Part 34: We're Going to have a Whale of a Time

Update 34: We're Going to have a Whale of a Time




Sinking







A picnic basket without Mari there... it just feels so wrong. Last one of those I remember was right before Sweetheart's fight.







...What.





Oh, hello Humphrey! We're just looking for someone. Sorry if we're bothering you.

HUMPHREY: Oh no, not at all, children! I do love visitors. In fact, you are the second group to visit me today! The first was just a girl... A very loud girl with a big red bow.

Doesn't that sound like someone we know?

Huh? Is Sweetheart here? Where is she?

HUMPHREY: Hmm... Where is she? Where is she? It's on the tip of my tongue... Nyak, Nyak! That's a joke, it is! She is... inside me, you see?


Welp, that solves that issue! Let's go home everyone!


She's... inside you?





HUMPHREY: We spend our time together, chatting and chuckling. It is so fun to hear about their daily antics. Sometimes they are even so kind as to bring me my meals! It's much easier for them, you see, for they are closer to my belly than I. In fact, I'm sure they'd love even more visitors! Here! Let me lower the bridge for you.





HUMPHREY: My apologies... The first guest seems to be causing some indigestion.


Yup, that's Sweetheart alright.







HUMPHREY: Mehhhhhh....


Well... uh, let's... head in?? Going to be honest, going inside a whale seems like a bad idea. But I guess what other choice do we have?











H2O:HCL









Whoa, Humphrey's belly is huge!

It sure looks easy to get lost in here...

I bet if I yell, it'd make an ECHOOOOOO!





Ahhh! Where'd you come from?

HUMPHREY: Whalecome to my lair. Are you surprised to see me? I am always here. I am inside me, and all around you!







Wow, that's so cool, Humphrey! I wish I could do that.

It's kind of gross if you ask me.

HUMPHREY: Wow... So rude...









Welcome to Humphrey! This is a dungeon that's just as big as Sweetheart's castle, but is a much more interesting place. I want to make it clear that I do like this place before I start my complaining - which I haven't done as much as you'd think!

So did you really enjoy the atmosphere, design, and buildup that Deeper Well provided us? I most certainly did. Despite being one of the smallest areas in the game, it's maybe the one I enjoyed the most. It felt like this was truly leading up to a big ol' dungeon that finally gives us the answers we've been seeking in Headspace - especially after the interaction with the Branch Coral that added even more questions to our list. So to head inside the cave and see that the dungeon awaiting us is a whale was... disappointing to me. It felt like another wacky dungeon instead of the mind-fuckery I wanted. If you go in with the expectation of wacky, you will definitely enjoy Humphrey a lot more than if you go in expecting the game to dig a finger into your brain. I do feel like the game does a decent job of justifying Humphrey, but that's gonna have to wait for another time.





Anyway, enough complaining, our goal is to visit the three areas to gain access to the inner areas of Humphrey. We'll start on the right side and go counter-clockwise from there.







I hope you like the mini-Humphrey and weird body areas, because that's gonna be a theme for this area.









Grimey





Like this, for instance. We're fighting literal snot bubbles inside Humphrey. Snot bubbles should honestly be avoided, because upon death they blow up and do decent damage to the entire party. I don't plan to fight them after this encounter to show them off.







HUMPHREY: Did you know us Humphries are strong enough to withstand a waterfall's current? Watch this!





HUMPHREY: Yikes! Except for that guy, I guess... Oh well! That's just natural selection working.

Hey, you know what? I just had an idea! I bet... if we gather enough Humphries-

Then maybe... we could use them to form a bridge to the other side!

Hey! I was supposed to say that.


We'll have to go explore around this area before we can come back with enough Humphries in tow to make it past this waterfall.





Hey, it's Mari! May as well take a break with a little picnic.





Well... Let me tell you.

It may be recommended to only set up picnics in normal places like in forests or campsites... But... where's the fun in that?

What if I want to study the anatomy of a whale while I eat. Then what?

Expand your mind, Omori! I need to set an example for my sometimes-boring little brother!







Mari, this gelatin is delicious! What's it made out of?

I'm not sure, Kel! I've just been scooping it off the walls and floor. Do you like it?

You... what!?

Hehe... just kidding!





Okay, yeah... but what's gelatin made out of?

Well, Kel... Gelatin... Gleatin is made out of gelatin!

I see...

Well, whatever! Food is food, I guess!

...


Gelatin desserts are desserts made with a sweetened and flavored processed collagen product (gelatin). Thanks Wikipedia!







Like that's gonna stop me.





Sounds like Medusa is one of those Sea Witches that Sweetheart mentioned.





Marina and Molly must be the other two. Medusa sounds like the nicest of the three though, to have these scientist Humphries defend her. Or maybe they're just scared of getting hurt by the Sea Witch...





Marina sounds like the worst! Hopefully she's not the next one we visit...









Turns out it was important to head into the work space anyway!







Here's the first Humphrey we need to find. Every one we find will have Kel talk to them and they'll give some one liner in return. We need to find about 4 more to head back to the bridge.





Like this one we saw while talking to the scientists.







And this one on the way to that chest we saw earlier.





Inside this chest is a very important item...





Or it's a fucking mimic!! These guys suck, not just because it's the usual mimic shit of making you excited to see treasure and you get baited into a fight instead. These mimics attack by using items against you. Sometimes those are healing items, other times they throw actual dynamite at you!





Though it can also use the battle items that change emotion, so you'll get a very angry party... especially when I just queued up a megaphone from Kel





These guys do drop some great XP, but they also will drop watermelon juice - which is a very good juice healing item. They can be worth it to fight, but if you get unlucky you'll get a ton of dynamite chucked your way which can easily do half your health in damage to the entire party.







Chemistry On and On









Basil?

That's the name of this plant here.

Awww... It's so cute! It kind of reminds me of something...

But... I can't remember what...





Hmm... There's still something weird going on here, even if it wasn't to the degree I'd like.





Hmm, let's see so 14 * 7 = 98, then 44 divided by 11 equals 4, so add that to 98 equals 102, then minus 2 equals 100%. You could have just said that rather than flexing your knowledge of order of operations







Where would we be without the cute bunny of this area? These are the slime bunnies, and they're exactly the same as previous area bunnies. Cute, cuddly, and not very dangerous.





This area has a lot of things for Kel to throw things at. We unlock another Humphrey for the bridge, but we'll collect it later.





I read the something awful forums daily and this is NOT true!





And that's the last one we need! There's another face imprint in the wall that we can smash to get the Jam Packets behind. There's also a watermelon holding a Globe in here - which is a weapon for Kel that guarantees a hit. I still don't use it though because missing is really only a thing that happens if you're happy, and the coconut's 50 juice bonus is just so good to get rid of.











Hmm... this area doesn't seem so bad. Just big empty space.





Oh God, it's the stomach! We'll need to maneuver our way through this place to avoid the falling food. You only take minimal damage from food falling on you, but do you really want a digested hot dog to land on you?







Heading into the second stomach (I don't know how many whales have, but it's a second area with a stomach theme.), there's actually something here... that we want to do...





Specifically, this shadow. We want to stand underneath it with our raft. Why? Well...





















... This game can be really weird at times. He says, partway through a dungeon in the bowels of a whale.





Nothing says fun like stomach acid!







Both this spot and the spot on the left side have three Humphries floating in the acid, that need to be changed to a different trio of similar types. What do I mean by that?





When you throw something at the Humphries, they change form to... uh, well something that looks like this. They're a bit creepy to be honest. Each of the three have a random pool of forms and shapes they can be and you have to get all three to be the same from that random pool. Depending on luck and which forms you end up deciding to choose to match, this can take a minute or 5.







In return, we get a prize on the middle platform. Let's get the other side to match first.







Nice! Our prizes are a whole pizza and an onion ring. The whole pizza is basically a full heal for the entire party - healing 250 health. The onion ring gives 20 juice and health - which is a straight upgrade of the Veggie Kid. That goes on Hero to give him some more juice for healing purposes.





All the Humphries down here just love to talk about air conditioning. They're reading about it, talking about it, thinking about it. You'd swear these guys fucking love air conditioning for some reason.











Rest in peace again, Snaley.







Uh oh... is this...?




But I wanna See It All With You!





...Welcome to the bowel, everyone! There's four paths in here - two choices now, and two choices for each path you go down.





You'll need to go down this path at least twice to get all the Humphries. Both of the inner paths will get this for you. The outer paths will get you a hangman letter and a treasure.







U

We already know this is incorrect, but gotta catch 'em all!





And then the treasure is... an appendix. It does nothing, gives no benefit, and the description reads: "Does Nothing". Awesome!









I imagine riding down the bowel a lot would be pretty sickening. Still, we need to find all the Humphries! The appendix however, was not necessary to get, but it was funny. I also experienced a bug that, was apparently always present but presented itself in patch 1.07 that has since been hotfixed out. Apparently, Kel's throw mechanic could bug out and prevent you from opening any of the menus of the game - even if you save and reload. Thankfully, having a picnic with Mari fixes the bug which is good because I nearly had to redo half of Humphrey to fix it.





That's a good idea, let's help you do that!









I hope you like the new characters that will be appearing in the next Hideo Kojima game.





With the bridge built, we can make our way to the final part of this section of Humphrey. Still two more to go after this!













A Rose By Any Other Name





You will get used to the smell. Now hush, doll. I am working. And it is done.

Ugh... finally!







WELL... I... NEVER!!!























My... word... This experiment has turned out greater than even I had expected. Take a look, doll. The results are absolutely perfect. Behold! An absolutely perfect version of yourself!











Hmmm... I don't like her.

What did you say? Have I heard you correctly? But she is everything that you asked for and more!

Oh, you simpleton. There's nothing more perfect than me... but I see that you do not understand that. You are nothing more than a hack. This was a humongous waste of my time! I'm storming off-

Oh, I've had enough of your nonsense! Client or not, you've really struck my last nerve! Who taught you to run your mouth like that? Now... if you'll excuse me, this is a waste of my precious energy... I have much more important matters to attend to.

Don't you dare walk off first! I'm the one who is supposed to storm off!





...I'm sure a Sweetheart clone running around won't cause problems for us later.







One section down... two more to go!