All this past weekend I've been at work. I've managed to nab the occasional "toilet break" to sneak a post or two in, but holy bloody hell if this thing hasn't already exploded to five pages and I haven't got a single word in yet.
8)
Icey, kid, listen. You need to settle down a bit. I don't think even just changing to an RPG engine is going to be enough. Look at your history of "games" that you've released. Half of them are marked as demos, and even those that aren't either feel so incomplete as to justify being called a demo, or are so far broken as to make themselves unplayable anyway. That's pretty much the reason people keep talking about you making a "complete" or "finished" game "first". You've released dozens of things here, but none of them feels like a properly completed project. It seems to me that you've gotten so caught up in all the ideas you have, that you can't take the time to finish one project before you start on the next.
I can't say that I wasn't there once. I, at one point, had something in the way of 10 LucasArts fan remakes, demakes, and sequels, all simultaneously "in-the-works". You know how many of those ever saw the light of day? Exactly zero. One of my fan sequels had a tech demo once, and I did make IWWHIIWWHITOMIROTPG: The Game!, but those were drastically different projects, with literally years between them. None of my other projects that I was working on at the time ever survived simply because there wasn't enough to constitute releasing them.
Sure, you're passionate about these games, and you want to make them, but seriously, you need to stop, stop, stop making multiple projects simultaneously. I don't mean later, I mean now. All it's doing is making everything you release take a 1D8+50 to the face, and wouldn't you know it if your games' collective DEF is only at 2!
I think using RPG Maker would suite you very well, but that's not the biggest issue.
Regarding the battle statistics, I think once you've made something in RPG Maker, you'll be able to see how each of those stats work together to create a playable experience. I don't have some great passion to design an RPG. Hell, I've barely ever released anything that could even be called a game. But when I was making OSD:OCD, I understood enough about how battle statistics are supposed to work together, that I put extensive time and effort into the battles. I didn't base it off of any serious table-top game or anything like that (although I have played some, and quite enjoy them when I have someone to play with). I came up with a bunch of random nonsense just for the sake of having some battle stats, but I actually applied that random nonsense. If you look around the game scripts (which I know how much you've enjoyed digging around in my game to implement your changes), you'll find that I've done things like basing the attacks off of a 3D10 roll. What's that all about?
The magic spells were pretty much static I think, but the actual attack code involves a random variant applied to the Oceanspirit's attack level, reduced by the opponent's defense level. You yourself said that you've never thought of including a DEF stat in your games. Wait, WHAT? How do you make an RPG without one of the most basic of all stats?
Anyway, my biggest advice to you is just to settle down with your production goals. Set one specific goal for one specific project, and even if you miss the goal, see the project through to completion. Doesn't matter how long it takes you. Take time, and learn from your experiences, and maybe you'll be able to create a truly quality product. And RPG Maker for RPGs. AGS for AGs.
