COMMENTS FOR THE ALGHORHYTHM GODS
Not reviewing since this is not a finished product , so leaving a comment because it's an interesting game and I want to give some support to what is a good and promising game.
First as a disclaimer, I'm playing NSFW games for the corruption/bad_end and the genders involved is of neutral value to me . So M/M, M/F* , M/slugs, M/Slimes, M/bigger slugs and so on are all fine in my book
And in that sense Grove really delivers on what I'm looking for. It's interesting, minimizes repetitive content, and generally respects my time by not requiring grinding and having appropriate sized maps for the atmosphere it needs.
The game also works around it's limitation well with regards to the RPG maker engine. Stylistic drawings communicates the fantasy greatly, the sprites randomly bouncing/moving emphasizes the scenes well, enemies have their speed and movement adjusted to give a sense of personality and so on.
That said there are issues I've noticed that don't work well for me to varying degrees.
The game has some early game weirdness/lack of content where it feels noticeably less polish then later game content. This is understandable but I fear it will drive people away since the less developed parts of the game is presented first.
EG: The initial slimes corruption/bad ends is just too simple/short , and don't develop as cohesively as you go through the zone stuff***. The Bat Cave for reference is the best dungeon IMO as its more cohesive, and tells a better story in addition to having more interesting and longer scenes.
Additionally the accessories/items are also very samey and don't really feel good to use or distintive in their use case. Like 15% grapple buff is good but doesn't feel great cause you can't tell if it's working or not.
That said most of these are minor complaints. And otherwise the game is still a great time
*There's no explicit** M/F content AFAIK and I am fine with that . Normally I prefer a combo of MM/ MF for variety but Grove has a lot of variety already so i don't feel like I'm missing out on things
**Not unless you count the slugs as Female .
***The later slime mimics dungeon is much much more interesting . THe zone is faster to go through , more interesting, etc