RPG Maker

"What's this RPG Maker thing? Make Genesis-quality RPGs? Cool. Is it? Nah."

I was glancing through a magazine in early 2000. Not sure what it was. And they noticed this thing called ''RPG Maker''. I'm a huge buff of RPGs, so I quickly turned to it. I got those weird feelings you got when you're falling in love when i turned to the page and read it.

Months passed. I would hang out at mag stores for a glimpse at this game. I have issues from 6 different magazines about it. And then I got the release date. I was ecstatic. I couldn't wait.

So I buy the thing. It says that it takes a lot of time and patience on the back. I booted it up. After screwing with all the features in it for 4 hours, I figure out pretty much what crap does The design is very good, but it really could have been better. Let me tell you why.

--Graphics - 4 / 10--
At first glance, they look like a SNES RPG - overhead camera angle on everything. Well, they're more like Genesis graphics. Fuzzy, dithered graphics. Definately not good.

--Sound - 4 / 10--
The sound bit the big one as well. It only had 30 music files you could use - 30! What we want? A music maker!! That would take a long time to make, too, but most of the music you WILL repeat in the game. And its not great.

--Control - 5 / 10--
In the game, the control is tight and responsive. Works wonderful. Why'd I give it 5 then? Well, Anime Maker, an in-game program for making graphics, uses the PSX mouse or controller to make your own sprites. Well, just tapping the D-Pad causes the onscreen cursor to move about 1/5 across the screen. Not good.

--Replayability - 10 / 10--
Now, this is where RPG Maker really shines. Since you can make an RPG if you have 100 or 200 hours ready, you can trade games with friends. Or, if you wanna invest $20 in a DexDrive, you can actually download RPGs off the internet and save them on your memory card! How's that for luxury!

--Story - Not Applicable--

This game is definately a jump ahead in the RPG field. It deff needs a LOT more features if a second will survive. We've compiled a list of what we think would be nice in a sequel.

--What Would Be Nice In A Sequel--
-Music Maker
-USB Keyboard Support
-Event Multi-tasking
-Vibration Support
-More In-game Effects
-Ability To Use Demos from Anime Maker in Games
-Mini-Game Support
-More Than Three Graphics for Battle Animations

These are some of the things we'd like to see in a sequel. For instance, the USB Keyboard Support would allow you to complete a game in 1/2 - no, 1/4 the time! Event Multi-tasking is doing more than one thing at a time, so you could have chase scenes. Those are definately things that Agetec could stick in there. C'mon, Agetec, we wanna see a better sequel!

~~~~~Syco, 9:45 AM 4/28/01~~~~~

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/28/01, Updated 04/28/01