Experience Level 0. What game MUST I play?

Ok, so in my quest to go commercial, my Wife has brought me to a sudden realization. I haven't played any commercial games. (Truth be told, I haven't played an RPG since the Ultima Series, unless you count Diablo I & II...)

As such, I do not have any experience in playing the good, the bad and the ugly. I have a modest budget. My preferences would be present day over fantasy, and mystery/thriller over quest-based gaming... ...so where do I look to play "the game" that will give me a good foothold as to what a good commercial game would be?

I'm asking for the community to recommend a few RPGMaker games I should buy, play through, and enjoy. What's your "go-to" commercial game for me?

GB

You'll find most commercial RM games in existence in my sig (check the button "All Games"). ^^

Try the demos, and see which ones you like best! :)

Off the top of my head, I really liked To The Moon, Dreamscape, Skyborn and the Lily and Sasha series. I've bought quite a few commercial games, but I haven't had enough time to play a lot of them through. I can give you more recommendations, if you need them, I just have to dig up the names.

Dreamscape has actually a fair deal of non-fantasy stuff since it will take you to Egypt, London or New-York. :lol:

I think this is pretty good, and will demonstrate a modest combat system that isn't constantly in your face.

http://freebirdgames.com/games/quintessence/

That's not a commercial game, Helladen. XD

I consider its quality commercial though.

That doesn't matter. There are a lot of games that are of great quality, but they're not a good reflection of what actual commercial RPG Maker games are like. The point isn't to post about awesome games (though we have a thread like that in general discussion), but about commercial games that can be used to study and draw examples from. :)

Good plan! I didn't realize that demos were even available! Thanks!

Oh! "To The Moon" is one I actually have some background on. It's interesting, to say the least! I'll check up on the others you've mentioned, as well.

Based upon Helladen's comments in the other thread, and his commitment to the quality of the craft, I'll take it that this must be one high-ranking game!

One game I thought pretty amazing was Deadly Sin, I only played the trial and it made me want to buy it. The battle system is pretty neat for a RMVX game. It even has a sequel so I'd recommend it.

Quintessence is very impressive (and I'm always proud to say that I contributed some graphics to it at some point), so you should definitely play it for fun. I think To The Moon (also by Reives) is probably a better representation of what to aim for in terms of commercial aspects.

Oh, and I second Deadly Sin being enjoyable. I still need to finish it, but it was very fun to play. :)

The best source of inspirations are from old school rpg games for the Super Nintendo/Genesis/Gameboy Advance/Nintendo Ds/Psp. These will not only give you ideas on how successful games were in the past but you will also learn the basics of building old school rpgs. When playing them, keep in mind Not to play to finish the games, but to play and analyze every aspects of the games. Take notes and screenshots when required. This is probably the most important starting point for anyone who wants to build an rpg from scratch. Read reviews of these games to know what journalists think about them and take notes again when the reviewers make suggestions - this could be helpful for your game.

Playing commercial rpg maker games will serve you also well since it will demonstrate how much the developpers have learnt and you can easily see what type of audience market they are aiming at.

With these shining examples, do you happen to have a link? I did some preliminary searching, and it would seem the website (http://www.deadlysinstudios.com/) is no longer available...

You can download them via Amaranth Games, still: Deadly Sin and Deadly Sin: Shining Faith.

Many thanks! I'm only thinking happy thoughts for the developer, and imagining that their site is down because they have recently been able to retire due to the money made on these two titles.

:D

Edit: ...annnnnnnd, failure. The download link burns out, and redirects to the downed site, but the 'buy now' link seems to work. I might just do it, but later, after I've been able to try out some demos. Thanks tho!

GB

Deadly Sins company has changed its name to Dancing Dragon Games. Do a google search as I don't have their address with me at the moment.

Well, look at this. Thanks so much. And Skyborn's there as well!

Edit: Darn you, "To The Moon"! Who's cutting all of these onions?! And Deadly Sins is equally as awesome. Very nostalgic. Very epic. Good story, gameplay and battles.

GB

If you want an awesome game, then try The Book of Legends, not to be confused with another game called just 'Book of Legends'. If you want value for your money on a modest budget, then this will give you over 30 hours. Great game with huge replay value. You can get it at http://www.aldorlea.org/

You're actually the second person to recommend this! Thanks! I'll check this out as well!

GB

Hi Folks! Yes I realize I am being a necro-post-mancer, but I've recently been exposed to RPG Maker and I was very keen to find this thread as I too would like to try out some great RPG games :)

Unfortunately I tried several of the great games listed here and have had a problem with each one (oh no!):

RGSS2 Player has stopped working

Windows can check online for a solution to the problem (yeah right!)

Problem signature:  Problem Event Name: BEX  Application Name: Game.exe  Application Version: 2.0.0.1  Application Timestamp: 473444a4  Fault Module Name: StackHash_f013  Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0  Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000  Exception Offset: 00a30b36  Exception Code: c0000005  Exception Data: 00000008  OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48  Locale ID: 1033  Additional Information 1: f013  Additional Information 2: f013ae35c549a7510f89616594119f62  Additional Information 3: ed23  Additional Information 4: ed23daf0df731b2c0b3988e9eed68b7dI have Windows 7 32-bit. I've tried the usual "fixes" of setting the game .exes to various other compatibility modes as well as setting to run as an administrator. None of that made any difference. 

Since I've purchased and installed RPG Maker VX ACE I'm GUESSING that this issue is because I have a newer.... uhhh... player? installed?

If anyone has any suggestions I sure would be happy to try them out as I'm sad that I can't experience these well received games :(

Thanks for ANY help or suggestions! :)

PS - Specifically I tried to install and play Skyborn, Deadly Sins and Dreamscape. All 3 produced the same error (unsurprisingly since I'll bet all 3 were made using the same version of the maker most likely VX I would think...)

PSS - Oops and also these are the DEMO versions of the games I'm trying to play. I haven't actually purchased any of them (yet) since... I... can't.... play.... them.... so yeahhh ;)