Pandora's Tower

Pandora's Tower is a Japanese RPG video game for the Nintendo Wii developed by Ganbarion. It is one of the three games which are part of Operation Rainfall, but unfortunately, it is the only game they haven't succeeded with yet. It is still unknown if this game will ever be released in America. Pandora's Tower tells the story of a young man, Aeron, who must travel to 13 different towers, collecting the hearts of monsters to feed a young girl, Elena, who was cursed. If she does not eat the meat, she will become a beast herself.

Setting
Pandora's Tower is set in the continent of Imperia. This continent is divided into 9 kingdoms. The story takes place in one of these kingdoms, the kingdom of Elyria, in the year 511 of the Unified Era. There is currently a war going on: the War of Independence. The kingdoms of Athos, Certes and Thena declared war on the other kingdoms of Imperia, although the center of the war is the conflict between Athos and Elyria.

Story
The game begins with a montage of scenes showing the events leading up to the gameplay. While it can be hard to make sense of, this video provides some major story details. The kingdom of Elyria is holding a Harvest Festival in the capital city of Helycon to celebrate the 50th year of the current king's reign. Elena has been chosen to sing in the Harvest Festival. However, just as she is singing a mysterious mark appears on her back and she transforms due to a horrid curse that has just befallen her. After retaliating against the soldiers on the city walls who shot arrows at her, she runs off. Aeron finds her lying down in her normal form being watched over by Mavda, a strange old woman. She warns that they must flee the city as the Elyrian Army will surely be pursuing them.

As they are fleeing the city, they travel a long way. During this journey, Mavda tells Aeron while Elena sleeps of the dreadful curse that has befallen Elena. Later on, Elena stumblees, revealing her left shoulder which was hidden by a blanket. This is the first time the player sees the effects of the curse. Her shoulder has mutated into pink tentacled flesh.

Mavda takes them a long way away from the city to the outer reaches of Elyria, the wastelands of Okanos. Here they come upon a massive rift in the land itself, known as "The Scar". Suspended in the middle of this fathomless chasm is a fortress made up of the Thirteen Towers, suspended by twelve gigantic chains attached to the surrounding cliffs. Mavda takes them into another tower which is much closer, known as the Observatory.

After this short, full CGI video, the game throws you straight into it. Aeron, controlled by you, must climb the Thirteen Towers and defeat the Masters, which are bosses, at the top of each tower. He then must return to the Observatory to give Elena the Master flesh, who then must eat it. To achieve this, Aeron is given the Oraclos Chain by Mavda. She holds a ceremony which, by combining Elena's hair with the Chain, connects Aeron with her.

The game has six possible different endings. The ending will be decided depending on Aeron's relationship with Elena by the end of the game. Ways to increase their relationship include returning to Elena quicker, spending time with her instead of going through the towers, and giving her gifts that you find in the towers or you bought. For example, you can choose what you do with the items you find in the towers: you can choose to use it to upgrade your weapons, or you can give it to Elena to improve your relationship.

Characters
The main two characters in Pandora's Tower are Elena and Aeron. However, there is one other character: Mavda.

Aeron
Aeron is a 22 year old from the Kingdom of Athos. He met Elena during the War of Independence when he was wounded. She found him unconscious near her village and took him into her home, against the warnings of her parents about the dangers of keeping someone from the other side of the war in their home. He has been living in Elyria with Elena for 2 years.

However, when Elena is cursed at the Harvest Festival he escapes with her to the Observatory to retrieve the flesh of the Masters, or bosses, of the Thirteen Towers.

Elena
Elena is an 18 year old girl from the Kingdom of Elyria, and Aeron's lover. She loves to sing and lives with her family in a small village close to Helycon. She finds Aeron during the war and takes him in, caring for him. She is elated to get the chance to sing at the Harvest Festival.

The people of Elyria are followers of the religion Aios, which forbids them to eat meat. This makes it so much harder for Elena to eat the Master Flesh.

Mavda
Mavda is a mysterious old lady of the tribe of the Vestra. She helps the two when Elena is cursed, and appears to have great knowledge of the curse. She will sell you items, buy spare Beast Flesh and upgrade your weapons in the Observatory, for the Vestra are travelling merchants.

Gameplay
Gameplay in Pandora's Tower takes place in either the Observatory or the Thirteen Towers. You play as Aeron.

The Observatory acts as your base, where you can buy, sell, upgrade, create and repair items/weapons (all by talking to Mavda), or regain health by sleeping. You can talk to Elena and give her gifts, which will raise the Affinity level between the two. This determines the ending. If you find an unreadable text then you can ask Elena to translate it.

The majority of the game, however, is spent in the Towers. You go through a tower at a time, using the Oraclos Chain and your other weapon to defeat monsters (see more at Battle) and climb up to the top of the Tower, where you will find a Master, or boss. Upon beating a Master, the next Tower will be unlocked.

There is a time limit to how long you can spend in the Towers. The longer you spend in the Towers, the more Elena transforms into a beast. You can temporarily change her back to human by feeding her Flesh which you obtain from monsters, but the only way to completely remove the curse is for her to eat the 12 Master flesh, obtained by defeating the Masters. This time limit does not decrease when you're in the Observatory.