Should I Buy VX Ace?

[oolongdistance]

I bought XP a couple years ago, and while it works just fine, there isn't much content for it anymore. Every time I look up things like "RPG Maker XP custom tileset" I only get results for content of VX Ace and MV. There are also a lot more VX Ace tutorials around than XP tutorials, and that's pretty important to me since I'm new to making games.

What do you think? Should I buy VX Ace, or should I try to keep using XP?

 

[Kes]

I think this is probably better over in 'Product Discussion and Support' where you are more likely to get a diversity of opinion.

[mod]Moving to Product Discussion and Support[/mod]

In fact there is a huge amount of material for XP, you just have to know where to look. A thread in 'Resource Requests' would get you a lot of links.

As for the Ace or MV choice - there is, imo, no clear cut answer. Both have advantages and disadvantages. You might just try both, as you can download a free trial for them, and see which one you prefer.

 

[Shaz]

Ace and MV are both very different to XP in terms of mapping. Download the trials and give them both a go. You might decide you would rather stick with XP.

Most Ace resources can be used in XP (though if any are based on the Ace RTP, you would need to own Ace in order to use them anyway), as both are based on a 32x32 grid size. However the style is a bit different, character sprites are smaller, and at least the tilesets and character sprites would have to be reformatted for XP's use.

 

[Dr.Yami]

In my opinion, MV is way superior to VXA, and you won't have any problem in finding plugins/scripts for MV since it's quite mature and almost anything you need in VXA is also available in MV.

 

[CodeHunterEx]

Ace and MV are both very different to XP in terms of mapping. Download the trials and give them both a go. You might decide you would rather stick with XP.

I totally agree with Shaz. Download them and check them out yourself to see what you think of them both and see how you like them and let that help in your final decision. Getting hand-on with the product is the BEST way (in my opinion) to help in such a decision because without having used them, you don't know how well you can use them, adjust to the differences, etc.

Good luck in your final decision.

 

[oolongdistance]

Thank you everyone!

 

[TheoAllen]

Just buy em all, so you have a license to use their resources across all the engine

 

[GoodSelf]

I personally prefer MV. Although, there is a 20 page event limit. However, I feel the quality and support of available plugins is better than that of Ace.

 

[Parallax Panda]

I'd say stick with XP or go with MV. If you stick with XP and have some dollars to spare, you might want to buy VxAce on sale just for a license to use the RTP and RTP edits since they can easily be converted. but VxAce really, as an engine, really isn't that superior to XP.

If you're somewhat serious about making a game and sharing it with more than your friends though, I'd still advise you go with MV. Because that engine IS superior to both XP and Ace. Stuff like being able to zoom in and out just by using the scroll wheel on your mouse (which is expected today) makes a big difference when making your game and speeds up the overall development.
Also the scripts (called plugins) are really plug-n-play (mostly) and much easier than what you ca get for XP or VxAce, usually more powerful too.

For example, if I remember correctly there's a lot of problems with changing the resolution in XP and Ace, even with scripts. In MV it's super easy and that's just one of those small things which you don't think a lot about but it makes a big difference. Because everyone expects the game to fill out the screen and not open in a window when they play a game today.

In summary, once you go MV, you don't go back!