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Update 3: Three's Company
At Sea
Something I haven't been able to show off yet is that you will get a little preview of what you can expect from certain places! Like for instance, what types of seeds we will be able to buy from Theodore. Once we arrive, I'll be able to show something else the map can do for us that's quite nifty and is a nice quality of life thing.
I won't belay this point much more since the last update was probably too mechanic heavy for a story focused playthrough, but planting seeds is easy as hell. It just requires you to water it about 2-3 times at various points and then you get to harvest the resource you planted. The crates I found before gave me some linen and coffee beans, so I planted those and should get results soon.
Welcome to Hummingberg! Time to show off an actual town instead of some island chains.
Hummingberg
Immediately upon getting to town we have a marker from Gwen to come to her to continue her request line about getting seeds. But let's have a look around first.
Just about any building in towns can be entered. Most will have something of interest inside, even if it's not vital to get. For instance, the chest here on the second floor has some garden seeds for us. Nothing we couldn't buy from Theodore, but hey, I'm not going to look a gift chest in the mouth! after breaking into someones house for it
Actual towns mean actual people to talk to! Just like Gwen before she joined the crew, the people are all cloaked so it can be hard to differentiate spirits apart. Usually though, smaller spirits are kids, bigger spirits are adults. As well, there will be different size spirits like tall ones, fat ones, skinny ones, etc,.
I've crunched the data and spent 5 nights theory-crafting. Clearly, if you take the Heavy Weapon proficiency from the mountain Gnome race, there is a nifty synergy with the level 3 Rogue ability Eviscerate. It's for sure a bit weird, but hey, 5D20 and auto-crit on prone can't be defeated, am I right?
The first NPC we meet in this game tells us a tabletop joke. Alright, LP is over, let's go ahead and call this one closed.
Just past RPG guy, is Gwen in front of... some kind of statue? I'd figure she'd be at the store.
Take a good look at this shrine, Stella. It's simply stunning. Some objects in this world are meant to resonate with the Spiritfarer, and the Everlight. I've heard this monument has the power to enhance the Everlight's abilities. The two slots on it need to be filled up. I'm fairly certain you could use obols to activate it. But to get obols, you need to welcome more spirits on your ship. I'm sure you'll soon find more lost souls like me.
I didn't mention it when they first came up to save us all from more mechanics talk, but Obols are how the game rewards you for continuing on with the story. Every time you welcome a new spirit aboard, they give you an Obol as their price to join. Getting more obols means you can unlock new platforming abilities which are needed to unlock new upgrades, resources, and finish certain quests. Every new platforming ability makes the game even more fun to maneuver around in.
Our local shop, Raccoon Inc., only carries garbage wares. Seeds, logs, rocks. All useless items! I need me a hat like yours!
It is funny to think about a store carrying stuff only for adventurers. Like how do you stay in business? That's probably why they still charge you even if you are trying to save the world from the big bad evil.
One of the weird things about the game is how many buildings there are with nothing inside. Like, there's literally no point to being able to go inside. Unfortunately though, every locked door usually means there's a key to get inside which means the player has an incentive to get inside locked doors even more... so I don't know how to solve it! I'm not a game dev after all 
As for the chest on top, we can't get it until we get the double jump ability.
Don't follow me. Please. I hate it when people know where I live. If you know my address, you'll tell people. Then they'll tell people. Listen, I just don't want junk mail.
Oh... that's a good way to solve that issue!
I know I've already praised the art design but man, because of the day-night cycle, every location in the game has to have different lighting for any time of the day. It had to have been so much work and it looks absolutely gorgeous.
Getting to the other side of the bridge let's us catch up with Gwen at the Raccoon Inc. store. Time to do some shopping with morally scrupulous varmints.
Go ahead, take a look at what he's selling.
Sure. Theodore, my good sir, one seed please.
Step right up potential new prospect. Welcome to Raccoon Inc. We've been servicing Hummingberg since forever. You got the Glims, I've got the goods. I've got all the wares to make you spend those hard-earned Glims. Step right up!
Good Lord! 7K for a seed!? Is this society built after hyperinflation took hold?
What was that? Those prices are out of control. I won't let him get away with this.
The game will always give you a prompt when spirits ask questions like this, and I'm not sure who selects 'no'.
Theodore. I know what you're doing here. And you should be ashamed of yourself, you trash panda. People like you are the reason we have middle fingers.
What?! Madam, what's the meaning of this?
My friend here is the new spiritfarer. But she's not a newbie. And neither am I. That little scam of yours won't work on us.
But... I... I can assure you, my business practices are above board!
Be warned, you treacherous striped weasel. I won't tolerate this behavior one more second. No more shenanigans, no more double crosses. Just fair prices.
I... I...
So stop being dishonest at once. And next time I see you, I'll try being nicer. If you start being smarter. Got it?
But... Yes! Yes of course! I promise you I'll adjust my prices! I beg you, please don't scold me anymore! I'll even give you a discount!
Damn, Gwen's ready to not be tutorial character anymore and I am HERE for it!
Your friend really gave that greedy merchant some hell. You both look like you could possibly join the Upstairs Crew. You wanna come up, don't you? I can see it in your eyes. I'm not gonna lie, it is pretty cool, being up here. Yeah, all the best people are up here. Don't get too excited though. Some idiot broke the ladder. You'd have to be able to jump inhumanly high to make it! I guess you could also use the stairs in that house. But some other idiot lost the key! Well, anyway, see ya! Upstairs crew forever!
Pictured: My dream of being dashed because Stella can't reach.
Anyway, Theodore lowers the prices by a taking two zeros off the price tag. Talk about your markups! Theodore must have worked in the medical industry prior to selling seeds. I pick up a couple seeds for the field to advance Gwen's quest.
Fantastic. If you've got everything you need, I'll take my leave. Feel free to stay here as long as you want; I'll meet you at the pier.
I know I should probably hate the trash panda capitalist, but dammit if he isn't cute.
There's nothing else for us to really do in Hummingberg so we'll join Gwen back on the ship.
At Night
The good thing about locations is that you can still go and do whatever you need no matter the time of day. Stores don't close at night and you can still do quests with spirits in the dead of night. It's another way to keep yourself busy no matter the time of day.
You can also see the icon for the kitchen being done. Thankfully, I don't think food can burn when it's ready when you're away from the ship but it can burn if you don't take it out in time when you are on the ship. The window for this is quite a long time though.
Come morning time, we can finish the questline with Gwen up. Granted, I skip a few dialogue stages because I have the field already populated instead of bare.
Way ahead of me, Stella. Your thumb is as green as your hat. This boat will soon become a cozy floating farm. Don't forget that you'll probably have to water the plants once in a while. Don't ask my word for it, though. My gardening knowledge is as limited as my father's empathy. You'll have to find better mentors than me. Which reminds me...
I believe it's time for you to find new people. Not that I don't love the idea of just the two of us cruising the oceans. But you are the Spiritfarer, and Spiritfarers find spirits. And yes, help them fulfill their last wishes, however mundane they can be... I've heard of a place not far from here, where someone might be in need of your help. And I'll bet you'll like this one, if he is who I think he is.
Oh hell yes! I can't wait to show this character off! Let's head to the map immediately!
That location to the South-west is where we need to go. So let's sail!
Rain
Sailing there requires us to sail through a rain storm. Which not only gives us a more melancholic track, but it actually has a gameplay benefit. All planted seeds will get a free watering when rain is overhead! If you have a lot of plants in need of water, it's a great way to have it be taken care of while you do something else. Not that watering plants takes a while, but hey, efficiency on our dying cruise line is required!
Here we are! Let's go find us another spirit!
To get off on a quick tangent, each area has several of these tiny islands. The only purpose they have is to get you the resources you need. So I may come back to these places several times but I don't plan to show that off.
Reaching the end of the island though, and we find this spirit who has some kind of goblin soul coming out of him.
???'s Theme
Oh! Great! You're here! Listen, I just dropped a lemon in that pond. My fingers were all sticky. It just sorta slipped. Why? Good question! I've been eating delicious berries all day. Look at my hands, I swear. I've been experimenting. I wanted to squeeze a little bit of citrus on these wild fruit. Now, it's just berries with no twist. Unless... it's just down there, in the water. I'd do it myself, but I have these pulpy fruits to take care of.
Is this the weirdest introduction to a new spirit? Well, so far anyway. But trust me, he grows on you.
I don't show it off much, but the request summary is really great sometimes. 
Anyway, we fetch the lemon for the 'pond denizen' and return it back to him.
I just need to find a tissue or something. I don't want to get berry juice all over it. Actually, just hold on to that lemon for me. Don't go and squeeze it. Wait a minute... maybe you could help me? This island is fresh out of food. My stomach always feels empty. Maybe I could even help out aboard your ship. With cooking, fishing, and building. I don't have my spices and tools, but I'll make it work.
With our new guest on board, it's time to head back to the ship and meet them officially.
This boat is amazing. Here comes the real kicker, you little rascal. Get ready for a family reunion!
Revelation
Atul's Theme
It's me, Stella! Your uncle, Atul. Surprised? Happily, I hope! I've been on that island for a while now. I can't wait to see the sights, the sea with you. It was lonely with my thoughts. Now, I got you, Sprout! Let's set sail for a great adventure. Onwards... wait a second, Is... that... a...
I've actually never seen it in action. I've only heard the rumors. Apparently, you can catch the biggest and brightest fish out there. Wow, Stella. You sure know how to treat yourself. Wait a darn second! You're missing a few bolts. Let me guess, you've been fishing out mostly garbage. Well, not anymore. You'll see the difference immediately. Give it a go for a fan.
Thanks to Atul, catching fish beyond herrings and old shoes is now unlocked! Fishing is usually the activity I'm doing in between screenshots because it's by far the easiest and most relaxing minigame. I could do it for days on end in Stardew Valley as well. And yet I hate fishing in real life, go figure.
Our first new fish is a squid! I'm not going to get into the details of every new fish, but I will say that the different types of fish like shrimp, clams, squid, and fish themselves can be used to make different foods. Like putting shrimp in the oven makes a shrimp cocktail, while putting fish in the oven makes baked fish. Baked fish, is considered a plain dish, while shrimp cocktail is considered fine dining... The food combinations are kinda amazing.
Atul has the best animations! He's so expressive and I love him so much.
They never stood a chance. You sure don't mess around. That's what makes you a pro. All this ace-level fishing has gotten me all rattled up. Which reminds me. I had this shiny thing in my pockets on the island. I have no idea what it does. Maybe you can hold on to it. For safe keeping, I suppose. Oh and by the way, you might be curious and might have already tried, but yes, the water is very salty.
Atul's shiny thing is our 2nd Obol! And you can see me immediately heading back to the map room so I can go to Hummingberg and get the double jump. I'm not one to turn down an upgrade, much less a manuevering upgrade.
At the beginning of the update, I mentioned a cool thing that the map can do for you, and this is it. Once you've been to a location and discovered what kinds of resources it has, it saves that on the map for you and fills it in with they respawn. So that way you don't have to actually go back and check in person if the trees you need have grown back yet. Wonderful quality of life feature. May the dev who came up with this feature have a good night sleep tonight.
I'm also not going to include it, but Gwen has an exclamation mark to tell us about now that we have two Obols we can go unlock the shrine's power... Dammit devs, you don't need to be this hand-holding.
While heading back to Hummingberg, we go back through the rainstorm. But it's much darker than it was before, and Atul is very excited over something too.
Atul & the Goblet of Thunder
This is what I call a storm! Any respectable person would never let their friend get hit by lightning.
You have the Everlight; it will protect you. The lightning bolts will cast sparkles where they're about to hit; rush toward those! Ah, I almost forgot: Have you got any empty bottles? If you're hit by lightning with an empty bottle, you get a Lightning in a bottle! Isn't that bananas? This world... Lightnings in bottles are a pretty handy resource, so come here equipped. As a head-start, here are some bottles for you, but don't worry, they're pretty easy to come by. Get ready for the thrill of your life.
Thunder Harvest
So welcome to Atul's minigame - thunderstorms. Now, unlike Gwen, Atul is actually out there in the rain with us rocking out on his flute. I was actually so captivated by atul's flute playing I missed a couple lightning strikes.
It plays exactly as Atul described it. Follow the sparkles, get the lightning. You get a small amount of glims and some lightning in a bottle for every strike you catch. You can still collect glims if you run out of bottles, but obviously not the lightning anymore. This minigame is definitely one of the most fun.
I wasn't sure if you were going to make it for a second there. You gave your old uncle quite a scare.
But, it was your idea!! If you were worried about us, why would you tell us hey go do this?
Did you feel that rumble? What a rush! You looked pretty awesome catching those jolts of lightning all over the boat. Thanks for being the best captain I could ever have hoped for!
G'aww, I love Atul. He's our first true character not weighed down by tutorials.
Alright, we are at the shrine, time to get our second jump.
The powers come from the shrine by the way, not the guy who decided to photobomb this moment by standing right in the middle.
As you would expect, a double jump is two jumps - one after the other. Already, the maximum height we can reach has been increased! Which of course means...
YES! Upstairs crew forever!!
Wicked moves getting up here! I kinda lied earlier. It's not so great up here. But, you're here, so it might get better. I don't have a membership card for you. You'll be an honorary member of the Upstairs Crew. I'd show you the secret handshake, but I don't know where your hands have been.
...Well that's a total buzzkill. Sheesh. Since we've already made it up here, we may as well see what else is here.
...God, the Upstairs Crew is worse than I thought. They have Sheeple here!!
Well, it's not entirely a bust back here. We do come across someone who seems to have a spirit ready to be awoken by us.
???'s Theme
Oh! You gave me such a fright!... That cat... He looks familiar... Daffodil? Is that you? Oh, yes, yes it is! Ever so silky, aren't you? Then, that must mean...
Stella, is that really you? What a fantastic turn of events! And is that your boat over there, at sea? You've come to rescue me again, I see. Well, not so fast! This time, I'll be the one doing the teaching. You can bet on it! Let's get going, then. We have some lessons to go through.
Well damn, that was and will be the easiest spirit recruit we ever have to deal with. Sure Atul required us to get a lemon (which was plastic by the way lol) but that was at least a task. This sounds like I'm complaining about it, but I'm not. I wish they were all this easy because I love having a full boat.
Despite it being late at night, the whole boat will still gather to welcome the new guest. I really love these parts and how it feels like a gathering event.
Oh, Stella, all this air, all this open space! Yes, I feel I can grow quite nicely here. Look at me - I'm flowering already!
Revelation
Summer's Theme
Oh, getting out of this chrysalis. What a feeling! Thank you, Stella.
We went from 1 to 3 guests in no time flat! While I enjoy all the characters, Atul and Summer are great introductions to how the rest of the cast will work. We will also have all three of these people for a good while so I hope you like them as much as I do!