
area, you will not be able to interact with the environment during the 
trial. 
Tyke help: Hey, two is more than one!
Difficulty: ** to **** (two for aggressive gods, who will easily speed 
past Monty, and four for pacifistic gods, who will have a hard time 
beating him.)

p. Pashar's Shooting Trial
Creature Required: no
Trial Description: Another trial where you as a god go el solo mio.  
Pashar challenges you to senselessly shoot at/blow away his marauder 
chums.
Boo yah!
You'll need to hit at least 16 marauders to win this trial.  Like 
Flitter's trial, you'll use the ballista cannon, but this time you'll 
be moving, and with explosive barrels as the ammo instead of mule-
headed villagers.  So once again, it's another trial where your ability 
to mentally judge trajectory is going to come into play.  Also, it's 
definitely going to take you a few tries as you memorize the patterns 
of the marauders, and where they tend to go as you move towards the 
Celtic village.
Keep in mind a couple things: the explosion will often take out the 
marauder, so you don't necessarily need a direct hit.  Also, there are 
a couple marauders that will pop up near the Celtic village near the 
end.  One will be on a cliff to the left as you enter the village, and 
another will pop out of the forest as you near the end of the trial.
Note that the barrels are destructive, and do set fires.  If you're not 
careful, you could easily set half of the Celtic village on fire with 
your trigger-happy self.
Tyke help: N/A
Difficulty: ** (it can be tough at times, but rather fun...)

q. Jango's Marbles Trial
Creature Required: yes
Trial Description: Simply enough, Jango the ape challenges your 
creature to a game of marbles.  You both get six marbles, and the 
creature with the highest number of points at the end of the game wins.
The problem I've noticed with people who have trouble with this trial 
is that they tend to play like they're in a vacuum: that is, they don't 
bother to try and attack Jango's marbles with their own.  If you do 
this, then you'll lose this trial every time, as Jango's accuracy is 
astoundingly good.  Make sure to have your creature toss marbles just 
to knock Jango's marbles out of the center of the circle.  Your marble 
may roll to the outer circle, but if you can knock 140 points off 
Jango's score by knocking one of his marbles from the center to the 
blue ring, then you've gained the advantage, in a Machiavellian sort of 
way.
Tyke Help: He stands off to the side during the trial.  I haven't seen 
him interact with the game yet.
Difficulty: ** (not hard, but it's no cakewalk either.)

r. Kula's Missionary Trial
Creature Required: no
Trial Description: Kula needs you to gather up the missionary crewmen 
so he can sail home to his icy home.  To gather the crewmen, you need 
to bring the ship to them.  To bring the ship to them, you use Whitey 
to maneuver the missionaries' craft.
Manuevering can be a bit tricky, but you'll soon get used to it.  Make 
sure you don't have the ship going too fast in one direction, or it'll 
be almost impossible to stop it when you need too.
Anywho, you need to gather up five crewmen.  They'll appear in the 
following order.  Keep in mind that you must find them in this sequence.  
If you don't, they won't appear in the location listed until you've 
found all the crewmen before them.  It doesn't make any sense to me 
either.  If you're having trouble finding them, hit the S key and look 
for someone labeled "Actor" around the coasts of the island.
1. Dock around the volcano area.  It's on the thin strip of land 
between Madino's and Nazzle's trials.
2. Dock on the outskirts of the Japanese village.  You'll need to use 
some decent maneuvering to avoid the patches of land on the way to the 
dock.
3. A dock in an inlet near Pristax's board game trial.  This one can be 
tricky, so take your time.
4. Dock between the volcanic island north of your temple and Arkle's 
farm.  The storm at the mouth of the nearest entry will send the ship 
out of control, so go around the island to reach the dock.
5. the small island NE of the Aztec wonder (the same one where you 
found the herb for Flitter's trial).
When completed, the missionaries will leave, taking Kula with them.  
And I was so close to killing them too...
Tyke Help: N/A
Difficulty: ** (this isn't tough.  Just take your time and you'll do 
fine.)

s. Rufus' Ring Trial
Creature Required: yes
Trial Description: this trial will only become available once you've 
completed all other available Brotherhood trials.
Rufus, impressed with your creature's abilities, now sets his trial as 
the final hurdle to joining the Brotherhood.  You must take three rings 
from the bottom of the island to the top of it.  Along the way, there 
are little blue ogres running around that will freeze your creature if 
he so much as looks at them funny.  To top it all off, you only get 
seven and a half minutes to deliver all three rings.  Seem impossible?
Not really, if you know a cheap little shortcut.
Here's how to do it: once you've grabbed a ring from the bottom, go 
past the pile of rocks on the right (this means your creature will have 
to walk along the coast of the island).  Past the rocks, you'll see a 
narrow pathway between the rock wall and the forest.  Your creature can 
simply walk up this path, drop the ring down, and walk back down the 
same path for the remaining rings.  If you can't find it, click on the 
bottom starting area while your creature's standing at the top of the 
island will often cause him to use the path.  You can easily complete 
this trial in under three minutes using this method.
When you complete this trial, your creature becomes an eternal member 
of the Brotherhood.  Congratulations!
Tyke Help: He can be a tagalong, but otherwise he's not much use.
Difficulty: * to **** (the secret path makes this a 1 star trial, but 
if you simply must insist on doing it the hard way...)

t. Mercurio's Battle
Creature Required: yes
Soon after your creature earns his Brotherhood ring, Mercurio will 
appear and say, "yo, you now our dog for life.  But if you wanna mack 
with my babe, you gotta dance with me, dawg!  Let's see if yo' new age 
phatness can beat my old school, yo!" 
He doesn't say it exactly like that, but you get the point.  
If your creature wants to even get an inch within Eve's presence, he's 
gotta prove to Mercurio that he can protect her.
And what better way to prove to her guardian (Mercurio, for those of 
you who are slow) that your creature is capable by beating him to 
within an inch of his life?
Unfortunately, if you thought Naxo was difficult, then you will be 
unpleasantly surprised.  Mercurio knows the source too, and his source 
attacks are more powerful.  His source attacks are similar to Naxo's, 
and powered up in some instances (for example, for his Source lift, 
he'll generate a ring of flaming rocks above your creature, and bring 
them crashing down on him).  You'll need to apply the same concepts you 
used against Naxo against Mercurio if you want to have any hope of 
surviving.  Defeating Mercurio will win your creature the right to meet 
Eve.  Whether she accepts him as a mate or rejects him as a deadbeat 
dad will depend on how your creature has treated Tyke.
<><>NOTE: Has anyone ever had their creature rejected by Eve?  Surfing 
through the sound files, I haven't been able to find any evidence that 
she can turn your creature down.<><>
Difficulty: **** (This rating will vary widely, depending on your 
fighting skills, but with so much at stake, you may make unintentional 
mistakes.)

__________________
V. Optional Quests
------------------

During the course of the game, you may come across some silver scroll 
challenges.  Completion of these is completely optional.

a. The Miners
Some miners have been blasting in a mine on the isle, and now they're 
on fire.  If they reach the houses on the coast, they'll set them 
alight.  You'll be provided several water miracles to put out the 
miners, but it's probably a lot faster to press R (which automatically 
charges the last spell you cast) after you use the first miracle seed.  
You need to put out three waves of miners without them setting the 
houses on fire.
REWARD: a water miracle dispenser.  Wow, don't you feel special.

b. Whack-a-skeleton
Soon after converting the Japanese village, you may notice this 
challenge spring up at night.  When you click it, a local villager will 
tell you about the skeletons (spirits, ghosts, what have you) of their 
ancestors rise up at night and scare the kids.  He says that by picking 
them up, you can make them believe in you, and their souls will rest in 
peace.
Huh?
Anyway, it's an...interesting challenge, to say the least.  You need to 
grab the skeletons as they appear, and not pick up the living villagers.  
If you pick up enough skeletons, you'll complete the trial.  Come on, 
if you've ever played a whack-a-mole game, this'll be a cinch.
REWARD: Loving creatures miracle dispenser.  Be nice if it were more 
useful here...

c. Dolphin Shoot
Simple challenge in concept: take the water gun, shoot the dolphins.  
Hard part of challenge: getting enough points.
You have to be precise to hit the dolphins underwater, but for the most 
part you can hit the dolphins upright in the water as long as you have 
the reticule at or beyond their position.
There are a couple things to remember: you can get multiple points for 
shooting the same dolphin.  It's not impossible to get 5 or more points 
off a single dolphin.  Also, the water gun has a limited capacity.  
Once you exhaust it, it'll take a couple seconds for it to recharge its 
water supply before you can start shooting again.  Finally, the water 
doesn't come out all that quickly, so you'll need to lead the dolphins 
to have any hope of hitting them.
REWARD: if you score below 50 points, you'll get a miracle seed (the 
higher your score, the higher quality of the miracle).  If you score 
above 50 points, you'll earn a Freeze creature miracle dispenser.  
Useful if you haven't completed Orrin's Racing trial yet.

d. Romeo and Juliet
Near Arkle's farm you may have noticed two guys sitting around a 
campfire (a Norse man and a Viking).  Well, the Norse man has a problem.  
He loves the girl in the small house on Arkle's farm, but the girl's 
father won't let him anywhere near her.  His name is Romeo, and hers 
Juliet.
Your goal is to reunite them.  Note that you can knock on houses, even 
outside your influence.  If inside your influence, grab Juliet and put 
her by Romeo.  If your influence hasn't reached that far yet, have your 
creature pick her up.
Note of course that you don't have to do this to complete the quest.  
Kill her father.  Kill her, if you're feeling mean.  Kill Romeo, if it 
makes you feel good.
REWARD: Another Loving Creatures miracle dispenser.  Jeez, it ain't 
that useful...
NOTE: This quest has no silver scroll.  Also, if you want a good laugh 
(and have Winamp), go to your CreatureIsle/Audio/Dialogue directory and 
click on CI_Villagers (if you're prompted, open it with Winamp).  Fast 
forward it about 35 minutes in to hear some outtakes from Romeo and the 
Viking ;)

_________________
VI. New Creatures
-----------------

a. Crocodile
Overview: One of the two new playable creatures in Creature Isle, the 
croc is a bit of a disappointment.  It seems that Lionhead didn't fully 
program it, so it seems to have some flaws.  It seems that it's unable 
to eat anything (at least on my game), and from reports on the internet 
I've heard, it can't eat fish out of the ocean.
Intelligence: Still have to do some research on this one.
Maneuverability: It's got decent speed over the ground, but it making a 
wide turn takes longer than it does for other creatures.  Basically, 
other creatures can simply turn.  Crocodiles have to jump in the air to 
turn a significant distance.
Combat: This should've been the croc's strong point.  Unfortunately, it 
seems that it isn't that great.  It has a chomp attack that comes out 
relatively quickly, but many of its other attacks have a long delay 
time, so it has trouble fighting in close.  Its special attack is also 
rather slow: it starts off with a mantis style-esque stance, and then 
leads in with a jump kick.  It's an excellent attack over long 
distances, but almost useless close in.
How to unlock: complete all Brotherhood trials (including Rufus's 
trial).  The crocodile plinth will be raised when Mercurio appears.

b. Chicken
Overview: Is it just me, or is Lionhead getting kind of lazy?  The 
chicken uses a lot of animations from the horse and zebra.  Even its 
basic fighting moves are the same!  Otherwise, I think the chicken's a 
fairly average creature.
Intelligence: I need to do some research in this area.
Maneuverability: The chicken is no leopard, but it's no tortoise speed-
wise either.
Combat: The chicken fights a lot like the horse (and zebra) do, so if 
you're comfortable fighting with them, you should pick up the chicken's 
fighting style fairly quickly.  He also shares the crocodile's special 
move. It's good at long distances, but useless close in.
How to unlock: Complete Tyke's Learning.  Rufus will raise the plinth.

_________________ 
VII. Raising Tyke
-----------------

Remember when your mom used to scream at you "someday I hope you have 
kids that treat you the same way you treat me!"
Remember how your grandma told you she told your mother the exact same 
thing?
Anywho, it's a lot like that with your creature and Tyke.  Tyke will 
spend most of his time following your creature around, and your 
creature will probably be happy to oblige little Tyke's curiosity.  
However, there are some ways for you to help:
-you can INDIRECTLY teach Tyke through your creature.  For example, if 
you want to steer Tyke for a preference towards sheep, have your 
creature eat one and reward it.  When Tyke copies, your creature will 
praise it.  However, keep in mind that this isn't a perfect method: you 
won't be able to tutor Tyke this way and keep your creature's 
personality the same way, as you may end up teaching him things you 
don't want him to do.
-Tyke is actually quite observant, and will learn miracles you cast 
(most of them faster than your own creature could learn).  However, it 
seems that he only learns how to use them through watching your 
creature (for example, you may teach Tyke Megablast, but he won't know 
what to do with the spell until he watches your creature using it 
against something).
-You can bring Tyke food, if your creature is unable to supply it.  
However, Tyke usually won't eat unless he gets your creature's approval.
Tyke will be a chicken when you first get him.  His knowledge will be 
transferred to your creature's child when he mates with Eve, and Tyke's 
species will be whatever species your creature is when he meets Eve (so 
if your creature meets Eve as a wolf, then his kid will be a wolf).

________________ 
VIII. The Source
----------------

This is probably the most hotly debated topic about Creature Isle.  
Many have theorized how to teach your own creature to use the Source, 
the mysterious power utilized by both Naxo and Mercurio.  Some say that 
the Source cannot be used by your creature.  Unfortunately, there have 
been several theories, none have which been proven as of yet.  Lionhead 
isn't talking.
However, most agree that there is one prerequisite to earning the 
Source: you'll need to earn the Gauntlets of Power.  Earning them is 
simple: after entering the Brotherhood, beat all of the creatures at 
the dojo at least once.  You'll see a small blue mushroom by the plinth 
of each creature you've defeated.  Once all are defeated, Naxo will 
arrive and grant you the gauntlets.
Other than that, it's a gray area.  Anyone with information on a theory 
that's actually been proven, please contact me.  Otherwise, this 
mystery remains unsolved.  Until it is, I will refrain from putting any 
theory here without any significant evidence, as there are already more 
than enough rumors floating around.

_______________
Contact/Credits
---------------

This section is for now, empty.  Anyone who submits me information that 
I end up using in this FAQ will be listed here.
If you have any information about/for this FAQ (errors, secrets, etc.) 
please e-mail me at [email protected].


End quote: "There are many guards in the castle!"-Adventurers!
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