Expanded VX Ace Information

And so, Enterbrain released more information today (last night for the Westerners) about VX Ace and also included a promo-video. Here’s the PV first:

A few things to note:

• 0:34 – Database Actor’s tab is shown to have noteboxes. They also have a “traits” manager in the upper right.
• 0:36 – Database Class’s tab is shown also to have noteboxes. Furthermore, stat management is done through classes now instead of actors. Also, there appears to be 8 stats. Unfortunately, the text is too small for me to be able to tell which stats they are. Likewise with actors, the classes tab also has a “traits” manager in the upper right where the status resistance and elemental affinities tables used to be.
• 0:39 – Database Enemy’s tab is shown to have 3 drop boxes instead of VX’s 2. Either this means that there are 3 droppable items now or one of them is reserved for a potential steal skill. The enemy’s tab also has a “traits” manager.
• 0:41 – Tileset manager can be seen here. Looks like you mix and match tileset pieces together for each setting. And by the looks of it, you can adjust passability here.
• 0:45 – Caterpillar system confirmed.
• 0:50 to 0:51 – Battle messages now appear in the upper left. Sadly, no pop-up numbers to display damage.
• 0:52 to 0:54 – The animation here seems unusually long. I speculate that you can chain together animations in fluid fashion.
• 1:00 – Battle backdrop manager is shown here. You can piece together a floor and a background. Also seen here, looks like the chara creator got an upgrade.

And that’s all I can really note out that was interesting (to me at least). Now, onto the second page of the site:

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What looks to be a normal map editor screenshot shouldn’t be overlooked so easily. Look at the size of that castle event. It’s 2×2 tiles. I wonder if this means we can create multi-tile area events now.

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Here’s the database’s class tab that I mentioned earlier when reviewing the promo video. As you can see, noteboxes, check. 8 stats, check. Traits manager, check. Unfortunately, the text is too small for me to be able to figure out what they say.

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Typical message editor. Doesn’t look any different than the VX version. Most likely, they’ll incorporate a way to throw in the custom faces you’ve made from the chara editor but don’t count on my words for this.

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Script editor. They’ve revealed a few more modules. Sadly, the text is too small for me to make out any of it clearly. However, they sure added a bunch more Game_Something classes. This makes me wonder what they’re really for since VX already covered a bunch of them.

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Not really a screenshot, but the promo page promises to include a bunch of materials both audio and graphical. Looks like they’ve included a bunch of poses this time, too. The sprites are still VX style and some even made reappearances like the scholar and pirate on the right. Sample maps where you just simply select a sample map from the editor. I guess that’s what this screenshot was all about (on the right):

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Here’s the screenshot of the tileset editor. You’ll be able to create multiple tileset “sets” and even select which parts will be used with what. So while this means that there are still a finite amount of tiles that can be used per page, there’s a near infinite amount of combinations you can use at your disposal. Rejoice VX fans. Our days of having to use secondary methods to achieve multiple tilesets are over!

Tilesets even have noteboxes. ww

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Here is a new addition to the skill and item database tabs, you can adjust the damage formulas used for each skill. Furthermore, you can choose if it affects HP (and most likely, it’ll be a drop down box that lets you select MP and TP, too, but don’t take my word on this). No more need for me to make a custom damage formula script! Hurrah! (Although I’ll probably make it for the lunatic users again…)

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Here, you can adjust the casting requirements. Be it using your HP, MP, or TP (most likely) and the value set. The first two check bubbles require the values to be greater and less than. The text gets botched up for the lower two check bubbles so I’m unable tog et a clear read on that.

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Here, you can adjust the other special properties of the skills. Unfortunately, I’m not quite sure what each of them do just yet until I experiment with the editor myself.

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Enterbrain specifically mentions that the chara editor is based off of the Famitsu editor that the Westerners know it as. By the looks of it though (and comparing the two), there are a lot more pieces you can use with the VX Ace editor.

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The description below the screenshot of this caterpillar picture mentions that up to a max of 8 members can be in a party at once. However, the first four will be a part of the “active” party while the other 4 are part of the “reserve” party when it comes to the caterpillar system. Not sure how this plays out in battle though since there’s no mentioning of that. However, seeing them use words like “reserve party” seems to suggest there’s a party management system in the game, too (but once again, don’t take my word for that).

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And here’s a screenshot of the battle backdrop editor. You can select a floor and a background (which actually goes on top, but let’s leave it at that…). This is particularly neat (and reminds me a bit of the YERD and YEZ versions of the backdrop editor script I’ve made). The images appear to be 544×416 though, which hints that there won’t be any options to change the resolution size. Oh well.

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And here’s the battle screenshot that we’ve all seen before. It makes mention of the TP system, which can be used for skill finishers (translates to “Limit Breaks” and “Overdrives” to us). Looking at the combination of battle backdrops, higher res skill animations, new battle system layout, everything looks quite nice for the default battle system.

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To summarize, here’s all the new features we’ll be looking at based on my observations:

• 2×2 event tiles as suggested per one of the screenshots.
• 3 drop boxes under enemy tab (unknown as to how they work for now).
• 8 stats instead of 6.
• Battle backdrops can be pieced together using a floor and a background.
• Battle system is more streamlined. Still no damage pop-ups though.
• Caterpillar system. Works with an active party of 4 and reserve party of 4 (that don’t get shown). This hints to a party management system.
• Custom chara editor is an even more advanced version of the Famitsu editor.
• Damage formulas can be simply typed in. What it damages can be selected, too.
• More materials included both graphic and audio.
• Noteboxes for database actor and class tabs.
• Script editor reveals more modules and has a lot more classes.
• Skill cost requirements can be adjusted and not just limited to MP like in VX.
• Skills can have additional properties.
• “Traits” manager for database actor, class, and enemy tabs.
• TP system is basically a limit break/overdrive system.
• VX’s Tileset limitation is gone. Tilesets can be mixed and matched. Properties are individually managed, too.

This negates the fear that many people have regarding VX Ace. It’s not just an add-on, but really feels like a large overhaul of the main engine. Enterbrain did a much better job this time around than the change from XP to VX. This reduces a lot of the work load on developers for constantly having to search for scripts. Though, it looks like scripts will still have to be made (I can’t stand having no battle pop-ups for one), the basic engine itself is very fulfilling. My only real bummer is that it really doesn’t seem like there are any built-in options that alter the default screen resolution. Everything else meets the bar.

Ace is a lot more different than we originally thought. It looks like VX, it feels like VX, it tastes like VX, it sounds like VX, and it even smells like VX. But all of that is mispackaging. It’s like opening up a box of Honey Nut Cheerios and finding Cookie Crisp inside of it. You win either way.

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Also, it’s been brought to my attention that the staff of RPGMakerVXAce.com translated the promo page that Enterbrain brought out today. It’s pretty good~ Check it out here!