Amazing work on this, as expected! Grove and the gang have never looked better, and this was such a great balance between re-experiencing scenes from the legacy version and discovering novel twists and turns that you've added here. Definitely something for both new and returning players!
A lot of the things the rework does well have already been mentioned by others - the art is gorgeous, the UI is a joy, etc. - so I won't belabor them too much. I've also mentioned plenty of other general positives about your development style in my Prowler Act 1 review. Thus, I'll keep my comments here as brief as I can. ^^
Positives:
1. Obvious, but the sprites and CGs are such a treat to look at, and the UI design is phenomenal. Hard to believe this was accomplished in RPG Maker, but that's a testament to how much work must have been put in. Also adore the camp site art!
2. The writing is great; barring little typos that can easily be fixed with a proofread or two, I think this is a big step up from the legacy version. I could feel the thought and care that was put into naming people and places. The world felt more grounded and real with those extra specifics, many of which were absent from the old version. In particular, the findable document cases are great environmental storytelling devices which I hope continue throughout the game, maybe even outside just the camp sites. Most importantly, Grove himself feels more like a character now. He still has that "strong and silent" vibe, but the way he reacts to people in danger and the subtle hints at his past make him much more endearing to me than his previous iteration. And I think that introducing the Secondary Division trio earlier this time is a great decision. The story already feels more engaging, if a little less "lonely" as the beginning of the legacy version did.
3. The controls feel better, both in and out of combat. I'm assuming this is mostly thanks to the switch to MZ, but it was noticeably more responsive in my opinion. Also appreciate that the mouse is more useful as a UI navigation tool now. ^^
4. A level up system with skills! How exciting! This was really cool to see and was not something I expected. Ya'll are making a proper RPG here! :)
5. Grapple combat: absolutely adore how the struggle continues even after you orgasm. It feels much more grounded now. E.g., with the blue slime grapple, you can still see the vestiges of goo in those recovery turns on Grove's rear from where he was penetrated, before the milking continues. And the text, rather than looping over the same grapple description from the start again, now recognizes you've been used and "picks up" where it left off. Probably my favorite change so far.
Constructive Feedback:
1. One of my favorite visual details is the auto zoom-out near the cliff in the beginning. However, I think it triggers a bit too quickly, so depending on where you walk, it can sort of jump in and out a bit dizzyingly. Maybe it could be delayed by a second or so to avoid that, or remain for a bit longer to hopefully account for the possibility of moving in and out of range? Either way, I hope it gets utilized more!
2. Also in the beginning, the path east was a bit hard to find. This is probably just me being dumb, but the road looked like a cliff, and I kept trying to find a leaf trail instead. I generally dislike "yellow paint" type pointers in games, but maybe some kind of sign or luminescent vine could help here?
3. Not sure if I'm missing something, but I would love a way to view past entries in the Tasks log in the document case. It's always fun to look back on where you started. Just personal preference though, not important unless you folks are looking for QoL features to add.
4. Along these lines, it would also be cool if the document case updated with Grove's thoughts on experiences with creatures he encounters. As an explorer (or mercenary acting the part), he might sketch them in a growing bestiary upon first encounter, and if he is grappled and brought to orgasm by them, maybe his "research data" would expand, hehe. ^^ I mentioned in my Prowler review that I'd love some form of acknowledgement by the protagonist about what they've been through, and I feel this could be a great way to incorporate something like that.
5. Personally, I'm not a fan of level-capping areas, but that's just my thoughts as a frequent JRPG player. Not sure if that was just for the demo or if it's a planned feature; if the latter, I would just ask why that was chosen as a design feature instead of just scaling XP gains to discourage long-term farming while still rewarding players for fully exploring every area and engaging in more battles? At the very least, maybe consider bringing back item drops to give some reward even when XP is at max. In my playthrough, I hit the level 5 cap as soon as I battled the first green slime in the mines, so there was little incentive to engage with any of the others. "Monster Knowledge" as I mentioned previously could also be another thing to level up so that there *would* be some extra purpose to taking more fights.
Thank you folks for the wonderful work here and for sharing this completely free with us. An outstanding demo that left me super excited for what's next!