freaking enemy encounters...those who played version one experienced pretty much an encounter every five steps or so. my bad...so i fixed this for version two...sorta
You mean it used to be worse, o.O?
I tried out your Genesis Chronicle as my first downloaded game (both to have some fun and to see what people had done using the RPG Maker II software), Smurf, played a whole whopping ten minutes last night, and followed it up this morning with another hour and forty some-odd, defeating Draco, losing... I can't remember the names of the two characters off-hand, and gaining Death in my party.
At this point I became somewhat lost, and skimmed the Guide, taking a solid glance at the game as a whole.
In all honesty, I don't really plan to continue on farther, unless Rodak's feelings on it manage to 'suade me to the other side of opinion on it, but after playing what I have, my opinion's sitting opposite of his. In any case, I trust my opinion, though slanted against, might be somewhat worthwhile to you?
Perhaps I shouldn't have expected too much? Or perhaps I should shut up since I haven't even made a basic game using the software?
As a quick check, Genesis Chronicle was the first game you had made? And, from what little I can tell, you stuck primarily to the basic pre-set settings?
Due to my inexperience, I don't know what all can be changed. I'm fairly certain most of it can be, and it's just a matter of the scripting (that is the term used in RPGMII, right?). My main gripe was the battle... balance, I think is the best word. Every party member was identical as far as experience required to level-up, had the oddity of all being some form of warriors, as far as the Class and Skills were concerned. Dropping the Classes entirely might be a good idea. I used the Ice Blade (was that what it was called?) against one Boss (I don't recall which), and it did virtually nothing compared to normal attacking. Since normal attacks take less time to input, I focused on them from that point on, and eventually resorted to the "Auto" function to deal with the battles in the field.
The "Auto" function needs to die, by the way. This is primarily just a personal opinion, but it does focus on a "laziness" aspect in gamers.
Stat balance for both party characters and enemies is difficult to balance, and they suffered. The party was too powerful. If it were more bearable to put up with, I'd be tempted to see how low of a level Draco could be beaten at, or how few characters might be required (though the Herb supply might run short). Level ups increased HP far too much (a whopping twenty points). The enemies didn't end up doing enough more to compensate against this.
Earlier "bosses" had the ability to attack twice each turn. I was glad to see it go, but it would have been better done if only given to one boss. Ironically, it made the very early game more difficult than the... early game (Draco's Castle).
The enemies in the field fell like flies. Levelling up just made random battles more pointless. It was the same Werewolf and Goblin over and over, and then Pegasus and... erm... I don't recall what other monster on the second island. You'd used other enemies in the Training Grounds at the beginning of the game, and recycling them would have served well, coupled with a randomness factor to generate a random enemy party to battle (I'm assuming this is possible?).
The issue with the frequency of random battles was that it made me get lost far too easily. Coupled with the fact that I already didn't know where I was going (though I did realize after a while that the islands are just the basic map and recolors of the basic map). Either confinement of some degree, or odd landmarks might have helped. I didn't even stumble across Draco's Castle until it was time to, and that thing is huge.
The various healing Items were too inexpensive. Worse, if a player bothers to level, they only become necessary against bosses.
I also noticed the genericness of the towns. It wasn't too much of an issue to me, and actually helped me to navigate them. Having a way to save in each town would have been more helpful, though.
Lastly, dungeons. Random encounters in them would have been more RPG-like, but navigation would have been impossible if you had done that. Otherwise, the only issue was in Draco's Castle, where you stacked too many floors on one map. Adjusting the camera angle is one thing, but not being able to see your party is another.
I'm sorry I haven't finished the game, but I do hope that my opinions on what I did play are helpful, or at least might confirm whatever flaws you might have spotted in it yourself. There were several minor issues I took note of, but the unbalance in battles was what made it unbearable to play through. (I suppose getting lost constantly didn't help either, but the battles were the main thing.)
I do hope to hear that your later Chronicle installments are improved over Genesis, however. I'm not sure whether it was RPG Maker II, or Genesis itself, but something made me reminescent of Phantasy Star, and drove me to play as far as I did. I would like to thank you for helping me to realize (remember may be the proper word) that gameplay truly does trump storyline. Being able to play the game makes it playable, but the old-school games and RPGs never needed solid stories.