My Path to 100%
Completion
in
Prince of Persia
So I finished the game about ten minutes ago, with about 15 hours of playtime and three different save files. Personally, I didn't find this game to be anywhere near as simple as I was apparently supposed to, so I reasoned it might be a good idea to share some of my strategies for getting through it in the easiest possible way.
I will divide this up into the three save files I had, so there will be three main sections to the post. I'll say which achievements are covered in which, so if you happen to be stuck with something specific then just skip to the relevant section.
First off, these are the saves you need to have.
1) Your main playthrough save.
2) A save at your first encounter with the Concubine.
3) A save just before you enter the Temple after healing all the lands.
Make sure to save at these points and you will have a much easier time going back and cleaning up the miscellaneous achievements. Doing this also limits you to one playthrough, so you don't have to waste another ten hours going back through the game.
Note: This contains spoilers.
Save File 1 - Main Playthrough
When I was playing through the game, I didn't worry about anything other than getting through it and grabbing the missable achievements. I suggest you do the same. I only collected the amount of Light Seeds necessary to progress, so as to make sure I cut down my play time for the Speed Demon achievement. (Note: I didn't do anything specific for Speed Demon, no shortcuts or anything like that, I just played normally and it unlocked as I took the final Light Seed outside to revive Elika.)
As for Be Gentle With Her, I used the save/load strategy detailed in the guide over at x360a rather than gamble a possible 10-hour playthrough on the glitch - I have bad experience with similar glitches in the past. Basically, I saved on every piece of solid ground and reloaded every time I died. I took me a lot longer but it guaranteed me the achievement, so I suppose it was worth it. This achievement also unlocked when I took the final Light Seed out to Elika.
To get the talking-related achievements (Where's That Temple?, Getting to Know You and Good Company) just hit LT to talk to Elika at every opportunity and keep doing it until she has nothing else to say, then move on a bit and when the talk icon appears in the bottom left do it again. I'm pretty sure I got this before the first encounter with the Hunter, but I can't be sure. Either way, I got it really early.
For all the Boss X Special achievements I did them all in my first encounter with each boss because at this point they deflect less and it's just generally easier. Most of them would probably come naturally anyway, but just be aware of them. Also, be sure to make an additional save file when you first encounter the Concubine.
For Speed Kill and Throw Master, there are more than enough enemies in the game to comfortably get both. I did Throw Master first, because after I had got this out of the way I killed almost every enemy before they spawned anyway because they're a fucking nuisance. Be aware that the description in the guide is a little off - when you have them near the edge and you attack, it DOESN'T bring up a button-pressing minigame. Rather, it just shows a little cutscene of the Prince kicking them off the edge. Don't panic like I did when the button prompt doesn't appear, because you will still get the achievement.
Pretty much everything else you will get during the course of the game, that includes In Harmony and the combat achievements Block Master and Deflect Master. You can miss Improvisor, although it's pretty difficult. I tried for ten minutes to purposely get it, then got it by accident.
After you have healed all the lands and go back to the Temple, don't forget to make an additional save file. We will call this one the "pre-Temple" save.
After you have defeated Elika's father and sealed Ahriman back in his prison, there will be a cutscene in which Elika sacrifices herself to perform the final healing. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR CONTROLLER. After the scene, the Prince will have Elika in his arms. Stay still for a full minute to unlock Precious Time. I missed this because I took a couple of steps after I gained control and had to reload my autosave, so be aware of it.
After cutting down the five trees and heading back outside, I unlocked To Be Continued... during the closing cutscene. Now load up your Concubine save.
Save File 2 - The Concubine (first encounter)
I went for the Sword Master achievement here, for performing a 14-hit combo. It is easiest here because there is nothing to disrupt the combo and the Concubine doesn't really block or deflect your attacks. I stood right at the edge and waited for her to attack, then deflected and started the combo. This is the one I used:
X X X Y X Y A Y X Y B then A Y X
It should look like this.
Save File 3 - Pre-Temple
This is the time-consuming part. With this save, I went back and collected all of the Light Seeds, found the two viewpoints (Assassin's View and Titanic View) and the lowest part of the world (Sinking to New Depths!), and did all of the Runner achievements. I found the Runner achievements to be really easy because there were no enemies left and no Corruption, so I just started at one of the locations, set a waypoint for the other and casually made my way over. I had no trouble with any of them.
Collecting the Light Seeds took the most time, but it was made a little less painful by this thread and YouTube. If you are stuck and can't find any help in the linked thread, then go on YouTube and type in "Prince of Persia *insert relevant location* Light Seeds" and it should yield a result. It did for me, anyway.
After you have collected every Light Seed from every area, you should have 1000. The final seed is the one you get from cutting down the fifth tree in the Temple, so you're going to have to do the final scenes again. When I got to Elika's father, I did the Combo Master achievement, for discovering every combo in the game. This took a little time and I probably didn't need to do all of them, but I did just to be safe. I used the list in this thread, pasted it into a Word document and then did them all, marking them off everytime I did one successfully. If the wall or the edge interrupted the combo and brought up the button-pressing minigame, I re-did that combo just to be safe. It took me about half an hour.
I received the final Light Seed when I cut down the fifth tree, and this unlocked my final achievement (Light Seeds Master).
So yeah, 1000/1000 in about 15 hours with some tricky sections and some tiresome collecting, but all in all a good game and a proud completion. I hope this helped some people out.
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