PHANTOMLIMB'S PROFILE

Essentially, I decided I found the traditional graphics style of VX not to my tastes, but the numerous lacking of features (such as, but not limited to: scripting) of 2003 equally ..not to my tastes.

So, the most logical compromise would be to convert the 16-bit graphics style used in 2003 RTP and rips (which I love) to VX, yes?

I have the charset-converter, which is brilliant, but the tilesets are still an issue. I know there is a VX tileset made of the 2003 RTP, - but what is the process of conversion like? Can one simply drop a, say, tileset meant for 2003 into the VX folder, do a bit of fiddling, and voila? Or is it far more laborious than that?

I'm hoping the labour of converting tilesets would be far less than the labour of compensating for the lack of scripting features through events, so my question is how difficult the whole thing is, and if it's worth doing it.

EDIT: (this seemed to border on the criteria for the help request thread as well as this one, so I wasn't entirely sure where to put it, as it isn't a direct request of any sort)

I wasn't entirely sure where to post this, so here goes.

I used to be into the RPG Maker scene somewhere around 2008-10, youtube channel, projects and everything. Somewhere along the line, the community (in my eyes) dried up, so I took a hiatus. I've not touched it for years, turning to other outlets like music, etc, not really paying much attention to the RPG Maker community apart from dropping in every so often to see if there's anything new that rivals 'The Way' (i'm still looking). But, after picking up FF7 on Steam not a week ago, I'm filled with an inescapable desire to return to where I left off.

However, I feel stuck before a few caveats, and so all these creative thoughts are left bottled and unexpressed inside my head.

Back then, things like character and story were second fiddle to elements such as gameplay, so these are newfound woes. Immersion in the plot is integral for me now, and I feel this is incredibly difficult to pull off, on RPG Maker. Timing and dialogue is one thing, but I'm having trouble giving life to motionless 32 x 32 sprites.

I've experimented with editing charsets to create nodding, "sad", and shrugging animations, but I'm no visual artist, so it's alot of work for something not exactly immediately rewarding, and the results are often too sketchy for my finicky self.

So I'm curious; what is the most effective way of communicating emotion and immersive storytelling in an RPG Maker project? How would I go about getting around this frustrating caveat? Are there words of wisdom I can follow, or some state of mind I should enter? What are some good examples of community games here that convey emotion and immersive storytelling effectively? Are there visual artists in the community happy to fulfill requests related to editing charsets? Am I just being too pensive?

I think this is alot to ask, but I'd appreciate any sort of response.