Is Bastion “inherently harder” the second time

Pets do 3 things:

• If you click them enough, it will cause Rucks to say something. It will also cause them to do something.
• You can get an achievement for getting all 4 pets.
• Plot Spoiler:

Later on in the plot, The Bastion will be attacked. Any pets that you have acquired will help defend against the attack. You can fight the attack off yourself if you have no pets, but the pets make it easier. You may lose a few of your pets in the attack, but they won't do anything after the attack aside from hang out, so don't worry if you lose a few of them. As for Squirt being angry, you're fine. I did the same thing and he still participated in the attack.

In my experience, you need the upgrades to get first. I was only able to get second without significant upgrades.

The upgrades that make this challenge easy:

• 55% faster reload: Since you move so often in the challenge, a larger clip doesn't really help.
• 50% damage: Wider attack spread makes the challenge harder.
• 55% faster reload
• 50% damage
• Bolts Seek Out Foes: Ricochet doesn't help, homing is an obvious benefit.

In actuality, you can get first without the Tier 5 upgrade and simply rely on the auto-targeting the game does once you are close to the targets.