sometimes i fail to appreciate a piece of media - and not because it is bad, but because it simply does not vibe with me. and then i go look for reviews and become even more confused
Spiritfarer is not a bad game. There was a lot of effort put into it, it has its moments, it should be right up my alley - and yet it wasn't
I think I would enjoy it much more if it was at last polished enough - but oh well. It has a few free updates, it was released in 2020 - and still it is so annoying to play.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
You can't remap keys - and it is pissing me of - spiritfarer has some rather hard (for me, i don't play platformers) sections where timing is important - and it will not let you choose the keys for your abilities (using shift when you have ctrl was a ... choice)
Camera is rather weird - i failed to notice a lot of places, sometimes you can't see where you are going. A few wide shots would really help. And the fight with the gold dragon is abysmal - it switches between wide and close shots too much, camera was always in motion, it was annoying.
Exploration does not feel rewarding enough - a lot of early discovered islands have puzzles for late game abilities - and you have to come back again and again to find some mediocre loot (and nothing visually interesting). It is simply not exiting.
Flying spirits are annoying - you want to feed them, to to talk to them - and they are not interactable because they decide to take off into the unknown. Chasing them around the boat is not fun.
Also, the game is buggy af - i had to restart it a few times for quests to appear, i spent 30 minutes confused trying to make Stanley start talking during his play - because his quest and Beverly's were in the same place and the game decided you can't have both (and for some reason Beverly has priority).
Some events have either conditions to start or they were also bugged - i don't know. I had problems with both Stanley's and Buck's events - maybe they need to be out of their rooms to interact with objects, and Stanley's bug is not interactable in the rain - a little explanation would go a mile.
And for some reason you can't cancel the course of the ship from the navigation station (and you can't see coordinates while choosing bus stop) (later edit - you can, that was another bug i think, and you can press R to cancel course - but i did it accidently, there is no visual aid on the map)
To more pressing issue - i feel like the game is too long. The grind is not fun, you don't really have a lot of ways to spend recourses, and it is too repetitive - the upgrades to garden, orchard and field are not needed -they simply make the crops grow faster - but there is no rush to grow anything anyway. At the start you had somewhat entertaining minigames - with loom, foundry and sawmill (and you even get bonuses if you are good). But the crusher is just a keyboard killer - smash one button until it is over. Fun.
It could be explained as a mean to give you more time with late game characters. Too bad that I did not like any of them. And this could be just me - everything already listed is objectively bad, but the characters and their stories did leave a lasting impression on a lot of people. Not on me tho.
First of all - my favorite character is Alice. I liked her a lot mostly because she was an ordinary grandma. She loved, she cared, she got sick and we helped her find eternal rest. I liked her sheep quest - simple, yet effective in showing her thoughtful and caring nature. And i liked our little book-inspired journey. How she was so happy, so into her little hobby, her retelling scenes from the book. And of course i was heartbroken when she got worse, lost her ability to walk on her own and eventually developed dementia. It was real and tragic (and familiar).
And letting Alice go brings both sadness and strange happiness - i will miss her, and it is horrible that she had to suffer - but, in the end, Alice was finally free. And that is worth something.
I also loved Gwen and Atul - they both loved Stella very much, they both supported her. And it is again both sad to bring Gwen to Everdoor - but she asked for it, she got tired of fighting herself, and she tried to go on her own and failed - and her weakness, her hurt - it all made her even more human in my eyes. And Atul - at least i think that was the reason - wanted to leave on happy note. He missed his family, but Stella was his little niece - so it is logical that he wanted to go on his own, without adding to Stella's responsibilities.
Summer was nice too - her constant fight against the dragon (metaphor for a cancer perhaps?), her love story, her failings and successes - she was nice addition to the family. Both lions were good too - tho i did like Giovanni slightly better in the end - because Astrid's departure speech felt a little out of place for me. Like, not a word about your dead husband? She clearly was impacted both by his cheating and his decision to leave. But while they were complicated people with a variety of problems - they were still nice to be around.
And after these characters are gone i started to have problems. First of all - Atul, Alice, Gustav and Summer (tho she does it only to plants) - they all play instruments when they are happy. And it is both really nice to listen to and has positive effects on other spirits. And naive me though all of the spirits do that. They do not. Atul is exceptional here, because he both plays flute and repairs ship - he can have two positive effects on spirits. Other spirits either do things that upset people around them (Giovani flirts, Bruce bosses around) - or do not affect others at all. That feels lazy. Like Helen, Buck, Beverly, Stanley, even my girl Astrid do not add anything to the crew - they do give you gifts, but the early spirits could do both.
And their reasoning for going to Everdoor became weaker and weaker: Gustav just said he has achieved his goal and does not wish to loiter around - and while i do not dislike him, his death wasn't sad. Elena was the same - she tested Stella and leaved after - these reasons aren't bringing me to tears. And i personally find Elena repulsing - the way she describes her profession - not liking gifted students, berating lazy, screaming on kids - she does not fit for this job. And she gives Stella challenges just for the sake of it. She had one (1) nice moment - and it was her approving hugs right before dying.
And i didn't care for Stanley. He decided to go because his first play wasn't praised. Wow. I understand that he is a kid, but having sympathy for a generally shitty situations does not mean i will like your specific character.
Bruce and Mikey - i actually liked the reveal of Mikey being long gone. But the game thinks it is sad - i think that the image of puppeteering your brother's corpse is creepy af. And that detail is the only one memorable about this guy, aside him being unpleasant. Good riddance.
But ironically, Beverly is the worst offender. She is almost full copy of Alice. She is not as kind or pleasant as her tho, and does not have her fun hobby. And she also loses her memories, to a lesser extent, and it just looks uninspired.
Buck is not for me. He is alright, but i find both D&D and pirate talk boring and tedious. His quests aren't about him, they are way too long and have nasty conditions (you have to wait 2 in-game days to acquire treasure maps (6 OF THEM, 10 DAYS IN TOTAL) and it just happened that i did literally everything else and for the last 2 maps i just afk-ed (for 4 in-game days, FFS) - nice game mechanic /s) And i don't even get to take him to Everdoor? I just left him on the boat, it's so weird.
And after all - Daria and Jackie. At this point i am bored and disappointed - and they are the reason i do not regret finishing the game. Daria is really pretty, i love her design, her theme that Stella plays on guitar, her little dimension and its music and visuals. Loved the way her mental illness destroyed her with the passing of time, loved the way she talked about it.
To my surprise, i loved Jackie too. He started somewhere between a douche with anger issues and self-proclaimed pillar of the hospital. And his development, his reflections on his actions, his attempts to find excuses and his immediate admission to lying made him so interesting. Is he a bad person? To a degree (and i relate to him so much). But in the end he was trying, and that mattered. And from the gameplay point of view, he starts as net negative (in my run he bothered Buck), which is already good - i think all characters should affect others. But he ended up helping Buck and improving his mood, he taught Stella how to make bee hive. He would have made a pleasant early addition.
A few words about Lily - i think her addition harmed the game. There was no need to talk me through who all these people were again - i think it would be more fun to figure it out from their dialog. There was no reason to tell me Stella was dying - that one was also obvious (and both Charon and Hades told us enough to figure it out). And there again was no reason to reassure Stella she was loved - the final return of the spirits to wave last goodbye was telling enough. And this game would benefit from more subtle storytelling (and from space to create your own theories).
(yeah i know, that was what was this game about)
Daffodil (i played solo for 50 hours) was useless btw. I think there were ways to make him more involved both in the story and in the gameplay - but they didn't do it. he was just an asset following Stella around - and i forgot he even existed most of the time. He was just there to be cute.
To summarize - i think this game was stretched too much. It could be a masterpiece - the music is good, the art is gorgeous, some character's stories are deep and emotional, and the overall message is a noble one. And i adore almost all of the events - especially one with starfall (? forgot the name, Giovanni's event).
And some locations - Furagawa, Hummingberg, even the Sandwich walk - are pretty and unique. And i love the way day and night cycle incorporates in gameplay and story (apart from the explanation on how you suddenly could sail at the night - literally "i do not know", wow). The decision to show us constellations of our departed friends during nighttime was a brilliant one.
(example of a very pretty dusk and constellations on the right)
But there are a lot of recycled assets and all caves are ugly. They are made for testing your skills (or just check that you have them) and for grinding resources. If Spiritfarer was to shave off like 20-30 hours of gameplay - it would be generational milestone, but it requires too much time and patience and gives not enough in return.
Do i regret finishing it? No. Do i regret playing it for 50 hours? God yes.
