RPGDX > Traditional RPGs > The Ghost of the Haunted Grove

Review by XMark on 09-06-2002

Impressive for a 48-hour undertaking! I especially liked how well-balanced the combat was, so as I kept gaining experience I was able to venture further out into the world. The plot was good as well, and after the moral dilemma I still wasn't sure whether I did the "right thing" or not.

Graphics look nice, and the sprites overlapping above them was a nice touch to add depth. The only thing that this was really lacking was sound or music, and it was a bit weird in the long conversations having the text boxes piling on top of each other. But those are minor problems.

heh, I believe you are the only one to put in a complete game before the original 48-hour deadline. Kudos!

Review by Bjorn on 13-06-2002

I felt there was the need to relativate a bit. The graphics are not that good, most areas only consist of 2 to 4 different tiles and the tiles themselves are a rather chaotic. There's also no transition between different types of tiles.

Still, after playing the game all the way until I was slain by someone unexpected (I won't tell the story, hehe), I must say it still was a rather nice game. Indeed the game was well balanced and it was nice to be able to buy new equipment. I also liked the skill system, 'buying' better skills for gained experience points.

I think the combat could be improved a lot by widening the message window and by allowing quicker fighting (no forced pauses). But as I said, the game is fun to play as it is. Nice job!

Review by Georg on 15-06-2002

The graphics could be improved, but the story was very nice for a MiniRPG. Now I don't want to spoil anything but I finished it a couple of times. And I liked that very much. This is a nice MiniRPG.

Review by Jihgfed Pumpkinhead on 15-02-2003

I really liked this game. I found it extremely well-balanced, excepting the fact that the potion system could be easily abused: after a point in the game, you could buy many more potions than you could ever have reason to use, and this made the game a cinch. To counter this, I limited myself to carrying ten potions, and this seemed to work well. Perhaps the problem is mine, though, as I was always chickening-out and running back to the castle to get healed, and as a result perhaps I was in for an easier time of it.

The battle system is suprisingly entertaining given how limited it is. Essentially, battle strategy is a question of knowing when and when not to run. The problem with this is that in the final battle your option to run is disabled: so, the final battle is merely a slugging match, and frankly therefore rather anti-climactic. There are ways around this, if you're really concerned, but since the game is a done thing I won't go into it.

I very much like the fact that I can control the manner in which my character evolves. That part is well-integrated, too.

I actually liked the graphics a lot, particularly the combat images. Granted, they were all ugly, but goblins, zombies and such are supposed to be ugly, and I thought they suited the flavour of the game perfectly.

I was fine with the game when there was, essentially, no story, but once a story-line became part of the game, I really wanted it to be fleshed out a little more. I like the story, by the way, but I won't go into it because I dislike spoilers.

Oh, and for God's sake, change the name. "Ghost of the Haunted Grove" sounds like a Hardy Boys' mystery.

Summary: good game. Too simplistic to be great, but good.

Review by pabarry on 11-07-2003

Overall I though it was a good game considering that it was made in 48 hours. I wish there had been a bit more variety in the monster graphics as well as more tiles. I thought that the experience system was a great idea. Its nice to see a change from the "Leveling Up" that is all too common (I'm guillty of using this system).

I only noticed one bug in the game and that was you could use potions in battle even if you didn't have any.

I would recommend that everyone at least tries this game.

Review by Demon_Forever on 29-04-2004

This is the worst game I have ever played.The story was not good,the graphics were awful and it was just bad.