The freeware, RPG Maker 2003 for PC is probably what your looking for in terms of making RPG's, instead of this.
The uncustomizable battling system for the PS1 version is very dull and stupid, considering that your shown characters on the screen will be stat boxes, which enemies will swing attacks at. In the RPG Maker 2003, the battling is almost copied right from Final Fantasy III, and if you get good enough at manipulating the game's many features, you can make pretty much any type of battle system you want.
The graphics and sounds implemented into RPG Maker are plentiful, but still can not compare to RPG Maker 2003's infinite amount of graphics and sounds you can import from the internet and even make yourself (PS1 drawing program is practically broken). Being able to type in text for the PC version is a huge improvement, since the PS1 version takes forever with having to pick each letter to insert into the text box. The switches, which are the most useful part of RPG maker, don't seem to work well in the PS1 version, but are a saint to work with in 2003. The best feature missing from the PS1 version is the usage of variables. This is the reason you can manipulate RPG Maker 2003 so much better than the original. Variables and switches allow you to create cinema scenes and make them happen at certain places, they're used to make puzzles and make them unlock doors, they can create customized battling systems, they can make shops, and pretty much anything you can think of. The PS1 version is a tad simpler to work with, but after you crack through the first 10 or so hours of making a game, it won’t even matter at all (10 hours is a short amount of time for making games).
Do yourself a favor and go download RPG Maker 2003 for free off of the internet, rather than shoveling out money for the outdated original.