Salem Preview
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Food is central to progress in Salem, as befits its loosely historical bent, and character development revolves around the four slightly humorous (humours), or bodily fluids: blood (hitpoints), phlegm (non-combat stamina for chopping trees, digging clay, etc.), yellow bile (combat stamina, also used for advanced crafting), and black bile (used for intellectual pursuits, such as learning a new skill). For example, to learn the (mountaineering) skill to escape the steep inclines surrounding the newbie area, for example, you'll have to spend some black bile. This can only be replenished by eating the right food.
Learning skills is one way to progress in Salem. The other is something Björn calls the (gluttony system.) When a player's humours are fully replenished, that player can activate the (god fork) to enter gluttony mode. This mode is a minigame, with the objective of pushing a humour past a certain limit by eating a variety of food.
But gluttony isn't just an easy way to level up at the expense of your food stores. Björn explained: (The problem is, food replenishes individual humors randomly, and the random chance is based on the quality of the food. The time and benefit of each dish varies, and the meters recede over time. But the higher the quality of the food, the more predictable the humor it will fill." So what's the secret? (Have a lavish meal prepared. The better the food, the more accurately you can plan the amount of food needed.) And the more you level your humours, the more work you can do, enemies you can fight, and skills you can learn.
