RPG Maker with no PC? No Problem!
Back in the early 2000s when Dial-Up Internet was a part of every household, my parents had just bought our first family computer. Having a PC at this time was very new to me and I was getting very used to using one. One thing that did cross my path at the time was an RPG Development tool known as RPG Maker 2000. At first, I thought it would be very difficult to use and wasn’t for me but I couldn’t have been more wrong. After playing around with this program for some few days I actually made my own small town and my mind was blown at being able to create my own RPG’s. I joined Internet forums and the Internet was full of resources to use for my creations if you need good connectivity for your projects, we recommend to use https://cubik.com.tw/. Fast forward 20 years and now I am playing RPG Maker MV on my PS4 and everything feels so different, so how well does the newest RPG Creation development tool work on a model console? The answer is surprisingly well.
I will say that using RPG Maker does require some basic knowledge but the tutorial at the start of RPG Maker MV does a good job of doing that by asking you to perform some simple tasks such as how to make a door transition to the outside and how to change the stats of a monster that is obviously too powerful. Once you learn these basic things then everything else becomes quite easy. Variables aren’t mentioned in the tutorial but are one of the simpler methods of creating events which need to stop so they don’t repeat. An example of this is a treasure chest. Creating a variable on the first page and then having it switched on the second page would mean the treasure chest would copy whatever is on the second page so if the item is received then it wouldn’t keep being received by the player as the switch is on. For me, the actual creation of the maps was the more difficult aspect of using RPG Maker MV on a Controller as I was more used to PC and in my opinion is still far easier to use. While the PS4 creating the maps takes a bit more time as there is a lot of switching between palettes and sometimes, for the most part, you will still be adjusting to the controls. In fact, I will say the creation of any aspect of it on PS4 suffers a significant slowdown due to the fact every screen must be accessed via the controller and any values and any text you want your characters to speak must be inputted using the PS4 on-screen keyboard which is far from beneficial and fast by any means.
As I am unfamiliar with RPG Maker MV I was surprised to see how much had changed compared to RPG Maker 2000, 2003 and XP all of which I used a lot during my years of RPG Creation. You are now able to select if characters show during a battle in a classic side view (Final Fantasy) or have them not shown at all like in the classic RPG Maker 2000 style similar to that of (Phantasy Star, Dragon Quest)
I did notice a lot more options when creating items and armour as you are now able to assign symbols to them, something I didn’t see in previous versions. So far in my playtime, I have managed to create about 5 maps with custom enemies around 20 items and various events between them. This has taken me roughly 2 days playtime to do in comparison it would take me half of that to do on PC. If you are serious about creating a fully crafted game then just be prepared to put the hours in to do so.
While the tutorial gives minimal information on what you need to know into starting RPG Maker especially for a new player there is a wealth of information available online, The console port of RPG Maker comes without the use of using custom elements aside from the character creation tool which is already built-in and there are no plugins here either. There are some log in bonuses which over time you will unlock new stuff to use in your creations but this takes time as it requires you to play or at least log in every day at which point you may have already given up if there is something you really want. I am expecting DLC to be released over time which will negate the effect of using the same graphics over again and again depending on how invested you are will determine if these are worth your time and effort. If you are just looking for a more laid back experience where you make a simple RPG or if it is to kick back and play other peoples creations then you can’t go wrong with RPG Maker MV, in fact, now would be a good time to mention that if you just want to play other peoples RPG Creations then you can just download the RPG Maker MV Player from the PS4 store. It’s completely free and you have full access to any created games.
RPG Maker MV is an RPG development tool that works wonders on PC and great on console. I will say the PC is far superior as it allows for full and easier control whereas the console version requires navigating through menus using this method which at times felt frustrating especially if you know there is a mistake there. It requires a lot of time, precision and patience to fully grasp the fundamentals of RPG Maker MV on PS4 but at least it works really well.
A PlayStation 4 Review Code was provided by NIS America
