Part 4: Days 8-20: Setting Sail

Welcome back to Castaway Simulator 2014, last time we discovered that to progress we need to build a raft. This could take some time.

Music: Cave


How are you doing?
If you go to the beach after a stormy night you can find many things washed up on the sand.

Skye also occasionally dispenses hints when asked how she's doing, this is good knowledge but we've presently not seen any weather take place.



Getting back on board with the quest to kill things other than fish, I construct the most basic arrow possible.

This nets you ten arrows in a single inventory slot, not just one.

Yes! Now I have both Bow and Arrow! Now I can hunt those animals!

Oh yeah, apparently I made a Bow at some point during the last update and forgot to mention it or screenshot it. Sorry about that! Building a bow takes Stick/Bamboo and a vine for the record.

Music: Beach


Lady luck smiles upon my desire to build the raft at a reasonable pace by spawning not just one, but three logs on the beaches!



Heading back up the waterfall, I notice something I haven't before on all previous playthroughs of this game. Beginning by pushing this log all the way to the other end of the cliff.



Allowing me to make this jump to a slightly lower and kind of hard to see part of the opposite ledge.



Nothing actually on the ledge but more potatoes, but on the far right side of the ledge there's logs that I can push down and as you can see from the map, this makes a convenient shortcut from your cave to the top of the waterfall!

Not sure whether to be annoyed with myself for not noticing this on my many playthroughs of this or be impressed that I'm still finding new stuff.

Music: Savannah


Bow in hand, I head back to the savannah and start trying to find something to kill.



Instead I find this curious setup in the corner of the map.

Ah, there's something on the other side.



But I don't think I can make the jump from this side...

Knowing how this game works, this looks to be a one-way shortcut back from a location we haven't actually visited yet.

Anyway, back to finding stuff to kill.



After about ten minutes of aimlessly wandering around the savannah, I finally find a goat I can test my new bow on.

Music: Hunting


Distance from the animal in this mini-game is determined by how close you were when you pushed Y. Best results are achieved by running straight at the animal and then pushing Y as its running away animation starts but before it actually exits the screen. It's a pretty goofy system.



I draw my bow and take aim....

and then proceed to miss the next several dozen shots or so because where your arrow actually ends up is totally random. The basic arrow might as well not even exist in this game because where you aim doesn't matter and hitting your target is virtually impossible, the arrow will ping off in whatever direction it pleases.

Almost a full real-life hour and some fifty plus quicksave reloads later...



Direct lucky hit achieved by aiming at the floor and having the arrow ping upwards!



what



Keith has absolutely no wisdom to impart about why a clear hit failed to do jack shit. As it turns out, large animals like goats can't be killed with a single direct hit. They'll just shrug it off and run away and since aiming also basically isn't a thing, hunting is insanely frustrating, nearly impossible and not even slightly worth the fucking effort.

Of everything in this game, the completely terrible dogshit hunting is the biggest letdown.



On the way out and fully ready to chuck the bow in the bin at this point, I run into a frailer looking beast. Maybe this one will reward me for reloading quicksaves dozens of times to get the terrible random aiming to co-operate?



goddamnit I hate this game so much right now



A ray of hope! Something much smaller like this bunny rabbit should surely be killable with the one arrow, right?



Where the hell did it go?



Can you see it now? Because that rabbit is on the screen, but only three small brown pixels of it are visible at any one time.

If you thought hunting looked bad enough already, try randomly aiming at a target you can't even see.



This took a totally insane number of reloads to land a blind shot with a bow that fires arrows in random directions. I did it all in the name of refusing to call it quits from hunting without spilling the blood of at least one innocent animal.

These few screenshots really do not accurately convey the several actual hours it took me to land three hits and for this feat of patience I receive?



Fur and some fairly good but still not better than Black Bass meat.

Hunting is seriously not worth the effort. You can use traps to make the process more consistent but it's still just really not worth your time or sanity.



I also built the first part of the raft while I was up the waterfall. Only five more to go! That was all I could do for the day, so I head back to the cave and hit the bed.

Music: Today's Results


Attentive readers may note that I skipped Day 8 because absolutely nothing happened during it.

Music: Good Morning


It's raining today. Please be careful, the ground may be muddy.

I said this game had a weather system close to the start of the LP and its taken this long for it to actually take effect.

What this actually affects during the day itself are minute things like what fish you can get and I think stamina might deplete faster during rainy days? Otherwise, not a whole lot happens.

Music: Progress


Not wanting to spend a day putting stress on Keith's stamina, I opt instead to build the Tier 2 beds and shelf.

Oh, you expanded the shelf! Now we can store even more things!

5 more things, to be precise. For a total of 15 things! I find it really funny how jazzed Skye is about the shelf but she could not give less of a shit about the beds.



Speaking of the beds, the Tier 3 bed requires two logs and two fur to build, meaning I need to kill another bunny if I want to build it. I'm going to do so for the sake of completeness but if you do play this game for yourself, don't bother. Tier 2 beds are really all you need.

Now remember what Skye said about stuff washing up after a stormy night?

ONE DAY LATER



It's empty inside. But I think I can use it to store water! I should bring this home.

Music: Cave #2


Look, I found this by the beach.
A drum can?
Yup, I'm thinking of storing water in it.
Oh, that would be nice to have.

The drum can can hold 30 litres of water and you can transfer water to and from the can using any bottles you've found so far. Skye will again kinda drink from this if you leave for extended periods of time, I don't know if she needs a bottle herself to do this or if she'll just glug it straight from the can, it's not something I tested much.

Music: Friends


The next day I managed to complete the Tier 3 shelf. Also, note the music change to a more upbeat sounding song. This means our relationship with Skye has been progressing smoothly and the two are officially comfortable around each other at last.

This changes minor lines of dialogue to reflect a more casual tone, but the most useful effect it has is vastly improving Skye's cooking. We'll see eventually what she can do given her new equipment and comfort with Keith.



I also shot this chicken to death while looking for a bunny to make the bed.



It rewarded me with some meat and a feather. Feathers can be used to construct better arrows that will actually go where you aim them but this does present the idiotic Catch-22 of being unable to get the feathers to make reasonable arrows without first suffering through the completely random aim of non-feathered arrows.

I don't even know if feathered arrows are that much better, I couldn't be fucking bothered to find out.



Finding this second bunny took another full hour of my life due to extraordinarily poor luck. Venting my frustrations on its skull, I return home to finish off the beds.



And there you have it! Tier 3 beds, meaning our cave has all the furniture that it could possibly have at this point leaving nothing left to spend rope and log on but the raft.



It might not taste too good.

Despite high friendship values, Skye still seems to have fairly low self-confidence about her cooking.



Scary Black Bass Soup

So-so



The hunger value might not have increased any, not that it needed to anyway, but Skye's repertoire of recipes has certainly improved. This is what high friendship values and the extra equipment will do for your meals, occasionally just tack on cool extra bonuses like the 25% Thirst shown here.

AND THEN NOTHING HAPPENED FOR A WEEK

DAY 17








oh come on

DAY 20



Music: Progress


The raft is complete! I should be able to cross the lake now.
Ok, let's go!



Keith then immediately sets sail with zero consideration for whether or not I actually want to. I'm ready for the trip but I can imagine setting sail unprompted probably caught a lot of players off guard.



Keith muses as he travels.

I hope this lasts till I get to the other side. If it breaks apart in the middle of the lake I'll be in big trouble.



Despite tempting fate nine ways to Sunday, we make it to the other side unharmed.

I hope I find something over here.



Over to the right we find the same symbol that's on our cooking equipment.

This symbol. I think I saw it somewhere before.



To the left up a cliff, we find...



I should go in and check.

Music: Cave


This one looks good to rest in too.

A home away from home! That also lacks any of the furniture I just spent a long time building. It doesn't even come with the 5 item storage in the back by default. Boo, hiss.



Heading up the cliff on the right side of the new beach this time we find...



It looks similar to the structure I found in the grassland.

Oh, so we're calling it the grassland now? I've been calling it the savannah the whole time but apparently it does have a name.



Is it a switch?

Two Keith-sized switches. Hmmm...



I think I heard a clicking sound.



It's no good. When I step away, the switch raises back up.
They need to be pressed at the same time.

Yes, we need to bring Skye here at some point. I have my reasons for not working ahead on this one and bringing Skye with me in the first place.



We enter the lone passage deeper into the island.

Music: Caverns



Observe the top screen and cry, foolish explorer.

This place is desolate.



What a deep crack. I can't even see the bottom.
And what is that smell?

I start jumping across ledges and running to the right, it's not long before I run headlong into the problem of the area.



What a terrible smell! It's making me feel sick. I can't get any closer.
I need to find another path.

Poisonous gas! These block your way and will also poison your ass if you hang around them for too long, they basically force you to take the most arduous long-winded route possible through this maze, which entails going around the outside and slowly working your way inwards to exit out the top-right. It's not hard but it sure takes a while to muddle through.





Is this the same building I saw in the grassland? Looks like I can go in here.

Music: Ruins Entrance



I can't believe how big this place is! I wonder how long ago it was built.





I think I saw a similar image by the lake. I wonder if they're related.

I hope you didn't think that was the last we'd ever see of the ruins back in the savannah because there is plenty more where that came from.



Block. Hole. No idea what to do here.



I think I can move this stone by pushing it. It also looks strong enough for me to stand on top of it.

Do you think I'm stupid, game? Getting this far required pushing logs and stuff already, why are you reintroducing me to a mechanic I must be familiar with to have gotten this far?



Ugh, whatever. Solve the basic block-pushing puzzle. Fine.



The wall opened up! How did that happen?
There's really nothing I can do other than move forward. I don't think there's anyone living here but it doesn't make sense to turn back.
And maybe I'll find out more about this island if I go on.

Music: Ruins Entrance



And smells kinda stale. I'm sure this place was built by people but it must've been abandoned for years.





Now we're given free reign to move about and note the presence of blocks and a top-down camera angle. Yes, the ancient ruins is a series of block puzzles. However...



What's this? I think I heard a clicking sound but nothing is happening.

The puzzle is presently not functional. Years of abandonment will do that to your carefully constructed video game level.

That, for the time being, is as far as we can go with the ancient ruins and this entire side of the island in general. Time to make the long trek home...

On the way back home, I find this right next to the raft.





It's warm. It's hot water! It's a hot spring!

Music: Cave #2


That feels so good. I feel my tiredness going away...

Taking a breather in the hot spring restores about 30% of your Stamina on the spot, which is a damn nice bone to be thrown since getting over here puts a big strain on it.

Now, we actually head home.

Music: Cave #2


What's wrong?
I found these old switches by the lake. But it seems like I have to step on two of them at the same time.
And I can't do that alone.
I see, if you take me there, I'll help you.
Really?
Of course!

Keith expresses genuine surprise at Skye's desire to do more than sit in the cave all day. What a stand-up guy.



I really wish the game had a more organic way of dealing with this rather than stacking very similar cutscenes on top of each other like this.

What's wrong?
I found a switch in the ruins I've been exploring. But nothing seems to happen when I step on it and I don't know what to do.
I see. You've found some man-made artifacts before, maybe the people who used to live here left a clue somewhere.
Yeah, maybe I'll find something if I search those areas a bit more.

These two similar mechanisms couldn't possibly be related somehow, could they?

Music: Today's Results


Next time on Lost In Blue: Block puzzles!