While I understand the purpose of the destructible barrels on the starting ship is to teach players to uncover potential hidden routes and items, it feels overdone to the point of conflicting with the incredible immersion the game is trying to provide in this particular setting.
For example, the crew is communicating that they’re not comfortable with our presence on the ship, and yet we’re walking around the place punching every piece of cargo that isn’t nailed down into piles of debris. The ship’s cook asks us for a hand in the kitchen, and meanwhile we’re literally destroying the place around him.
I enjoy getting loot as much as the next person, and I don’t mind smashing a crate or barrel to find it, but I prefer that the context makes sense. When it’s an enemy camp or an abandoned ruin, destroying environmental objects fits. But when it’s a friendly ship providing you transport, or a stack of barrels placed next to a friendly guard in a friendly town… it’s just weird to expect the player to rampage on everything lest they miss a bit of coin or some food.
I wish you would figure out a better way to present this.