Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Hello, everyone. Recently I have downloaded and purchased RPG Maker VX, which, as the title would suggest, gives you the tools to create an RPG. I've only played with it for a bit now, and it's already clear that a fair share of the stuff I'll try to do will be 'trial-and-error', mainly because I've enver used this thing before.

So, here's my quick opinion:

Pros:
- Easy to use Interface
- Most basic commands already set up
- Good selection of 'basic' sprites for Characters, NPCs, Enemies, Backgrounds, and includes a selection of songs to use.
- Playtesting (to find errors and such) and Distribution isn't overly complicated.

Cons:
- high price ($60.00 for the Liscence, or there's a two-week trial.)
- Some 'basic' functions harder to pull off.
- Sprites don't go exactly how you want them to. (Not for me, at least.)

And so, clearly the gods outweigh the bads. But I ask you, my fellow forum members out there to contribute. State your love (or hate) for the software. Pitch in some ideas that might make a game a bit better. Be willing to teach others how to perform more advanced events. And whatever else you might want to say to add in.

As an RPG Maker VX owner, I have to say it's much better than its previous incarnation, RPG Maker XP. My only real complaints about VX are that face/field graphics aren't exactly readily available online, and that there's no option for command abilities (like Final Fantasy VI's !Trance, !Steal, !Bushido). Blue Magic is also not quite available (not without some serious jobbery).

That said, it's fun to mess around with.

Actually, after looking around a little, there appears to be a few Tutorials for abilities like that. Though I wouldn't know how complicated they actually are, since I was too busy looking in the 'Noob' sections of Tutorials.

And now for something completely different:

I always find it better to go with original ideas then to go with something thats already been done. Yea occasionally you'll run into a few cliche's but who doesn't. Always be sure to make the story interesting to the player, even if it takes you years to finish as long as you have a good story it works out. Customization is one of the keys to rpgmakers, I should know after messing with RM95 - RMVX. I find VX good but I'm so use to 2003 and XP that I just can't seem to get into the hang of it. Custom battle and menu systems also make the game better. Alot of rpgmaker players do not like playing with the default battle and menu system. I'll pitch you my idea for my game. The game I'm working on is called Hope.

The story deals with Pandora's Box as it is known in myth. My story begins with a young unnamed woman wondering in the desert all alone. Eventually she stumbles to her knees and discovers a beatiful object on the ground. Picking it up she hears whispers to her to open the object and in which so she does, thus releasing all the demons and evil in the world. Scared to leave the box open any longer she closes it, unknowing to her she leaves a small light inside. That light, is Hope. Hope for the world. After that it cuts to about 300 years later where the hero of my story, Rydia, is being taken away to a alter where she is to be sacrificed so that the spirits of evil surrounding them will continue to please their lord and not harm the village.

I know, kinda cliche but hey, I enjoy my story, and I'll finish it one day.

Players had better like the default RMVX menu and battles in my games, because I have no idea how to make one ^_^

@ Kaleos: Hey, don't call it cliche so soon; Final Fantasy's stories have always been rather Black/White (Aka Good Vs. Evil), and no one really gave a damn. If you can pull it off with a good narrative, some nice background history, and a few dramatic twists somewhere in there, you should be able to pull it off.


I hope they can tolerate the basic theme and fighting system, because I wouldn't know how to make a new one. Though, I have been toying with the idea of a more Phantasy Star themed one...


And...my game doesn't have a real plot yet. My main plans are to go for the "Breaking the 4th Wall" method of interaction, hopefully comparable to Earthbound, * Smallwood (A freeware title. Check it out!), The Curse of Monkey Island, and Zack McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders. (The last two mentioned are Adventure titles from LucasArts back in the older days.) I'll keep you all up to date if anything changes.

Does your game currently have any characters with names in them? If so how many and who are they

Well, as of right now there's only Kahrne, using a default set of character graphics and such. Nothing special about him yet. When finished, It should have four characters: Kahrne, Kain (Older brother), Kojiro (Technically his alter ego), and Drk (Aka me). By that point, I hopefully will have some knowledge in screwing with the settings of everything, have changed the graphics of the Characters to custom made ones, and added in my own music.

so far what you've said has me in suspence hope it all works out. I've tried making rpg's before my but for some reason my computer wont play 'em when I've finished so I gave up a while back.

Bummer, Lucas. Well, for anyone that cares about what I've got to say, I've done a bit more thinking, and I think that I'm going to need some assistance on this little project of mine. Mainly because I'm still new to the program, and also because I can't create a real editing of a sprite, much less a custom one.