➤ RPG Maker MV, the review: the software that allows us to create our JRPGs is back 🎮

The RPG Maker MV review it does not speak of a game but of a software containing a set of tools useful for everyone for those who want to try their hand at creating a role-playing game and then give vent to their imagination. The strength of products like RPG Maker is in fact that of allowing anyone to create a video game from practically nothing, without having the slightest knowledge of programming and starting from a handful of basic ideas. For these reasons the landing of this edition on PlayStation 4 (and Switch) edited for the West by NIS America, was expected with great expectations from many fans who had already admired it on PC in 2015. These expectations, however, as we will see in the next few lines, risk being partially disappointed after just a few minutes of play.

Unfriendly controls

The program does not need who knows how many and what explanations: once loaded, the user finds himself in front of a simple as much fun tutorial which also explains in detail what to do through some stages played, including the use of an interface full of icons and commands, from where to start the projects. You can then start by taking a "blank" map and use it as a basis to insert what you think is suitable for your needs, or readjust one by changing its appearance by removing or adding trees, rivers, woods and villages. At a later time the user can then worry about taking the further steps to create a semblance of a complete and playable product. In between, at least for those who are new to this type of software, many tests, several attempts to better fit the various proposed and ready-made assets, as well as to make the different parameters that regulate the many aspects of a game work.

RPG Maker MV, the review: the software that allows us to create our JRPGs is back

Only when all the pieces are in place can we say that we have created something that begins to take a slightly more concrete shape. Because in order to complete even a simple and short-lived adventure, it will be necessary to put together many of these micro works and dedicate a lot of time to them. An undertaking that is anything but simple not only for the complexity that requires programming a title, even if as in this case you are helped to the maximum by a software, but because to select, modify, use any element for your project you need navigation among numerous menus with the help of the pads, much more uncomfortable and not very "friendly" compared to a more suitable mouse.

The absence (and usefulness) of this peripheral is felt like that of a keyboard, especially when you start working on party members, choosing the classes they will play and, above all, creating the first ones lines of dialogue. In any self-respecting RPG, the speeches between characters are a key element of the product, and obviously there are always plenty of texts to write. Consequently, it is one thing to be able to do it using, in fact, a comfortable keyboard, another to have to do it with the analog stick and the choice of every single letter through a screen. Of course, the program involves the use of textual shortcuts, but in the face of the enormity of certain scriptures there is little to do.

Resources in quantity

The RPG Maker MV interface is however rich in content (this edition includes almost all the plugins and resources released over the years via DLC on computers), well organized between them, and it is difficult to get lost in looking for something. And if you get over the hassle of having to "maneuver" everything, as written before, through a peripheral enough uncomfortable for this type of product, it is possible to immerse yourself even more in the process of creating a game, refining that structural basis we mentioned at the beginning. Thus the user can dedicate himself to balancing the statistics of his characters, to those of the monsters he has decided to place on the path of the party, inside an intricate dungeon rather than among the trees of a snowy forest.

And again, rethink the arrangement of some areas and arrange the moles key moments adventure events that will perhaps serve to change a game phase, to introduce a new hero or enemy or to give life to the classic twist, depending on the ramifications of the story. Within RPG Maker MV you can even manage the way in which non-player characters move or react, as well as the enemies, to whom you can attribute behavioral routines well defined so that they may or may not appear at certain times or environments, how often to do so, the various levels of growth and power, and so on. There are also many selectable music to accompany the exploratory phases, the dialogues or the combat sessions.

In short, you will certainly have understood that this program, net of its "defects", is really full of potential and is not aimed at a general public, but at real enthusiasts willing to spend hours and hours in front of screens before to make a choice, and to fly over specifically at limitations imposed by the absence of mouse and keyboard. A stumbling block that is difficult to overcome for casual gamers. For the record, among the other limitations of the console version compared to the PC counterpart we point out the impossibility of importing new original resources, and that of making games that can then be sold on the market. In this sense, the creations can only be shared, for free, through the Maker Forum.

Comment

Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop Price 49,99 € / 67,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

6.5

Readers (4)

7.2

Your vote

RPG Maker MV is certainly an excellent software, a useful and fun tool to give vent to one's imagination, which is however limited in spite of itself on consoles by its very nature, which sees it more suitable to be used on computers with mouse and keyboard rather than on PlayStation 4. In fact, despite the efforts made by the developers to try to make the program usable also on domestic platforms, the pads and structural limitations of the latter end up making some passages heavy, especially as regards the texts of the dialogues. For these reasons we would like to recommend it to those enthusiasts with a lot of patience, and who are not afraid of the long processing times also due to the reasons listed above.