and about the spriting part, it all depends… very rare people make games for profit, so you can always make fangames, and the whole original from scratch spriting is just a plus, as there is also the RTP and public domain graphics that people make specially so others can use them. I deal with rpgmaker for leisure, as well my games use rips and edits of some of some games, besides fun, as tribute.
Check out "Vampires Dawn 2", "Eternal Legends" and, "Unterwechs in D�sterburg" !! The very best Games are "Final Fantasy Zero" and "Velsarbor".
If you are lucky you can find englisch patches for some of them.
Some screens:
FF0
http://ff0.rm2k.free.fr/screensA21.jpghttp://ff0.rm2k.free.fr/screensA8.jpg
Velsarbor
http://velsarbor.rpg-atelier.net/screens/screens_10.pnghttp://velsarbor.rpg-atelier.net/screens/screens_11.png
Unterwechs in D�sterburg
http://duesterburg.rpg-atelier.net/images/f.jpghttp://duesterburg.rpg-atelier.net/images/uid-6.jpg
Vampires Dawn 2
http://vampiresdawn.eu/bilder/vd2/vd2_screen28.pnghttp://vampiresdawn.eu/bilder/vd2/vd2_screen16.png