hehe... the start is always the easiest part of a game (or demo, or diskmag etc.)..

Quote:

Ys 2 would be a kid's job compared to XAK: The Tower of Gazzel. Really

I disagree

Yeah. Xak looks pretty, but the Ys's engine is soooo great! I would wish Xak were as fast as Ys.

GuyveR: think of the following: in XAK: TTG's engine it's possible to:

• Move floors (think of stage 1 in the tower)
• Have LOTSA animation onscreen
• XAKII: Rising of the Red Moon: look in the village in the pool. You'll see the clouds moving by! *SO* amazing!
• See through mode (which isn't difficult, but the Y's engine doesn't support it

And these are just ~some~ signs of the superiority of the XAK3 (I know TTG isn't XAK3, thanks for not mentioning ) engine over Ys2

The only real advantage is indeed, the Y's2 engine is a lot faster. Ever ran XAK on a Turbo R? (Which indicates malicious programming )

Being faster, I think Ys 2 is better playable than Xak 2, at least when played on an MSX2. Xak 2 on the other hand, is far more detailed than Ys is. Both engines have their pro's and con's. Let's also not forget about Fray, which is very detailed AND fast.

The Curse of Kaijruu was to look like Xak 2 more than Ys 2, so I guess I preferred the Xak 2 engine as well Would be great if it would be faster, though. On an MSX2, that is.

Quote:

GuyveR: think of the following: in XAK: TTG's engine it's possible to:

All those things are meaningless... The Ys 2 engine could be 'extended' to support all that. Some things aren't even an engine feature! Like the moving floors, that doesn't mean anything, it's the same as going through a door in Ys 2, as far as programming goes.

You're looking too much at the graphics, and too little at the programming.

Microcabin's programs were optimized rather poorly, because they used a multi-platform scripting language. So yeah, it has a few features, but none of what you list really is impressive.

Ys 2 has the superior basis, and all things that Xak has can be added to it without problems.

Right. I said this before I think, but from a programmer's perspective, Ys is the best coded RPG. From a graphics perspective, it's either Xak or SD Snatcher which is the best. From a composer's perspective... Well, let Wolf answer that .

[edit: oh, and from a storyline perspective... DS6 perhaps?]


~Grauw

From a composer's perspective I have a hunch Wolf is gonna mention Dragon Slayer 6

(which also happens to be a great RPG!)

I liked the flying baby dragon in DS6 a lot

I liked the tigerchick with tits and the titty mudmonster in Princess Maker

Hard to say which one has the best music.

SD-Snatcher and MG2 have a modern/funky/fusion style
The Xak- and Ys series, DS6 etc. are more classical/symphonic

All are/were popular games .. it's irrelevant to choose the best music.. however, if I would vote for individual tunes (not the complete game-average) then my top 4 would be:

1 DS6: intro
2 XakTTOG: intro 3/3 (the 1-minute action stuff)
3 SD-Snatcher 2nd intro (with the city-skyline fading to red in the beginning)
4 SD-Snatcher 1st intro 1/3 (the text and that purple head)

Notice that the game-average would look slightly different:
1 SD-Sn.
2 DS6
3 Xak TTOG
4 Xak 2

Of all the games, Xak TTOG is the most consistent in its style.

$0.02

It's probably a matter of taste which game has the best music. I personally think the Micro Cabin BGM's are unmatched. SD-Snatcher has some great tunes as well, Falcom games are great too, but Micro Cabin definitely ranks one

Anyway, nice to know probably Ys 2's engine is the best from a coder's perspective. And I am not really surprised, since Xak 2 is very slow, like I said. Would be great to have an RPG engine with the speed of Ys 2 and the features of Xak 2. Maybe somewhat like the Fray engine, which seems to be different from the Xak 2 engine, judging from the speed and the size of the characters.

(Would fit a game like TCOK great as well )

I will only code RPG-engines for v9958 and/or v9990, with smooth scrolling

I don't want to spoil the mood but what u guys are talking about here is a bit unrealistic. Making a RPG is one thing, making a RPG that can compare in features with the XAK/YS/SD snatcher type of game is another story.

Come on, if you look at the staff who made those games, that represent dozen and dozen of people, fully dedicated (it was a full time job), working for months if not years, and most of the time, already having material from previous games (codes/gfx) that they can re-use.

How can you expect to do something similar with a bunch of amateurs (even if those are very talented amateurs), who usually have only little time to dedicate to their hobby ?

Wolf, you were mentioning the Carrot and Stick method to manage a team. Well let me tell you you'll need a major stick and carrot (no joke here please ) to get that kind of RPG project out. Plus that method simply cannot work in an amateur environment. It's not like in a job where you can give a raise or fire someone.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a great RPG with all those nice features but I'm afraid such project is simply too ambitious, unless you have limited supply of coders/artist/musicians willing to quit their job and work full time of that baby for no money.

I am certain there are really talented people around who can provide some code, some gfx, some music. But making a RPG like you describe here is not only about talent but also a huge amount of work and it would be easy to waste those talents in a project that will never see any credible results.

If you want to make a RPG, start small, simple features, nothing too fancy. Ask people what they can provide and try making something out of it. Then if the results is ok, make a second one, a bit more complex and keep extending the possibilities. Don't start by a remake of YS6, or Dragon Slayer 9 or Final Fantasy 22, I can guarantee you 100% you'll fail and lots of people will loose motivation. And this certainly wouldn't be good for the current scene.

Now that shouldn't stop you from dreaming but after talking the talk, someone will have to walk the walk

Umax RPG's were pretty cool...
I think you're being too negative...