I have recommended two freeware games in the past that were made either partially or entirely by an RPGMaker program: Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden, and Master of the Wind. (Waiting for that final release, guys.) Today, I have a third such game to rec.
Alter Aila.
I'm playing the remake, Alter Aila Genesis, since its final release is very recent. (Man, what timing on my part!) It's great!
It's a dystopian cyberpunk world where you and your party must escape from a setting slightly reminiscent of Escape from New York. You navigate in a 2-D plane, which is unusual for an RPG, but it makes navigation very easy, and it's hard to get lost. The graphics are decent; you can't expect much from an RPGMaker game in this regard, but they're reminiscent of SNES games. The cinematics are still images interesperded with well-placed sound effects. The character designs are okay; they resemble anime art from the late 1990s, (one of your characters looks like Vash, minus the goofy smile) but it fits. The music is cool, very techno-ish.
But there's two things about this game that stand out, one is the battle system. It's similar to the battle system used in Final Fantasy 4 through 9. There is no MP, but rather, your characters have action points, or AP, and something called EX, which doesn't refer to experience points. (Though there is EXP in this game.) In battle, every command you use consumes AP. Some of your more potent abilities also consume EX. These charge up throughout battle depending on how you use them, but be careful, because enemies can negate one gauge or the other through special attacks. (Then again, you can do the same thing to them. Enemies also fight under the same rules you do.) Judicious use of AP, EX, and items will win battles in this game. AP and EX reset after every battle, so you don't have to charge them up with items.
The other thing is the story. Now, I know, I've written in the past of how tired I am of people assuming that RPGs have to have good writing, or else they suck. I still believe this; RPGs are not like point-and-click adventure games or visual novels; their mechanics enable them to be fun to play even without the framework of a narrative. With that said, RPGs tend to have more interaction than most other games, and as such, it's easier to craft a good story for them, and guess what? Alter Aila has a good story! It's got a lot of typical sci-fi elements to it. Psychic powers replace magic, robots and mutants try to kill you around every turn, the city I'm in in my current playthrough is very similar to Taris from the first Knights of the old Republic. But the characters are interesting, the story is not bogged down with 40 minute long cutscenes, (take that, Xeno games!) the dialog is neither cheesy nor awkward, and . . . it's just gripping. Despite having simplistic-looking cutscenes, they're very effective.
So do yourself a favor and check it out.
