The Legend of Xanadu Help Page!!

The Legend of Xanadu Help Page!!
Some years ago I made my way through The Legend of Xanadu: one of the greatest action RPGs ever made for the Japanese PC Engine Duo console. Created by Falcom, primarily a maker of PC games for the most part, it has become one of their very few journeys into the world of console gaming. Unfortunately, it was never released in English, so you still have to import it to enjoy it. Recently Falcom released the game again, this time for the PC only, as an added bonus with the Xanadu Next Game and Falcom Special Box 2004. If you've ever played it, you know it is gut-wrenchingly hard without knowledge of Japanese, and I fall into that category.

When I first attempted to complete the game, I found a small guide online for English players that has now been gone for some time it seems. While not a walkthrough, this guide was the only way I would have completed this awesome game. Luckily I saved it, and have contacted the author, Ara Shirinian. For the fans who wish to experience this incredible game, I am bringing this guide back. Having finished the game, I have been able to add some additional information to help as you make your own journey through it. To the author, thanks so much for your work, and thanks for responding to my e-mail about the guide!!

The Legend of Xanadu is broken up into many different areas. It will take a little time to completely add and post instructions for every area, so please be patient. Combat takes place in two different formats:

1. An overhead view where you charge into the enemy monsters just like in Ys.

2. Side-scrolling action stages where you have to physically attack all the monsters. This is where the boss fights take place.

Since this page is intended for the guide only, please check out the link to Hardcore Gaming's Legend of Xanadu coverage. There you will find valuable information on the Legend of Xanadu series and the characters. Ok, so now that I've gotten that out of the way, get to enjoying this great game!

The Legend of Xanadu Guide, written by Ara Shirinian:

Gameplay Information

This FAQ is intended to help players who can’t read the Japanese text in the game. It is not designed to be a translation or a walkthrough. Not every part of the game is covered, just those which are the most difficult because of the language barrier. I don’t want to put in solutions to all the puzzles and spoil the whole game.

Contents:
I. Beginning non-obvious stuff.
II. Important points in each of the games areas.
III. Miscellany.
IV. Contributors and credits.

Conventions used:
“-“ Delineates an explanation.
“=” Delineates an item in a list of items.
“--” Delineates an explanation of a discrepancy.

I._______________

1.Stuff explained in the instruction book that isn’t obvious.

Title Screen
-At the title screen, you are presented with three options.
=The first begins the game with the opening cinema.
=The second begins the game without the opening cinema.
=begin the saved game?

--The last option only seems to work in certain circumstances, other times it just does the same function as #2?

Yes/No Responses
-Sometimes you will be prompted for a yes/no answer. A small box with two choices and a orange highlight will appear. The left option (two characters) is Yes (“hai”), the right one (three characters) is No (“lie”). Sometimes you will be asked questions by people.

--I have heard that you may have to do more or less to advance depending on what response you give to people. I would say that it’s generally a good rule to say yes to everyone.

Character development system
-The method that is used to make your character stronger is different than the standard “level up” method of most RPGs

=You can raise your max HP by losing HP and then recovering it. The amount that you gain (Max HP) is a function of how much hit points are recovered.

=You can raise your Attack Power by attacking enemies that take more than one hit to destroy. Attacking weak enemies will not help.

=You can raise your Defense Power by getting hit by enemies.
Defense Power will increase until it is greater than the enemie’s attack power, at which point the enemy will run away from you..

Death:
When you die, you will turn into a ghost. To return to life, talk to the priest at the chapel (which is the starting point for every area).
To recover HP, you will need to sleep in one of the beds in the chapel.

Sub-Screen:
There are a number of options which can be turned on or off.
Auto Button: Maybe this auto-saves games? I don’t know.
SPD Button: When turned on, this increases the speed of your character.
Mess Button: When turned on, messages will scroll by without any noise.
ATT Button: When turned on, your NPCs will attack enemies.
BGM Button: Turns background music on or off.
FONT Button: When turned on, allows you to see under text windows.
GRP Button: When turned on, you can see the percentage of your equipment strength displayed graphically on the main screen.
ALM Button: Unknown.
Items and some prices:
Capsules: 100 gems, recover some HP. You can hold up to 99.
Possibly recover up to 1,000 HP.
Elixir: 500,000 gems, SAVE THESE, they are expensive, recovers all HP.
Hourglass: 100 gems, Change time from night to day, or day to night. When equipped, it dramatically slows the passage of time.
Wing: 1,000 gems, warps you back to the chapel of your current area.
Mushroom: 500,000 gems, Permanently increases your max HP. If equipped, temporarily increases max HP.
Gold Ring, Necklace, Silver Ring: These will increase your arms, armor, or shield power independent of the maximum if equipped, or will increase the equipments’ power percentage if used as an item. It’s better to equip them.
There are event items, that are needed to get by certain parts of the game. They appear on the event portion of the item screen. These can be letters, or notes, keys or amulets that are needed to take to other people, open doors.

Look out for items hidden in desks, dressers, bookcases, things like that.
In the villages, there are two shops, one is a buyer, the other is a seller.

Maximums:
The possible Max HP is 9,999,999
There is no known maximum for gems, after 9,999,999, the display will turn yellow and the counter will appear to reset, but all gems will be accounted for.
The total mushrooms in the game are 14, they can be found in treasure chests.
Total elixirs: 7
Total gold rings: 12
Total silver rings: 14
Total necklaces: 12
Of these items, you can only buy the elixir or the mushroom, and those are only available in area 12.

Areas: There are 12 areas in the game, and each of them begins with an overhead view, and ends with a side-scrolling action sequence. The following are notes for each area.