This makes a lot of sense. Between being given the option to feed Foreshadow after every conversation option with Adrian and later being prompted to give the rest of the treats to their horse, a Polo route MC is likely to get the maximum Fear Level reduction possible from the treats.
The vending machine, however, is a lot more unobtrusive, making it likely that even those who do use it don’t pick every option, resulting in maximum Fear Level reductions being much rarer.
If you want to bring it more in line with the Polo route, I’d suggest describing the MC as somewhat hungry and offering a prompt or two to use the vending machine between conversation options. This would likely make the average Fear Levels between routes more similar.
The option to attempt to manipulate Merlin doesn’t use the new m_hostile_external variable:
Also, Agravain is still listed before Aglovale in Merlin’s Guide. Not sure if that’s intentional or not, but I’m mentioning it again just to make sure.
It’s quite likely that it’s a red herring put there to mislead code readers, to be fair. Notably, the adrian_drink variable makes the poison one redundant.
Saving Pippa
- Feed your horse at least one treat, but not all of them.
- If your horse is Midsummer Knight’s Dream or Knight Rider, wait until they breathe out when tightening their girth.
- Attempt to rescue Pippa (obviously). Doesn’t matter if it’s voluntary or not.
You now have two chances to rescue Pippa. To succeed at the first one (“I loop the reins around my left hand and lean as far to the right as humanly possible as I reach for Enchanter Moon’s bridle.”), you need to fulfil ONE of these requirements:
- Body stat of at least 30
- combined Body and Charm stat of at least 50
If you don’t meet either requirement, you get a second chance (“Full speed ahead!”). To succeed here, you need to have ONE of the following:
- Body stat of at least 20
- combined Body and Charm stat of at least 40
- Luck talent AND win the RNG roll
Getting Pippa Killed
- Give Foreshadow (Adrian’s horse) either all OR none of your treats.
- Stick your head out of the trailer window and get possessed.