Spiritfarer Round Table pt. 1
* WARNING! SPIRITFARER SPOILERS!*
The three of us sat down to talk about Spiritfarer, a cozy management game about dying. This is the transcript.
Hokori
All right, what are your overall impressions of the game?
happysquared
I think the game was strongest at its earliest point because there's a lot of mystery. You kind of wonder, how does everyone recognize Stella? The tutorial is a pretty slow intro to the mechanics, but I think the first impressions of this world are cool. You start off in a very scenic area with the Everdoor and a mysterious ferryman, Charon. So you're definitely interested in the world, you know? How does this afterlife work? It’s mystic and the red waters are cool.
As it gets to the midpoint, I kind of wish it fed you a little more lore about your circumstances, because it never really answers those questions. It's pretty cool to see the spirits come and go through the Everdoor and to learn more about them. And then I think the game drags a little bit more towards the end when I felt like I was repeating a lot of the same mechanics and not getting fed enough story. Some of the lead spirits were not as interesting as or as compelling as the early spirits. And I wasn't sure how the later ones related to Stella as much as the earlier ones, unless you read the art book. Those are just my first impressions, without going super deep. It was enjoyable at the beginning and I wish the mystery and story paid off.
sunnydaze
I agree with you overall, in that I prefer the early game much more than the late game. But that's also because I generally enjoy intros of movies and games more than the middle, or even the end. Intros are usually the most well constructed section because they have to introduce you to the characters in a short and compelling way.
happysquared
Yeah, I think part of the nature of Spiritfarer is that it's little stories about each of the spirits, but because there's no overarching plot, they don't try to be like, “Okay, this is going to be a moment of climax. This is meant to be a moment of drama,” you know, that kind of thing. Which is fine, that chill kind of game, but because of how repetitive a lot of the mechanics are and because the resources don't feel like they give you something new, to be honest — they feel more like an upgraded thing that you need to get in order to progress.
sunnydaze
I think little individual stories are fine, but it's just that it hinted at a larger lore and the larger lore was so interesting that I wish they talked about it more. Like how all the spirits know Stella and that owl that comes to see you.
happysquared
I'll correct myself a little. All the little emotional plots at the early spirits—they’re all cooler. Like Gwen’s house, that was really cool. Atul suddenly disappeared. I like that. I know that you didn't. So I'm sure we'll talk a lot about that.
And I guess I thought that they'd go more into—every time each spirit introduced the resource that they were tied to, I felt like that resource was tied to a trauma in their life. And I thought that would get revealed a little bit more. The jellyfish, the dragon. Atul, obviously, I wasn't sure. Maybe I was thinking, “Oh, with this personality type, Atul’s trauma is, his whole thing is he's more carefree. And that might have led to some bad things in his life.”
sunnydaze
[joking] Maybe he died from being struck by lightning.
happysquared
No, it's more like he's so carefree, maybe his family suffered from it or something like that. Maybe like he suddenly disappeared without Stella knowing.
sunnydaze
He was kind of carefree, but he was also really involved in unions and, yeah, really passionate about serious things. So. Okay, anyway, so my overall impression was that early game is better than late game. I think the animation was incredible. And I wish I had played it on my laptop with a controller, instead of on my Switch.
happysquared
Oh, yeah, you missed out on so much. On the monitor it's really beautiful to look at. Especially for some of the resources.
sunnydaze
It looks good on my Switch, but it looks so much better on a screen. What else? Yeah, I also prefer the early spirits to the later ones. Let me just finish by saying I think gameplay is really interesting because it's a Metroidvania but also largely a management game. Platformer too, which I guess is kind of in the Metroidvania genre, and I liked how all of it blends together to make it about exploration.
Hokori
Okay, well, you seem to be focused on the characters for the story. So it seems like it wasn't told in a traditional method. It was very focused on the characters. Were there any standout characters for you?
sunnydaze
Yes, Gwen. My favorite. Well, my thing was like, oh, maybe I like Gwen more than Astrid or Giovanni because I'm kind of her age. She's a young adult, I think, or at least the oldest she would be in her 30s.
happysquared
Well, she's warmer, Astrid or Giovanni weren't really.
sunnydaze
Yeah, I guess she's supposed to be your best friend because I also really like Atul who is also super friendly to you.
happysquared
I like Summer, even though she didn't have her own little thing. I like Summer and Alice a lot. Alice was really sad.
sunnydaze
Yeah.
happysquared
Walking her back and forth to her home and stuff like that. You know? I thought that was good. Summer didn't have as much of a story. She hinted at it more, which is nice. But for example, I think the only spirits that felt unique actually had a unique thing about them would have been Alice, Gwen and Atul, like the cool feast, and Alice had those different clothes. Summer's music thing was pretty close to it. But you know, all the later spirits didn't have that.
sunnydaze
I think Summer has unique stuff like that, but it's true later spirits didn't have that but I don’t need each spirit to be tied to a thing. It's just like a convenient game thing. I didn't feel like oh, cool character was just like, yeah, that's a game mechanic.
happysquared
It's also because the characters didn't interact with each other so much.
sunnydaze
I like the red bird art guy. Gustav.
happysquared
Yeah, he's one of the better later ones but my favorite characters were the earlier ones. I prefer Gwen and Alice a little bit more.
sunnydaze
I think Gwen was my favorite in the whole game. What I liked about Gwen was also that you got to visit Villa Maggiore and it’s mysterious. I love that kind of magical realism—real world places in the imaginary death world.
happysquared
Yeah, it added world building overall into Spiritfarer.
sunnydaze
Yeah, but then it completely dropped that.
happysquared
No one knows what happened.
sunnydaze
Wait, let me just list all the spirits I liked. I like Gwen, Atul, Gustav and Stanley, those are my favorite. So actually, a mix of early and late.
Hokori
Okay, so you have a lot of characters that you liked and the game is very emotional because you're helping these spirits cross over. Was there one that particularly stood out as like an emotional connection that you felt the loss the hardest?
happysquared
Alice.
sunnydaze
Atul or Gwen.
happysquared
I think it was either Alice or Atul for me actually, because I felt Gwen was a little bit happier. I think at least there was more closure for Gwen.
sunnydaze
Oh, Gwen was just that she's the best character so I was sad when she left. Atul because he left so suddenly and before every spirit leaves I always give them their favourite food.
Happysquared
Oh my god. I do that too.
Hokori
Okay, so let's talk about Atul then because you get to help the other spirits crossover, but Atul just goes on his own. How did that make you feel?
happysquared
I liked it. It didn't make me feel good, but it wasn't... I didn't feel good in a good way. You are shocked, you don't have any closure about it. And you just kind of go… it's confusing, you know? And I know confusion is something that you want to avoid in lots of games but for this one, it was kind of in a good way. I don't think every game needs to make you feel like you have closure.
sunnydaze
I was shocked because it was so sudden and I don't know if I like it. Remember I messaged you about it? I said, “Well, is it gonna be addressed?” You said that would be addressed again. But it wasn't. Why did you say that?
happysquared
Oh, I'm sorry. I meant they actually explain it in the art book.
sunnydaze
So I did read the wiki entry for that. The art book explanation is actually very interesting. It's just that it wasn't in the game.
happysquared
I know.
Hokori
How do you feel about that? How do you feel that it wasn't shown in the game that you had to look at an outside resource to find out more about what happened?
happysquared
I'm not sure why they did that. Was it because the game was rushed and they weren't able to include all the storylines that they wanted to? Because the weird platforming section that sometimes happens when you turn in spirits does give you some backstory. I thought that would develop more. It never did. So I'm wondering whether, you know, that was part of it.
sunnydaze
Yeah, maybe? Whether it was rushed or it was a deliberate decision, I think it was the wrong decision. Like, Atul leaving made me confused, but it was also anticlimactic.
happysquared
For me, it was just kind of a shock. I don't know whether it was anti climatic, but it was also a shock.
sunnydaze
Hmm.
happysquared
I was like “what happened?” And I think those are good feelings that to have, because that’s a part of the feelings that they want to elicit.
sunnydaze
I understand the value of symbolism and allusion, but this is one case where I read the art book, and I was like, “Oh, that makes so much more sense and makes me more emotional to find out how they all relate to Stella.”
happysquared
But not every spirit needs to have closure, right? The feeling of sudden loss is still a valuable thing to have.
sunnydaze
Yeah, but that's the thing. If the game was more like the art book, about how Atul actually left Stella in real life mysteriously, then I would have been like, “Oh, right.”
Hokori
You mentioned before that you have to manage the characters’ moods. You can build them different houses, they have food preferences, and a favorite meal. Can you talk to me about the process of discovering these likes and dislikes? And did it make the characters seem more real?
happysquared
I was kind of imagining a character going, “Please, I can't hold on any longer. I have to pass through the Evergate.” And I go, “Nope, not until I find out your favorite meal. Do you like this?”
sunnydaze
I had like, five spirits on my ship and three of them are ready to go and I wouldn’t let them because I needed to find their favourite meal.
happysquared
“I have to know what you like to eat first.” “Please let me go.” “What do you think of my fisherman pie?”
sunnydaze
Okay, one of the worst things about playing on the Switch is that it's really hard to see the food in the recipe menu. So I had to scroll through the food repeatedly trying to figure out what recipes I have.
I like the likes and dislikes system.
happysquared
I like it a lot. I enjoy how the dislikes work. It's kinda similar to Stardew right? Because instead you have to give gift people things and then if you'd like it to increase your relationship with them. And I guess Animal Crossing probably. I don't know. I've never played Animal Crossing. But um, I like that when you find out someone's dislike, it doesn't feel like a loss. Because in Stardew it would be a loss. They would have an angry face and they're like, wow, your gift fucking sucks.
sunnydaze
That's one cool thing about Spiritfarer is that it tries to be a very chill game. So you're not really penalized for anything.
happysquared
Yeah. I think Spiritfarer is about discovering more about the spirit. So whenever you discover something more feels like a win. Even finding out someone's dislike is a win. But in Stardew you finding out someone's dislike is just more like, “Oh, I messed up” rather than “Wow, I really loved that I found out that this character hates an old shoe.”
sunnydaze
I really like the dialogue when you give them something they don't like.
happysquared
I kept trying to feed them the disgusting food because I was like, surely there has to be one spirit that likes disgusting food!
sunnydaze
I fed like three spirits glue. Including Stanley.
happysquared
Oh my god. Yes. I had been mixing glue into my food as well.
sunnydaze
If you eat the glue, why wouldn't you eat the disgusting food?
happysquared
I know, they would rather eat glue than that.
sunnydaze
So when they eat the glue, they feel dizzy. Why do they eat it? At first I fed it to Stanley. And I was like, “Oh, it's because he's a kid. He'll just eat whatever.” Then I fed it to an adult to check. And they still ate the glue.
happysquared
Oh my god, Meg. You can't feed kids glue saying that I think they'll eat it. “It was a kid, I gotta feed him glue!”
sunnydaze
He's a mushroom. So like, maybe that's good for him.
Hokori
You mentioned before that you wouldn't send a spirit on their way before you find them their favorite meal. Was that more so from a completionist standpoint or more of an emotional thing that you wanted to send them off on a happy note?
sunnydaze
Completionist. Well, okay, part of it was... Okay, so you get the golden platforming with Gwen first, and then you wait for a few spirits before you have it again. So I thought, why? I thought that maybe the reason why I wasn't getting more golden platforming was because I hadn't found out a favorite food of the other spirits. So I wanted to find more favourite foods.
happysquared
For me, it was more emotional. If it wasn't emotional then I guess I could feed them whatever before the Everdoor, but I tried to make it their favorite meal. Is that something that you did?
sunnydaze
Yeah, yeah.
happysquared
Yeah, because I mean, like, even if you knew the favorite food, you didn't have to feed them the favorite food before sending them off. You know? So for that standpoint, I guess for you is also kind of like a role playing thing too, right?
Sunnydaze
Yeah
Hokori
Um, okay, so we've talked about some characters that you found successful. Were there any characters you particularly didn't care for?
happysquared
Mickey?
sunnydaze
Okay, no, okay. But here's the thing. Mickey and Bruce have the best storyline in the game.
happysquared
What??
sunnydaze
Yeah. Even though... Okay, so the most annoying thing about them is the animation.
happysquared
Okay. Yes. The turning him around thing it takes forever.
sunnydaze
If you talk to Mickey’s butt, Bruce turns his brother around, and then Bruce lands on Mickey’s back and he has to get back up to land on his nose.
happysquared
So annoying. I love the animations. That was the only one where I felt like they're taking way too long for it. The watering can was a tad too long, I thought, but whatever.
sunnydaze
So the reason why it's the best story is because of the revelation at the end that it's just—Bruce is the spirit, not Mickey, not the two of them. Mickey is just the shadow of his brother he can’t let go of, and that’s why Mickey doesn’t talk.
happysquared
You still get two obols, though. You get two spirit flowers, don't you? I don't know. Maybe you just get one. Anyway, that's true, that story was good. I wish that maybe that they could have emphasized that just a little bit more.
sunnydaze
That's the sort of complete story I was expecting. More than just allusions supplemented by the book.
happysquared
I feel like Mickey talked more about their real life than other later spirits as well. The accident and stuff like that made it emotional.
I do feel like they're more developed but I like Gustav, which is kind of funny because Gustav is a very plain character on paper. Like, you have no idea why anyone would find him their favorite, but I just did because his design looks cool. And he's a chill dude. He's unobtrusive. You know?
sunnydaze
I like Gustav, because I like his character type.
happysquared
Yeah. It's more like the character type than his deep emotional story, whatever. I just like fancy dude characters.
sunnydaze
I mean, Gustav’s story is not super deep. He's paralyzed, I guess, he’s in a wheelchair. Which is why, I guess, he is a bird now.
happysquared
There was a criticism about that. They released an apology about him.
sunnydaze
Yeah, I didn't really look into that.
What I liked about him is that even though his character journey wasn't dramatic, I liked how he talks about art. Actually, I liked all of the little monologues at the end where you bring them to the gate.
happysquared
All of them?
sunnydaze
Yeah, I liked all of them.
Hokori
Just as an aside, I looked up the apology. So apparently it's because he mentioned how death freed him from the wheelchair.
sunnydaze
Right. It's just that I could see how someone who is not born that way, or who got that way very late in life might feel that way. Like they might not want to be in a wheelchair.
happysquared
The wiki said he got a degenerative disease. But yeah, I think someone that was in a wheelchair said they didn't like the implication that, you know, death is better than being in a wheelchair.
sunnydaze
Yeah, I also understand that reaction, just because there's a dearth of— I mean, I guess this is about ableism in media and real life, the dearth of positive representation. But at the same time, I felt that's kind of realistic of his character to have a negative reaction to that.
happysquared
That's true, but why is it that when you're making a disabled character, that's the character type that you choose?
sunnydaze
Yeah, exactly. I totally understand that.
I wouldn't say there are characters I didn't like.
happysquared
What do you think of Elena?
sunnydaze
I didn't dislike her. I could see how someone, for example, just wouldn't like Bruce and Mickey, which I sort of did. But also the story was great.
happysquared
They made everyone unhappy on the ship. There's two reasons to dislike a spirit. The story was meh or they affected the mechanics in a way that was negative.
What do you think of that? Do you feel like it bothered you, that Bruce and Mickey made everyone in the ship upset? Even if that had the best story.
sunnydaze
No, it didn't make me upset.
happysquared
Like, it doesn't matter to you that the mood was affected?
sunnydaze
Of course, as a player I was like ugh, that's so annoying. But you're supposed to feel like that, they’re supposed to be abrasive. So from a developer point of view, I think that's fine that the player feels that. But also it's not like I dislike the characters. It's just that I feel like the later ones are not as compelling as the early ones. Like I never had that emotional attachment to them as I did with Gwen.
Hokori
Okay, so there's a lot of characters that you spend time with on the boat, and the story is very focused around them. How about characters that weren't spirits you had to help move on. Were there any other side characters that stood out for you?
sunnydaze
Obviously, Susan was the best.
happysquared
Yeah, I don't remember much about anything else except Susan.
sunnydaze
I like the guy you rescue in the middle of the ocean.
happysquared
I like the guy that follows you around and talks to you about killing trees.
sunnydaze
Oh yeah. So let me talk about an NPC that annoyed me, because they could have been such a great funny side character. There's this spirit who asks you to advise them on their date. And then you can advise them. But when you go back later, the dialog is totally glitched. Like, you can say yes or no to nonsensical questions, and they'll give answers that match up to different things.
happysquared
Oh, really?
sunnydaze
Did you know it was glitched?
happysquared
I didn't focus on the shenanigans that much to be honest.
sunnydaze
It wasn't a shenanigan. It's just a spirit you talk to.
Hokori
You mentioned Susan, the owner of the museum. What did you think of this collection aspect? And did you find the rewards satisfying?
sunnydaze
I love the collection aspect. I just like clicking it and hearing the sound that I got something, not necessarily the reward itself. But I like the outfits.
happysquared
Yeah, outfits are cool. I like the black cat. Actually not sure if I got that one from Susan. But um, I think it's cool. Her personality also added more to the world they kind of want to find out more about because it's like, oh, yeah, everyone here moves on except me. Right. It's like she was given a responsibility. So already makes her kind of unique amongst a lot of the people in the world, because she actually calls that out. Now, this brings me back to “I want to know more about the world”, especially because Charon doesn't look human.
sunnydaze
Yeah, what was with him?
happysquared
You never find out anything more about it either.
sunnydaze
I think the art book implies that it's all in Stella's mind.
happysquared
Do you like that? I kind of wish it was a bit more real, but I don't know.
sunnydaze
I don't mind it. But I think my ideal might be that this fleshed-out, really cool world with some weird hints that it's in your head as well. It could be ambiguous. Because it's so emotional to Stella.
happysquared
It's almost like Stella's own afterlife. Maybe it's her accepting things and moving on.
sunnydaze
Yeah, that's what you guessed! And I was like, “Wow yeah that's very good.”
happysquared
It's kind of implied with the owl dialogue.
I kind of wish Stella's face changed a little bit more. After each golden platforming, she comes back and she's happy again. You don't feel a lot of pathos coming from the character.
sunnydaze
That's true, but I mean it would be a drag if you're just sad and silent.
happysquared
She just got shocked when she saw the owl and all these like, you know, very emotionally devastating things.
sunnydaze
I didn’t see her face. I mean I could see it, but it’s like how I don't like reading comics. I just read the text. And then by the time I read it, the animation is all done already.
happysquared
That's funny, because in Songbird Symphony, you wished you saw the bird being sad. You noticed that one.
sunnydaze
Oh, yeah, that's true. Probably because the bird speaks. Stella doesn't speak. I feel like it would be so much better if Stella spoke as well.
happysquared
Yeah, the story is so centered on Stella's psyche. I wish she showed a little bit more of that.
Hokori
Okay, let's go back a bit. You mentioned the game's art style. Do you want to talk to me about what you thought of the game's art?
happysquared
Very, very, very cool. Um, generally thought that the dragon stuff was cool. It's actually scary, even though I knew that you can't get hurt.
sunnydaze
I like the design of the NPCs being kind of gender neutral, but wearing like, dresses, veils. What else about the art... I like Stella's star hat, because it's crucial to the story. That's how you know it's Stella in the flashbacks and that she's the nurse, I guess.
happysquared
Really? Why? Maybe I missed that.
sunnydaze
Well, like in the flashbacks.
happysquared
She's not wearing a hat.
sunnydaze
She's not, but you can see a big hat.
happysquared
Oh, yeah.
sunnydaze
And that's how you know it's fine. I guess it's not a star hat.
Hokori
Okay, let's talk about the music then. Because there's a lot of different pieces of music. Definitely some ominous pieces. So what did you feel about the soundtrack of the game?
sunnydaze
Yeah, I thought the soundtrack was good. I mean, The Everdoor is the most iconic but the music that stood out or shocked me when I first heard it was catching the big tuna
happysquared
Mmm, that was cool!
sunnydaze
So overall, there’s melody-driven music and then there's ambient music. And nowadays, I think composers of films and games and contemporary music are more interested in ambient music, music as sound rather than as melody. Spiritfarer is kind of a mix between the two main modes.
happysquared
I didn't like Bruce and Mickey's music whenever I talked to them.
sunnydaze
Oh, right. The character music.
happysquared
The Bruce and Mickey one stood out because it's very different from everyone else. They're so different that I didn't like it.
sunnydaze
What I like is that at the end of each constellation you hear their motif.
happysquared
It was really cool how they had sound that built up actually. The melody I remember the most is the gardening one when you're playing to make the plants grow. (happysquared and sunnydaze start humming the tune) After a while I stopped looking at the keyboard, I knew what to click.
sunnydaze
Well, I mean, that's not just the gardening sound. That's like the main motif of Spiritfarer. Like at the end credits that's the tune they sing. I love the song in the end credits. I like how the cat sings along.
happysquared
Yeah. After Summer left, I felt the song was really sad. Because you could hear the sitar come in and Summer’s no longer there. When she was on your ship you could hear her play that to help your plants grow. It's kind of sad.
I like Gustav's violin playing. it had a nice mood perk to it.
sunnydaze
Yeah, me too.
happysquared & sunnydaze
He gives you sushi!
happysquared
But that's kind of why I wish I didn't send Gustav off before getting Elena. Because Elena's never really super happy, but maybe if Gustav was around with music, I would have been able to get her to the happiest status. It was just me, her and Buck at the end. Did you end up upgrading her house and hugging her even though she hates it?
sunnydaze
I did. Part of me was like, maybe her story is actually learning to like the stuff. But at the same time, it's like, I don't care. I just want to. I want that. So the upgraded house, she'll get over it.
happysquared
Did she get over it?
sunnydaze
Well, I mean, the whole time she was with me, she's neutral to slightly happy.
happysquared
So her mechanic is very different from all the other characters then it's quite sudden and—
sunnydaze
Kind of cool.
happysquared
I kinda wish characters had more of that. So each felt more individual.
sunnydaze
Can you elaborate?
happysquared
Well, you know that Elena wouldn't want any of that stuff. So that's like something unique. But all the other spirits follow the same kind of beat.
sunnydaze
Right. Well, one thing I liked about Summer was that you give her gems to fill her gem cabinet.
Hokori
What are some of your favourite things about the game?
sunnydaze
I like finding all the secret passages and I like that I realized that the cables from the lamps when they go into walls... That’s where the secret passages are.
happysquared
I liked it when I found the reward before the spirit’s quest appeared. I already had quite a lot of buildings going before the spirit that was supposed to teach you about it came on. And I found that kind of rewarding, figuring out where resources come from before being told.
sunnydaze
I didn't find it rewarding. I just find that a bit jarring because if I've improved the tools, and he says, can you improve my thing? It's like, well, it's already improved. Why did you ask me that? It breaks the immersion.
happysquared
Yeah, the dialogue does break it. But some of the dialogue does change. Some people say, “Oh, I see you already have this.” I think one of the spirits says that. For example, the Alice and the Red Hat thing. I like that.
I understand why they had to write it in. If someone is stuck, like they didn't realize you should change your hat to the color red then you should hear that dialogue. I didn't realize it was a quest because I didn't open my quest log that much. So my feelings were “Oh, I wonder what would happen if I did this.” And then something happened, which is cool. I like the feeling of “I want to try something” and I’m rewarded for it. I guess that's the same feeling that you probably get when feeding different foods, right? That kind of stuff, trying out different recipes. I love that. I love making up new recipes. That was fun.
sunnydaze
Yeah, I'm still missing like five dishes.
Join us next week for Part 2!