RPG Maker XP

THE GOOD:
- Create your own RPG's in minutes.
- Intuitive user interface.
- Thousands of resources and scripts on the net for you to use.

THE BAD:
- Missing features from previous versions such as showing face graphics. You can download scripts that can do this however.
- Vista users can experience problems in running the program.
- The standard front view battle system is ugly and boring.
- Complicated battle algorithms.

SUMMARY:
RPG Maker XP offers anyone the chance to create their own RPG's from scratch without any need for programming knowledge or experience. Making your own maps for your game is as simple as choosing a tileset and clicking a tile you wish to show. RPG Maker XP comes with a large RTP (Run Time Package) which includes battlers, charactersets, sound effects, animations and much more. Using simple instructions called 'events' you can have your very own game up and running within...

THE GOOD:
- Extremely customizable.
- Possible to use your own resources for the whole game.
- Plenty of default resources within the program to start with.

THE BAD:
- Takes a lot of digging to figure out everything due to lack of explanation on everything.
- Requires a load of scripting knowledge to make your game fully custom.
- Default battle system is stupid.

SUMMARY:
RPG Maker XP, as everyone may know, is a program used to make your very own RPG game. You are able to have your own characters, your own maps, your own stats, your own weapons, your own story...anything. The only thing the program doesn't have is your imagination. RPG Maker XP is an extremely useful and very addictive program. However, for beginners, this may not be the case, at first. There is a Help section within the program, but it tells the obvious stuff, and it does not go into detail of the stuff you really need to know. Lack of instructions on what...

THE GOOD:
Vast resources.
An excellent Add-On to the already awesome RPG Maker line-up.
Simple to use interface.
Good results.

THE BAD:
Costs a fair bit of money.
Relys on Scripts alot, not many peoples favourite thing there.

SUMMARY:
RPG Maker XP allows the simplest of people make a perhaps vast and exciting Role-Playing Game within an hour.

As soon as you open it up, there are millions of possibilities available to you, enough resources to keep you happy for a while, a large amount of pre-installed scripts to you don't need to add any unless you choose too and a dead-simple interface that even the common fool could manage!

RPG Maker XP is the direct sequel to RPG Maker 03, and it's everything but worse than it. It's better, contains easier functions, better and bigger possibilities and quite frankly, awesome.

At the price of $60 USD and £34 in the UK, this is an extraordinary deal....

THE GOOD:
Much better graphics than previous versions. Smoother game-play on finished projects. Has some features the old versions couldn't handle because of new technology. I like how easy it is to post the games made with this program onto the Internet for others to play. The new Final Fantasy type battle system is great and very well put together. I'm pretty sure that there are more characters and enemies (heroes, civilians, monsters so on and so forth.)

THE BAD:
Much less options than previous versions. Relies more heavily on scripting. More difficult to create a game EXACTLY as you want it.In other words the game is a little harder to use. The program would be a little better if you could just make a 1000x1000 size map and use all of the scenery in the software on that map to create sort of like a GBA game.

SUMMARY:
Overall good but it has its fair share of downsides and turnaways. I'd say it's a good buy. I am having some trouble with...

THE GOOD:
-Better Graphics than previous versions
-New Features can be added through RGSS (a scripting language based on Ruby)

THE BAD:
-Some features from previous versions removed
-Games created have a resolution of 640x480 (but can be expanded by scripting)

SUMMARY:
Here's a brief introduction for someone who has never heard of the RPG Maker series before:

RPG Maker is a program which you can use to make Final Fantasy style RPGs.
Here are some of the tools in RPG Maker XP:

-Character Editor
-Item Editor
-Map Editor
-Monster Editor
-Monster Group/Battle Editor
-Animation Editor
-Status Effects Editor
-Resource Editor for importing your own graphics and music

The graphics have also greatly improved since the previous versions, and there are alot more tilesets to choose from.

RPG Maker XP features also has a script editor (further information below) for creating scripts. But it's...

THE GOOD:
It has vastly improved graphics over previous RPG Makers and the animations couldn't be smoother. A scripting engine is also included, which is good for people who can code, you can also import .JPG and .mp3 files now.
You can now have rolling fog and clouds over your environments.

THE BAD:
It doesn't have a many features as RPG Maker 2003, you have to code them into the engine, You can no longer use facesets without coding it into the engine.
There aren't that many resources available for it yet.

SUMMARY:
Overall, it's a great buy and it looks great, but it relies to heavily on scripting and this may make RPG Maker 2003 look a better option for non coders, however, if you can code with RGSS (the coding language for RPG Maker XP) the possibilities of what you can do with your RPG are virtually endless.