Aurora Wing

I have no idea why Aurora Wing isn't hailed from the mountaintops as one of the finest RM games in existence. It's complete, it's got wonderful characters and dialogue, and it's got an incredibly deep custom battle system that works beautifully without any major bugs.

AW is a tactical RPG. Gameplay consists of two phases: Camp Phase, in which you prep your team, outfit your characters with new gear, or listen in on their conversations with other teammates. Then you move onto Combat Phase, where your chosen fighters face off against the enemy on a grid-based battlefield. You must position your troops wisely and properly allocate your endurance to outmaneuver your opponents, since they are often more powerful than you. The enemy AI is pretty simple, but is still far and away better than anything I thought possible with RPGMaker, and will keep you on your toes.

The game is not without its flaws. The graphics look really awkward and pixelated at times, and the isometric tilesets used on some maps don't work well at all with the grid-based movement. The story, while presented with riveting dialogue, is not very deep. And there are times, admittedly, where the simplistic RM2k control scheme doesn't seem up to the task of handling the complexities demanded by the battle system. AW does as best as it can, and you do get accustomed to it after a while, but the learning curve can be fairly steep.

Aside from just being a great game, AW is a monument to what kinds of great things can be accomplished with RM2k when someone truly motivated sits at the helm. Grab this one IMMEDIATELY, even if you're not a fan of tactical games