The best RPG maker on a CONSOLE, which entails customizability issues.
The original US RPG Maker for the PS1 I found to be a neat little tool. I could make just about as a good an RPG as anything I could make on say RPG Maker 95. Both had their limitations and I found without a proper keyboard, the one on PS1 had the most. I loathed making dialogue because it took nearly ten minutes to make one little word box. And what's the winning feature in RPG's...? Dialogue/Story.
Anyway, along came RPG Maker 2 which before actually buying I sat down and came up with a story and everything for. When it came out, it was a very sore disappoint. The thought of making a grand 3D RPG was traipsed on by the fact that the game was meant for the creation of a game directly inbalance with Dragon Quest VII. Now, I liked Dragon Quest VII, but attempting to make something like it is ridiculous. I got past the graphics because the game was long and it had some really great puzzles and characters, but there's only so much one person can do... and that ends up being a 2 or 3 hour game at the most. Besides that, the way you set up events and objects took more than three maps. Loading and exiting out took way too much time and the game ended up being next to worthless because it already took long enough for any other RPG maker, but now this game had its design flaws which made it just plain irritating and had taken all the fun out of creation.
So here's RPG Maker 3 and finally, I get to make that awesome PS2 3D RPG I've always wanted. Well... not quite. Making a world is actually easy, in fact, the game already has default maps you can edit to your liking. This aspect I found very well thought out... and not to mention it wasn't irritating like 2. Anyway, once I got past the creation of a partiality of my world, I began to make my characters... and boy was I disappointed. There is a very limited number of characters to choose from, with four (oh... wow...)different color schemes a piece... and on top of that, the character portraits they tacked on to this do not match any of the characters. Maybe one or two merely resemble some of them, but that's it. This part was a huge downfalling. You feel like you get next to no say in what your characters look like.
Then, because they couldn't possibly add in camera angles and facial features, the game resorts to a system called "story mode"... or something along that line. In this mode you put portraits and text and little effects. Seeing as you have to resort to this as the basic premise for all your cutscenes, your game ends up being extremely boring. There's really no action besides the battle system.
Speaking of the battle system, it is horrible. I didn't really expect much from a default battle system on an RPG maker, but this one is such a generic battle system I decided to throw out all battles in my game and make it an adventure game instead. If you've had the misfortune to play first-generation PS2 RPGs such as Ephemeral Fantasia and others, you'll know what I'm talking about. In fact, it's like that game, but slooooooooowwwer. The system could have redeemed itself if it weren't so damn slow, but it is and it makes for a pretty awful battle experience.
After stating my big problems with the game, (which are more than I originally thought) I still think this is the best RPG maker you can get for a console, but I'd still recommend you save your $50 and go download good ol RPG maker 2000 for the PC.
Maybe the new wannabe-computer consoles, the PS3 or 360 will be able to deal with these customizability issues.