I hope not. As someone who has built a small game myself in RPG Maker its a difficult and time consuming job to do it properly. There are some like to the moon and cherry creek that are worth playing but the amount of shit that exists is just overwhelming. That's what making my own game taught me--it taught me that while I have some creative ideas I simply do have the get up and go to make a full game by myself.

The point I am trying to make is this: the actual upfront cost of the RPG ACE--even when it is a full non-discounted price-- is only a teeny tiny fraction the total cost of a game's production costs. The overwhelming amount of costs lie in either (a) labor (b) labor and (c) labor whether that be the labor to code or the labor to make art.

My own view is that if Enterbrain is giving the game away like this it most likely means that the new version is to be released soon. Based upon their development schedule it is about time, so it makes sense. Give people the game for free now, hope they like it and will up grade to the new version.

Well, if there is a game you want translated, PM me and if I can get permission from the creator, I'll do it, though somebody else will have to import it into English RPG Maker, since it doesn't run on my Japanese system unless I change the language to English and there ain't no way I'm going to do that since I'm much more comfortable having Windows in my native language.

In that case, maybe the introductory posts would be a good first step, to see if there's any interest in the games. Personally I have never worked with RPG Maker though and I have no clue how much importing a translation would be. But maybe there are some passionate people in the interantional RPG Maker community who would know and love to do it for a particularly interesting game?

If people want to dismiss games because of the engine used to make them, that's their loss. I personally quite like the RPG Maker programs and if I ever get ideas I'm working on completed, one is very likely to use one of the RPG Makers.

Which OS and what version are you using? If you're on Win 7 Ultimate (or whatever the equivalent was for earlier XP, Vista, etc.), you can use the language interface options on a per account basis. My main account is using English interface and a sub account is using default Japanese to play the few games I have that refuse to work if they detect English. For the record, the version of VX Ace available on Steam (and currently from Humble Bundle) works fine with my Japanese OS (Win 7 Ultimate) using an English interface.

Locale Emulator should also do the trick, without the need for extra accounts.

Exactly. In order to make a decent game with RPG Maker, you have to create your own graphics, your own tiles, your own music. Then spend hours everyday working on putting it all together.

As has been repeated loads here, if the game looks and plays like every other RPG Maker game (many of which I can get for free), I'd not be interested in it. If you did you own graphics and sounds, if you did something interesting with the mechanic, if you improved on some of the defaults (the battle screens, the dialogue methods, the interface), I'd be more interested.

For me, it has nothing to do with 2D graphics. If I thought 2D graphics automatically meant lower quality (I in fact kinda think the opposite), what on earth would I be doing here?

I made the big GOG Treasure Hunt in RPG Maker XP with all default graphics and nobody complained! :)

I got VX Ace for Christmas. And though I'm glad I have a boxed version, I'm still picking it up for Steam for the workshop support.

I've played a lot of bad RPG Maker games. And I've played some that got me rolling laughing.

And the default battle system actually can do some really neat things. I've never gone out to design my own b/c I've enjoyed playing with the skills/effects options to make the battles rather strategic. But if I was to design my own, it'd be in the style of Shining Force. Character position is always a fun strategic element.

I'm on Vista. I don't think I have Ultimate or whatever it is, just plain old Office-enabled Vista. Yeah, if I could be on 7, I would be, but it's required for my job, unfortunately.

In any case, I'd be willing to try whatever the Vista workaround is if someone wants a game translated. I imagine it's something maybe I could do with an alternate user account.

I also use Applocale when I need to run some stuff through Steam which won't run on Japanese OSes. I expect there's a Vista version of that, or at least a workaround to install it (which is what is needed to install on Win 7).

If you go that route, remember to use Uz'bek as the region choice for anything you want in English. At least, that's the only selection that works with Steam. Trying English likely won't have any effect.

Thanks for all your suggestions! I'll keep that in mind if the opportunity to translate something ever comes up. I don't use Steam because it's atrociously localized for Japanese users and the only DRM we're used to over here having the CD/DVD to play the game (and publishers release no CD/DVD patches if there is a demand for them), so if I did ever buy the English version of RPG Maker for translation purposes, it'd have to be at Humble Bundle or some place. Humble doesn't connect to Steam, right?

I wonder though, if this is all necessary. After all, the Japanese version of RPG Maker can display English characters, as can any Japanese game, because the English alphabet is a small part of Japanese now. If I ask around there might be a way to do it that way too!

BTW, are you and I the only users from Japan on the forum? I like your Miku avatar!

Yeah, unfortunately, the version sold on Humble right now is Steam only. Only some of the resource packs (basically the ones not on Steam) are DRM free =/

I think there's a couple of other Japan based users around, although I think they rarely post these days.

As for the avatar, again, thanks. I actually have the Nendoriod model -- it was the one made after that quake in 2011.