I'm completely new to using this program, but from what I've seen in the Pokemon Essentials kit, it has some a lot of power. I'd rather use this over rom hacking just because I want to build something from the ground up. So my questions are these:

1) Is RPG Maker XP the version people use? I saw some other versions available.
2) Is it worth the $21 price tag (they sent me an email saying I could get it at this price)?