PREXUS'S PROFILE

Through the use of "Move Route" and "Set Switch" event commands. There is lots of information online on how to use these features. They are a common first barrier for people learning how to use the RPG Maker software.

I definitely like the style. Although it appears that it would be bigger than one screen, so it would scroll. A scrolling map implies (in my opinion) that artificial borders shouldn't exist. The style you are using should be reserved for single-screen maps.

Even in the 2D zelda games, when a room was bigger than one screen. In the older ones, it would do the typical zelda map scroll when you touched the edge. In the newer ones, it would occasionally scroll as in any other game and it always made a vein in my head pulse. It didn't seem right.

author=Jude
Surprising number of console players. Elder Scrolls always screams "get it on PC" at me.

I made the executive decision to get the PS3 version, and pirate the PC version. What I've always found with the PC Version of the Elder Scrolls games is there is always some game-breaking flaw that I spend so much time overcoming that I don't want to play anymore. Skyrim was (rather, is) no exception.

The PS3 version works excellently but the controls make Archery/Ranged Magic a pain to use, which I knew so I made a Heavy Armor 1 Handed Shield/Restoration character and its working just fine for me.

The PC version on the other hand, while I get way better framerates and much higher graphics (after applying a 3rd party patch for one of the .dlls,) and can actually utilize Archery and Magic properly.. after a while the game will randomly black-screen and occasionally crash without error. I have been told this has to do with having two monitors and playing fullscreen; but when playing Windowed I find Archery and Magic to be a problem again (cursor goes off the screen all the time.)

The game also suffers from the same 'Consolization' problem that almost all new releases do. The game was designed with console gaming in mind, and the controls don't translate well to PC. Thankfully they are open to modding and this can easily be fixed. I find it has you alternating from mouse gestures to clicking to using the keyboard to using the directional keys all on the same few menus. It doesn't know what it wants to do for controls. The PS3 version however the controls are incredibly good (except for accidently sneaking in intense fights because I hit the directional thumbstick to hard.) Oh, and the fact the thumbsticks are AWFUL for aiming. Half the time I am stealing things, its by accident because I slightly mis-targeted an NPC to talk to. I think its due to the sensitivity (the same sensitivity that determines slow-walking versus jogging) the jump from slowly aiming to quickly aiming is drastic and sudden.

You both make fairly valid points and I like that you went into detail explaining them; although you also miss a few of my points which I will summarize briefly:

The Databases in XP and VX are the same, if you look deep enough. Noteboxes exist in XP through the use of Scripts, and through clever use of the existing fields. Noteboxes themselves even seemed to exist after having taken clues from scripters such as myself creatively using the Description field and Name field of entries in the XP Database (parsing out information using Regular Expressions to add additional fields and such.)

This is the reason I simply ignored talking about the databases and went onto the Map Editor since that is the key difference between the two. The Map Editor (which is inferior by far) and RGSS2 (which is superior by far) which you mentioned yourself can be ported backwards to RMXP (I believe Dargor and Yeyinde both did this as well as you and I and I am sure many more.)

Due to the existence of the RGSS Editor, RMXP and RMVX are essentially the same. They can both be ported backwards and forwards, they can both be stripped down and recoded (although certain aspects of their respective RGSS dll's are hard to overcome,) and their capabilities in all aspects short of the existing map editor, whether they are innate in the editor or need to be added through RGSS, are the same. The primary difference is the Map Editor, and VX's Map Editor is worse. Hands down. Yes, you can use SwapTX and Panorama mapping, but SwapTX doesn't get rid of the way the layer system works (as far as I know) and the over reliance on Auto-Tiles; and Panorama mapping can be considered more labor-intensive although can also offer much better effects than either map editor is capable of by default.

Lastly, it's ignorant to say that the code wasn't simplified from XP to VX. The addition of the base Scene class, the visibility of the Cache, Audio, and Vocab modules, the accessibility of the Sprite Base and Window Base classes, and the removal of multiple headlines for the same script (Game_Battler 1/2/3, Scene_Battle 1/2/3/4) were all attempts to streamline and increase the efficiency of the code.

Not to mention all of the methods they added to cover duplicate code.

author=Archeia_Nessiah
VX has a patcher. No need to redownload a whole thing for bug fixes etc.
VX also has stronger database support than XP, editor wise.
XP is slower, you can technically change the FPS rate but there are still barring problems with it. Just look around the Bug fixes section for it.
VX has a larger community than XP right now. Check rpgmakervx.net for that.
VX also has a lot of resources but most rely on panorama mapping. Curves are possible though.
From what I saw when using XP and VX, XP scripts have tons of bugs and most of the time, people that made these are inactive now while VX's support section is more active plus look at the amount of Yanfly Scripts, Modern Algebra, etc.

This begs the question if you're focused on the graphical side of things or the technical side of things. But any decent artist can work around VX's limitations, really.

This is an incredibly biased response and should be taken with a grain of salt by JLCollier or anyone else reading this thread. Every single point made by Arc is either speculation or opinion.

XP has the same 'Patcher' as VX, it's simply a 3rd Party product and would take a small amount of searching to find (it was made by Dubealex of Creation Asylum although I don't know what moniker he goes by now.)

The point of VX/XP's databases is moot because both software have the same capability. VX is just easier to see with the untrained eye. Every last bit of VX and XP can be stripped away and rebuilt. The advantages between the two lie entirely in their map editors. To strip away the map editor would result in a very difficult map making process. You'd either need to make one from scratch or program maps with code which would make them exceptionally simple or require an unnecessary amount of work. XP's map editor is vastly superior to VX's. This point has been reiterated ad infinum within the RM* Community.

VX has a more active community, perhaps. Obviously rpgmakervx.net is going to have a large bias towards RMVX. It's in the name, it's what it was designed for. This community tends to favor 2k/3 in total; XP for fuller projects; and VX for contest projects. hbgames.org and RPG RPG Revolution are a mixed bag as well. I'm sure if there was an rpgmakerxp.net, it's bias would be towards RMXP.

If this is a point that you stand behind, allow me to point out that 'bypassing' the horrid map editor is a good way of doing it, but XP can do the exact same thing. Resource wise, both XP and VX come into almost a dead tie, with XP being ahead due to the flexibility of the tile editor and the amount of tilesets it allows you to use.

VX scripts may be less buggy (although I would like to see statistics on this, seeing as I was one of the more prominent scripters during the height of XP's popularity and found this not to be the case) but even so, that is because we had time to learn how to use Ruby, and how to use it within the RM* RGSS Environment with XP. Although I will wholeheartedly admit that Enterbrain took the appropriate approach with RMVX/RGSS2 as it highly simplified a lot of code and made it more accessible for coders. However, in my opinion (and this is OPINION and not to be taken as fact) that Enterbrain made the code this way after seeing the RMXP SDK/MACL developed by Near Fantastica, DubeAlex, SephirothSpawn, Trickster, and with some minor input by myself. The code structure used in RGSS2 is almost exactly the same as the code structure developed for the RMXP SDK.

The nitty gritty of it is depends entirely on your ability as a developer and what you want to do with the software. If you are using the software stock, without adding or utilizing the scripting or resource system, it is down to whichever software fits your tastes and needs best (which is exactly what JLCollier was asking in the first place and I praise him for that.) If you are capable of tearing the software down and using it from there, RMXP is vastly superior if you need the map editor. RMVX is far superior if you plan to bypass the map editor (as RGSS2 functions much better than RGSS1.1)