RPG MAKER WITH review

Play through enough role-playing games and you’ll inevitably encounter the clunky combat mechanic, or plot twist you see coming far in advance. Chances are you’ve said to yourself, “I would have done things differently”, envisioning the kind of changes that wouldn’t have broken an otherwise solid sense of immersion.

For over thirty years, the RPG Maker series has been letting players fulfill their own adventure-making ambitions. What started as a loosely bound collection of tools (1992’s RPG Tsukūru Dante 98) has grown into a unified product that permits players to make their own commercial games. From Team GrisGris’ Corpse Party, Freebird Games’ To the Moon, to Omocat’s Omori, RPG Maker is the toolset behind a number of impressive adventures. And those are just a few of the bigger names. Steam is packed with efforts crafted by everyday people, built from different iterations of the development package.

Crafting Dialog at the Dentist’s Office?

Pick up the recent release of RPG MAKER WITH and you won’t be able to pursue your dreams of financial success. To chase this, you’ll need the PC-based counterpart (RPG Maker MZ which arrived on Steam in 2020). Not only can your handiwork be delivered in a standalone executable file for PC and mobile that can be sold, but you’ll have much more autonomy. Instead of relying on pre-made character art, you can create your own sprites, music, sound effects, and tilesets from scatch. If you or someone in your development circle has a bit of programming prowess, you can develop custom code, pushing the basic framework further, to create something like Orangeblood.

So why would anyone invest in the Switch version of RPG MAKER WITH? Portability is one of the key reasons. Even if you own one of those ultralight notebooks, a Switch is still a much more transportable piece of hardware. Potentially, you could design dungeon layouts while riding on public transport or test your creations while waiting in line. With support for USB keyboards and the ability to share ‘assets’ with other WITH owners, this iteration offers a few conveniences, as well.

Comprehensive Tutorial Not Included

Fortunately, you’re still able to share your adventures with other Switch owners, even if you can’t sell them. Like its two predecessors on Nintendo’s portables, RPG MAKER FES for the 3DS and RPG MAKER MV for the Switch, anyone can grab a free application to play the RPGs you created on their own Switch. Once the demo program is installed, they can download and enjoy anyone’s handiwork, even offline. If you have no interest in purchasing WITH, at least check out the player for some complimentary fun.

Yet, there are a number of issues that limit the potential for RPG MAKER WITH. One of the most conspicuous is the lack of a dedicated tutorial. Yes, there’s a downloadable sample that offers some basic instructions in the form of a role-playing game. But broad examples aren’t a substitute for dedicated, detailed lessons. If you don’t have any experience with the last few RPG MAKER titles, expect to learn about WITH on your own from this site, outside the game.

Abridged Yet Still Complex

Expectedly, you won’t be creating your magnum opus without learning how to use WITH’s multitude of components. Some, like the creation of title screens, characters, town maps, and dungeons are all relatively straightforward. And like MV, you can use layers when creating maps. Similar to Photoshop, this tool permits designers to break composition into digestible pieces (each with their own tileset). As such, it’s exceedingly easy to place a bookcase on a carpet, with the application blending the two visual pieces together.

Delve in further and a number of key options can be changed, such as an option for traditional front-view or side-perspective battles. Most important is the integration of events – which regulate everything from in-game conversation to determining what’s inside a treasure chest. Essentially, Events can be thought of as a series of conditional questions, asking where, what, whom, and how a situation is handled. Thankfully, each of these can be tested to ensure functionality, potentially preventing any game-crippling oversights. If hundreds of hours dungeon-crawling hasn’t imparted the benefit of frequent saving, RPG Maker will repeatedly remind you.

The biggest change in WITH is the ability to download and upload ‘assets’ which are the app’s name for pre-built components. These can range from a routine that allows a character to jump from a part of the environment, enemies, or even maps. Ideally, designers wouldn’t have to create everything from the ground up and use elements created by other players. Of course, this constituent hinges on the availability of quality, well-curated components. Hopefully, it takes off.

RPG MAKER WITH Blemishes

Unfortunately, creation isn’t without its issues. Most notable is the occasional unresponsiveness of the app. Sporadically, the software will stall and won’t accept any input for a second or two. While it’s persistently frustrating, it does tend to disappear over longer creation sessions. Then there’s the occasional quirk with the interface that makes it difficult to make a menu selection. Even agreeing to the EULA was surprisingly clunky.

And here’s the potential deal-breaker: at launch, the standard fifty-dollar edition of WITH provides access to six title sets. From there, the package price scales up, with a $90 Character Edition, a $125 Extra Effects Edition, and the exorbitantly priced Ultimate Starter Edition at $180. I understand that WITH is a moderately niche tool that wasn’t cheap to license and localize. But at present, there’s the possibility that expensive DLC packages might limit the ambitions of budding designers.

Conclusion

Adding to some of the aforementioned snags, RPG MAKER WITH scales back the amount of bundled assets. Previously, players had access to a variety of eight different themes. While the tileset is larger, the reduction to Fantasy and Modern Sci-Fi themes is discouraging. Previous RPG MAKER entries allowed players to build their own character portraits from different facial features. That’s been streamlined as well, presumably prodding players into buying pre-made assets. Yet, it’s not all bad. Map creation is quickened with a most-used tile selector as well the inclusion of component sharing.

Despite some concerns about the responsiveness of the user interface, RPG MAKER WITH lives up to its premise. Following a few days of learning, you can design your very own role-playing game, without learning how to code. The package could undoubtedly use a bit more polish, and the push to buy DLC is unmistakable. But the potential for crafting your own RPG can’t really be knocked.

RPG MAKER WITH was played on Switch with review code provided by the publisher.