Zeliard is a side-scrolling action game with platforming and role-playing elements. The game world is divided into hostile labyrinths, which occupy its largest portion and contain maze-like passages for Duke Garland to traverse, as well as enemies that must be dealt with. Crests and keys must often be collected in order to ensure the progress to the next area. Garland takes damage from enemy attacks as well as the environment (hidden spikes, high temperature, etc.), but suffers no damage should he fall off a platform. The hero uses his sword to combat the enemies, and shield to defend himself. He can also learn and cast projectile offensive magic. Special items can restore his health, increase the damage inflicted with the sword, grant additional protection, etc. Various types of clothes can be equipped; these can bestow the hero with further enhancements and immunities, such as prevent him from slipping on ice, allow him to jump higher, etc. The Duke will visit different towns during his journey. In these towns, he can rest, replenishing his health, purchase and repair weapons and armor, acquire potions, and learn magic spells. Currency is obtained by exchanging enemy spirits for gold in banks. These spirits (called "almas") also serve as experience points: after the player has obtained a sufficient amount of them, the protagonist receives upgrades to his health and magic points from a local town sage.
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Items and upgrades exist and are meaningful, but having to buy some of them for absurd amounts of currency again adds to the grind factor here. Speaking of currency, the exchange rate gets worse the further you progress into the game, making it take even long to acquire gold, or requiring you to waste time going back to earlier towns with better exchange rates.
While it does feel rewarding to progress in this game, especially when you manage to kill a boss, it also has a lot of annoying nuances that keep it from being an enjoyable experience throughout. I will also note that apparently some of these issues with grinding were fixed in the DOS port of the game, but there's no justifiable reason for them to have been so poorly balanced in the first place.
This review contains spoilers