Which RPG Maker would be best to get?

[Gronmor]

I'm really just curious, being kinda new to the concept, and curious. And I already have RPG Maker MV, but then there's also VX which is on a major sale right now, and this one, MZ, which is the newest one if I'm not mistaken

So really I'm just wondering, which one is usually considered the best by people more familiar with the whole series, which one has the best and biggest community, and which one has the most downloadable extra resources (I noticed there was a lot of stuff like that in the Steam shops).

Sorry for the newb questions. Still, have a nice day everyone! :)

[Linfried]

RPG Maker MZ is the most up to date software. All the other ones are the lesser versions. They are all the same program. The community share for MZ is small, though.

[Starts@0]

Originally posted by Gronmor:

I'm really just curious, being kinda new to the concept, and curious. And I already have RPG Maker MV, but then there's also VX which is on a major sale right now, and this one, MZ, which is the newest one if I'm not mistaken

So really I'm just wondering, which one is usually considered the best by people more familiar with the whole series, which one has the best and biggest community, and which one has the most downloadable extra resources (I noticed there was a lot of stuff like that in the Steam shops).

Sorry for the newb questions. Still, have a nice day everyone! :)

From my perspective, RPG Maker MV has the biggest community. That is why most users encourage newcomers to just buy MV because MV can do everything MZ can with plugins - However, the problem with plugins is that they are more trouble than they are worth. Some plugins are free. Some are paid. Some can be used in commercial games. Some cannot be used in commercial games. And since plugins are made by different third party developers, they can interact and cause unintended side effects like medication interacts and cause unintended side effects. So, my advice is if you are new to RPG Maker, just go with the latest program, which is MZ. Yes, it has flaws. But if you are literally new to MV, that program pales in comparison to MZ out of the box.

[Zarmandis]

I reccomend to use RPG maker MZ. I bought it one year ago and without plugins you can do a fine game. The only thing is that you have to learn how to use variables, switches, conditional branches and other things. But in youtube there are a lot of videos to begin from level zero.

[Xuande]

Due to certain drama, MV ended up with more free plugin support (though many MV plugins work or can be made to work in MZ), but MZ generally has better engine performance. I have both (and VX Ace which at this point I'd call too outdated if your project is scripting heavy or targeting modern resolutions) and stuck with MZ, but at their given price points MV is a much better deal at $8 than MZ is at $40. So while I like MZ more now, I've gotten good use out of all of them and would suggest the cheaper price point if that matters at all to you, and MZ if it doesn't.

Launch version MZ was quite buggy and I had to refund it, but from 1.2 onward I haven't had issues.

Originally posted by Zarmandis:

I reccomend to use RPG maker MZ. I bought it one year ago and without plugins you can do a fine game. The only thing is that you have to learn how to use variables, switches, conditional branches and other things. But in youtube there are a lot of videos to begin from level zero.

This is true - plugins are largely optional - but coming from a hobbyist programming background, there are a lot of features that would be a pain or impossible to implement without them. Most of the ~20 I use in my current projects have to do with improving the user interface, or customizing battle systems in a way that automates a lot of work I'd have to otherwise do myself.