Well I only have enough in my paypal account to buy one game during the sale, and was always curious about creatures as a kid but never got to play it.

I'm curious which to go for though. The Albian years will give some story and deptch or go straight for the definitive and upgraded Exodus version.

A little help please?

Albian Years is a compilation of Creatures 1 and 2. Exodus is a compilation of Creatures 3 and Docking Station, a free add-on.

I recommend you purchase Exodus because it has superior technology driving the AI, graphics, etc.

I can even sum up the "story" for you: the norn homeworld was destroyed, so now the norns live on a gigantic living spaceship.

Well now I'm even more split between the two x_x I'ma see if there's a way if I can get both x_x

Id say the better "value" is in albian years. It has the first 2 games plus the life packs. Those were sold separately when they were release so you couls think of them as mini expansions or somekind of dlc ;).

I prefer Albian Years to Exodus. While the technology in C3/DS is more advanced, including genetics, the artwork and sprites for C3/DS are just... goofy. Bubbly and shiny. I much prefer the look of C1/C2 (Albian Years). Plus, you can download some genomes for C2 that fix things like One Hour Stupidity Syndrome and give you more robust norns.

I ended up getting the albian years on a whim, but the AI behind it is baffling me because The norn I have in C1 seems to have ADHD

The A-Life in Creatures is more advanced than in other "petz" type games. With a real puppy (or a child, even), will they always do exactly what you tell them too, or will they decide that they are more interested in something else right now? Norns are the same way. You actually can (and have to) train them like you would any other pet. It's what puts Creatures, even to this day, over and above most other artificial life programs: Norn behavior isn't pre-programmed.

That's not to say that it doesn't have its problems. The original Norns in Creatures 2 are notorious for suffering from OHSS (One Hour Stupidity Syndrome) due to a genetic defect that has been well studied and documented. Fortunately, you can download a better genome to correct this defect (Canny Norns or Nova Subterra).

So in short, remember that you are dealing with a "real" virtual creature. Approach it that way, and it will make more sense.