YOUR RM PREFERENCE

RPG Maker XP with a slight upgrade/hack to use RGSSv2 (I need my Graphics.snap_to_bitmap damnit!)


Scripting makes things so much easier (or rather it gets rid of some of the difficulty) and its much easier to read than Rm2k(3) events. Actually making, changing, and the inevitiable debugging is so much easier when its in Ruby instead of Rm2k(3) event lingo. I'm doing a lot of stuff from scratch so the missing/shitty systems doesn't bother me at all (it also means I'll have something done maybe by 2064).

There's some things that are missing (which I could compensate for if I had designed my code better but oh well) and the engine itself runs like piss at times but I'm very happy with RMXP and the only thing I use RM2k3 for is to finish some damn game that blew up.

This is the wrong forum.

However, I have no preference in RM series. If I had to use one, I would use VX. It offers the best performance with the ability to script.

ika is still better, though...

Oh god I wish I could give you a medal, Neophyte.

Wow.... all I have to say is read FyreX's opinions and you basically have mine... so why bother to write whats already there.

I'm living in the past with RM2K. I've looked at 2K3, but I don't like its DBS and bigger HP/MP values. I didn't feel that it offered enough more than 2K for me to switch over.

I don't know anything about XP or VX, except that they're way more capable and I probably wouldn't be able to use the same graphics anymore. Being not that good at spriting, I'm relatively stuck.

What Neo said. I once saw a trailer for an XP game, it had a custom battle system, a turn based tactics battle system, an action zelda type system, and a shitload of mini games and crafting systems. Which really makes my head spin thinking about it. But even rm2k/3 users have this flaw, only instead of scripts, its just random features like DAY NIGHT SYSTEM OMG or CRAFTING SYSTEM OMG that they just slap on thinking it'll make their game more noticed. Of course these features were probably 100% configured by the game's creator, so at least they'll blend in unlike most XP/VX games and their copy pasted scripts.

But yeah I'm pretty much in favor of rm2k3, but plan to use VX for future projects. Personally I sometimes hate rm2k3 for it's crappy use of stats and requires a lot of effort to make the DBS actually work decently let alone be fun. I sort of wish there was an option to make it ATB or simply 100% turn based like the original rm2k.

I prefer the RM2k3. And basically with the same reasons Neophyte and Darken gave. Though I think RM2k3 is alot simplier, it takes alot more brain power. Like Darken stated before any one can go online and add a script. In RM2k3, most designers do there own work. Though they might look at a tut for ideas, they create things unseen before. Now Im not saying that RMXP users dont, but most of them dont. And I see many battle systems that look to similar to this battle system and this menu looks just like this menu.

I also seen alot more great stories in RM2k3, which drew me to RM2k3. I dont know if its because Im fairly new to the RM community, if there are just more veterans storytellers in 2k3, or if graphics are a primary focus in RMXP. It might be all of them combine. I dont know. All I know is RM2k3 was where the stories were at.

(Now dont twist my words and say that I said there are no good stories in RMXP. I said (or was implied) that there are not as many in RMXP. I dont want anybody saying "What you mean there is no good stories in RMXP. Did you play so and so?")

RMVX, no contest. Superior graphics engine, superior performance, programming, and any of the limitations that are in the program are easily rectified with plug n' play scripts rather then editing the damn engine itself (I am looking at you, GameOverGames =P), though you can do that in RMVX too if you are so desperate.

The thing with scripts is this - they are useful if you use them properly. They provide features that would otherwise require a great deal of what I like to call 'messy creativity' - a very common trait in RM2k/3 games that is an enormous timesink for most makers, and what often results in an incomplete game or total trash.

This messy creativity is really common in this community. For every Legend of the Philosopher's Stone (which is a successful system, but still pretty underwhelming and not terribly fun) there's fifteen times as much crap like Power Trip (NEON BLUE AND YELLOW MENUS THANKS) to make it look like a huge waste of time. And then the most fun and original battle systems (e.g. Aurora Wing and The Frozen World) are for the most part totally ignored. Absolutely ridiculous, if you think about it, and it only reinforces the whole idea of this being a non-interactive community based around screenshots and e-peen. A huge irony when it is actually a community about GAMES, something that is inherently interactive. (Insert plug for Mog's Play Something topic here)

This is something we need to get over - a crappy game with a bunch of pretty, randomly edited rips does not make a game any better than a crappy game full of scripts, and is, in fact, probably worse because ripping game graphics for your game is technically illegal. But then again, so is using RM2k/3. Start thinking more about how to make your damn game FUN rather than adding a whole bunch of useless features to your game, or filling it up with pretty graphics no one will ever see because you are too busy making forest and light overlays, or editing cliff tiles to make them look right with a completely mismatched chipset.

As a side note, the coolest scripts in RMVX are the subtle ones, not the huge massive bloated battle system scripts. For example, a time and location script. Just put it in and you have the gameplay time and the name of the current location in your menu. Hardly essential, but neat and fun.