Full Games List
Featured Games
New Games
Reviews
Media
Images
Blogs
Game Updates
Images Feedback Summary
Game Design Highlights
Tutorials
Articles
Scripts
Utilities / Plugins
Resources
Engines
Engine Bulletins
What is Makerscore?
Past Events
Achievements
Misaos
Forums
Post History
Chat
New to RMN?
Full Store List
RMN Music Pack (free)
RPG MAKER: XP VS VX VS VX ACE
Posts
UPRC
5516
UPRC
View playlists
Closeauthor=joeybob
Wow. Thanks for all the great feedback everyone, it's much appreciated :)
I like the sound of VX Ace. I'm more interested in something that is fast/easy to use, and I'm not really hung up on mapping. Most of my experience was with RM2K and RM2K3, so I'm used to having the two layers to work with. I remember the events in XP being a bit confusing.
Anyways, maybe I will tinker with both for a month. Work on a small project in each, and see which one is more suited overall.
I'm just excited to jump in and get my hands dirty. It feels nostalgic to be working with these programs again, after almost 10 years of being away.
I'd say VX Ace would be the best to leap into if you're transitioning from 2k/2k3. Not saying it's the better option (I personally think it is, though), but in terms of layout and functionality, it feels closer to 2k/2k3 than XP, which I feel makes it a bit easier to find things and get used to the feel of the program. 2k/2k3 and VX Ace feel like brothers. They're very similar, but there's plenty that sets them apart. XP, in comparison, feels like their cousin. You can tell it comes from the same family as 2k/2k3 and VX Ace, but it feels somehow different at the same time.
turkeyDawg
195
Yanno, speaking of the SFC version, out of curiosity, has anyone here ever bothered with any of the console versions? I know they've made RPG Makers for the Playstation 1 & 2, which were released in the US. More recently I've seen versions for the Nintendo DS and I think 3DS, too, at least on the internet.
RM2 was all the rage before RM95! RM1 was never used due to an emulation issue where your game data was never saved to SRAM and when it was solved (who knows when) there were PC RPG Makers which were way better. RM2 sank real quick when the same translators made some RM95 translation patches.
Mapping was done by placing premade chunks onto your map. The chunks you had access to were determined by the 'tileset' of your map. RM2 had a more diverse set of chunks than RM1 which were more the same chunks but different skins applied on top. You couldn't even make world maps in RM1, there were four premade ones you could choose. RM2 had world map chunks you could use though, the max size was... 8x8 chunks?
Character stats were entirely linear with no base value. If you had 8 strength at level 1 you'd have 16 at level 2 and so on with no way to change that besides starting at a higher level and using that as your base stats.
Hmm, I don't remember too much else from it. Due to memory constraints there were no name for switches and variables wouldn't be a thing until 2k. It was pretty and had better music than 95 (not that it mattered, you had vgmusic.com now!) but doing anything in it was an absolute chore.
Mapping was done by placing premade chunks onto your map. The chunks you had access to were determined by the 'tileset' of your map. RM2 had a more diverse set of chunks than RM1 which were more the same chunks but different skins applied on top. You couldn't even make world maps in RM1, there were four premade ones you could choose. RM2 had world map chunks you could use though, the max size was... 8x8 chunks?
Character stats were entirely linear with no base value. If you had 8 strength at level 1 you'd have 16 at level 2 and so on with no way to change that besides starting at a higher level and using that as your base stats.
Hmm, I don't remember too much else from it. Due to memory constraints there were no name for switches and variables wouldn't be a thing until 2k. It was pretty and had better music than 95 (not that it mattered, you had vgmusic.com now!) but doing anything in it was an absolute chore.
Aegix_Drakan
6037
Man, I WISH, there was an official 3DS one that would allow me to actually play games I download.
Playing Subterranean starfield would be a good replacement for Etrian Odyssey once I'm done with EO4, for one thing. :P
-
Personally, as someone who used RMXP a LOT back in college, I gotta say I prefer VX Ace now.
Yeah, XP has the nice mapping with 3 layers (4 if you use events for layering too). Yeah it has a lot of pretty things out of the box (status effect animations, you can see your characters, etc). Yeah, it has sprites that are 2 tiles tall as the default, which looks nice. But to get anything even RESEMBLING a fun battle system you had to download/code a TON of scripts. Also, mapping is the thing I enjoy least out of making an RPG, so I didn't really enjoy working in XP's map system.
VX ace, on the other hand has a much simpler mapping system (less pretty, but much easier for me to use, except when making a cliff based map, grrrr), and although it lacks prettyness out of the box (no state animations, battle system UI and stuff looks super generic), it comes with WAY more possibility out of the box. You can tweak so many stats, states, and a million other little things that affect combat and skills right out of the gate. Using the demo version, I made a pretty damn nifty battle system that I'm pretty proud of that I couldn't have made half as easily in XP. And as for prettyness, The Yanfly Scripts fix that. Finally, being able to easily tweak and manipulate the damage formulas on skills and attacks is WONDERFUL.
Literally, the only thing I prefer in XP is the fact that tilesets are much easier to make and import and use. VX ACE's tileset system is horrible.
So yeah, for me, VX Ace trumps the hell out of XP.
Playing Subterranean starfield would be a good replacement for Etrian Odyssey once I'm done with EO4, for one thing. :P
-
Personally, as someone who used RMXP a LOT back in college, I gotta say I prefer VX Ace now.
Yeah, XP has the nice mapping with 3 layers (4 if you use events for layering too). Yeah it has a lot of pretty things out of the box (status effect animations, you can see your characters, etc). Yeah, it has sprites that are 2 tiles tall as the default, which looks nice. But to get anything even RESEMBLING a fun battle system you had to download/code a TON of scripts. Also, mapping is the thing I enjoy least out of making an RPG, so I didn't really enjoy working in XP's map system.
VX ace, on the other hand has a much simpler mapping system (less pretty, but much easier for me to use, except when making a cliff based map, grrrr), and although it lacks prettyness out of the box (no state animations, battle system UI and stuff looks super generic), it comes with WAY more possibility out of the box. You can tweak so many stats, states, and a million other little things that affect combat and skills right out of the gate. Using the demo version, I made a pretty damn nifty battle system that I'm pretty proud of that I couldn't have made half as easily in XP. And as for prettyness, The Yanfly Scripts fix that. Finally, being able to easily tweak and manipulate the damage formulas on skills and attacks is WONDERFUL.
Literally, the only thing I prefer in XP is the fact that tilesets are much easier to make and import and use. VX ACE's tileset system is horrible.
So yeah, for me, VX Ace trumps the hell out of XP.
joeybob
0
Interesting to read about the older RM titles, and to see more votes for VX Ace.
I ended up contacting support over at the official RPG Maker website, and they hooked me up with a new Serial Key for RMXP, seeing as I bought it back when it was first released.
Planning to grab VX Ace before the sale runs out over at Steam.
Looking forward to testing both.
Thanks again, for everyone's input :)
I ended up contacting support over at the official RPG Maker website, and they hooked me up with a new Serial Key for RMXP, seeing as I bought it back when it was first released.
Planning to grab VX Ace before the sale runs out over at Steam.
Looking forward to testing both.
Thanks again, for everyone's input :)
RM2K Value! is also still being actively sold and supported by Enterbrain, if you can manage to get a copy from Japan (or find a copy in Davy Jone's Locker...), so don't discount RM2K just yet either.
That aside, VX Ace is a perfectly capable engine and editor if you can look past its saddening map editor. Especially with the Steam sale going on, it's worth the money. If you're looking to grab some DLCs as well I strongly suggest you pickup the two DS and DS+ DLCs, they are worth the money. Others I would recommend are the futuristic and modern day tileset DLCs, but that's up to you.
That aside, VX Ace is a perfectly capable engine and editor if you can look past its saddening map editor. Especially with the Steam sale going on, it's worth the money. If you're looking to grab some DLCs as well I strongly suggest you pickup the two DS and DS+ DLCs, they are worth the money. Others I would recommend are the futuristic and modern day tileset DLCs, but that's up to you.
author=turkeyDawg
Yanno, speaking of the SFC version, out of curiosity, has anyone here ever bothered with any of the console versions? I know they've made RPG Makers for the Playstation 1 & 2, which were released in the US. More recently I've seen versions for the Nintendo DS and I think 3DS, too, at least on the internet.
I had RPG Maker III for the PS2 a while back. The soundtrack was great, and is available as DLC from the official website for I think $19.99. The mapping was a bit weird, and if I remember correctly, you just carved tunnels out of a big chunk of map for dungeons, and placed houses within a walled area for towns. One really good thing was that enemies had levels, so you could have a recurring villain who wasn't a separate enemy every time. Entering text was the worst thing in the world though, unless you had the super rare PS2 Keyboard. One game took up an entire memory card though, and to distribute it to a friend you would have to give them the software and the memory card so they could play it. Great concept, poor execution. I would like to see them make a 3D PC RPG Maker, but with all the other software available today, it wouldn't be very profitable.
But right now, Ace would probably be the way to go. When it came out, it wouldn't have been worth it, but since everything has been ported over script-wise, and with the new Steam support and the company's attempts to break into a larger market, it's probably going to become the most widely supported version ever.
turkeyDawg
195
I just realized that RPG Maker 3 is actually on PSN. With the luxury of nigh-infinite, electronic memory storage, do you think people still share saves with each other over the internet like they do with the PSN releases of the Dezaemon games?
Also, speaking of Dezaemon, which is the STG/shmup version of this kind of thing, I wonder if any of the console versions of RPG Maker had graphics editors or music sequencers?
Also, speaking of Dezaemon, which is the STG/shmup version of this kind of thing, I wonder if any of the console versions of RPG Maker had graphics editors or music sequencers?
