Balanced Diet - The Most Pointless Perk?

[wjpower2003]

Am I the only one who finds the "balanced diet" perk in this game to be entirely pointless? I used this perk to great effect in KCD1 and could go for many in-game weeks at a time without the effect getting cancelled.

In this game however, the perk not only includes over-eating and under-eating, but also drunkenness as well. There are lines of dialogue in this game wherein you get the choice to either drink or not drink.... if I want to retain my balanced diet, I always decline alcohol.

I only recently regained my balanced diet status, but the effect was soon cancelled-out when I was doing the side quest for Betty the Bath House owner. There was no warning or dialogue prompt to consume alcohol but I was captured by KCD2's tendency to hijack Henry from the player and I woke up malnourished and drunk the next morning... so my balanced diet bonuses were cancelled ... AGAIN!

So now I have to wait another 5 in-game days for those bonuses to reactivate, but that seems pointless as they'll probably be taken away from me again through some forced cut scene that. The issue with this game is that Henry's character has no self-control, and the player has no character-control. The first game did this so much better.

Edit: After this thread was answered by M.A.X. I added a question mark to the end of the title. Less declarative, but still open-ended incase anybody proves M.A.X. wrong.

[joxertm22]

+1

This perk you should take only if there is noting else left to pick.

[myhv]

Maybe you should level up your drinking so you're not such a lightweight, getting drunk of a sip. Afaik only the Cuman quest in the nomad camp forces you in to drunk state (and locks you there), rest are based on your skill.

Also, how can you call it "The Most Pointless Perk" when there are so many "economy" perks that allow you to sell stuff for more. In the world where half destroyed soiled leggings covered in blood already cost 3 times as many groschen as vendor has on hand.

[Targaryen22]

I haven't had any issues with this so far. Granted my first playthrough was PRIMARILY focused on main story as they always are in these kinds of games. Maybe other side quests will affect this perk more based on drinking involved quests or something but I only lost the perk once, at the very end of the game when in Suchdol

[Torque]

Yea i just accumulated perk points until i unlock some great perks

[wjpower2003]

After writing this thread, I alt-tabbed back to the game and engaged in dialogue with Captain Katz in Sigismund's Camp. After 2 refusals to consume alcohol during dialogue, I was ultimately forced into drinking by a cut scene... so my 5 day balanced diet count-down has now been reset.... AGAIN! You honestly can't make this stuff up.

[wjpower2003]

Originally posted by myhv:

Maybe you should level up your drinking so you're not such a lightweight, getting drunk of a sip.

I've generally tried to avoid drinking in this game because the "skill" of drinking is, in and of itself, pretty pointless.

The one thing that I've tried to do is refuse alcohol... but to now avail. I may have grown up in England in the 1980's and 90's and didn't grow up in 1403 Bohemia, but I know it's possible to go to a party and not get drunk - I've done it myself before.... and I love beer!

I swear that the Warhorse writing crew don't know the meaning of the word consent, in Czech, English or any other language it would seem.

[Whiplash27]

Yeah, it's a pretty pointless perk. Although the worst is the one that spreads your reputation to surrounding areas. Want to kill everyone in Sigismund's camp? Well the surrounding towns are going to hate you now.

[Oiski Poiski]

Tbh, I feel like there's a good portion of the perks that simply seem pointless to me.
I have so many unspent points is insane. At one point I think I had like 60 points or so...
I didn't know what to use them on, and now I'm mostly just ticking off whatever sounds cool :D

[Whiplash27]

Originally posted by wjpower2003:

Originally posted by myhv:

Maybe you should level up your drinking so you're not such a lightweight, getting drunk of a sip.

I've generally tried to avoid drinking in this game because the "skill" of drinking is, in and of itself, pretty pointless.

The one thing that I've tried to do is refuse alcohol... but to now avail. I may have grown up in England in the 1980's and 90's and didn't grow up in 1403 Bohemia, but I know it's possible to go to a party and not get drunk - I've done it myself before.... and I love beer!

I swear that the Warhorse writing crew don't know the meaning of the word consent, in Czech, English or any other language it would seem.

Getting to the end of the game, drinking really didn't add much. You have a few story quests that require you to drink, maybe a couple skill checks in conversations, and that's all. Something like The Witcher 1's drinking games where you out drink opponents and get information out of their drunken state would have been a great way to use the skill.

[wjpower2003]

Originally posted by myhv:

Maybe you should level up your drinking so you're not such a lightweight, getting drunk of a sip.

As an addendum to my previous post, I'm not sure what relevance my drinking skill has in relation to the side quest with Betty the Bath House owner. Drinking aside, I still woke up with nourishment below 50, which probably wasn't related to alcohol consumption so I'd argue that my point probably still stands... in lieu of testing that supposition of course.

[M.A.X.]

Originally posted by wjpower2003:

Originally posted by myhv:

Maybe you should level up your drinking so you're not such a lightweight, getting drunk of a sip.

I've generally tried to avoid drinking in this game because the "skill" of drinking is, in and of itself, pretty pointless.

The one thing that I've tried to do is refuse alcohol... but to now avail. I may have grown up in England in the 1980's and 90's and didn't grow up in 1403 Bohemia, but I know it's possible to go to a party and not get drunk - I've done it myself before.... and I love beer!

I swear that the Warhorse writing crew don't know the meaning of the word consent, in Czech, English or any other language it would seem.

You can drink alcohol and not loose the perk, you just have to stay in the positive zone of drunkeness. I took the perk at the start and never lost it because of alcohol only because of food (story reasons).
Do you even drink saviour schnaps? that alone should level your drinking enough so you can stay under the limit when offered a single drink.

If you want to fix it go to an inn, level your drinking a bit (read a book about drinking instead if you want to play more chaste than the pope) and it should never be an issue again.

And remember the old bohemian wisdom: "the liver grows with every challenge"

[Krono]

It is annoying when you get knocked out of it through no fault of your own, but for 99% of the game it's not hard to keep it active. A 10% bonus to vitality exp is enough that I want to have the perk active, but not such a big bonus that I'm pulling my hair out when the game starves me without warning.

[wjpower2003]

Originally posted by M.A.X.:

You can drink alcohol and not loose the perk, you just have to stay in the positive zone of drunkeness. I took the perk at the start and never lost it because of alcohol only because of food (story reasons).
Do you even drink saviour schnaps?:

I use an Unlimited Saving mod from Nexusmods which eliminates the use of Saviour Schnapps, so that would explain my unreasonably-low drinking skill and this explains my issue. Thanks for bringing that detail to my attention. I guess KCD2's attention to detail is better than I thought.

Edit: Technically the liver shrinks and ossifies with every skinful.... but I get your point and appreciate the sentiment.

[Whiplash27]

In order to get your drinking skill leveled to 30, it requires a TON of alcohol. At one point I drank like 30 moonshines chased by hair o' the dog and I maybe increased the skill by 1 level. Then I got stuck with the saliva debuff and had to wait a while before I had a drink again.

Apparently, the best way to level it up is to have one drink, wait for it to expire and do it again throughout your entire playthrough. Binging just leads to bad outcomes. However, I can't imagine how long it'd take to get to level 30 without becoming an alcoholic.

[Imaginary Mime]

I am just far too lazy to be consistent on anything but petting my doggy and my horsey