Since its release in 15 years, Ark: Survival Evolved has remained quite popular. This is of course related to the many large DLCs it has launched outside the main body, but more importantly, it has been very successful in its own theme field of excavation and re-creation.
As a survival game, Ark's chosen theme is quite pleasing - dinosaurs, to be precise, dinosaur-based archaic creatures (of course, there are also many completely fantasy creatures). After all, as a lover of survival games, how many people can resist the deadly charm of these prehistoric behemoths?
The purpose of this article is to take a peek at the reasons for its success through the comparative analysis of some representative creatures in "Ark" and their realistic prototypes.
Southern Behemoth Dragon
The first to appear is, of course, the Southern Giant Dad, who is familiar to the players of the Ark. As the largest terrestrial carnivore in the game, the Wild Southern Giant Beast Dragon has a small boss level of combat power, not only attacking high blood thickness (with the second highest base damage in ordinary creatures), but also ignoring defenses to make the target lose 1% of the maximum health per second, a powerful dot damage lasting 5 seconds, and a rampage value, the higher the berserk value, the higher the damage, it can be said that it is quite a stupid choice to be tough and hard. (Spit it out, compared to the wild South Giant, the tamed South Giant is simply a brother in the middle, not only the basic attributes will be greatly weakened, dot damage is gone, but the Berserk value of this thing is still retained, once the Berserk Bar is full, the South Giant will enter an uncontrollable state, directly throwing the player off the back and chewing it to death, this TM is completely a debuff. ）
His eyes lit up, but the six relatives did not recognize them
As the largest carnivorous land animal in the history of South America and the second largest carnivorous dinosaur in the history of the world, the southern giant beast dragon is undoubtedly one of the top predators that have ever existed on the earth, living in South America 100 million to 97 million years ago, they are about 12.5-13.2 meters long and can weigh 7-8.5 tons. They have a huge head, the length of the skull alone reaches more than 1.8 meters, combined with its bite force second only to Tyrannosaurus rex among terrestrial creatures and dense giant dagger-like sharp teeth, allowing Nanju to easily cut and tear the skin and flesh of its prey.
A restored portrait of a real-life Southern behemoth dragon
In reality, nanju compares with the size of humans
From the above body shape map, it can be seen that the size of Nanju Daddy in "Ark" is the most extreme Nanju satellite in reality, and the overall size of the Tyrannosaurus Rex in reality is larger than that of Nanju, but it is obviously smaller than Nanju in the game. Of course, the Nanju of "Ark" in the setting is not an ordinary Nanju, but a product of genetic modification, so it is also acceptable.
The body size of the South Giant (left) and the Tyrannosaurus Rex (right) in Ark
Regardless of body size, the bleeding dot of Nanju in the game is quite suitable for the teeth of Nanju in reality. In this regard, the Nanju in "Ark" can be said to be quite an excellent embodiment of the characteristics of the realistic prototype.
Pocket lion
In line with the principle of rain and dew, writing about the dragon clan, naturally also have to write about the beast clan, to say that the "Ark" of many beasts among the most impressive, the pocket lion should be deserved. I don't know how many Meng Xin is riding a flying mount to sightseeing around, when he is happy, he came to the mangrove forest of all evils, and is preparing to look around and enjoy the unique scenery here, when a black shadow suddenly fell on the trees around him... Needless to say next, it is nothing more than a sad story of the separation of people and machines, and the whining of a life. And this evil creature that can be called a cute new killer is the pocket lion. To be honest, when I was first pounced on by the pocket lion, I was really scared.
The flutter of love from the pocket lion
As one of the very few creatures in the game with climbing features, the Pocket Lion has become the preferred mount for exploring caves with its flexible movement ability and strong combat effectiveness (after a certain enhancement of the blood damage ability to obtain a level of combat power).
The tamed pocket lion is a small master of the lower hole
The game relies on sneak attacks to hit the player, and the off-game pocket lions are also experts in ambush warfare, with extremely strong forelimbs and retractable claws, which is very beneficial for climbing. The most common way they prey is to lurk on tall trees, just wait for the prey to approach, and then jump down with lightning speed and launch a surprise attack.
The strong forelimbs and retractable claws of the taupuple are a climbing tool
Although the average shoulder height of 75 cm, length of 1.5 meters, and weight of 100-130 kg of pocket lions are relatively small in size, their specialized thick and sharp incisors combined with the same size of the super bite force (100 kg of pocket lion bite force can be equivalent to 250 kg lions) allows them to easily hunt larger than their own animals. These top hunters in Australia, who lived from the Pliocene to the end of the Pleistocene, were arguably one of the closest archaic creatures to us, and until 46,000 years ago, they dominated the Australian continent. It is also worth mentioning that although there is a lion in the name, the tasman is actually a marsupial rather than a cat, that is, the relationship between the kangaroo and the kangaroo is much closer than that of the lion.
The taunting hardware of the pocket lions allows them to easily hunt prey larger than they are
In addition to being a bit satellite in size, the tarongs in "Ark" are excellent in terms of both predation methods and damage ability, especially the blood damage added after reinforcement, which can be said to be a very good embodiment of the terrifying strength of these mammals.
Dragon King Whale
A large part of the reason for choosing the Dragon King Whale is because of its domineering name, after all, the Dragon King, most people should know.
Ah sorry, went to the wrong set
In Ark, the Dragon King Whale is almost the best aquatic mount in general, mainly because it is fully immune to a variety of abnormal states and provides riders with a huge amount of high and low temperature resistance. It can be said that in addition to slowly losing health when entering deep water areas, a Dragon King Whale with good attributes is enough for players to swim unimpeded and enjoy the ocean of Ark.
In the shallow seas of the game, players can sometimes see a large number of manta rays and ichthyosaurs gathering around a slowly moving slender "noodle", which is the game's Dragon King Whale. In the game's setting, these "followers" surround the Dragon King Whale because the Dragon King Whale's large and refined eating habits leave many leftovers for them to eat. It is worth noting that the Dragon King Whale in the game is a docile animal with which the player can live peacefully, but the manta ray army around them is not so friendly...
The Dragon King Whale and its "followers" in the game
As for the real-life Dragon King Whale, there is still a quite obvious difference from the Buddhist image in the game. These "super-long people" who lived in the late Eocene, 40 million to 34 million years ago, with a body length of 15-18 meters, were generally considered to be the top predators in the ocean at that time. Their "recipes" include fish, squid, turtles, sharks and even other cetaceans. Those manta rays and small ichthyosaurs in the game, if they really get next to the Dragon King Whale (of course, in reality, due to the difference in life period, it is impossible to do it), I am afraid that it can only be "sheep into the tiger's mouth", and there is no return.
In the real life of the Dragon King Whale portrait, it seems that the Ark is still conservative in length
As a primitive cetacean, the Dragon King Whale can be said to be one of the important research models for terrestrial mammals to go to the sea, such as the degenerated hind limbs that can only be used as fixed during mating, the teeth of various forms and functions like terrestrial mammals, the missing breathing holes (which also make it necessary to protrude its head out of the water during ventilation), and the skeletal structure and body structure that are only suitable for shallow sea areas, which provide considerable information for the study of cetacean evolution.
The Dragon King Whale (Part 1) plays an important role in the "history of cetaceans under the sea" and has high research value
From the appearance point of view, the restoration of the Dragon King Whale in "Ark" is still relatively in place (although it is still not long enough), and at the same time, the setting of continuous blood loss in the deep water area of the game is also consistent with the body structure of the Dragon King Whale in reality that is only suitable for shallow water activities. As for the docile personality, manta ray accompaniment, abnormal immunity and high and low temperature resistance, it is likely that they are the product of references to their modern relatives (blue whales, sperm whales).
Megalodon
If the Southern Behemoth Dragon is the largest satellite in the Ark, then the Megalodon is the largest hole in the Ark. As one of the most common aquatic creatures in the game, apart from the pure "fish providers" of coelacans, piranhas, and saber-toothed salmon, players can see a large number of megalodon sharks in a large number of waters. These aggressive predators will even take the initiative to attack Nanju (if Nanju enters their attack area). As the naming source for the shark tooth dragon family to which the Southern Megalodon belongs (the original name of the shark tooth dragon means "lizard with the teeth of the man-eating shark"), the megalodon has the same ability to inflict blood damage (obtained when strengthened with the tauper), so several tamed megalodons with good attributes can form an indestructible water attack squad.
Megalodon in the game
In this way, the megalodon shark in the game has a large number and strong ability, which can be said to be quite NB, so why do I say that it is the largest hole in the Ark? The reason is simple: the Ark's megalodon sharks are good, but their size and basic values are more like references to the great white sharks in the modern ocean, and they are not at all the same as the famous megalodon sharks in paleontological history.
So what should the real megalodon look like? Without further ado, let's take a picture.
Megalodon, Jaw and Large School Bus Comparison
After reading the picture, I believe that everyone will say that the megalodon shark is the biggest hole in the Ark, and there will be no doubt. The megalodon, which lived 23 million years ago in the Early Miocene to the Late Cenozoic 2.6 million years ago, is the largest predatory fish ever found on Earth, and they are the undisputed king of the sea with a variety of cetaceans of the same period as their main prey. These terrible killers are estimated to average 14 meters in length and 40 tons in weight, while the largest can reach more than 18 meters and weigh more than 70 tons. It can be said that looking at the ocean at any time, it is difficult to find an opponent who can match it.
Megalodon sharks that existed in reality are "whale-eating professionals"
Since it is called Megalodon, the most notable feature of the Megalodon shark is its mouth full of large teeth. These large teeth are usually up to 10-16 cm long, and some large tooth fossils are even more than 18 cm, triangular, thin and sharp, easy to cut and bite, and can easily cause open wounds and heavy bleeding. It may not be intuitive to use numbers, or to look at the picture to speak.
Megalodon shark (left) versus great white shark (right) teeth
In fact, in addition to the huge hole in size and data, the Ark's restoration of the megalodon shark is still quite good. In particular, the same bleeding dot ability as Nanju can be seen that the production team still has a considerable degree of understanding of ancient creatures. As for why the megalodon shark should be weakened, it may be that the relatively large number in the design determines that they cannot have too strong individual combat power.
Aeolian Pterodactyl
As the largest flying animal among the common creatures in the game, the Aeolian Pterodactyl is a very rare being, and even in their haunting areas, there are usually only a few of them. They almost never land on the ground (I have never seen a wild Aeolian pterosaur land so far), and always fly slowly and leisurely in the air.
The game Aeolian Pterodactyl
The Aeolian Pterodactyl is by far the largest number of flying dragons in the game that can capture the most biological species, which means they can be of great help in taming mobs. As a result, although the habit of escaping quickly when attacked makes them very difficult to tame, there are still many players who are interested in owning a Pterodactyl.
After taming, the player can see the "spectacle" of the Aeolian Pterodactyl landing on the ground
As in the game, the Aeolian Pterodactyl, who lived about 85 million to 65 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous, is the largest flying animal known to man. They have a wingspan of up to 11 meters, weigh about 250 kilograms, and stand almost the same height as giraffes. In contrast, the longest surviving drifting albatross has a wingspan of only 3.1-3.7 meters. However, compared with the habit of "never landing" in the game, the real-life Aeolus pterosaurs will not only land, but also must land, because their main food is some small dinosaurs, dinosaur cubs and various corpses, so only on the ground, Aeolian pterosaurs can forage for food, and as a creature with a rapid metabolism, they must also eat regularly. Correspondingly, the mobility of the Aeolian pterosaur on the ground is even significantly stronger than that of some small pterosaur relatives. It is also worth mentioning that paleontologists generally believe that the Aeolian Pterodactyl landed on all fours on the ground and erected the entire torso in an action posture. This is very different from the posture of lying on the ground in the game.
Giraffe (left) versus Aeolian pterosaur (right) body type
Obviously, the image of the "high man outside the sky" who does not actively attack in the game is far from the giant gliding predator in reality.
Modern paleontology generally believes that the real Aeolian pterosaur was a giant predatory pterosaur
Although from a model point of view, the Ark's restoration of the Aeolian Pterodactyl is quite good, and the setting based on their size to catch a large number of creatures is quite practical and interesting, but the life habits and land mobility are somewhat different. If the habits may have been designed by the production team to take into account the player's early game experience (after all, the early players basically could not obtain any combat flying mounts, and if the behemoth of the Wind God was also made into an active attack type, then the Ark's aerial environment may be a little too sinister), then the land action posture does have room for improvement.
Argentine Giant Eagle
For any Ark player, taming an Argentine eagle is a landmark moment. Its super weight bearing, endurance combined with its strong fighting power, and the special ability to quickly restore health by eating corpses and carrion, as well as its ability to grasp creatures despite being able to grasp less than the Aeolus pterosaur, make it a near-perfect flying mount. Not only that, but the Argentine Eagle's saddle also functions as a blacksmith's desk, allowing players to craft many items that can only be crafted in the blacksmith's table. It can be said that in addition to the slow flight speed, the Argentine giant eagle can not find any shortcomings at all. Although the difficulty of taming is much higher than that of toothless pterosaurs and pseudo-toothed birds, this should be considered a disadvantage of the player. (Dog Head)
Taming an Argentinian eagle is the beginning of the player's conquest of the sky
Compared to the all-rounders in the game, the argentine giant eagle in reality is somewhat dwarfed. These giant birds, which lived in the Pampas prairie in the late Miocene 6 million years ago, had a wingspan of 5-7 meters (the second longest known of birds), weighed more than 70 kilograms (the heaviest of the birds known), and stood at a height of 1.5-1.8 meters, comparable to that of adults. As the second longest known bird with wingspan, the Argentine giant eagle has a wingspan that is much larger than the longest wing span of the Mulberry pseudo-toothed bird (wingspan of 7.4 meters), and sits firmly in the first place with the largest wing area.
Comparison of the wingspan of the Argentine giant eagle (bottom) and the Mulberry's pseudolodon (top).
Because of its large size and impressive weight, the Argentine giant eagle's ability to fly has been questioned by many scholars. It is generally believed that as birds grow in size, their ability to fly tends to be passive, that is, they need to use updraft to help them take off and land. Through research into the limited fossil data of argentine eagles (birds are difficult to leave complete fossils due to their hollow skeletal structure), paleontologists believe that the thoracic muscles of these birds are not well developed, which makes it likely that they will not be able to fly directly from the ground. In other words, although it is possible to glide in the air for a long time with its huge wings and excellent aerodynamic structure after take-off, the flight ability of the Argentine giant eagle is quite limited.
The Argentine eagle is huge enough to deter the beast
Because of this, in the early stages of research on argentine eagles, they were widely considered to be scavengers. This has led to many early restorations depicting the Argentine eagle as an oversized vulture.
One of the early restored images of the Argentine giant eagle
As the study progressed, however, biologists discovered that the Argentine giant eagle had a stout and powerful beak and sharp curved toe claws, which are typical of predatory birds of prey. As a result, there was disagreement and controversy about the feeding habits of the Argentine giant eagle. Due to the lack of sufficiently complete fossil data, so far, our understanding of this giant bird is still inconclusive.
Although the understanding is not yet perfect, at least we can see that in "Ark", the Argentine giant eagle with strong weight-bearing ability and ability to catch many ground animals is unlikely to exist, and the slower flight speed, excellent endurance and design of pecking at corpses to restore life are the more successful and brilliant parts of the restoration.
summary
From the above six examples covering the three major areas of land, sea and air, it can be seen that although there are some errors and errors due to the age and game design, the shaping of many ancient creatures in "ARK: Survival Evolution" is still very successful, whether it is the image or function, almost every creature has its own uniqueness, and a considerable part of the creature's ability comes from its real characteristics, which is invaluable for a game.
I think this is probably a big reason why "Ark" can maintain its popularity for a long time.