#jprgs

The Gold Standard:

Star Stealing Prince is a game you may have heard of if you follow the RPG Maker community on Tumblr. It's a charming fairy tale with a surprisingly dark edge, packed with small details and a handful of nail-bitingly difficult boss battles. It's easily one of the best games made with the VX engine and worth a play for anyone interested in the genre. Would also recommend (by the same people) the currently incomplete Homework Salesman, a similarly charming crafting/dungeon crawling/daily life sim.

I Miss the Sunrise is a weird thing: take developer Deltree's focus on unconventional skill systems (i.e. three different HP bars that fuel attacks combined w/ elemental strengths and weaknesses) and combine it with both a simplified tactical system reminiscent of strategy rpgs and the decision-making and sci-fi setting of a Mass Effect game. The result is not at all like most made in the engine, and all the better for it--not to mention a fantastic game made in its own right. You might also want to play Deltree's previous game The Reconstruction (keep in mind Sunrise is a prequel to Reconstruction and thus has spoilers!)

Do you like the old Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games? Hero's Realm is custom-made for you. Picture the exploratory pot-examining and side-questing of a Dragon Quest game crossed with the more freeform character development system of a Final Fantasy system and you're halfway there. Add desert salesman, a final chapter where you control four different parties of adventurers at once, and more references to old-school jrpgs than you can count and you have a rarity among RPG Maker games--one that emulates the classics but does so while fully understanding how they work. Not much of a story, but who needs one?

Craze has a pretty particular style of game-making, one you either love or hate. I'm neutral either way, but Wine and Roses is a great way to stick your feet in the water. Just one dungeon, not much of a plotline, just a series of highly technical battles that are well-balanced, challenging and highly unconventional. If you've played a ton of Japanese RPGs and just want something with minimal bullshit and a ton of character, you'll probably really enjoy this.

Dhux's Scar is a really weird game for a number of reasons: a) in defiance of tradition, your party consists of a cowardly merchant, an armored god/goddess and a little girl useful only for throwing out healing potions and murdering enemies in one hit (with grave future consequences); b) for most of the game you're on a time limit where if you backtrack too much or abuse said little girl's dark powers, she murders you; c) the game's story is nuts in the same way that most Japanese RPGs of the Playstation era were a little off the wall. That said, Dhux's Scar differs from those games in that it's hilarious, it's only six hours long and that there isn't an ounce of fat on the thing. It's not for everyone, but it's probably one of the best independent games I've ever played.

One area that's shockingly unrepresented on this list are horror games made in the engine. To be honest, I haven't played that many of them (though I'm filing a number of them away to try out at a later date.) That said, one game I can certainly say is worth your time (though you've all probably played it already) is Ib, an adventure/horror game about a little girl lost in a haunted art museum but also about her relationships with the other people she meets there. Even if you're not at all interested in typical RPG Maker fare, you'll probably like this.

Did you play the Suikoden games? You probably haven't, but if you did you probably have fond memories because those games were amazing. Exit Fate is a clear homage to that series but it also happens to be one of the most polished games ever made with the engine as well as a genuinely fun game in its own right. It's not really up there with Suikoden II, but then again, what is? Also amazing is Last Scenario, which is a more conventional take on Final Fantasy-style games but is still really fun and surprisingly subversive considering its boilerplate premise.

Off the Beaten Track:

I haven't played much of Standstill Girl, but from my impressions it's a really cool, cute and weirdly sinister RPG with some unconventional mechanics and a great art style. If you're currently obsessing over the recently released Bravely Default, this might be just up your alley (but with only one character instead of four.)

Space Funeral. Your protagonist is constantly crying. Your party member is named Leg Horse. Upon opening the game you must select from "BLOOD," "BLOOD" and "BLOOD." It's a short but extremely trippy/memorable game made by thecatamites, who judging from his other games is such a cool and talented guy it's a marvel he deemed a dinky little engine like RPG Maker 2003 worth his time at all. If you don't like most Japanese RPGs you might like this one, especially because you meet Dracula in it.

The Way is pretty much the Neon Genesis Evangelion of games made in the RPG Maker engine: memorable characters, a complex and at times disturbing plot that approaches total incoherence near the end, a work with clear ambition to transcend the boundaries of the medium in order to create something with actual thematic depth and aspirations. There are a ton of custom systems that must have been hell to engineer in the antiquated RPG Maker 2000 engine, but the focus is really on the story. Yeah, you're supposed to lose the first few Plunges. Deal with it.

Wither is that most hated of hated games by core game fans: an art game. THE HORROR. That said, it features marvelously consistent Gameboy-esque sprite graphics (some of which the author pillaged from other games, others of which are his own) and an ambiguous story that punches you in the gut when you least expect it. Highly recommended.

If Hero's Realm is the fan-made bastard child of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, Hellion throws Diablo and Dungeons and Dragons into the mix with entertaining results. There's seven or eight  classes which all play in very different ways, so expect to replay this many times! There's also a focus on improving out-of-combat skills that can be used for everything from bashing locks to persuading NPCs to join your party.

Leo & Leah is the closest the RPG Maker engine probably has to the Mother games, with everything that implies. You play as a lion fighting to save his girlfriend from a mean-ass hunter, and it starts out all cute and charming and funny before plunging a brief plunge into a hellscape of obsession and longing. Not your standard fare by any means, but check it out! It bears the mark of an actual writer making it instead of a Final Fantasy fan obsessed with remaking all his old favorites.

On the other hand, if all you want is to play an old-school Final Fantasy game then Everlong has you covered. The game's huge, weighty and badly needs a sense of humor, but while nothing is really out of the ordinary the mechanics are extremely solid and all in all it's one of the most polished experiences made with RPG Maker 2003. It's also a much better example of how to pace a very long game then, say, the Laxius Power series (if you've heard of those.)

Chain of Retribution isn't the most consistent game you'll play (it's a chain game made serially by a bunch of people after all) but it has an unshakable ace in the hole: it's fun. Note that when I say fun, I mean "an absolute blast fantastically designed why aren't other indie rpg makers this talented" fun. Linear, yes, but there are more delightfully frictiony battles and gameplay moments in here than in about a hundred or two hundred other rpgs made with the same engine. It's also hilarious at times, which is a plus (note: the original title was going to be Sadness of the Axe.)

The "IT'S NOT AN RPG MAKER GAME" Award for an Unfairly Overlooked RPG That's Not an RPG Maker Game:

From what I've played, Spellshard: The Black Crown of Horgoth is an impeccably designed homage to the early NES Final Fantasy games with multiple classes, tough dungeons and a tinge of sci-fi. Of course, it was made in the OHRRPGCE engine and hence nobody cares. Don't make that mistake! Play this game, it's a ton of fun and will keep you occupied for a while. Also worth trying (though supposedly quite difficult) is the JRPG x WRPG x Dark Souls hybrid Dungeonmen.

Other games I haven't mentioned yet that are supposedly pretty cool: Alter AILA Genesis, Master of the Wind, The Witch's House, Pallete, OFF and a ton of other fantastic games in other languages. Do your own research, and feel free to chime in with your own recommendations! There's a ton of cool stuff out there.