Is it considered a bad thing to use the default tilesets?

[Dark Horseman]

RPG Maker was regularly used for a forum community I used to frequent, and everyone complained about:

1) Bad dialogue.

2) Same actors.

3) Boring/unbalanced combat.

4) Lazy, empty mapping.

In that order for frequency. I never saw someone write, "this game has the same stupid map tiles". They actually showered compliments on games that spent time making it look nice with just RTP. This was an amateur community, by the way, and I honestly think your audience won't care about RTP unless the audience is of course us (the RM community). EVERYONE recognizes the RTP actors though - good lord. Avoid using Ralph at all costs, lol.

 

[Tigersong]

Probably the best advice you can get is to like your own game. Then it doesn't matter if others say it looks terrible- you put the time and effort in, and it's a job well done.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

It all depends on how you use them. I've seen awesome maps done with just the RTP tiles. Sometimes with a bit of some editing and frankenstiling (combining of tiles)

 

[Pixceldev]

I certainly don't see a problem with using the RTP tiles themselves, the problem is more with the basis. Although personally I don't think that the players will have the problems, rather you, the creator. If you like the RTP tiles then definitely go ahead and use them, don't let anyone sway you otherwise; there's isn't much alternative besides either cashing out for a full custom set, or building your own amalgamation of other sets.. but let's not get into the continuity errors that'd arise from this).

The only real problem I can see is the lack of diversity in the game as opposed to the rest of the market. You could have the best game in the world, but visually it's going to look very similar to any other game made in the engine using the default tiles (which is a lot). But at the same time I suppose this forces the creator to find uniquity in other formats and focus more and distinguishing the game through the map design and gameplay.

TL;DR: If you like them, use them.. there isn't really an alternative.