RPG Maker Fes Review (3DS)

Ever wanted to make an RPG but don’t know how to program? RPG Maker Fes hopes to sidestep that minor (okay, well, major) hurdle to let you create your very own retro-inspired RPGs on Nintendo 3DS. You might’ve already played a game made using RPG Maker without realising!

 

A few hit games have been made using RPG Maker on Steam and you’ll likely recognise a few of them. To The Moon? Eternal Eden? A whole bunch of horror games such as Corpse Party and Mad Father? Quite a few notable titles have been made using the system, but this is the first time that it’s been on the 3DS — and the first time it’s been made for a handheld system. One thing I’ve learnt is that I’m not great at making games! I’d like to write something for one sometime, maybe, but actually making them? Nah, I’m pretty bad. There are some good projects to check out and marvel that they’ve been made using RPG Maker, though!

 

rpg maker fes review

With a clean slate and very little in the way of instruction, you’re able to play around ’til your heart’s content!

You’re going to want a lot of patience when you boot up RPG Maker Fes because, as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day! And nor are video games. Except those 24 hour game jam ones. Upon starting, directions are very vague and you’re left to your own devices. With a clean slate and very little in the way of instruction, you’re able to play around to your heart’s content! I took to Google to better learn how to get along with RPG Maker Fes, and there I found something much better: the creations of other passionate players.

 

rpg maker fes review

 

I can very much appreciate what RPG Maker has to offer, and there’s absolutely no doubt that in the right hands, someone could create an outstanding RPG. That person won’t be me, but I look forward to seeing what others make. A bit like Super Mario Maker, I found much of the fun to be had in online creations as opposed to being a creator myself. I gave it a good ol’ college try though, but sadly I have no amazing projects to report on from my end.

 

I started with making my characters where I picked a portrait and one of four colours, named them, and picked how they’d look when walking around the map. After naming them and being happy with my party of four, I got to creating a map. Not a very ambitious map mind you, but a map none the less. You don’t actually create the items you’ll use, but you select pre-made items and create an RPG with them.

 

There’s absolutely no doubt that in the right hands, someone could create an outstanding RPG.

Unlike the PC version, the 3DS game is much more limited as you’re unable to upload any of your own content such as artwork and music, and you’re strictly expected to use what’s included. This can be a bit of a pain considering how much content there is, and how small the 3DS screens are — it’s a slog scrolling through everything.

 

Whilst actually creating a map can take a long time, what’s really taxing is creating enemies and composing them and their values, and setting up pivotal events and cutscenes — you can choose to forgo combat at all, if you’d prefer. I can only imagine how much easier this would all be on a PC! You provide text for NPCs, change weather, populate buildings, and, well, you can do pretty much all you’d expect to do with the limitations of the system, and that it’s all 2D and retro-inspired. If you’ve played some old RPGs as a child, then you can use those as inspiration to create something that wouldn’t look out of place in the days of yore.

 

The game you create can look as if it were professionally made back in the 80s and 90s.

The game itself looks great, and all of the assets do too. The old-school visuals seep out of every aspect of RPG Maker Fes, and the game you create can look as if it were professionally made back in the 80s and 90s. The vast choice of sprites and items mean that you’ll be painstakingly picking everything that makes it into your game and whilst this entails lots of deliberate planning, you get out what you put in with this game.

 

In fact, let’s list a few that did a damn good job. A Dragon’s Tale, Academonic and The Dark Ages are three of the highest rated player-created games on RPG Maker Fes and, if you’re lost or looking for a little inspiration as to what you can make on the 3DS, then I recommend checking out those games. Or others too, I’ve not played them all of course, but I’m sure there are great titles I’ve yet to see. To download user created games, you need to download RPG Maker Player (I think you can do this without the game, and play created content, but not create it yourself) from the eShop and do any updates for the game, then you can search by most downloaded, best rated, by name and more. It’s a gateway to a whole bunch of cool creations.

rpg maker fes review

RPG Maker Fes can keep you busy for countless hours.

Most of the audio is music, which does the job, but it’s a shame that you can’t use your own music — the limitations of the 3DS are what holds this game back, as you can never truly make your own game when you have to rely on a relatively small pool of audio and art. For what it’s worth though, especially on the 3DS, RPG Maker Fes can keep you busy for countless hours.

 

There are a lot of good things to say about RPG Maker Fes, even if the creation aspect wasn’t particularly up my alley it’s still something I appreciate and realise the potential of. Rather than plod along in my own pitiful maps, I found that RPG Maker Fes is best experienced when playing the work of others. There’s a whole world of wonderful ideas that await you, and if you create something you’re proud of then I’d like to see it! Get creating, you creative types, and show the world what grand adventures you’ve concocted.

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