User blog:StoryGirl83/Nerve Yield for Diamond Choices in "It Lives In the Woods"

While considering the various diamond choices in It Lives in the Woods, and more specifically the ones I chose to purchase, it occurred to me that not all diamond choices are equal when it comes to bringing up the characters' nerve.

Now, I know that you can save all of the characters, except maybe Dan, without any diamond choices at all. I know this, because I did and Dan was the only one I spent diamonds on. I think maybe you can save him without diamonds as well, but I'm not sure.

People have different reasons for spending diamonds in this book. Some are just straight after their favorite scenes. Others just want to look cool so they pick outfits and hair. Some are after the romance scenes and the nerve points are just bonus. Nothing wrong with either of those things if that's how you want to play. In some books I do go after some of those things, too. Personally, for this book at least, I go after the nerve points, because the beginning of the book where it implied your character and your friends could die I was a little freaked out by. Seriously, that's been the scariest part of this book (I'm sure if anyone had died on me that that would have been scarier, but thankfully no one did for me).

Depending on why you want to spend diamonds, this may or may not be of use to you. I decided to go through the different diamond choices and see which ones got you the most nerve points for each character in relation to how many diamonds they cost. One thing I did notice was that the earlier choices to spend diamonds seem to have better return nerve point wise.

While most diamonds spent only affect one character or your character plus one other, some choices affect all the characters or most of them. Any that affect multiple characters will be listed under every character they affect as well as under a separate category for multiple characters.

To keep from playing favorites, your character will be listed first followed by Dan and then the other characters in the order listed by the fake Dan in chapter one. At the end will be the multiple character category.

Your Character / Devon
No one has more diamond choices that affect their nerve than your character does. He or she is the one who rallies everyone together, even though it was Dan who started the sequence of events, and he or she is the one who lives on the edge of the woods where everything happened ten years ago and where almost everything is happening now.

Possibly the best diamond choice you can buy for your character is the very first one at the prep ralley sitting with Ava. for 12 diamonds you gain 10 nerve points. You get the added bonus of an early chance to romance Ava if you want it.


 * Chapter 1 - For 12 diamonds you can sit with Ava at the prep ralley and tell her about what happened the night before. This will net you 10 nerve points for your character and is possibly the best diamond to nerve point return in the entire book.
 * Chapter 2 - For 20 diamonds you can buy the Barbed Wire Bat. With only a 4 nerve point return plus a 1 nerve point return for seven of the characters in chapter 13 if you have all four weapons, it's not really a great return on diamond investment. It does make it easier in at least one place to get nerve points, but you can get them anyway if you pick the right option in a timed choice.
 * Chapter 2 - With Noah - For 15 diamonds you can buy a flashlight for Noah. It only gives your character 1 nerve point in return, but it gives Noah a whopping 10 nerve points and is probably his best nerve gain per diamond return in the book.
 * Chapter 2 - With Andy and Ava - If you decide you want to talk Andy and Ava into joining you and Noah, you have a few diamond choices. For 16 diamonds you can take either Andy or Ava with you or for 30 diamonds you can tak both of them. For each one you take with you your character gains 4 nerve points in chapter 3 for a potential total of 8 nerve points and each of them who goes with you gains a net totally of 5 nerve points. It's not the best return on diamond investment, but it does change events in three different chapters and gives you an early chance to romance Andy if you want to, so it's not bad either.
 * Chapter 4 - With Ava and Lucas - When your neighbor gives you the chance to watch his dog, Hilda, while he's gone so he doesn't have to put her in the kennel, it'll cost you 25 diamonds to accept the offer. Adorable as she is, you only get a sum total of 6 nerve points from having her with you over the course of the book. In addition Ava and Lucas get a nerve point each in chapter 14 if you have her.

Dan
There are only four diamond choices that affect Dan's nerve. The lowest cost one in chapter 4, gives you more nerve points than any of the others, so if you are going to get only one diamond choice to help Dan, that's the one you want.


 * Chapter 4 - For 16 diamonds you can relive the last time you really talked to Dan which will net him a total of 20 nerve points between various collections of points (2X5 and 1X10). When getting nerve points for Dan, this is your best option and it's a pretty light scene for the most part that can act as a counter balance the darker parts of the story.
 * Chapter 6 - For 25 diamonds you can get the kitten as a companion. This affects multiple characters nerve, including 2 points for Dan. However, for 17 diamonds later in the chapter you can read Dan's text netting him 15 additional nerve points which is more than the combined total of points the kitten gives out to Your Character (7 points), Dan (2 points), Stacy (1 point) and Lily (1 point).
 * Chapter 14 - Just as you got a chance in chapter 13 to talk to the majority of your other friends (other than Dan and Andy), in chapter 14 you get a chance for 30 diamonds to talk to Dan about what happened when he went into the woods in the first chapter. Since this only nets you 10 nerve points, it's not a great choice if you are trying to get nerve points. Great for finding out what happens. Terrible for getting nerve points especially since for only 3 more diamonds you can get both the diamond choices in chapter 4 and chapter 6 and get a combined total of 35 nerve points, 25 more than you get for this one.

Stacy
About half of Stacy's diamond nerve point gains are 10s or 11s. It's hard to say which is the best, because it depends on what you do with other characters. If you have no other diamond choices and only one for Stacy, it's the chance to get coffee with her in chapter 10, because not only does she get 10 nerve points for 18 diamonds, but all seven of the friends (Dan not included) get 5 nerve points, so it brings the total of points gained for her to 15. You do get that point gain if you have any of the diamond scenes in that chapter, so if you do one of them with someone else, for 2 diamonds less at 16 diamonds you can get 10 nerve points in chapter 3 for Stacy and add on 3 to Lily's nerve count.


 * Chapter 3 - With Lily -

Lily
There aren't any great choices for lily, but probably the best is in chapter 7 when you have the chance to dance with Lily for 14 diamonds. This nets her her second highest nerve increase of 7. The highest nerve increase is in chapter 13 where for 30 diamonds you get the chance to talk to Lily and gain 10 nerve points. However, this is a difference of only 3 nerve points for more than twice as much. A better option might be to dance with Lily in chapter 7 and talk with Stacy in chapter 3. For the same cost it gives you the same nerve increase for Lily, plus you gain 10 points for Stacy as well.


 * Chapter 3 - With Stacy - For 16 diamonds you can talk to Stacy which gives her the confidence to stand up to Britney. This in turn gives Lily a boost of 5 nerve points. However, it also skips a choice that would let you talk to Lily and give her 2 nerve points, so in actuality it is a nerve gain of 3 for Lily in exchange for the diamonds. Combining this with the diamond choice in chapter 7 gives you an amount equal to Lily's biggest nerve gain from diamonds and adds on the nerve gain for Stacy.

Multiple Characters

 * Chapter 3 - Stacy and Lily - For 16 diamonds you can 10 nerve point for Stacy, which is one of her best return on diamond investments, plus you get a boost of 3 more nerve points for Lily than youwould have otherwise.