Sanity in special areas

Sanity follows the same basic rules everywhere, but several places bend them. This page lists, area by area, which drains and refills are switched on, based on the game's scene checks. For the general rules see Sanity and Lunatic state.

Overview#

Lost Valley#

Scenes whose internal id is above 20000 and below 30000 are treated as the "dark forest", which this wiki calls the Lost Valley. They are the Dark Mist side areas of stories 101 to 105, entered through black-fog walls (for example story 101, Lost Valley - Heggem, from Heggem). Each second the hero loses 0.5 sanity unless they stand inside a safe circle (a "protect sanity" locator placed in the scene). The first tick after leaving a circle comes one second later, and the timer resets as soon as you step back in.

• It does not matter whether you are Normal, Abnormal or Lunatic: the drain is the same, but the trophy effect that slows Lunatic drain (50%) also applies here once you are Lunatic.
• Damage to enemies does not cost sanity here.
• Enemies created in the Lost Valley get level = the placement's level for the current loop + your hero's Altar Level + 10 (the SanLevelAdd constant; it has nothing to do with sanity despite the name). The enemy pages give the per-enemy values.
• The Lunatic lock still works, so Elixirs of Sanity cannot lift you above 50 while locked. Only story 101 pays sanity for kills (+3 each, 16 enemies), and the lock caps that too for a Lunatic hero.
• The Immortal Jellyfish Jar is described as having no effect in the mist; its sanity pulse is only checked in the standard story scenes (inferred from the item text and the scene mark code).

Dream scenes#

Scene ids above 30000 and below 40000 are dream scenes. Sanity cannot be lost in them, and the revive item cannot be used. The usual Lunatic spawn rules are not relevant because nothing reduces sanity.

The maze (Deep into the Dark Mist)#

Maze floors are story ids 400 to 498. Specific rules:

Drain. Every 2 seconds the hero loses 0.5 sanity, or 5 sanity if Lunatic (so 0.25 per second normally and a flat 2.5 per second when Lunatic). Two things reduce it:

• The Purifying Saint's blessing from the maze statues lowers the drain by 50% for 300 seconds (StatusData 10096, Param5 500).
• A Moon Jellyfish Jar (item 26004) placed on the ground creates a marker that lasts 60 seconds. While you stand within 2 m of it you get a one-second status (StatusData 10097) that skips the drain tick entirely. You can carry up to 10 jars. They cannot be used outside the maze or Arcade.

The blessing halves the Lunatic maze drain to 1.25 per second (and the ordinary drain to 0.125 per second). Only with a Lunatic-survival trophy as well does it fall to 0.625 per second; near the jar it is 0.

Refills lift you out of Lunatic. Normal play locks your sanity at 50 if you are Lunatic. In the maze (including the start and boss rooms) the lock is replaced by a bonus: whenever you gain sanity, the game also adds the gap between your current sanity and 50. A hero at 20 who drinks a one-point tick of Elixir of Sanity jumps to 51. The Elixir of Sanity itself is blocked in the maze; the maze has its own items:

Statues can cost sanity. Two of the six Cleansing Saint offers ask you to give sanity (10 for 70% Health, 20 for an extra life stack). The game halves every sanity amount printed on these offers, so the real price is 5 and 10 (Maze statues#Sanity is halved).

Companions. While in the maze with a call hero saved, the game spawns that hero near you after a short wait. Allies ignore sanity.

Boss rooms. In the maze boss room, when a maze boss exists, sanity is forced to 49.9 on every redraw of the meter (Lunatic, no drain). The first maze room is exempt from drain.

Chapter boss rooms#

There is no time drain in a boss fight. Instead the Lunatic state is a switch that starts the boss's second phase, and the sanity floor is pinned at the Lunatic line so the large boss SanDamage numbers cannot kill you. The rules and the rewards are in Lunatic state#Bosses and Lunatic state#Ways out.

Colossal Grave and timed boss challenge#

In the Colossal Grave (story 8) and in the boss-time challenge, the meter is overwritten with 49.9 (half of the maximum minus 0.1) each time it is drawn. The hero is permanently Lunatic, never drains, and no doppelganger appears. Anything that depends on being Lunatic (hero Lunatic effects, the Lunatic damage rules) is on for the whole fight, and anything that depends on being Normal is off.

Arcade mode#

In Arcade mode sanity gains and losses are ignored outside boss fights (the add and subtract functions return immediately). In boss fights they work as usual.

Hidden mechanics#

• Maze refills double as a cure. Because the game adds the gap to 50, the cheapest maze sanity source (a single kill) is enough to end the Lunatic state.
• Moon vs. Immortal jellyfish jars. The game has two separate jar items. The Moon Jellyfish Jar (maze only) blocks drain. The Immortal Jellyfish Jar (story scenes, one per hero, markers capped at 10) restores 1 sanity per second while you are within 2 m (status 10083: 0.5 per tick, rounded up).
• The Lost Valley drain ignores your sanity stage. Normal heroes lose sanity there at the same rate as Lunatic ones; the only safe places are the circles.
• Colossal Grave Lunatic is free. You get Lunatic bonuses without the drain or the doppelganger.
• One Lost Valley pays for kills. Story 101 (Lost Valley - Heggem, StoryData StageId 20003) has 16 enemy placements that give +3 sanity per kill, the only non-maze, non-boss area where kills restore sanity. Stories 102 to 105 pay nothing.

Related#

Sanity, Lunatic state, Abnormal state, Sanity doppelganger, Deep into the Dark Mist, Maze statues, Arcade mode, Bosses.

Sources#

• Lost Valley enemy level: controller/controllerstorymode.lua:26, 2907-2912, 3002-3008 (StoryMonster Level_k of stories 101 to 105: 1, 4, 8, 13, 11 in loop 1, 1 in loops 2 to 4); call hero refill: :1904-1910.
• Per-area drain and doppelganger branches: controller/controllerstorymode.lua:17-28 (constants), :2180-2290 (UpdateSan), :7626-7660 (fountain), :4470-4560 (jar markers), logic/item/itemscene.lua:8, 238-248, structdata/ms_itemdata.lua:97-119.
• Scene range checks: logic/battle/battledata.lua:351-365 (exclusive bounds); structdata/ms_storylist.lua:143-150; structdata/ms_storydata.lua:13 (story 8 = StoryId10011).
• Maze refill lift, fountain, Arcade and 49.9 override: logic/playervalue/animalbase_value.lua:1150-1175 (AddPropertyCommon), :1235-1250 (AddSanPercentInMaze), :1455-1470 (ShowSan), gamedata/playerdefine/animalbase_value_define.lua:13-17 (SanBound 1, 0.7, 0.5); logic/scene/fountain.lua:5 (AddSanPer 0.5).
• Statuses: StatusData 10083 (LogicType 103, Param5 5), 10096 (LogicType 118, Time 300), 10097 (LogicType 121), 10100 (maze nail); items ItemData 20020, 20021, 20030, 26003, 26004; StoryMazeStatue rows 6, 12, 13-20 (SanityDescription text); StoryMonster SanKill per StoryId (401-4xx maze floors, 101 = StoryData StageId 20003, 16 rows with SanKill 3; 102 to 105 have 0).
• Lost Valley safe circles: logic/scene/scenebase.lua:3020-3033 (ProtectSan locators).
• Boss second phase: controller/controllerstorymode.lua:2255-2263.