Crystalis (GBC - 1990) playthrough, part 3/20 -- Oak

Since he was mentioned in Brynmaer, I go train with Tornel. I really thought there was something more to the duel with Stom than just repeatedly attacking as fast as you can. Defeating Stom, Tornel teaches me the Telepathy spell. Venturing into the south path to Mt. Sabre, I get my first game over. Being placed back at the entrance to the mountain with full health started me wondering what the downside of dying is. With the one enemy I ran into being a major step up in difficulty, I'm fairly certain that I shouldn't try tackling this area yet. Checking out the north path to Mt. Sabre and encountering the wall I was told about, that leaves one path left to try. Entering the swamp and watching my health quickly drained, I start really testing out what happens when you die. It looks like the only downside is losing the Experience gained since you saved. Using the gas mask to survive the swamp, I eventually find the town of Oak. With the inhabitants hating humans, the only thing to do here is find the child who wandered into the swamp. Finding the child and leading him back to Oak, his mother rewards me with the insect flute to summon the monster terrorizing the swamp. The town elder gives me the Sword of Fire to slay the monster. It took a handful of tries, but I finally defeated it, getting the Ball of Fire as a reward. Tornel appears, tells me that a powerful item for the Sword of Wind is on top of the southern peak of Mt. Saber and to meet him there.

I've never played the NES version, so I can't compare the two. It's generally considered to be much better than this version.

I played this on a Retro Freak, which can play cartridges/cards from around a dozen systems. It has the option of installing the game to a MicroSD card. I played off the MicroSD card.

Captured using an Elgato HD60 X capture card. Recorded in OBS Studio.