Trophy Guide: Pandora's Box

[Netto20XX]

All,

 

I struggled a bit getting this crap, but finally did it!  Hopefully this helps someone.

 

Setup:

 

Strongly advise you play in 2P mode, which requires a second controller be active at all times.   If you have a PS4 controller you can use that too thanks to a recent yet silent update (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-02-how-to-use-a-dualshock-4-wirelessly-with-a-ps3).

 

Preferably, you should use a PlayStation Move + Camera as default to help aim.  Plus it helps with those ANNOYING events, where you must feverishly shake your controller.

 

2P Tactic

 

When playing in 2P mode your damage output is basically cut in half, making some boss fights (i.e., Stage 5 and Stage 6) a serious problem if playing alone.  However the trade off is that the grading criteria is also cut in half, which makes getting an A or S rank MUCH easier.

 

If a player gets Game Over and remains “dead”, the game reverts back to 1P Mode more or less.  This means you'll do regular damage while your partner is dead.  The trick here is to keep the 2P dead until you decide to bring them back (Press Start).  Specifically, we want to do this for Stages 5 and 6.  Maybe Stage 1, but we’ll get to that later.  

 

Killing off your Partner

 

In 2P Mode, enemies can attack the left (1P) or right side (2P) of the screen.  Bosses attack both.  On certain stages, we will want enemies to attack and kill the second player.  Don’t worry, this won’t affect YOUR score unless of course they hit your side of the screen.  Simply kill off enemies on your side of the screen and let those on the other side do their job.

 

Ending 4 Strategy

 

Ranking Requirement - A / A / A / A / A / S

 

This ending requires you maintain an A rank until the final stage.  Technically, I’ve heard you can rank any stage BESIDES the first.  Still, I advise the last stage since it’s easy and short.

 

If you’re having any problems, start the game on the final stage and keep practicing it in 1P mode.  His patterns aren’t hard to memorize and he always changes his strategy once his HP dips below 50%, for both forms.

 

• Set the game to Very Easy with 9 Lives and 9 Credits.
• Start the game in 2P Mode
• Stages 1 - 4: Play as you normally would and aim for an A rank.
• Stage 5:  When starting this stage, kill off your partner as soon as you can.  During the boss fight, pay attention to its HP and bring your partner back right before you take the boss down.
• Stage 6:  Again, kill off your partner early.  Use grenades for those stupid enemies that throw knife/laser-like projectiles.  The final boss should be easy at this point.  Bring your partner back to life before you take the boss down.

 

 

Ending 3 Strategy

 

Ranking Requirement - S / A / A / A / A / A

 

I listed this second, because it can be tricky.  Even though I got this exact rank pattern, I did not get the ending to show for some reason on my first attempt.

 

This ending requires you S Rank the first stage and maintain an A rank through the remaining stages.  NO EXCEPTIONS.

 

• Set the game to Very Easy with 9 Lives and 9 Credits.
• Start the game in 1P — For me, getting an S rank on the first stage was tricky, so I started the game in 1P Mode and brought in the 2P right before the boss (just press Start on the second controller).
• Stage 1: You ONLY need 20 Perfects, the rest of the time you should watch your accuracy. If you don’t need to shoot, then don’t!  The good news here is that if you fail, you can easily retry.
• Stages 2 - 4: Play as you normally would and aim for an A rank.
• Stage 5:  When starting this stage, kill off your partner as soon as you can.  During the boss fight, pay attention to his HP and bring your partner back right before you take the boss down.
• Stage 6:  Again, kill off your partner as soon as you can.  The final boss should be easy at this point.  If you feel like you may accidentally S Rank this stage, take a few hits (5-6 total?)  or fire your gun aimlessly to bring down your accuracy.  Bring your partner back to life before you take the boss down.

 

 

 

[Rozalia1]

On 30/01/2018 at 8:30 AM, Netto20XX said:

Good stuff

 

 

Responding to an old post I know but there isn't much talk on these games and perhaps it can help someone else along.

 

First off I'm going to list something I found talk of but had to figure out exactly how it was done as it wasn't made clear where I saw it. You can actually unlock freeplay. What they said is you had to complete both HOTD4 and HOTD4SP, watch the extra video thing in full, do a ranking game, and finally you got to get a game over screen a small number of times by running out of lives when you have 0 credits. The thing that I had to figure out is of course that in the ranking game you can't just let yourself die at the start, you have to actually clear at least 1 level. Freeplay is very useful as you no longer have to watch out for loss of credits so enemies attacking the right side is cool.

 

Now, on to your stuff. I just got the G ending, as in the ending 3. However my Results were A / A / A / A / A / S which you put down as being what gets you ending 4. The only thing I can think of is there is a range that decides what ending it gives as I've heard people talk of getting very high scores and such and mine wasn't so hot. I got 259k at the end. It could be what decides the ending is getting Rank 1/2 and if you are above X points, perhaps 300k.

 

I'm going to play some more, trying to S the first level if I can which currently isn't going well. If I finish with the same rank setup and around the same score and get the other ending then I'll honestly will have to rule it as being random which of the two you get.

 

EDIT: Okay, I got the other ending. First off I tried to put it to Very Hard to see if that would buff my points up by simple virtue of perhaps enemies taking more hits. Same A for everything except final stage and 294K points... G. 

 

Then I decided to say screw it and shoot for S ranking the first stage which is difficult. My advice to people is to very much go for headshots all the time as you need a great many but to do so by tapping the button, don't miss too much obviously. Basic stuff but hey, repeat the stage enough and it starts becoming easier. Oh, and don't bother with grenades on the boss. Yes, it kills him real easy but you're missing out on a lot of hits that'll boost your accuracy. Getting hit when you have freeplay unlocked is basically irrelevant, at least it was for me as I would always get a perfect for score as I'd always end the stage with a second player active.

 

So anyway, back to the MM ending. Pointswise I got 264K but obviously that minor increase wasn't it when 30K extra didn't do it. So, while this could be wrong. It seems G is just 1 S while MM is 2+.

Edited July 10, 2019 by Rozalia1
More info

[Lonemankane]

On ‎10‎/‎07‎/‎2019 at 5:02 AM, Rozalia1 said:

 

Responding to an old post I know but there isn't much talk on these games and perhaps it can help someone else along.

 

First off I'm going to list something I found talk of but had to figure out exactly how it was done as it wasn't made clear where I saw it. You can actually unlock freeplay. What they said is you had to complete both HOTD4 and HOTD4SP, watch the extra video thing in full, do a ranking game, and finally you got to get a game over screen a small number of times by running out of lives when you have 0 credits. The thing that I had to figure out is of course that in the ranking game you can't just let yourself die at the start, you have to actually clear at least 1 level. Freeplay is very useful as you no longer have to watch out for loss of credits so enemies attacking the right side is cool.

 

Now, on to your stuff. I just got the G ending, as in the ending 3. However my Results were A / A / A / A / A / S which you put down as being what gets you ending 4. The only thing I can think of is there is a range that decides what ending it gives as I've heard people talk of getting very high scores and such and mine wasn't so hot. I got 259k at the end. It could be what decides the ending is getting Rank 1/2 and if you are above X points, perhaps 300k.

 

I'm going to play some more, trying to S the first level if I can which currently isn't going well. If I finish with the same rank setup and around the same score and get the other ending then I'll honestly will have to rule it as being random which of the two you get.

 

EDIT: Okay, I got the other ending. First off I tried to put it to Very Hard to see if that would buff my points up by simple virtue of perhaps enemies taking more hits. Same A for everything except final stage and 294K points... G. 

 

Then I decided to say screw it and shoot for S ranking the first stage which is difficult. My advice to people is to very much go for headshots all the time as you need a great many but to do so by tapping the button, don't miss too much obviously. Basic stuff but hey, repeat the stage enough and it starts becoming easier. Oh, and don't bother with grenades on the boss. Yes, it kills him real easy but you're missing out on a lot of hits that'll boost your accuracy. Getting hit when you have freeplay unlocked is basically irrelevant, at least it was for me as I would always get a perfect for score as I'd always end the stage with a second player active.

 

So anyway, back to the MM ending. Pointswise I got 264K but obviously that minor increase wasn't it when 30K extra didn't do it. So, while this could be wrong. It seems G is just 1 S while MM is 2+.

that is a good idea for both your tips but I like to know one thing. how do you get to kill the bus? As I heard from someone that you can get alot of good points from it when you do it.

[Rozalia1]

On 19/07/2019 at 1:05 PM, KANERKB said:

that is a good idea for both your tips but I like to know one thing. how do you get to kill the bus? As I heard from someone that you can get alot of good points from it when you do it.

 

You just shoot it a whole bunch. It appears in some points with some you being able to keep a zombie alive to give you more time.

 

As for good points... in 1P sure, but in 2P they're irrelevant. When I was ending levels in 2P I was always getting a top ranking in score.

[Lonemankane]

On ‎22‎/‎07‎/‎2019 at 4:33 AM, Rozalia1 said:

 

You just shoot it a whole bunch. It appears in some points with some you being able to keep a zombie alive to give you more time.

 

As for good points... in 1P sure, but in 2P they're irrelevant. When I was ending levels in 2P I was always getting a top ranking in score.

ah so keeping one zombie and unloading bullets like crazy can work? sounds good I guess but does it give good points?

Edited July 23, 2019 by KANERKB

[Rozalia1]

9 hours ago, KANERKB said:

ah so keeping one zombie and unloading bullets like crazy can work? sounds good I guess but does it give good points?

 

I don't remember specific points given but as I said mate, these bonus points aren't relevant in HOTD4 due to the 2P trick. They're vital in HOTD3 from what I recall, but not in this one.

[Lonemankane]

2 hours ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

I don't remember specific points given but as I said mate, these bonus points aren't relevant in HOTD4 due to the 2P trick. They're vital in HOTD3 from what I recall, but not in this one.

ah ok. thanks for letting me know gov. hope I can some time 100% house of the dead 4 and 3 some time along with maybe if they put 2 and 1 on ps4 I get them 100% to mostly 2

[AiKmAn_MZ]

I can confirm what Rozalia1 mentioned above ?. Yesterday I played through the game in 1P mode on normal difficulty with 3 starting lives and only 1 extra credit - unfortunately fewer credits (= 0) are not possible in regular Arcade Mode (not Ranked Mode). I finished the game without continuing so didn't need or use that extra credit with its 3 extra lives. I got A / A / A / A / A / S and the G ending ?. I was surprised to get S in the last stage because I messed up in the boss fight and lost 2-3 lives, even one against the first form which usually doesn't happen when I fight that boss as I have memorized his patterns quite well ?. I still got S because of a lot of points and perfect headshots in that last mission I guess - or "chest shots" because the weak point of the "bulky" white enemies is their chest. I finished with about 270,000 points and about 5-6 lives left ?. I got most of the extra lives in stages 1-6 and also cleared a good part of the hidden areas ?.

EDIT: I can confirm that it is random if you get G or MM ending. Yesterday I got the G ending once again with the same rankings as above while scoring over 300,000 points this time. This leads me to the conclusion that points are no factor. In my next run I got the MM ending and the Pandora's Box trophy with it while attaining A / A / A / A / A / S for a third time. In that playthrough I finished with about 280,000 points. You definitely need to get at least one S rank in a stage in order to get an ending other than the normal one or the Zombie ending.

 

One correction on Rozalia1's post how to unlock Free Play for credits: I unlocked it without playing the SP missions at all. I finished the regular game in Arcade Mode with and without using extra credits a few times. While doing so I got at least one game over screen. I also played single missions a lot to practice them for full runs. Furthermore, I finished Ranked Mode successfully without dying and also got a game over here in another run. I watched that extra video thing where the director and game designer talk about the development of the game. So to sum it up, I think what you need to get Free Play credits is:

- Complete HotD4 "base game" with all its 6 missions in one go - I guess it doesn't matter if you have to continue on extra credits or not

- It might help to additionally play through single missions for practice like I did but if you finish all missions in one go this should be enough for Free Play credits

- Get a game over screen a few times

- Play in Ranked Mode and finish at least one mission, then it is allowed to fail or just play through without continuing like I did (this detail doesn't seem to matter)

- Watch the video with the game's director and game designer in the extras
- You don't have to play or finish HotD4 SP - I did unlock it but never touched it

 

?

Edited July 31, 2022 by AiKmAn_MZ

[Rozalia1]

Thank you for checking out what I said @AiKmAn_MZ. What you've said regarding the ending you get being random combined with how the latest HotD game did it... I imagine what is going on is you're correct that both endings have the same condition, however which one you get depends on if the final digit of your score is 0 or not 0.

 

If so then the condition would be at least 1 S and at least A on other stages. The G ending seems to be most common so I would imagine that one would be for having a non-0 digit at the end. MM would be the one for having a 0 at the end.