Game Mechanics

Golvellius is a straightforward adventure game. It resembles the original Legend of Zelda in some ways, but it differs in that you will only ever have one form of attack: your sword. The game also takes place in three perspectives. The world map works as you'd expect, but the two types of dungeons (horizontally-scrolling and vertically-scrolling) each have their quirks.

Your Sword

Because you only have swords to use as weapons, it pays to learn how to use them effectively. It may be a bit counter-intuitive, but you don't want to use quick sword strikes in Golvellius. Instead, the best strategy is to hold down the attack button. Most enemies will be stunned as long as your sword is held out, and you can hit multiple times. You can't hold the sword out forever, but you can usually get two or even three hits in before it ends.

Enemy Spawning

Overworld enemies will spawn relentlessly, stopping only when they've reached a certain maximum. There's often no safe place to hide, but you can use their spawning mechanics to make your life a little easier. Before an enemy appears, you'll see a bunch of white dots on the ground. If Kelesis or his sword touches the white dots before the enemy spawns, they will disappear. This isn't very helpful when you're farming enemies for gold, but it can save a lot of time when you're trying to quickly traverse an area.

Another fun trick is to use caves to despawn enemies. Every time you enter a screen, whether from another screen or from a cave, there will be no enemies at first. Use this to your advantage, entering a cave halfway across a screen to clear out any enemies. Then make a break for the other side! (This is particularly useful on the path to Warlic's Lake.)

Healing

Kelesis starts with 14 hit points (two life meters), and gains 7 more per Life Potion. This represents his maximum life total, and there are a number of ways to restore lost life.

The most basic methods are to find a cave with Randar or Enny. Randar will fully heal you for 150 gold (though be aware he will charge you even if you're already at full health!). Enny charges 50 gold per life meter, but she heals them one at a time. Randar is usually a better investment, especially late in the game, but by that point money is easy enough to come by that being stingy is often a waste of time.

Another way to heal to full is to buy a Life Potion. This is a one-time benefit, as you can't buy the same Life Potion twice, but it can be a lifesaver in some areas. You may even want to leave a particular Life Potion temporarily unpurchased so you can use it for healing later.

Finally, monsters sometimes drop blue healing tokens. You'll get a huge number of these from Giant Snakes and Giant Bats in dungeons, but any normal enemy has a small chance of dropping one. Each token restores 3 hit points. Defeating a boss will also bring you immediately to full health.

Death and Passwords

Golvellius is a fairly forgiving game when it comes to death. If you have any life left, a hit that would drop your life below 0 instead drops it to exactly 0. You only die if you are hit again at 0 life.

Dying is bad, but it's not the end of the world in Golvellius. You will receive a password when you die, and you can continue from the title screen. In either case, you will lose half your gold and begin at the starting screen.

Unfortunately, you will lose half your gold even if you use a password you get from Winkle. This can be especially frustrating since you're likely to want to quit after fighting a boss. Since bosses fill you up to Maximum Gold, this is the worst time to get a password. Try spending as much as you can before quitting, since you keep all of your items.

Mea

The plot of the game is that Princess Rena went to the Valley of Doom to find the healing herb Mea for King Aleid. In a nice touch, you can get your hands on some of this Mea yourself. It comes in two varieties—Green and Purple. You'll find Green Mea, the weaker of the two, early on in Rolick Desert and other locations. You won't be able to buy Purple Mea until you have the Aqua Boots.

Both colors of Mea have the same basic effect: when you would otherwise be killed, they restore a fraction of your maximum life. The Green Mea restores 1/4 of your maximum life, while the Purple Mea restores 1/2. The damage from the attack that would have killed you is applied after the healing. If you have both types of Mea in your inventory (you can only hold one of each at a time), the Purple Mea is used. The Green Mea will be used if you would die again, assuming you haven't purchased more Purple Mea in the meantime.

Buying Mea is a little different than buying other items. All other items remain permanently yours, but Mea is lost when it is used, and you can only hold one of each color at any given time. Further, wise women sell the same type of Mea for different prices in different locations. It may be worth traveling back to previous areas to save money on Mea, but given how easy it is to farm gold in Golvellius, it's up for debate. The cheapest Green Mea is sold for 1,000 gold in the north part of Rolick Desert, just east of the bridge to the Graveyard of Bachular. The best bargain on Purple Mea is 5,000 gold, also in Rolick Desert, in the western secret screen near the southern entrance. You will need Aqua Boots to reach it.