In ancient times, a Great Empire once dominated the whole world under the rule of one King. The King was granted this power due to his possession of the ancient artifact known as Pandora Saga. He was beloved for his infinite kindness and presided over a long age of peace and harmony. One fateful night, peace was shattered as the night sky was lit ablaze with large balls of fire showering down upon the earth, turning everything they touched into ash. Overnight, the once great empire was reduced to rubble and any trace of Pandora was lost with it.
The world suffered many centuries of endless warring since no one nation alone could dominate the other. However, an evil shaman named Brahm signed a contract with the devil and planned to start a war for his own desire to claim Pandora as his own.
You will take on the role of one such adventurer on a quest to regain your memories and discover the truth behind Pandora…
Upon entering the game, the player has many choices in terms of character customization. Pandora Saga Gold ’s first positive is the fact it does not lack in terms of player archetype customization, with players able to choose from one of six classes, four initial archetypes, and one of two racial skills for the race you choose. This gives a player an ideal playstyle from the beginning, so they have an idea where they’re going to end up in terms of gameplay down the road. The races include Humans, Elves, Myrine, Enkidu, Lapin, and Dwarves. The inclusion of 6 races made this game stand out from most MMOs that usually feature maybe 2-3 races.
Although we’ve seen Humans, Elves, and Dwarves before, the Myrine, Enkidu (pictured above), and Lapin all feel especially unique in racial skills and in physical appearance. If you’re looking for a game where your appearance is very unique from many games you’ve seen before, Pandora Saga excels in the variability of character races.
Pandora Saga’s main gameplay quests aren’t anything too extraordinary. The game begins with an introduction to many (almost too many) of the game’s basic features, giving you a guided tour of the first ten levels of the game. A welcome feature behind this introduction was that it was all somewhat cinematic, with the game using interactive cut scenes for the player to get a feel for the game.
Combat in Pandora Saga Gold is actually quite tactical. As an assassin, I noticed bonuses for being behind and to the side of an enemy, and my cool downs were long enough for me to utilize certain skills instead of others, fearing that I would end up breaking a nice damage combo if I messed up. Using your manual auto-attack is kind of like a frontal cone AoE, with the length of your weapon extending past a single target to other targets that are very close to your weapon’s reach. When I was in a party, I noticed many tanks utilizing this to their advantage and being able to aggro multiple targets in order for us to get quest objectives done quickly.
Pandora Saga uses an “abilities” system along with the timeless stats system. With abilities, players can spend and earn points in specific abilities to make their player stronger. For example, melee characters can upgrade their proficiency in Slashing, Thrusting, Cleaving, Bashing, and Defending, thus, increasing the skill parallel to that ability’s function. This adds another somewhat tactical element to character growth, allowing players to fine tune their character’s functions.
