Zenonia 1 Achievement Guide – Unlock Harder Achievements

If you’re trying to unlock every achievement in Zenonia 1, a few of them can take considerably more effort than the others. Some are straightforward enough to unlock naturally while playing, but others have specific requirements that are easy to miss.

In this post, I’ll go through the harder achievements and explain what you need to do for each one. I’ll also share some of the methods that can make certain achievements much easier, including a few save-scumming tricks.

You will need at least two playthroughs if you want every achievement. One run needs to finish with a Good alignment for Good Deeds, Good Seeds, while another needs an Evil alignment for Bad Deeds, Bad Seeds.

I would also strongly recommend doing one of your runs as a Paladin. A couple of achievements are easier with this class, and one achievement specifically requires you to play as a Paladin.

Zenonia 1 Achievement Guide – Unlock Harder Achievements

This achievement requires you to defeat Pale in the Cave of Deceit, which is the first dungeon, without using any potions.

I found this much easier when playing as a Paladin. The Paladin has access to healing skills such as Restore, and using these healing abilities does not count as using a potion.

If you’re playing as a Warrior, you’ll need to be more careful. Try attacking Pale from a distance to reduce the damage you take. Warriors can safely use their standard attack from around two tiles away. Staying diagonal while Pale approaches can also help, but make sure you keep your distance so you don’t take unnecessary hits.

Brave but Bare

For Brave but Bare, you need to defeat Pale in the Cave of Deceit while having only your weapon equipped.

That means no armor and no accessories.

Before fighting Pale, make sure you have pushed all three blocks into their correct positions inside the boss room. Once you’re ready for the fight, stock up on plenty of potions because they will be your main protection against dying.

If you’re playing as a Paladin, having Restore equipped is also extremely helpful. You can use it alongside your potions to keep your HP up during the fight.

I managed to complete this at around Level 21 as a Paladin, which should give you a rough idea of a comfortable level for attempting it.

A weapon with Holy ATK can also make the fight easier because it can stun Pale, giving you opportunities to attack without immediately taking damage back.

Note: It is possible to unlock this achievement together with Proof of Proven Strength, but I have only managed to do that as a Paladin because the class’s healing skills don’t count as potion use.

Flowers on the Tree

This achievement requires you to use an Enhancement Stone on a Club.

The important thing to know here is that the Club is an exclusive Level 4 weapon for the Paladin class, so this achievement can only be completed while playing as a Paladin.

I recommend focusing on this achievement early during a Paladin run. As you travel from Ayles to Adonis, monsters can drop Clubs, including Magic, Rare, and Epic versions that may be useful when working toward an Enhancement Stone.

The Weapon Shop in Adonis can also sell Clubs to Paladins as long as they are below Level 15.

There are two ways to get an Enhancement Stone:

Combine Equipment at the Blacksmith

You can use the blacksmith to combine two Magic, Rare, or Epic weapons, armor pieces, or accessories together with a Combination Scroll.

Keep in mind that you cannot mix rarities. Both items used in the combination need to have the same rarity.

Combination Scrolls can be purchased from any General Shop for 1000G.

Buy a Manastone

You can also buy a Manastone from the Network Girl.

This option is expensive and limited, but it can be useful if you’re doing a quick New Game Paladin run specifically for this achievement. You will need enough existing achievement points to purchase one, with the minimum being 300c.

Hoping it’s not a Mimic

This achievement requires you to open 50 chests.

I found treasure chests surprisingly uncommon throughout the game, and if you’re not exploring thoroughly, it’s easy to miss many of them.

Fortunately, you can use save scumming to make this achievement easier:

  • Save before opening a chest that isn’t a Mimic.
  • Stand two tiles away and attack the chest with your weapon, or use a skill if your normal attack doesn’t have enough range.
  • If nothing happens, it’s generally safe to assume the chest isn’t a Mimic.
  • Open the chest.
  • Return to the Main Menu without saving.
  • Repeat the process.

You can keep doing this until the achievement unlocks.

Completed Adventure Map

For this achievement, you need to visit 128 different locations throughout Zenonia.

Most of these are areas and dungeons connected to other exploration achievements. For example, Desert Rain requires you to visit every different floor and room in the Oasis Dungeon.

Because of that, completing the exploration-related achievements below is a good way to make sure you don’t accidentally leave important locations behind:

  • First Steps on the Earth
  • Expanding Horizons of Adventure
  • Cave Explorer
  • Iron Soles
  • Forest or Prison?
  • Forest Pioneer
  • One Who Saw the End
  • Wanderer Against the Sun
  • Desert Rain
  • Final Footstep
  • Are You Lost?
  • Pioneer
  • Rising Above Despair
  • The Final Descent

However, some required locations don’t have their own exploration achievements. I noticed that certain buildings, including the Guild of Night, are also important.

You can unlock this achievement during a single playthrough, but make sure you visit both the Guild of Light and Guild of Darkness buildings in every relevant area. Depending on your morality alignment, the story only sends you to one of them, so the other can easily be missed.

This was one of the things I nearly missed during my first run.

If you have explored everything before fighting the final boss, you may still see two Visit Vortex of Despair [0/1] entries connected to the achievement. These will be completed once you finish the game.

Dark Merchant VIP

To unlock Dark Merchant VIP, you need to purchase items from any Dark Merchant 10 times.

You can save a lot of money by using the save-scumming method here:

  • Save before visiting a Dark Merchant.
  • Purchase any item, preferably the cheapest one available.
  • The purchase will count toward the achievement.
  • Return to the Main Menu without saving.
  • Repeat until you unlock the achievement.

This lets you get all 10 purchases without permanently spending your money.

Lost in Lamis Forest

This one is very simple.

You need to enter and exit the Lamis Forest maze 10 times.

I’m not sure why the achievement instructions suggest sitting around for 30 minutes, because repeatedly entering and leaving the maze is all you need to do.

Unknown Habits

For Unknown Habits, you need to pick up 10 Unidentified items.

Unfortunately, I don’t know of a quick guaranteed method for this one. From what I found, it mainly comes down to grinding because these items are obtained randomly from monster drops.

My advice is to pick up every weapon, armor piece, and accessory that monsters drop during your runs. The more items you collect, the better your chances of finding Unidentified versions.

To speed up the farming process, I recommend using a class with a screen-wide Area of Effect skill, such as:

  • Warrior’s Meteor
  • Assassin’s Thunder Storm

Ideally, find an area where many monsters can gather on the screen at once. You can then use your AoE ability to clear them quickly and collect all the equipment they drop.

Personally, I used Valley of Despair – Midway 3. I stood safely on the top podium and used Meteor whenever around four or five Liches were visible on the screen.

You can do this at any level and against any monsters, though. I simply chose that location because I didn’t want to leave the dungeon.

Stats Make the Style

This achievement requires you to wear a complete collection of matching Weapon, Armor, and Accessory sets.

The matching pieces are:

  • Weapon + Orb
  • Helmet + Necklace
  • Holy Armor/Breastplate + Outerwear
  • Gloves + Ring
  • Shoes/Greaves + Talisman

You can identify a Set item by its prefix name, such as Mercy Longsword, along with the additional Set Info tab on the item.

This achievement is difficult because Set versions are completely random regardless of how you obtain them.

There are only two ways to get Set items:

  • Monster drops
  • Dark Merchant purchases from the Weapon or Armor Merchant

So your options are basically grinding monsters or spending large amounts of money, which can require grinding anyway.

Using the Dark Merchant Method

You can also save scum when purchasing items from the Dark Merchant:

  • Save before buying a weapon, accessory, or armor piece.
  • Purchase the cheapest available item whenever possible.
  • Check your inventory to see whether it has the Set prefix you need.
  • If it does, continue working toward the next missing Set piece.
  • If it doesn’t, return to the Main Menu without saving and try again.

For example, I had a Mercy Longsword but didn’t have a matching Mercy Set Orb.

I saved before visiting the Dark Armor Merchant and bought a Basic Gem (Unidentified). Then I checked whether it became a Mercy Basic Gem.

If it did, I saved and continued looking for the remaining pieces. If it didn’t, I returned to the Main Menu, selected No when asked to save, and loaded the previous save again.

Make sure you always choose No when returning to the Main Menu if you didn’t get what you wanted. Otherwise, you’ll permanently save the purchase and be stuck with that item.

These pieces can get expensive.

Personally, I continued progressing through the game while keeping one of every Set item I found from monster drops. If I found duplicates with the same Set name, such as two Mercy swords, I sold or destroyed one to keep my inventory weight under control.

I kept doing this until reaching Libra Oasis, where I had earned enough money from grinding in the area to purchase the remaining matching pieces from the Dark Merchant.

At Least It Tasted Good

This achievement requires you to consume every SP-recovering item in the game.

More than half of these can be purchased from any General Shop, while the remaining items come from regular non-boss monster drops at different player levels.

SP Items Available From General Shops

The following items can be purchased from any General Shop:

  • Apple
  • Rice Ball
  • Soft Bread
  • Unprocessed Meat
  • Crayfish Dish
  • Ocean Fish
  • Sweet Chocolate
  • Whole Roast Pig
  • Supreme Bacon
  • Aged Wine
  • Sweet Pumpkin Cake
  • Vitality Soup
  • Power Dumpling
  • Special Omurice
  • Elixir

You also start the game with some Apples in your bag.

SP Items Found From Monster Drops

The following items can drop from any type of non-boss monster:

  • Continental Fruit — All player levels
  • Unripe Cherry — Player Level 1–19
  • Verdin Vodka — Player Level 20–39
  • Tough Bacon — Player Level 40–59
  • Tender Steak — Player Level 60–79
  • Sincerity Soup — Player Level 80–99

The easiest approach is to make sure you consume the level-specific drops while you’re within their respective level ranges. Keep an eye on what monsters drop as you progress so you don’t accidentally miss an item and have to spend extra time grinding later.