VERSALIA'S PROFILE

Oh, I don't think they're the SAME. I just don't think the difference is as massive as you're making it out to be - and keep in mind that organically-crafted dungeons also often fall short in the realms of setting and theme. They have more options to do it with, certainly, but this doesn't automatically mean they're inherently better. FF6 had some distinctive dungeons, but by and large when I think of the game I get a series of flashes of nearly-identical caves. Counter to this, Hellgate from LUCT is highly thematic and sticks out STRONGLY in my mind, and is not a 'real' dungeon at all!

author=NewBlack
I think we all have our doubts about this and I think kars and craze knew it'd be "controversial".

In Craze we trust.

haha, this

From Solitayre's article on game design:

3. Play up your strengths. Minimize your weaknesses.
If your battles are all filler you put no thought into, don't make random encounters happen every 3 steps. If you don't like making dungeons and there's nothing to do in any of them, don't make them massive and don't make them frequent. If you aren't a good writer, don't have reams of unskippable, bland cutscenes.

Not saying dungeons are their weakness, but, priorities...

author=narcodis

author=Versalia
this is pretty much exactly like dungeon exploration without literally walking around a dungeon

You're missing the point completely.

Not really. There have been tons of successful 'dungeon' systems that use a 'boardgame' or node style of movement or are not really a cohesive area in themselves while still being successful. Example: Item Worlds from Disgaea. You're just on a big board, usually with an optional puzzle or two in the form of geo-squares and teleports, and enemies to kill. You can only progress forward. Yet, due to this being a major game mechanic, people can and do thoroughly enjoy running through the item world due to its relatively straight-forward mechanics still being presented in such a way that it is an interesting format to play. Another example: Pretty much any of the Final Fantasy Tactics games. The 'map system' for those games is the Node System, and battles are basically just going into a souped-up battle screen. That's exactly like this: move around the (more advanced than FFT) node until you get sucked into a (less advanced than FFT) battle screen.

Please explain how being on a grid with background art for visual theming, BGM music, screen effects, enemies ambushing you or something etc etc lacks a mood and atmosphere.

(However, I do agree that the primary motivation behind using the system seems to be cutting out work elsewhere, which I do not approve of. Nothing is wrong with the system itself, it's the motivation behind using it that I find suspect.)

author=Brewmeister
In YEM System Game Options, set DEFAULT_SKIN_VALUE = 7 to the default skin you want.

Ah, that's what I was looking for! I wasn't able to find it by searching for 'window' or anything in the Wiki so I was having trouble locating it in the script. Thanks!

That screen looks awesome XD But, I would blur the slime-hand and rocks a little more like the title font, because it's got a bit of a grainy clash around the edges.

Yeah... that font is... absolutely atrocious.