Had an issue similar to what temp5 experienced. People in the second village were gone but reappeared south after I destroyed the two gates west and east. By the way, they were pretty hard, had to spam Q and E. Wish there was an easy way to switch between sword and bow.
Edit: Finished it, pretty smooth although the final boss was tough and withdrawing regenerates the gate.
edit2: and replaying it I can give a hint. To start out strong you need to:
1. Get good rewards from those two mission givers in first city, it's random so save first and if it's not so good exit and try again. I got a Quickstrike Blade (essential along with the bash talent) and a Cold Steel Plate (old guy's second reward, first is modest), and there's the drop of Bloodbones too (Lightning Legplates).
2. Hunt skeletons, as you attack a gate, skeletons will come out a few times, if you go to a different square its health will reset, so you can take out as many skeletons as you want just as long as the gates aren't destroyed. Bloodbones spawns 2 skeletons too.

I used to play this game for hours.. Something magical about it drew me in, and kept me coming back. This game will always be special to me, even if my save games are no longer there. I'll remember this story, this game, and keep coming here. A world out of touch, a story out of time, a land I can see come to life in my mind, every time I close my eyes.

Great game. However don't really like the auto-attack function
Also, really Fuzz-Paw? You give it 0 stars just because the how the sexes were portrayed.
Next time you have a period, don't write a review

Promising, but I had a glith occur. I cleared the 2nd village, but peaple never showed. After the gate mages, the village event never occured, so I got stuck and had to restart. I even got the +32 helm too.....

awesome