Re: RPGM2 haters....
It looks like this thread has evolved slowly, but I still think it's worth responding to the original post four months later.
The whole point of the RPG Maker series is to "democratize" game making; to give you the tools to make it possible, and even easy, to create a game alone, without a whole studio of people and programming knowledge in four languages.
RPG Maker should make things AS EASY AS POSSIBLE without sacrificing much flexibility. That's a lot of what we were getting at with the ideas in the "RPGM4 Wishlist" topic. 2 was good, but it was far from perfect, and things could have been made easier without losing any flexibility.
Sorry, but the character graphics in RPGM2 were pretty awful (the rest of the graphics were fine and the VFX ability was awesome). I liked that they were "customizable," but they didn't have a whole lot of character. I take my favorite game of all time, Star Ocean: the Second Story, as an example. I grew attached to the little sprites as characters, and I appreciated that they were... unique, I guess... but the whole time I found myself desperately wishing for better character artwork, to really flesh out the character, both as eye candy and to better understand the character and their emotions (as an aside, I guess I finally got my wish in the anime Star Ocean EX). If a game just like RM2 were to be made for the PS3 today, the characters would look much, much better. I'm confident about that.
The graphics in RPGM3 are customized, but not customizable. Some of the character artwork has a lot of personality, it's just that you can't customize that personality. There's no flexibility. That was their critical mistake. Especially on the 2D artwork, there's no reason not to let a game creator add or remove some features or change the color of individual body/costume parts. In the end, I like the graphics of 3 more than 2, but I think there's a lot of room to improve on both.
Agreed, agreed. I love how you can edit every little clockwork of RM2's engine, and the fact that you couldn't even get close to that in 3, has always infuriated me. I think your use of the word "prepackaged" is little more than rhetoric, but I think I see what you're saying... that RM3 almost feels more like a mod kit to an already-made game, than a true game maker. And while I agree with you in theory, if you check out some of the games that have been made with it, you might find yourself having a change of heart. Not to say you'll like 3 better than 2, but you will appreciate it for what it is and what it CAN do.
Well, that's your honest opinion, but it's not absolute fact. I'd vote 1 as the best. They've all got their charms, their points of genius, and their drawbacks.
It looks like this thread has evolved slowly, but I still think it's worth responding to the original post four months later.
Originally posted by madcopper
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RPG Maker should make things AS EASY AS POSSIBLE without sacrificing much flexibility. That's a lot of what we were getting at with the ideas in the "RPGM4 Wishlist" topic. 2 was good, but it was far from perfect, and things could have been made easier without losing any flexibility.
Secondly, why does every one want these realistic RPGM3 style graphics, they are horribly generic! At least with RPGM2 i felt as though I could make my character more unique, sure it wasnt pretty but it was functional.
I want to have the maximum amount of customization and if that means that graphics (mainly characters complaints is what i read the most of) have to take a small hit, so be it.
I want to have the maximum amount of customization and if that means that graphics (mainly characters complaints is what i read the most of) have to take a small hit, so be it.
The graphics in RPGM3 are customized, but not customizable. Some of the character artwork has a lot of personality, it's just that you can't customize that personality. There's no flexibility. That was their critical mistake. Especially on the 2D artwork, there's no reason not to let a game creator add or remove some features or change the color of individual body/costume parts. In the end, I like the graphics of 3 more than 2, but I think there's a lot of room to improve on both.
I want it to be as open as possible, essentially a blank slate where i can do anything, not some kind of prepackaged simplified RPG maker that doesn't allow me to to edit every tiny detail to my hearts content.
Enough of the rant, I can honestly say that despite some of the shortcomings of RPGM2, and after playing RPGM 1,2,3, and XP, that RPGM2 is by far the best out of any these.
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