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The Search for Princess Lunara - Getting That Trophy


by flotsam_freako_8254

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The Search for Princess Lunara has one of the most elegant trophies awarded in Neopia, and isn't too hard to get once you reach the ability to get the maximum score of 300. Now, you may be put off by the fact that it looks difficult and that a sparkly trophy in this game is unattainable, but in reality it can become one of the easiest games to get a trophy, with a regular stream of Neopoints coming in.

How to Play

As the name of the game suggests, Princess Lunara has gone missing and it is up to you to find her. Unfortunately the guards aren't to prepared to let you search for Lunara until you have correctly answered one of their questions right. The game has a total of 12 questions, and at the end of every 3 questions answered you will find another clue to Lunara's disappearance.

You have three different guards to choose questions from, each guard asking a question from a different category: All About Neopia, Neopian Culture and Notable Neopians. Note that the maximum amount of options you can get per question is 4. However, on your very first question you have a choice between 2 options, and 3 on your second question. After that all questions will have 4 options. In every game you play, you will always find one question that is timed (as seen below), and one that has a hint available. To select your answer, either click on the corresponding number or type it in.

Scoring

Every question in the game is worth 15 points, and answering all the questions right will give you a score of 180. However, those bonus 120 that will get you the maximum score of 300 comes from how fast you answer a question, and this is where the value of questions in the game varies. The maximum point scoring for speed looks something like this:

Questions 1-3: 4 points

Questions 4-6: 8 points

Questions 7-9: 12 points

Questions 10-12: 16 points

You can tell when the scoring for speed increases when you find another clue as to Lunara's location, but in terms of getting 300 knowing the exact value of the bonus points for the question you are doing isn't important. Just note that you cannot see how many bonus points you have accumulated until you have finished the game, so don't get disheartened if your score only goes up by 15. However, just as there are bonus points, you can also lose points if you get questions wrong. Well, in actuality you are bribing the guards with your points to let you pass. The minimum bribing amount looks like this:

Questions 1-3: 10 points

Questions 4-6: 20 points

Questions 7-9: 30 points

Questions 10-12: 40 points

You can see that you can lose a significant proportion of your points bribing away the guards, so if you want to get the maximum score, try and avoid getting those questions wrong.

Tips for speed

As a general indicator of whether you are answering a question fast enough to get the maximum speed bonus, you should be answering each answer within a second at most. You may be thinking, how on Neopia would you be able to answer something that quickly and get it correct all the time?

Fortunately, there is a fixed amount of questions that can be asked within each category. I recommend choosing ONE category only (I chose All About Neopia but it is up to you) and memorising all the answers. This is best done with practice, if you keep answering the questions you will become familiar with the correct answer and your speed will increase in time. You should also note that in my category at least, sometimes the correct answer to one question appears as another option in another question where it is incorrect. Be careful not to get confused between the two.

There are two ways of answering questions in this game: using your mouse to click on the correct answer, or using the number keys to select the number of the question you wish to choose. For speed, the numbers are the way to go. I like to use the numbers on top of the keyboard over the key pad because 1 finger = 1 number and makes it so much easier to select your answer. I like to play using my right hand to type the numbers, and I usually align my cursor in a position where I can just click to get to the next question with my left hand and get a rhythm going. My strategy is a lot easier using a trackpad than a mouse, but I find that my response time is faster with my right hand (I'm right-handed) than my left.

When answering questions, try and avoid looking at the actual question. Your focus should be solely on the possible answers you can choose and picking these as quickly as you can. You don't have time to look at the question AND the answers, and with practice you will recognise what the correct answer is straight away with only a very general idea as to what the question is. As long as you are careful with answers that can be correct in one question and incorrect in another, this should help a lot in increasing your speed.

My final tip - don't rush. Yes, you have a small frame of time to answer questions, but if you rush you will probably end up getting a whole lot of questions wrong and have to redo the game again. Playing the game calmly and having a look at your answers before answering helps a lot.

Getting that trophy

Now, getting that maximum score of 300 won't guarantee you a trophy. The Search for Princess Lunara is not like Ugga Drop where all maximum scores get gold but rather like most games where the top 17 scores get a trophy. Because there is the maximum score of 300, the trophies operate on a first-in, first-serve basis - you rank higher the earlier you send your score of 300. And unlike other maximum score games like Neopian Battlefield Legends for example, the high score table for The Search for Princess Lunara NEVER fills up. I have never seen more than 60 or so people get the maximum score in a month, so you cannot rely on getting a 300 score and waiting for your score to be bumped up as more people get the maximum. It just doesn't happen in this game :(

To get your trophy you need to successfully send in a score of 300 during reset night, which is the first day of every month where the high score tables are reset. If you don't manage to get a score of 300 sent on reset night, you have very small chance of getting this trophy later in the month, so get those scores in as early as possible. Here is the approximate time frame you have available to send in a 300 score to get that particular trophy.

Gold: less than a minute

Silver: anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours

Bronze: most of reset day

Yes, getting a gold in this game requires you sending in a 300 score within seconds of the high score table resetting at 12:10 am NST. I've seen the gold fill up in 5 seconds before. If you really want a gold trophy in this game you need to have a 300 score set up (I like to have 2 in case the table didn't reset exactly at 12:10 am NST but a few seconds after) and send it immediately once the table resets. It took me several tries to get a gold so don't be discouraged if you don't get a gold the first time you try - there's always next month, and the silver and bronze trophies are still pretty elegant.

Conclusion

Hopefully my guide has taught you all you need to know on getting that Search for Princess Lunara trophy next reset! At first the game is challenging, but once you master it the game will become a quick source of daily Neopoints and fun for you. Good luck!

 
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