Castle Paradox

Rya.Reisender · **Snippy** Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 821

First of all Deus Ex is not even close to an RPG. It's an action first person shooter adventure with rpg-ish character development.

Second, even if there are RPGs without bosses / final boss battles, that doesn't mean they are anywhere close to being good RPGs.

I still can't imagine anything other than a really well done final boss that wouldn't make me disappointed.
_________________
Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

J.A.R.S. · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 6:15 am Post subject:

I'd like to agree, but Deus Ex got the 'best rpg of the year' prize from at least two different important game critics. I'm sorry to say it IS an rpg. Go back to the definition of RPG and you might be surprised. However, it is not a jrpg. You might be refering to that precise subgenre?

Rya.Reisender · **Snippy** Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 821

Theoretically every game is an RPG if it even has the slightest story. But it's only a real RPG if it has a separate battle system.
_________________
Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

J.A.R.S. · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 8:24 pm Post subject:

Diablo IS an rpg...

Rya.Reisender · **Snippy** Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 821

Nope, it's a roguelike.

Edit: Or maybe dungeon crawler or adventure, but not an rpg. And it actually has a final boss anyways.

Edit2: Though genres are defined differently in each country anyways.
_________________
Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

J.A.R.S. · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:30 am Post subject:

Possibly, but I've been taught it was a typical American RPG. Your definition of RPG seems to be of the retro japanese RPG, and the thing is I believe you're limiting yourself if you absolutely have to 'fall back in line' with the category. This prevents you from having original thoughts for the genre. Without asserting the question of the final boss, there are many things that you consider 'classical' in an rpg that could be tweaked for better results, but given the definition you have, you'd refuse to see that improve based of 'the book'.

Jack · **the fool** Joined: 30 Jul 2004 Posts: 773

Most games with RPG backgrounds, but complete player control are usually just called "Action-RPGs".
_________________

Rya.Reisender · **Snippy** Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 821

Yeah according to American definition Deus Ex is of the genre Action-RPG (which imo is a whole lot different from just an RPG).

The German definition of RPG is a bit different, it doesn't even originate from "Japanese Retro RPGs" but rather from pen & paper RPGs. If you say "Roleplaying Game" over here most people won't even think of a video games but rather of 'stories' made up by people. Especially when a girl uses the term RPG she usually means the gay erotic stories she 'plays' with friends on the internet.

Anyways the definition of RPG over here is like that:
- you need character stats that display the characters abilities
- the story must be about a GROUP of people doing something (if it's only one hero we call the genre 'adventure' instead by default)
- it must have a separate battle system or at least different gameplay during battles (Chrono Trigger for example would still count as an RPG), otherwise it's called action-adventure (also out of the reason that if there's no separate battle system you usually only play ONE hero even if there are more heroes in the group that are controlled by some AI).

So for me an RPG is where these 3 criterias apply.

The 'purest' japanese RPG according to German definition is probably Unlimited Saga. I personally think that this game captures the definition of RPG perfectly.

As I said the definition is different in every country which makes it hard talking about it. It's like when American say Beat 'em Up to Fighting Game (UK) and Fighting Game to Beat 'em Up (UK). Very confusing sometimes.
_________________
Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)