Thieves. You hate thieves. When you were young, your parents died at the hands of miserable arrow-tooting thieves. Your early start into misanthropy thus initiated, you holed away in the mountains, rather dark knight-like with no intent to ever leave. But, as with all things, adventure bites you on the rear when you least expect it and the smallest things—like a missed morning newspaper—can change a life forever, birthing myth and Legend of Pandora alike.
Your first quest is a humble one but, with it, you're thrust into Francisco Ferreres' nostalgia-induced top down action adventure RPG, a world where chaos reigns and monsters are spawning like...something that spawns a lot. Zombies perhaps. Use fully-customized keyboard commands to navigate, fight and interact. The mouse is used when spending your coins at the shops or your experience points on your character stats page. Like all youths suddenly thrust into the hero role, you begin rather weak and armed with just a wooden sword so it's good that the first foes you encounter are likewise weak. Battle wins equal more experience which means leveling up and new stat points to improve strength, dexterity, vitality or luck. You'll also earn skill points to build specific weapons knowledge, scholarship, or activate special abilities acquired in your questing.
As you discover hidden treasures, complete quests and succeed in battles, you'll gain more riches. Use them to upgrade or change your weapon type, buy accessories or helpful potions. If you die in battle, though, it is game over; computer terminals scattered throughout the lands will allow you to save frequently so you can avoid lost progress. Plus, they allow you to teleport, for a fee, to any other portal where you have saved, which comes in handy toward the end as your journey sends you all over the map.
Analysis: A reverent fandom of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda inspired Ferreres to create Legend of Pandora. If you have fond memories of old school Link or any other NES or GameBoy Color RPG hero, prepare for a hefty swig of déjà vu. On one level you'll be remarkably charmed by the familiarity. On another, some haven't I already done this, like, a bazillion times before? thoughts might start interceding on your joy. It's best to shrug them off and just let the inner child in you (the one not jaded by all these newfangled gaming devices) run amuck with abandon.
Story-driven quests help keep that abandon from feeling like simple random killing even as your main point of action remains hack-and-slash combat. These quests, on the surface exercises in altruism, provide narrative entertainment and have the side benefit of training for the exhilarating final swarm. While zombies, slimes and other monsters are abundant, nothing pops up unannounced. After hacking and slashing through a square of landscape, it's safely cleared until you've ventured far enough away that the defeated foes can regain their populations. This makes Legend of Pandora well-tuned to players who want to get through as quickly as possible while also providing a ceaseless means of training to those who prefer the grind-and-conquer method of adventuring.
Exploration is well rewarded although there seems to be shortage of treasures to discover in the dungeon crawling moments. It's a great rush to find them but of the occurrence of chests is rare and random enough to make their discovery less than beneficial. Smart training and money management make it possible to purchase the best sword in the lands before the half-way mark, so subsequent chests or quest rewards seem redundant after that. A variety of weapon training pathways—swords, axes, or bows—is appealing for diversity's sake although swords tend to be the easiest, most rewarded path while magic is virtually overlooked and not well-explained. Yet these quibbles also mean Legend of Pandora is designed for immense casual gaming enjoyment. Leveling up, acquisition of new skills and new quests happen frequently, giving a constant buzz of achievement to keep enthusiasm high.
Playing a game like Legend of Pandora in the browser is a treat. Ferreres' passion for RPGs also transmits over to the player; you can't help but get caught up in this nostalgic love of 16-bit graphics and questing zeal.
Walkthrough Guide
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Legend of Pandora: Walkthrough & Strategy Guide
Settings/How to Play:
Saving your game and Teleporting:
You can save the game any computer terminal throughout the lands. It's recommended that you save often not only to ensure you don't lose progress if you die, but also so you can teleport to any other terminal where you have saved.
Stats&Skills, Inventory, Quests, Map and Options can be accessed by clicking on their icons at the bottom of the screen or by pressing the corresponding number on your keyboard.
Most the game is played via keyboard controls:
You can configure keyboard commands by pressing "5" on your keyboard to bring up the options menu. Then, to customize your controls, click on a command box then press the key you wish to use for that command.
Access stats and skills information by pressing "1"
Each time you level up, you'll be awarded 1 stat point and 1 skill point.
Stat points can be used to increase strength, dexterity, vitality and luck.
Skill points are used to train weapons skills (sword, ax, dagger and bow) as well as money collection, learning rate (student).
Learning Special Skills:
A skill point is also needed to learn the "push" and "swim" abilities...
After obtaining a manual, go into your Stats and Skills menu. You'll notice the ability to push or swim is still grayed out, because it has not been trained.
Select the ability then use a skill point to train it. You'll then know the Push or Swim skill.
Inventory is accessed by pressing "2"
Whenever you obtain/buy a new weapon or accessory, you'll need to equip it under this menu. To do this, select the weapon or accessory from your inventory list, then click "use/equip".
NOTE: When using a bow, arrows are equipped as accessories. Arrows of the same variety will reload automatically until you run out.
To use a potion, bring up inventory then click the item you want to use, then click "use/equip" to drink it."
You can also check how much gold you have through the inventory.
The list of quests you have received—both complete and incomplete—is available by pressing "3".
To see the map, press "4". Only areas you have already visited will show on the map. Using the map frequently, though, helps you stay oriented so you can better find your way to your next destination.
QUEST LIST:
No Newspaper
Find the town newspaper vendor; he must be at the town shop.
Screenshot: No Newspaper
Rewards: 5 XP; 25 gold; Key
Lost Communications
Find the lost messenger in the southern forest and ask him what happened with the supplies.
Screenshot: Lost Communications
Rewards: 4 XP; 20 gold
Snake Hunter
Kill one hundred snakes to receive a great power.
Note: you actually need to collect 15 snake teeth; luckily, this can be done by killing much less than 100 snakes.
Screenshot: Snake Hunter
Rewards: 5 xp; 5 gold; Broad Wooden Sword
Lost Son
Find the woman's son. He must be somewhere in town.
He's in the smallish house in the northern part of Boon Village.
Screenshot: Lost Son
Rewards: 5 xp; 30 gold; 1 small heal potion
First Blood
Kill 10 green slimes to prove that you are strong enough to travel to the southern snake fields.
Screenshot: First Blood
Rewards: 7 xp; 40 gold; Old House Key
Poison Collector
Take 7 snake teeth to the cemetery guard and he will give you the cemetery key.
Screenshot: Poison Collector
Rewards: 12 xp; 50 gold; Cemetery Key
Need Strength?
Give a Strength Ring to the lady lost in the forest.
Strength rings can be purchased from the Boon Village shop.
Screenshot: Need Strength?
Rewards: 10 xp; 300 gold
Zombified
Kill 15 zombies to clear the cemetery and the guard will give you the mausoleum key.
Screenshot: Zombified
Rewards: 15 xp; 100 gold; Mausoleum Key
Breaking the Curse
Bring 5 undelivered messages to the cursed man in the cemetery. You can get them by killing ghouls.
You won't encounter ghouls until a bit later, when you're inside the Leviathan Cave
Screenshot: Breaking the Curse
Rewards: 120 xp; 500 gold; Barbarian Axe
Pandora's Tale
Go to the library in Windy Village and talk with the librarian about Pandora's Tale.
Screenshot: Pandora's Tale
Rewards: 25 xp; 500 gold.
Crab Sticks
Kill 7 red crabs.
Screenshot: Crab Sticks
Rewards: 10 xp; 220 gold; 2 big heal potions
Jelly for Everyone
Kill 10 blue jellies to make the village safer.
Screenshot: Jelly for Everyone
Rewards: 50 xp; 200 gold; 5 big heal potions
Seafood Inc
Bring 20 crab claws to the businessman in Windy Village.
Screenshot: Seafood Ince
Rewards: 20 xp; 2000 gold; 3 super heal potions
Road to Leviathan Cave
Go through the little southern cave to the labyrinth. At the end, you will find the cousin of the librarian. He will give you the instructions to reach Leviathan Cave.
Screenshot: Road to Leviathan Cave
Rewards: 23 xp; 500 gold; Sewers key
Lost Grandma
Find the grandmother of the child in the forest.
Screenshot: Lost Grandma
Rewards: 25 xp; 250 gold.
Eye Soup
Bring 8 human eyes to the crazy guard that lives in the abandoned cabin. He will then give you a key to enter the Labyrinth.
Screenshot: Eye Soup
Rewards: 30 xp; 500 gold; Old Key
Troublesome Brother
Find the brother of the girl in the labyrinth.
Screenshot: Troublesome Brother
Rewards: 15 xp; 10 gold; 4 medium heal potions.
Crab Massacre
Kill 15 yellow crabs so the bully will let you enter the cave.
Screenshot: Crab Massacre
Rewards: 30 xp; 0 gold; Fence Key
Passage to the Doom
Talk with the lord of the mansion on the pirate island.
Screenshot: Passage to the Doom
Rewards: 50 xp; 450 gold
Lost with Tarantulas
Find the son of the mansion lord in the desert island. With his help, you can reach the Island of Doom.
Screenshot: Lost with Tarantulas
Rewards: 250 xp; 50 gold
Poisonous Work
Kill 15 orange snakes.
Screenshot: Poisonous Work
Rewards: 10 xp; 350 gold; 4 super heal potions
Tarantula
Kill 15 tarantulas on the desert island.
Screenshot: Tarantula
Rewards: 0 xp; 500 gold; 1 Bloody Pugius
Lost Brother
Find the brother of the girl on the desert island.
Screenshot: Lost Brother
Rewards: 0 xp; 0 gold; 1 Red Ruby
Near the End
Kill 20 red slimes and you will be able to go to the beach to search for Pandora's Cave.
Screenshot: Near the End
Rewards: 500 xp; 200 gold; Beach Key
Summoner of Pandora
Find the summoner of the monsters in Pandora's Cave.
Screenshot: Summoner of Pandora
Rewards: 1000 xp; 8000 gold
Healing Needs
Bring 10 super heal potions to the guard.
Screenshot: Healing Needs
Rewards: 4000 xp; 250 gold
TRAINING TIPS:
You need to use a skill point to learn "Swim" and "Push." Before going on the quest for those manuals, be sure to save at least one skill point so you can learn the new ability as soon as you find the manual.
It's worth it to increase the "Student" skill early on. The faster you level up, the better prepared you are for the harder monsters and the fewer healing potions you need because you'll regain full health each time you level up.
Initially, train strength about 1.5x more often than vitality. Vitality is a significant stat for battle survival, but the harder you can hit, the sooner you can destroy the enemy trying to kill you.
In addition, you can mitigate lack of vitality by careful maneuvering on the battle field. Stand in the right spot and swing often enough, and you'll take less damage.
Monsters in the last stages of the game are extremely tough; every damage point extra will be needed at that point.
While you can use stat points to train vitality, if you increase sword skill enough, the "natural armor" skill becomes available. Then you'll have the option of using skill points to increase health. This increased health will be important in the last stages of the game.
Money Collector is nice if you want to make more coins with less hunting, but it probably isn't worth neglecting weapon or student skills. Faster kills equal more money faster, too.
However you do it, getting enough money to upgrade your weapon will be well worth it, as long as you don't have a better weapon than your strength or skills can utilize.
If you stick with melee weapons, you can train Luck and ignore Dexterity. Luck not only increases dodge chances, but it improves the chance of dropped items (such as teeth, claws and undelivered messages).
If you wish to use a bow, dexterity will be more valuable to you. It has a bigger impact on dodge chances and it improves your hits.
Basic Map
Screenshot: Map of the Lands
If you have hints, tips, or other game advice to add, please post them here. We'll include them in the walkthrough and give you much thanks and credit for your contribution!
Thank you to herrcramz for contributing the following tips:
elements(for those didn't already know)
Fire Element
increases damage by 20%
Poison
delivers damage in what appears to be half-second increments. there seems to be a set damage count for each weapon type; dagger+1 sword+2 Mace/scepter+4 axe/katar+5
(not entirely accurate im sure)
Ice Element
slows monster for 2 seconds
the 3 best weapons.
Zombie Ripper(Axe)
BaseDmg 180-200
AtkSpd 10
Radius L
Cost 55000
Golden Flame(the best sword in the empire)
BaseDmg 162-200
AtkSpd 34
Radius M
Cost 45900
Mermaid Tears*(katar/dagger)
BaseDmg 170-195
AtkSpd 44
Radius S
Cost 55000
*Ice Element
and something about those pesky brownish area boxes bet you didn't know that...
while all areas to the left of Doom Island and that one brown square above the Sewer management area are completely cut off, the right border areas can be filled in. All ya gotta do is...
start at Pandora's cave, go right one screen then up one. you'll see two coral squares in the upper right, get right under those, swim to the right aaaaaand you will move to the next screen standing on top of the coral wall. take a few steps to the right and you'll have entered "the Secret Zone Congratulations, enjoy your monster free wandering
WARNING:
if you swim too far south you will enter a white area and the game will freeze and you'll have to refresh the page. going east will also bring up a white screen but you can backtrack your way out.
However, go all the way north and you will find yourself transported to the lower rooms of the Leviathan Cave.
Posted by: elle | October 4, 2012 1:34 PM
Aha! Very important secret area.
Labyrinth
You've read the push manual.
Go to the center of the first part of the labyrinth, with the row of gravestones. Knock off the leaves in front of the grave, go down, and raid the treasure room.
The other stash is after you get the swim manual. In mine it was a less helpful boost, but don't forget to backtrack nonetheless.
Posted by: Shudog | October 6, 2012 10:36 AM
Legend of Pandora maps
Okay, since I've seen some people asking about decent maps and I wanted one myself I've made these. So here are some that I've put together. They are only of the overworld, no dungeon maps.
Warning though, these are 1:1 full size maps of the major areas of the world.
Home, Boon Village and Cemetery (3368x4728)
Map
Windy City (4380x1578)
Map
Sewer Management and Crab Beach (2240x4208)
Map
Labyrinth (2080x3760)
Map
Pirate Island (2680x1872)
Map
Desert Island (2728x2192)
Map
Pandora's Cave Island (4040x2928)
Map
If anyone wants the full size map, here it is to download. (10336x7272)
Map
Posted by: Syrick | October 31, 2012 7:35 AM