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This old question has been going on for years now and I figured I’d provide some answers as to which is better. Let it be known that even after RPG Maker VX surfaced, I still used RPG Maker XP consistently, until I was pretty much forced to use only RPG Maker VX due to Vista’s incompatibility issues. That said, I had about 3 years more experience with XP than I do with VX, but this does not mean I know little about either editor. For the sake of those who don’t care about this discussion, I’ll save you the scrolling time by placing the rest of the discussion below:
RPG Maker is known for several things: ease of use, quality resource control, and little need to understand programming. Those three aspects are what sold RPG Maker to us newbies and veterans alike. Yet, those are the three aspects that we fail to recognize when making an avid comparison between the two editors.
Ease of Use
Winner: Tie
Both RPG Maker VX and RPG Maker XP have similar learning curves, the same basics that everybody making a game needs to learn. This learning curve is not easier in one editor in comparison to another, especially since their roots are the same. They use practically the same database, the same eventing concepts, and the same mapping concepts. You change a few numbers in the database, you pick and plant events, and you just poke around maps like it’s MS Paint. Nearly everything needed to be learned in RPG Maker XP and VX will probably end up being self-taught or reading tons and tons of tutorials. People tend to say that one maker is easier than the other mostly because they find more tutorials available for one or the other depending on their community. The truth is, the tutorials used for one of them can be used for the other as well.
Quality Resource Control
Winner: Tie
Quality control depends entirely on the user and not the editor itself. The two editors use very similar formats. Graphics all use 24bit colours, sound can use quality MP3′s and OGG’s, and scripts are just normal text files anyway. Putting all of that aside, the resources used in a game does not necessarily determine the fun factor of the game, which is where a project’s main focus should be anyway. And while people may favour XP or VX’s default graphics more, let’s not forget that you can import one into the other. The same goes for music and sound. Anyone who claims that one maker is better than the other because of the inherent graphics or music is one who has not ever tried importing those resources into the other. When done, lo and behold, it’s the same exact stuff thrown back at you in another editor. Also, any arguments regarding default resources should be ignored anyway, since the majority of the time, custom resources are used for major games. The quality of the default resources will count for nothing about the quality of the custom resources.
Little Need to Understand Programming
Winner: Tie
And guess what? A tie here, too. It’s actually lie that you don’t need to understand programming. The truth is, you do, but only a little bit. You’ll need to understand the basic concept of programming, which generally goes in line of giving commands to the computer and telling it what to do. Outside of that, nothing else. Knowing how to manipulate events, knowing how to draw out data from variables, and knowing how to flag your game with switches is all common between RPG Maker XP and RPG Maker VX. There’s no real winner here.
That being said, the three selling aspects of RPG Maker XP and RPG Maker VX are tied. Why do people still fight about them? Because they’re nitpicks. And thus, for the sake of the nitpicks, I’ll go into detail about which is stronger. There are ultimately a couple of categories that need covering. They are visuals and audio, mapping, database work, eventing, and scripting.
Visual and Audio
Winner: Tie
Both games use the same formats for both visual and audio. They can support 24-bit PNGs as well as those delicious OGG’s. This means that so long as the user wants to use something, the user can. RPG Maker VX resources can be used in RPG Maker XP and vice versa. Nothing in either engine stops anyone from using it in the other. Size constraints for tilesets, icons, and such are the same. The only thing that needs to be done is a bit of converting. Even after that, it still looks the same.
While some may argue that VX runs at 60 frames per second, after trying an experiment with XP, I’ve converted VX scripts into XP and lo and behold, XP can run at 60 frames per second, too. XP could then also run all of those new bitmap adjustment functions that VX had implemented as new features. In this sense, both are equal, even if VX has it by default and XP requires a bit of work to get it set up.
But guess what? All of that doesn’t really matter much in the long run because what determines a game’s ongoing success isn’t the graphics or the music, but instead, the gameplay. Just because these two engines tie doesn’t mean a thing, especially if the graphics/music for a game are great, but the gameplay sucks.
Mapping
Winner: RPG Maker XP
XP has a much easier handle on mapping. The numerous tilesets it can use is an advantage over VX. XP also has three layers for mapping whereas VX has two. That being said, does this automatically put VX lower than XP on the favourability list? Not quite.
Human beings evolve to adapt. Adapting to the limitations of VX is also no different. Numerous scripts have been created as a reaction to the limited tileset course presented in VX. These scripts also come with external programs to adjust the actual RPG Maker VX editor to display them correctly as well. With a little bit of effort (and it’s honestly not hard at all to add new tilesets to VX), VX can produce practically the same maps as XP, even if XP has three layers to work with while VX has two. Furthermore, any competent mapper can create what they want in either XP or VX no matter what kinds of limitations are placed on them. It may be harder in VX, but everything doable in XP is also doable in VX with just a little bit more effort.
But despite all of that, a pretty looking map means very little to the average RPG. Why? The same reason as the visuals and audio above. The way maps should be constructed is to provide a set stage and design for the player to travel. A thought out map is the same as a thought out stage in a platformer game. Players pay more attention to interesting maps than pretty maps. Much less the same rule for platformers. The pretty stages don’t get the attention whereas the interesting ones do. Furthermore, the interesting ones are usually the ones that include gameplay depth.
Databasing
Winner: RPG Maker VX
Everything in RPG Maker XP’s database and RPG Maker VX’s database are practically the same outside of a few small things such as STR instead of ATK, and INT instead of SPI. The two of them also have the same number of maximums per tab. So why is VX’s better? Because of the noteboxes.
The noteboxes are there to allow you to add notes to your database. While this doesn’t seem like much at first, it actually extends past that. Scripts are often used in RPG Maker XP and RPG Maker VX games to allow the database items to do more than what they’re originally limited to. In RPG Maker XP, using a script as such would require you to manually edit the script to change the properties of one database item. It’s either that or you can do the process of binding the properties to element tags and then unbinding the element tags from the damage formulas. Sounds extremely clumsy, huh? Well, it is. To make it worse, only 999 elements can be used. This means that a maximum of 999 custom effects can be used. Some of those will most likely be used as gameplay elements, too, so even less than that.
With the noteboxes in VX, all you have to do is just type in the specificed strings instructed by the scripts and it’ll do what it needs to do. There is no need to edit the script, no need to bind elements, no need to unbind elements from the damage formula. More importantly, this method does not limit the project to 999 custom effects maximum. As the notebox doesn’t have a size limit, you can add as much as you want to it, and through that, way more than 999 custom effects. This is particularly important for those big games. The amount of headache this process saves makes VX quite the clear winner here.
Eventing
Winner: RPG Maker VX
While the basics of eventing are the same in both RPG Maker XP and VX, there are many missing features from XP’s. First off, the message system in XP needs serious work. There’s no way to display faces through default means, but this can be remedied through a bit of hard work. The same way VX will use scripts to increase the number of tilesets used for mapping, XP will use scripts to resolve its inherent no face problem. However, this isn’t one of the bigger problems that XP faces as far as eventing goes.
XP removed a lot of eventing properties that were originally in RPG Maker 2000, RPG Maker 2k3, and those features returned to RPG Maker VX. Namely, I’m talking about being able to set the height priority of the event. In the former makers, you had the choice of placing it above the hero, same level as the hero, or below the hero. In XP, this option is not apparent. If you use character sets, you can only do above or the same level. If you’re using tilesets as events, it’ll only be the same level as the hero.
Event page conditions are also not as sufficient as VX’s. XP is missing the possess item condition, which was actually in 2000 and 2k3 but removed, and the actor is present condition. This is extremely important, especially for event crafters, and using scripts to remedy this problem is no easy task unlike the message system. Even worse, XP lacks vehicles. Vehicles are the backbone for many traditional RPG’s as its one of the best methods to limit the player from traveling to unwanted areas early in the game. Though there are scripts that create vehicles, a good number of them are unstable and can cause headache just to set up properly.
In short, these limitations severly hurt XP’s eventing capabilities over VX’s, especially for event crafters. While many talented event crafters will figure out an alternative (as that’s their specialty to begin with), some needed functions just cannot be handled well such placing an event below the hero. However,the ability to craft events depends on the event crafter and that’s all there really is to it.
Scripting
Winner: Tie
Contrary to popular belief, scripting in VX is not easier or better than it is in XP. The two editors use the same default base scripts with only a few differences (such as STR instead of ATK and INT instead of SPI). Only a few definitions are different here and there, and it’s mostly naming conventions. There’s really nothing to compare. However, people tend to say that VX’s is better but only because it’s easier to read. From what I’ve seen, XP’s base scripts contain comments, too, and in the same format as VX’s base scripts.
The only other theory I can make about people saying VX scripts are better is because scripting was only recently added as a feature in XP. People who started out scripting in XP may be a bit more rough and inexperienced. When those scripters moved onto VX, those scripts became smoother and easier to use. This is probably one of the most probable causes behind that line of thought.
Here’s another thing, too. Remember what I said about porting VX’s scripts to XP after making those small adjustments to definition names and whatnot? If I can do that, is it really the scripts being stronger or better? No. Not at all. Both editors are capable of creating equally powerful scripts with equally functional capabilities.
Summary
Now that the nitpick topics are pointed out, it’s pretty clear that XP is better than VX as far as mapping is concerned, and it’s also pretty clear that VX is a bit better than XP in eventing and databasing. As expected anyway since it was released a bit after XP was. However, people still use XP while others still use VX after being convinced that XP is just as good. Why? Because it’s like I said, these are only nitpick topics. Anyone with a decent level of RPG Maker skill can use both effectively to their own desires. The gripes people have with the engines are nothing more than what I’ve mentioned, nitpicks. And I know I’ve been saying nitpick a whole lot, but that’s because that’s all they actually are: nitpicks. Using XP or VX won’t magically make your game better.
For the sake of providing an analogy, the differences between XP and VX are similar to the differences between Photoshop CS1 and CS2 and CS3. While it’s pretty clear that CS2 and CS3 are upgrades, the general base work for the program remains the same. The things you’re able to create with CS2 and CS3 will most likely also be doable with CS1. All that’s different are a few updates here and there, a few changes, and a couple of add-ons that may or may not contribute much. That being said, some favour CS1 over the newer versions and vice versa. Ultimately, the outcome is the same, an editted image. The same goes for XP and VX. The two editors are so close and alike that in the end, a game produced by one or the other will still be an RPG Maker game. The only reason why people would choose CS1 or CS2 over the others is because of small nitpicks.
That being said, if you’re nitpicky with mapping, go with XP. If you’re nitpicky with databasing and eventing, go with VX. However, if you’re a skillful RPG Maker user, you can use either and not let these nitpicks bother you at all. Either way, your focus shouldn’t be on the editor you’re using, but instead, on making that game for the players. Ultimately, the ones playing the game are the players anyway, and if a good game’s made in RPG Maker XP or VX, it’s still a good game nonetheless.
Conclusion
In short, there’s no big advantage to using one over the other, especially if you have the skill to use RPG Maker, whether it is XP or VX. Do not be fooled by the people who claim they have the skill and hand out judgement about one being limited than the other by a longshot. There’s no such truth. The only reality of RPG Maker is that it is only limited to what you think you can and cannot do, limited to what you will and will not do, and limited to what you will learn and will not learn. The quality of your RPG Maker games won’t significantly go up if you’re using XP or VX. The quality of your games will only be determined by the amount of understanding and hard work you wish to put into your own game.
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