Part 1: Days 1-2: Getting Our Bearings

Music: Title Screen




We begin with a barren title screen and a pretty nice piece of music; right now we can only play the Story Mode but we'll have access to some other game modes later. For now, let's get stuck into it.

Music: Intro

At this point I want to mention that Lost In Blue never had an official soundtrack release and in the actual files the songs only have generic names like "BGM_PLACENAME" etc. The names I'm giving to the tracks are completely made up.



I can't breathe...

Why am I here?



It was a terrible storm.

Am I going to die..?

I can't think anymore...

I'm losing consciousness...

Music: Beach


Where am I?
...the ship...
Is anyone else here?

Okay, now that we're done almost drowning in ellipses we now have control of the boy! First though, I would like to direct your attention to the top screen.



These are our needs that we'll need to manage to stay alive, they're fairly intuitive so here's a quick rundown.

HP (Full Body Gauge): Overall health, if this hits zero we die and the game ends, starts decreasing if any of the other three needs hits zero. I'm not massively clear on how to restore it but I think sleeping with all your other needs in good condition restores it.

Stamina (Muscly Arm): How tired we are, decreases as we move about and explore. Restored by sleeping or resting.

Hunger (Stomach): How hungry we are, decreases over time, fill by eating. Biggest pain to manage.

Thirst (Waterdrop): How thirsty we are, decreases over time, fill by drinking. Generally not something you have to worry about.

Also number of days and time. Some events cycle every few days and some things can only be done at certain times. Enough of the mechanics info dumping, let's get back to the game. I immediately set off running down the beach.



Hm? There's something on the ground.

The game does this irritating thing where it splits single sentences between two or three speech bubbles seemingly at random.

Press the A button to pick up items.

Still in the admittedly fairly brief tutorial section for now unfortunately, but let's see what that weird yellow ball thing is.



Before this game I had no idea coconuts could be yellow. The boy then interrupts again to state the obvious.

There's water inside.

Press the X button and select Backpack menu to see items

I'm hungry and thirsty, is there any food around?

I feel like this line is meant to happen earlier but some reason it only triggers after having already picked up food.

Music: Inventory


This is our inventory, we get 20 items worth of space and nothing more. I'll explain what those weird symbols on the side of the screen mean when it's actually relevant, for now let's chow down!



The coconut is fairly unique in that it sates Hunger and slakes Thirst, what is not unique about it is the extremely paltry amount of Hunger you gain for eating it. I'd have to eat 20 whole coconuts to have a full belly and Hunger deteriorates so rapidly that this wouldn't even last me the entire day. Clearly we need a more efficient food source.

Ah...That feels a little better.



Continuing down the beach, we discover a mound of sand.



In one of the game's many uses of the DS hardware, we need to wipe away the sand to get at the delicious shellfish hidden therein. The implementation of the hardware in this game is extensive but very natural and intuitive to use, it does a very good job of making the most of the platform it's on.

I wonder if it's okay to eat this raw...

He says this but the game won't actually allow you to eat something raw if it would be logically harmful to do so. It's one of the stranger courtesies the game grants.



You can also shake trees with the stylus to try and get things to fall down. However, one of the things I've noticed is that trees will never drop things if you shake them on the first day. Presumably because you're not meant to know about this mechanic yet.

After some more picking the beach clean for its coconuts and shellfish, the boy once again pipes up to inform us of one of the more annoying gathering mechanics of the game.



I wonder if there's something on the ground.

Touch the screen to check the ground

So we do and we discover...



A crab scuttling about, all we do is drag the crab to the bottom left of the screen where our bag is to collect it. Where this mechanic is annoying is that other than this one time where the game introduces you to the mechanic, there is never any indication that something lurks on the ground near you. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's totally random. You just stand there and repeatedly poke the same patch of ground over and over again until something shows up, thus it's kind of a crapshoot and not something to rely on but crab meat is good early-game if you can get lucky enough.



Travelling north from the beach we follow a fast flowing river until the boy stops to comment.

I want to cross the river but it doesn't seem safe to do that now.

Over yonder lies the rest of the game but we're not done with what little handholding the game will provide so we're arbitrarily prevented from going over there for now.

Heading a little northwest from the soon-to-be river crossing we discover where we'll be spending a lot of time.



It's a cave, I wonder what the inside is like.



Looks like a nice place to rest.
Ugh, it's cold. I need to dry my clothes. I wonder if I can start a fire somehow.
Maybe if I have some twigs and a tool I can start a fire.

Heading out of the cave in search of the elusive twigs results in my Stamina dropping below 20% which leads to the boy complaining at me for a bit.



I need to find a place to rest, if it's for a little a bit I think I could also sit on the ground to rest.

Press the X button and select Rest to rest for a while

Resting will cause you to sit down while time rapidly passes, you'll regain a fair bit of Stamina but time just flies by and your Hunger and Thirst are still dropping during this. It's kind of mean of them to ask you to do this so early on when the game has set all your needs to rock bottom.



We press onwards and begin collecting the materials for a fire-making tool. We need Tree Bark and Twigs which are conveniently located two steps of each other just north of the cave.

Maybe I can make a fire making tool with the things I've found so far.

Press X button and select Make Item to make tools.





Crafting in this game is as easy as selecting the items you need and pressing X.



Voila! A fire-making tool. The weird symbols next to the numbers show the attributes of the tools you make, what each symbol actually means I don't know and neither the game nor the manual imparts such trivial information to me but as a general rule of thumb, higher numbers are more efficient tools.

I think this is how it's supposed to look like. Can I really start a fire with something like this?



Heading up the ledge we find another Tree Bark and some more Twigs, enough for a second Firemaking tool! Tools in this game eventually break and need replacing so its important to keep spares around.

Don't you dare make that spare right now though, you need Twigs on their own to make a fire and right now these two Twigs are the only ones you have access to. You can't shake the trees to produce more because trees don't drop anything on the first day and there are no other Twigs lying around. Basically, if you craft a second tool right now you've fucked yourself about 10 minutes into the game.

Anyway, heading back to the cave...



Push A button to make fire



Firemaking is done via a little minigame where you push the L and R button in rhythm to start the fire, you can't do it too fast or you'll drop the stick. It's pretty easy but you have to do it so many times throughout the game that it swiftly gets tedious.



When you get the bar halfway filled, the game will tell you to "Blow" (that's what the little bubble says, I started blowing way too quickly so the bubble never became legible). Unlike kindling a real fire, you don't have to blow with any amount of control, just cause as much noise as you like to fill it up and start the fire. There's no alternative to the mic in this minigame which has resulted in me making a tit of myself in public many times playing this.



I made a fire!
Ah, my clothes are getting dry.
Where am I...? What do I do now...?
I guess thinking about it won't do me any good.
I need to search this island for other people.

I'd recommend being more concerned about the lack of a water source right now but that'll resolve itself in a few minutes.



Where should I lie down?



Push A button to go to sleep

Yeah, you rest on that, whatever the hell that actually is because I can't make it out and it certainly doesn't look comfortable.

Music: Today's Results



Going to sleep gives us a nice little list of everything we're carrying around and also shows us what our needs are going to be at once we wake up. Hunger and Thirst drop by a lot when you sleep and at the start of the game there isn't enough food to compensate for this and no water. It's pretty much certain that you're going to wake up on Day 2 with your Hunger and Thirst totally empty.

Music: Good Morning



I guess it wasn't a dream...
I should keep searching...
Oh, the fire's out. I guess it'll go out when it runs out of twigs.

This kinda alludes to the fact that you can stick twigs on an already burning fire to keep it going without having to play the firemaking mini-game again.

Fresh-faced from a good night's sleep and almost starving and dehydrating to death, we head out to continue our exploration. Let's take care of our thirst, first.

Music: Beach


The water seems clean enough to drink.

Heading out of our cave back to the river, we find the river isn't flowing as fierce anymore and now there's a neat little bank to take a sip from.



Drinking here instantly restores our Thirst meter to 100%, which takes care of that problem quite nicely. You can do this infinitely to no drawback so for the beginning of the game, managing your thirst isn't really a problem.

Hunger on the other hand, continues to be an issue.



Oh, the river is calm today. It seems safe to go across.

He says the river is calm "today" but it is only not calm for the first day and always calm from this point onwards. Anyway, since I've already picked this side clean and found mostly inedible until cooked stuff, it's time to head on over and pick that side clean!



Before I'm able to nab that coconut and crack it open for its delicious contents, I'm interrupted by a passing cutscene.

Music: Discovery






Hey! Are you ok?



The ship...! A storm came and...!
I know, I was on it too.
...!
Umm..is there anyone else?
I've been looking around since yesterday but you're the first one I found.
...I see...
Anyway, are you hurt?
Ah, no I'm not hurt but I dropped my eyeglasses when my lifeboat washed ashore.
I'll help you look for them.

They dig around in the same for a while until...



...the boy steps on them and breaks them like a dumbass. Good going, Gilligan!



No no, it's ok!

We will soon learn that this is not even slightly ok.

...
...



The girl attempts to break the awkward silence with her sweet dance moves.

You'll get sick leaving your clothes wet like that.
There's a cave where you can rest close by. You should get yourself dried off before anything.
You're right...
This way.



The girl takes like four steps forward, comes to a complete stop and then flops on the ground like someone comitting insurance fraud.

Are you OK?
Sorry, I have very bad eyesight.
Sorry. It's because I broke your glasses.
Give me your hand.
Huh?
It's too dangerous. Let's walk together.
Ok...

Push Y button to hold hands.
Push L and R to sit in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.



You know, I'm pretty sure people who need glasses who then lose their glasses don't suddenly become comically clumsy and incapable of functioning without assistance. Like for all intents and purposes now the girl is totally blind and will need your assistance to go and do anything. For the entire game.

As we lead her back to the cave by the hand the game fades out...

Music: Title Screen




Thanks for the reminder of what game I was playing, I'd forgotten. This however marks the point in the game where the training wheels come off and you're left entirely to your own devices on the island.

Music: Cave


Sorry, would you mind waiting while I start it up again?

At this point, I notice the time on the top screen.



7pm. I started that fucking cutscene at 7am, somehow escorting the girl back through the tiny patch of land and over the river took 12 goddamn hours. Thankfully my needs don't reflect this sudden irritating time compression but still come on guys there were coconuts I wanted! Also the girl comes with her own set of needs that we need to maintain as well, if either of us die the game ends.

I need another pair of twigs to start the fire so I head out in search of some.



Shaking the trees now actually makes stuff drop from them! Twigs in hand I return and show my blind companion the gift of fire.





Holy moly branching dialogue trees! Although right now it's not particularly branching since I'm going to ask her all of the above in due time. For now though, let's ask for her name, referring to her as "the girl" is getting annoying to write.

What should I call you?
Oh, sorry. I haven't introduced myself.
I'm Skye.
I'm...I'm Keith. I'm a senior.
Oh, then you're a year older than me.
Ah...nice to meet you...
Nice to meet you too.

At this point we loop back around to the initial set of choices sans the one we just chose.

Were you on the ship with someone?
No, I was on that ship by myself...
...I see. Me too.
...
...

I'm not sure if the dialogue is intentionally stilted and awkward to convey the current relationship between the two or if the translation's just not that stellar. Probably both, actually.



Oh hey, an actually branching choice. Each of these will ellicit a different reaction from Skye so let's try being optimistic for once.

I'm sure they all got rescued.
Yes...I'd like to think so.
(She looks a little relieved)

A cheery beep played as that line came up, what this means is never made explicit in the game but it indicates that Skye now likes you a bit more. No, there isn't a dating sim sub-game, it's a hidden friendship stat you weirdos.

Things you say can cause Skye's opinion of you to go up or down and where this becomes important is that the better Skye thinks of you, the more likely she is to do things you ask of her and she'll also generally just survive smarter and take better care of herself with a high friendship value. While I'd love a vote on whether to play the game as an asshole or a nice person, Skye becomes borderline retarded with low friendship values, it's too much of a pain to play that way so we're keeping her on our good side for now.

Where do you think we are?
I washed ashore during the night...
But when I approached the island in my lifeboat, it was completely dark. No lights at all.
Do you think...we could be on a deserted island?

Naaaah, who would make a game about that? It'd be way boring.

Choice 1 (Bad): Maybe we are...
Choice 2 (Neutral): Haha, It couldn't be.
Choice 3 (Good): Well I'm here and that means this isn't a deserted island.

Well, I'm here and that means this isn't a deserted island.
Hahaha, you're right.
(I made her laugh a bit)

Having now exhausted all dialogue options we have no choice but to end the day.

Let's rest for today.

Let's not. You're both starving to death and Skye needs a drink, there's a river just outside if you ne-

You're right. It's already dark outside...

Well, it wasn't bloody well dark before the game skipped half the day for no reason.

Choice 1: It's not really comfy here, are you going to be ok?
Choice 2: Well, good night then...

Both options here are neutral.

It's not really comfy here, are you going to be ok?
Yes, I'll be fine. I'm just glad to be on land again...
Yeah...



Good night.

Music: Today's Results


You may have noticed I've spent the entire first two days perpetually starving and dehydrated. Lost in Blue has kind of a rough start.

Next time on Lost In Blue: Maroons with Spoons!