RPG Maker Hot Takes

Iron_Brew · Sunday at 12:45 AM

All these threads end up being RTP vs Drawing Badly With Your Mouse.

Here's a hot take:

I want more Phantasy Star inspired games. We've had enough FF games, and DQ likes require more humour than most devs can muster, where are the weird PS-likes?

Banana_Duck · Sunday at 1:20 AM

Here's a possibly unpopular opinion: I don't like that in MV and MZ, you can't directly edit the plugin's code, unlike in XP/VX/VX Ace where you can write and edit scripts on the program.
I want to quickly test any modifications made on plugins, not just the dev's chosen parameters because sometimes, these dev-given parameters aren't enough.

AquaEcho · Sunday at 1:39 AM

Banana_Duck said:
Here's a possibly unpopular opinion: I don't like that in MV and MZ, you can't directly edit the plugin's code, unlike in XP/VX/VX Ace where you can write and edit scripts on the program.
I want to quickly test any modifications made on plugins, not just the dev's chosen parameters because sometimes, these dev-given parameters aren't enough.

I just have the plugin file open in another tab in Sublime Text (or text editor of your choice), edit there and save, then tab back to RPG Maker to test

Midona018 · Sunday at 2:39 AM

My problems with RPG Maker :

No menu editor. I do not want to install a plugin every time i want a good ui.
No redo button in the editor. I mean, it should be a default feature.
Not supporting 64x64 tiles without plugins, even in MZ. I think this size of tileset would just look so good.
Not enough event page conditions. What about "if actor A is NOT in the party" ? Or "if variable x is strictly equal to y "?
No complex conditionnal branch. I mean, i cannot even write properly "if variable a and switch b" in a conditionnal branch !
No personnalisation of quick events.
No combat system personnalisation (even if it's not complex, something to change luck or agi use would be good).

I could probably find more, but this is what i ve got for now.

Robro33 · Sunday at 2:54 AM

Banana_Duck said:
I want to quickly test any modifications made on plugins, not just the dev's chosen parameters because sometimes, these dev-given parameters aren't enough.

yeah, what Aqua said. i keep whatever plugin im looking at open in a text editor and if i need to change something, i just hit ctrl+s in the text editor and then hit F5 ingame. no need to go through the editor for any part of it. dont even need RMMV/Z open at all to work on stuff.

I actually disliked that you need to go to the editor to edit scripts in ACE because not only does it add time dealing with the interface, but the editor locks up while youre playtesting stuff so you have to close the game and reopen it every time you need to change something.

RCXGaming · Sunday at 3:23 AM

Robro33 said:
I actually disliked that you need to go to the editor to edit scripts in ACE because not only does it add time dealing with the interface, but the editor locks up while youre playtesting stuff so you have to close the game and reopen it every time you need to change something.

The editor locking up during playtests and being able to edit plugin files outside of the editor in notepad are actually the two main reasons why I won't ever go back to Ace.

It's unambiguously more convenient since there's a lot less stop-and-go... and you can CTRL+F to find the exact piece of offending code when a plugin crashes your game. You can't do that with Ace's editor because it only searches for script titles lmfao.

Tai_MT · Sunday at 5:02 AM

RPG Maker needs to let you create your own "quick events". Or, at least customize the ones that are there. I constantly have to rework the chests if I quick event the chests...

firestalker · Sunday at 5:30 AM

Tai_MT said:
RPG Maker needs to let you create your own "quick events". Or, at least customize the ones that are there. I constantly have to rework the chests if I quick event the chests...

Have a default Chest Event that just copy and paste wherever I need a chest. It has a common event for opening and then it either calls another common event for the prize, or I set an item in the chest event to be picked up [but I only use that when I want the chest to always have a specific item.

Then I just copy and paste this event all over the place and if I ever need to change something on them, I just change the CE.

Timtrack · Sunday at 5:37 AM

RCXGaming said:
It's unambiguously more convenient since there's a lot less stop-and-go... and you can CTRL+F to find the exact piece of offending code when a plugin crashes your game. You can't do that with Ace's editor because it only searches for script titles lmfao.

CTRL+F will look for the code inside the scripts in xp/vx/ace editors, not the script titles. However, it will only apply to the script currently open, you would need to use CTRL+SHIFT+F to look for all script code in project. I agree that the in-engine editor is not convenient, but it does have a working search feature. :')

For features... (I haven't really used MZ so I'm unsure about what is already covered by it):
Prefabs would be nice, like events with multiple pages that could be copy/pasted easily and modified together, not just common events. With a similar diff system where you can modify some parameters between the instance and the original.

Tile resolution should be any integer as a parameter, even if it is 1 pixel :3
Assets standards should be malleable (but having a common base is nice for community resources).
Tilesets should not be bounded like they are (A,B,C,D,E), the page system is nice to order them but overall breaking their limit (number of autotiles/animated autotiles + other tiles) would be nice.
The layer system could be changed to something more permissive, more than 4 layers (it was already a great improvement with MZ) and a better handling of the star tiles when the player is in front of them or below them.

Native Pixel-movement system?
In-engine editor of windows for at least the standard menus.
More support for plugins like setting the extra parameters of the database object as features instead of notetags.

~~Any other langage than JS, I'm allergic to it~~

Iron_Brew · Sunday at 8:35 AM

I beg you for a hot take

I'll take a luke warm take at this point

kirbwarrior · Sunday at 8:47 AM

Bernkastelwitch said:
But I know some people say they'd rather have something be "Pretty but broken" than "Bland but functional".

That's not even specific to RPG Maker, there's AAA games that are almost "hold forward to win" that look very pretty and have nothing else going for them but people eat them up. Scratch that, it's not even restricted to games, James Cameron's Avatar was pretty but had nothing else going for it yet it was the highest grossing movie for so long.

Iron_Brew said:
where are the weird PS-likes?

People have to play the games to be able to be inspired by them

Which I'm not sure if this is actually a hot take, but developers need to play more games similar to what they want to make.

Piyan Glupak · Sunday at 1:01 PM

I think that next main project I start might have a map that the player never sees to copy events from such as chests, random chests, mimics, random chests with a 20% chance of becoming a mimic, levers that set switches, levers that control variables and anything else that I am likely to need repeatedly.

kirbwarrior · Sunday at 4:37 PM

Tai_MT said:
RPG Maker needs to let you create your own "quick events". Or, at least customize the ones that are there. I constantly have to rework the chests if I quick event the chests...

I fully agree. MV can fake it with Yanfly's Event Copier, Event Morpher, Self Variables, and a Common Event (all depending on needs) but that's a lot and kind of unwieldy.

Just remembered another one; There is not a single RPG Maker that has a good walking speed for the player. I have to use script calls to give them decimal speed and that can look funky when NPCs don't ever move at that speed. Sprinting speed is fine in most of them (and I have no issue holding the sprint key), but generally I want there to be something in between walking/sprinting speed as the baseline speed.

Banana_Duck · 2026-03-09T00:49:00+0900

Here's a possibly very unpopular opinion: games that use over a hundred third-party scripts or plugins got a disproportionate amount of flak considering the mountain of games made in XP onwards that use few to no additional scripts or plugins.

Norintha · 2026-03-09T01:34:22+0900

Banana_Duck said:
As for in-map encounters, I also thought they are 100% superior to random ones until I saw videos on Romancing SaGa on the SNES with dungeons that have a higher population density than almost any JRPG town.

Wait til you learn that the intended optimal way to play Romancing SaGa is to avoid every encounter while also speed running.

Indinera · 2026-03-09T01:45:28+0900

Norintha said:
Wait til you learn that the intended optimal way to play Romancing SaGa is to avoid every encounter while also speed running.

Doesn't that make the characters very weak whenever they have to face a boss?

Norintha · 2026-03-09T01:53:22+0900

Indinera said:
Doesn't that make the characters very weak whenever they have to face a boss?

It keeps the Event Rank low, so many bosses remain doable.

Lord Vectra · 2026-03-10T12:05:51+0900

FIRST, my actual hot take:

I actually like RMVXA (and onward) autotiles on mapping, especially when I have Tab E to work with and all I gotta do is combine tilesets. Though being able to keep adding tabs after E would be nice
Just because you're a hobbyist doesn't mean polish is nonexistent. Even as a hobbyist myself, I still polish my games because no one likes playing something unpolished
Medieval Fantasy is supreme. All shall kneel to the clearly superior RPG Genre

Canned_Dinosaur said:
You're wanting to use their stuff, so it's their terms that you need to follow. If you don't like the terms, you're free to look elsewhere or try to create your own.

I mean, one can say that an offer is predatory AND decline said offer. I don't know why an artist is immune to criticism on this front. If you ask me to make a sprite of a clown, and I demand 100% of the game's revenue, that'd be ridiculous. Person can and will go find someone else, but because it's "my terms" doesn't mean ppl can't point out that it's a very bad and terrible deal.

Piyan Glupak · 2026-03-10T13:28:51+0900

Lord Vectra said:
Medieval Fantasy is supreme. All shall kneel to the clearly superior RPG Genre

Must admit that given availability of suitable graphics, I would probably prefer early medieval north-west Europe, or Bronze and Early Iron Age Mediterranean and Near East fantasy. Sadly, I doubt that it would be worthwhile for any artist to do the tile-sets, character generator parts and sprite sheets. Medieval fantasy will do, though.

Edit: Also front-view battlers, faces etc., appropriate music. Pretty much whole system(s).

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