1 is always good. Plenty of games to play.

3 is good, but it is very limited.

You'll find that RPGM1 has some limitations as well, though nowhere near as many as RPGM3. Here's some of the limitations.

No keyboard support. Don't worry, you'll get used to it.

It's impossible to have more than one event running at the same time, and you can't have an event running and still be able to move around.

It'll take tremendous skill and a lot of hard work to create your own battle system.

No variables.

The only time an event can branch off in the middle is if you use Yes/No, give 2 or 3 choices, or have it randomly choose between 2 or 3 choices (percentage you can decide).

And though it's more of a slight annoyance that you'll get over relatively soon, characters take half-steps on each tile, so you'll sometimes see people standing still in the middle of their step.

These limitations may seem like a big bummer, but really they're not too bad, and some really good games can be made even with those limitations.

RM2 is very good to use but hard to learn. If you want a long, hard and possibly frustrating hobby choose rpg maker 2. But if you desire the easy makers choose one or 3.

I love RM1. It's the best to me and unless some serious changes take place in RM4 I think it will remain so. Partially just because I'm just a sucker for those old shool graphics...It was also powerful, but not to complicated-and yet not so limiting in this combination. It's kinda strange to me that they found a happy medium in the first game, but maybe it wasn't an accident and they wanted to give versatility to the line up by planning a game for the potential fan bases: power(RM2), simplicity(RM3), and versatility(RM1). But you should get all of them and try them for yourselves, just because they all have their perks and quirks.

This is exactly how it is. Rm1 will always be loved over all.

RPGM1 needed variables and if/then commands. Then it would've been perfect in my eyes, despite the inability to move more than one person at the same time (my third biggest gripe, but no big deal).