Diary of a Hare

Friends

This post is about friends.

Each major NPC has a hidden love score. Until I come up with a better name, that is what it will be called. This is essentially their disposition towards you, and it changes throughout the game. Love plays the most important part for the characters of Tex, Ilana, and Juan Carlos, who just happen to be the three followers that are available for you to recruit, should you be awesome enough. The scores can range from 0% – 100%. Obviously, anything under 30% is pretty damn bad. I’ll also briefly mention how each follower works.

Tex Boone:
– Extremely hard to win. Extremely easy to lose.
– Starting score depends on your initial meeting.
– With Tex, I want to make a true rival PC character. He’s Player 2 in American Hare, to put it simply. He is harder to completely ignore than the other two followers, but he has the biggest impact on the story. To call Tex a follower isn’t exactly the truth, since he will only join you on a very few occasions, and to get even get on your side you really have to play your cards right. Most likely he’ll turn into some kind of nemesis, or a reluctant ally who takes pity in your darkest hour. Similar to Juan Carlos (below), he can attempt to kill you if he feels the situation warrants it. Unlike Juan Carlos, who has to be pushed off the edge of sanity before he pulls the trigger, Tex’s natural programming is nothing short of “kill da wabbit!”

Ilana:
– If you start out bad, she’ll be hard to win over. If you start out good, her love is only moderately difficult to gain.
– Starting score depends on if you perform the “show” with her or not.
– She’s quick to stick by you and quick to run away when things get dicey. While Juan Carlos (below) won’t be much of a talker during discussions with other people, Ilana will frequently interject, for better or worse.

Juan Carlos:
– Score will remain mostly neutral at 40% – 60%.
– You can lose it completely by performing a horrible act of immorality. You either have to do this in front of him, or he has to find out about it. He can have suspicions due to your actions, but won’t confront you unless there’s overwhelming evidence.
– He performs a great service by means of travel and connections. You can bring him on a few quests, but depending on how open ended they are, he might just go off and do his own thing and catch up with you later.

Each of these people has their own backstory, friends, relatives, enemies, and personal thoughts. As for how they tie into the main quest story… that’s for you to find out. However, while they are with you, they will have some kind of input during situations, even if only a little. The goal is to make you feel that they are integrated into the story as well as having a logical effect on it.