With the Wisdom Gem I got on the last run through the Temple of the Ocean King, I’m up to ten, so that’s another visit to Spirit Island, this time to awaken more of Neri’s power. This upgrade makes Link take less damage and gives him some ability with his shield, but I stuck with Leaf. There are a couple letters Link can receive before heading off to the new area: one from Linebeck trying to express respect for Link (he’s mostly successful), and one from Joanne thanking Link for delivering Jolene’s letter. Both contain ship parts.
As Link heads into the southeast quadrant, there are three pirate ships that almost immediately spot him and come over. Sinking two of them is pretty easy, but the third charges at the SS Linebeck and if it gets close enough triggers a boarding attack. It’s just a few Miniblins that board, and it took longer for them to actually show up on the ship than for Link to finish them off. Once they’re gone, Linebeck emerges from hiding to give Link a Courage Gem. There are two golden frogs in the region for Link to shoot and learn the warp symbols. One looks like a capital omega, and it seems no matter how badly I draw it Link warps just fine. The other, a W with a line over it, is really twitchy and took a bunch of tries to get right.
A third traveler’s ship appears in this area, this one containing members of the Ho Ho Tribe (inspired by Old Man Ho Ho from Wind Waker), looking for treasures they can sell at home. They pay better than the Treasure Teller on Mercay, but only buy one type of treasure each day, and it wasn’t long after I started having things to sell them that they got stuck on the same type of treasure for three days in a row. (And paying less for it each day.) Plus, it’s not like it’s hard to make rupees, so trying to wait for them to be interested in the other seven types of treasure seems a losing proposition.
There are two uncharted islands in this area. Harrow Island to the north seems to consist solely of a treasure field digging minigame. Link gets to dig up ten treasures. Some of the “treasures” can be rupoors, which count against the total. There’s also a spirit named Lucky Lee who, when dug up, offers Link a chance to play a straight up gambling minigame, choosing between two hypothetical treasure chests. The whole Harrow Island game is basically a wash; in two games, I got a couple treasure charts and about broke even in rupees.
The second hidden island is Dee Ess Island, which is shaped like a DS. (Preparing to sail off, Linebeck notes the island’s “different shape.” I would have gone with “distinctive,” but, oh, well.) There are Gorons here setting up a minigame, but it’s not ready yet. There’s a few things to do on the island now. First, there are a bunch of soft soil patches Link can dig up. A lot of these reveal Rope nests or beehives, but there are rupees to be had as well. A gossip stone hints for Link to dig where the Menu button is, which means at the bottom left corner of the “touchscreen”; he finds a Courage Gem there. At the north end of the island, there’s a pit corresponding to the other screen with a couple Hinox. Once they’re defeated, Link can claim another Courage Gem. That brings Link’s Courage Gem collection to 10, so he can go back to Spirit Island to power up Ciela. Her power lets Link shoot sword beams. (At full health, I think. Still sticking with Leaf.)
As in Wind Waker, Beedle has a rewards program for buying stuff from him. Points are earned for every 100 rupees Link spends, so they grow faster than in Wind Waker where it was one point per purchase. The reward tiers are Silver Membership (50 points, permanent 10% discount and a freebie item card), Gold Membership (100 points, permanent 20% discount and a compliment card which earns a compliment from Beedle), Platinum Membership (100 points, permanent 30% discount and a complimentary card which lets the player compliment Beedle), and VIP Membership (200 points, permanent 40% discount). It’s not hard to climb the ranks, even as the discounts make things cheaper; he sells two ship parts a day, and some of them can get pretty pricey.
There are eight ship parts and nine total sets. One of these is the base set that Linebeck had when you met him (plus Eddo’s cannon). The others are two fancy sets, an iron set, a stone set, a crappy set (the anchor is a swim ring!), a demonic set, tropical/shell set, and a golden set. Using multiple pieces from a set (other than the base set) adds hearts to the ship, so it’s worth upgrading. Pieces can be found in stores, in some treasure chests, by salvaging from treasure charts (generally either a ship part or Sand of Hours), or as minigame rewards. Getting all the pieces is really only worth it if you really need the full eight hearts from equipping a full golden set or your completionist side won’t let you not.
Next: Who wants to be a Goron?
