Hit a wall, please help.

[mellyflori]

All of my current requests require me to go past the ice, but I don't have a spirit flower to upgrade to the ice breaker. Dose any one have an idea or even an exploit to get the game rolling again?

[rmsgrey]

To get a spirit flower, you need to progress someone's quest to the point where they leave through the Everdoor. After they leave, you can find their spirit flower in their house aboard your ship.

The only spirit you can complete the quest of before getting the ice breaker is Gwen. Check your active quests to see if she has any requests outstanding, if not, talk to her and other spirits to see if that moves things forward. If that still doesn't progress anything, visit an island or two.

Generally, the game progresses by:

- progressing individual quests
-- completing the listed objectives
-- talking to spirits (they will usually signal they have something to say, but it's still worth checking in with them since you can miss out on their backstory if you don't have the optional conversations)
-- visiting any island in order to trigger a reload of the ship, which includes checking various things for progress
-- visiting (and exploring) specific islands. Once you've been to an island for the first time, you can see a list of resources and major things to collect there. Also, some quests require you to visit specific islands at specific points in the quest to progress them (sometimes they're explicit about the requirement; other times, not)

- general game progress
-- getting new buildings and ship upgrades
-- exploring to discover sources of new resources, and harvesting both new and old resources to maintain your supply
-- progressing and completing individual quests in order to gain obols, spirit flowers and access to unique resources through map-encounter minigames (which are available from their house after the spirit goes through the Everdoor)

[stupidcheesecat]

you probably have a spirit that you have not picked up yet. Who are your spirits so far and who has left?

[mellyflori]

figured it out, I just had to bring Gwen to the door