Reviving topic since I haven't posted anything in a while.
Started programming on an old-school inspired RPG. Using mostly placeholders/edits of Final Fantasy 1,2,3 from NES. Using my own 8 bit renditions of various well known songs from rpg games. Spent a total of maybe 3 hours coding from scratch with Game Maker 8.1 to get a solid prototype together. In that time, I have finished battle transitions,4 direction movement exactly like NES FF games, camera controller, and ocean/water controller(the water in FF games wasn't a simple background moving, it was 1 pixel lines).
Anyway, two screens for your viewing pleasure.