What constitutes an RPG?

Okay, I'm setting the record straight once and for all. I've heard far too many people using the term "RPG elements" to describe games that have no resemblance to an RPG, whatsoever! The Legend of Zelda series is not an RPG series! It's a fucking adventure series!! Devil May Cry does not have "RPG-like" elements to it!! It's a fucking action game!!

These are the three rules that determine an RPG. No RPG must have all of these rules, but an RPG must have at least one of these things.

1) Combat is turn-based, allowing for greater depth of strategy and focusing on tactical maneuvers moreso than quick-response or hand-eye coordination.

2) The combat is handled in a multi-character party configuration. The management of a party of individuals, their equipment, stats and abilities is a focus of the game.

3) Character-building is based on experience points or some similar derivative (like FF10's skill grid). Character levels are the standard method of improvement, but other methods do exist.

Those are the three cardinal rules of an RPG. Without at least one of those rules, the game is not a fucking RPG.

Devil May Cry does not have "RPG-like" elements just because Dante can purchase new abilities with Red Orbs. Devil May Cry is an action game. The focus of the game is on, you guessed it, action. Not strategy, stat-building, party-management or story.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is not a goddamned RPG. It is an adventure game. It focuses on exploration and puzzle-solving, not strategy, stat-building, party-management or story.

STOP THROWING AROUND THE TERM "RPG" JUST TO DESCRIBE SOME GAME YOU LIKE. YES, WE UNDERSTAND THAT YOU'RE A FAN OF FINAL FANTASY 7, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT EVERY OTHER GAME YOU LIKE IS A GODDAMNED RPG. STOP IT. NOW.

Zelaron.com is a RPG game!

Explain that one.

Characters earn experiences (postcount) and hopefully have some sort of improvements by doing so.

Turn based...battles. You post, I post, he posts, she posts.

Party configuration - bunch of idiots (I won't mention who...) started flooding the flame forum (or any forum) for the pure purpose of pissing the mods off.

Well, that's a sketchy comparison at best. Post count doesn't equal experience or increased intelligence. Look at Randuin.

The turn-based argument actually works.

And the party-configuration would only really apply if one member was managing several different logins at once.

But, I did say that an RPG only requires one of those three rules, so I suppose (if Zelaron was a game) that it would be a fringe-RPG. Just barely, but it would still count.

Some characters might have a cap in their abilities...

But on topic of things, it also annoys me when people say, "And the game has RPG elements in it too, you will like it if you like RPG!" while the game has nothing to do with a RPG game, at all.

And "Pimpiroth's" comment about Devil May Cry is primarily the reason I started this thread. It just drives me fucking bonkers to see people toss that term around so willingly.

This is probably the most insulting example of that kind of statement that I've ever seen:

http://www.legacynexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2522

That's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard!

Only Zelda: OoT is considered real RPGs.

I don't know how I should react to that.

And I didn't know that RPGs are Roll Playing Games... so what exactly do they play, egg roll or spring roll?

Pecan Roll, I think.

Than again, he might be confusing his games altogether. He might be actually thinking roll playing games, and confusing the title "Ocarina of Time" with "Super Monkey Ball".

Hahaha!

So I see he still didn't take it at the end by saying "I don't care anymore."

But a LOT of people seem to think that Zelda series is an Action RPG...

I also beleive in items being randomly found, not set... like in Zelda which everything is where it is.

I don't know what's so hard to understand about the term "adventure game". The Zelda games are adventure games, yet there are an overwhelmingly large number of people who insist that the word "adventure" is nowhere to be found In Zelda's genre title.

Action games revolve around action. Combat of some form is the focus. Action games are fast-paced and they test your reflexes and eye-hand coordination.

RPGs the polar opposite. They focus on details. They focus on stats. RPGs focus on character/party management, equipment management, experience gaining, level building, strategy and plot.

Adventure games focus on exploration and puzzle solving. Yes, many adventure games allow for your character to become stronger over time and have interesting plots. Yes, many adventure games have action elements in them. But the core of the game's design revolves around exploration and puzzle-solving. The Zelda games revolve around exploration and puzzle solving. Even the boss battles are puzzles! The Zelda games have always been adventure games, and people need to realize it. Now. My patience wears thin.

And yeah, BobtheDead just folded in the end. That's part of the reason why I dislike that forum so much. Try to argue with anyone and they just collapse like a house of cards.

Party configuration - bunch of idiots (I won't mention who...) started flooding the flame forum (or any forum) for the pure purpose of pissing the mods off.

And "Pimpiroth's" comment about Devil May Cry is primarily the reason I started this thread. It just drives me fucking bonkers to see people toss that term around so willingly.

Anyone else see a connection?

My brother never said DevilMayCry was an RPG. He said it had RPG elements.

They dont have to have all of those to be a RPG right? Is D2 an RPG? It isnt turn based like D&D

D2 uses elements from D&D but I don't consider it to be an RPG. It's too shitty.

I never played D2 so I don't even know what kind of RPG elements it even would have.

I never played D2 so I don't even know what kind of RPG elements it even would have.

Stat building

but, its suppose to be an action game

Stat building but, its suppose to be an action game

Stat building is a big thing in RPG's but that doesn't automatically make it an RPG though.

Technically if you play the role of a character in any game, it is considered a role playing game.

Pwnt.