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Two and a half hours in, it's over. Of course I expected it to be short, and I can count the number of memorable puzzles/in-game events on one hand; but LostWinds felt a lot more fulfilling than I expected a downloadable adventure game to be.
You can read the game's prologue on Frontier's website. Here's the rest of the story:
Early on, Toku and Enril meet Deo, an elder in Toku's village who's taking care of the brat while his mother's away. Enril immediately recognizes Deo as one of her kindred ancient spirits. But it seems that he has spirit-amnesia, and he doesn't remember his own identity - until Toku and Enril find a Memory Chest, which unlocks part of Deo's power. Deo recalls that he sealed his own memories away in order to protect the stone prison. So Toku and Enril have to go on a quest to find the other three Memory Chests. Great!
After unlocking the fourth chest, Deo recalls that he entrusted his spirit power to a guardian of the earth, Magmok. So he goes to call upon Magmok for his power. But, whoops, Magmok's been possessed by Balasar's evil little black-goo minions. A boss fight later, Magmok recovers, restores Deo's powers, and - To Be Continued!
LostWinds looks to have a really respectable engine going, that could definitely generate a great sequel with the right polish and more attention to content. There is a surprising amount of action possible in the game that isn't directly documented or necessary. But stuff like the plot, and dialog, could use work. And I could really use a map and/or in-game signs with place names.
I've read that collecting all the hidden totems doesn't accomplish anything, so I'll be holding off on that. But who knows? I may play the whole thing over again sometime.