The Wonders of Tiki Trouble

Hey Jammers! It seems odd, that after so much fragmented posting I'd declare an even longer hiatus instead of just getting my act together. Still, I can't change the fact that I'm going away for a week and will not have access to internet.

But I do have a little time today to post. I'll be using this post to talk about the new adventure 'Tiki Trouble', just because I like it so much and it'll probably be old news by the time I get back. 

The promised post about Beta Testing myths will come after I get back home.

So... Tiki Trouble. Where do I begin?

I guess I'll begin with NPC villager Mele's assessment of the whole thing, which is admittedly pretty accurate. The main goal of this quest is to upset the peace of an island village by awakening their three annoying tiki statues, Momi, Koa, and Kapena and make tedious trades for their magical pearls that, according to dolphin alpha Tavie, will banish all the phantoms from the ocean. 

Interestingly, the names of the statues have deliberate meanings. Momi is a Hawaiian name meaning "pearl", Koa is a name meaning "brave", and Kapena is a name meaning "captain", which is rather fitting, given their dialogue:

I wonder how a pirate got turned into a tiki statue.

What if...

A pirate ship crash-landed on the island, and the captain's spirit went into the tiki? 

That would be the most interesting secret story line in all the AJ adventures, in my opinion. 

Let's see how the other tikis live up to their names:

Momi's name means PEARL. Can't really see any resemblance between Momi and a pearl. This statue's defining characteristic is that it talks in rhyme. Momi is a Hawaiian girl's name, so perhaps Momi is a girl. (Or if my theory is right, that these are spirits, this statue's spirit is a girl).

Maybe Momi is responsible for giving pearls to all the other statues, giving her her name. Hmm...

Koa is also a kind of tree native to Hawaii. Maybe this is a tree spirit? They look kind of... tree-like. Their defining characteristic is their not-very-articulate English. Hmm... not many clues here, but I guess I wouldn't imagine a tree's first language to be English?

Each tiki will only trade specific things for their pearls. You even need to bribe them to get them to talk to you!

Kapena, for instance, needs to be offered one gold coin combed from the shallow waters:

Follow the water-with-rock arrow to the shallows and click all the pawprint grab buttons 'til you find a gold coin. 

I believe you have to talk to a tiki before their special item becomes accessible to you. (I mined every single deposit before talking to Koa and I got nothing but fossils).

If you're finding too many purple conch shells, sell them to a trader for gems!

After you give Kapena the gold coin, he will want three pieces of fruit. The order may vary, but I believe he wants a pineapple, coconut, and banana. To save time, keep an eye out for those as you follow Kapena's trail.

I suggest you look for Kapena first, simply because he's closer to Tavie. 

Here's a secret: You'll stumble upon a treasure hunter by the seashore who might just validate my theory that the three tikis are spirits from a sunken ship.

Hmm... is it pushing it to wonder if that sunken ship is Sunken Treasures in Kani Cove? 

Next up, Koa. Koa wants a jewel first, then three pieces of fruit. Mine the jagged silver deposits looking for some shimmery jewels. You'll get a lot of fossils, but you can sell those to a trader.

You also have a chance of finding a Gold Brick in a deposit. 

You'll want to talk to Momi last, simply because she's so far away and that it takes awhile to get her special item, a sad polluted phantom fish.

Nice save, AJHQ– having the player fish for squishy phantom fish instead of real fish in a game where you can play as a fish. XD

I don't know how to feel about that sad, sad phantom fish, though. Is it a normal fish made sad and sick by pollution? Or is it a fish bioengineered by the phantoms? Who can say!?

As for the process of fishing, you'll get a lot of cans. Luckily, you can sell them to the village trash enthusiast for her 'collection':

I suggest you go around and talk to the villagers. Not only will they offer you friendly advice about their island...

...but for an AJ adventure, their dialogue can be genuinely funny:

I was so not expecting this XD

Of course, after each pearl you receive, you deliver it to Tavie and she'll give you a prize. Here are some nonmember prizes in order, from first pearl to last pearl, left to right:

I assume the tiki statues vary, so you can collect 'em all! 

Plus, the middle guitar is the first item of its kind: when you click it, it plays an electric guitar sound! 

Here are some other prizes you can get as a member and in secret treasures, like if you find a boot in a fishing net: 

Look around, see which ones you can find!

I just love this adventure so much. It doesn't emphasize items as heavily as it does the plot, at least I think so. 

Before I go, I just learned that Animal Jam is being developed into a downloadable computer application!

I think the goal is to make gameplay more convenient and less laggy, or maybe also make money. According to snowyclaw, browser AJ will not change at all– whew! :)

Open beta for this computer app will happen while I'm away around July 26th, so I hope it's fun, for those who'd like to try it.

Well, that's all for now, Jammers. See you when I get internet again on July 30th!