Question of the Day, Feb. 21, 2010

[The Cheezy One]

think logically
you PLAY the ROLE of link in the GAME
yahtzee did a thing about this, all games are role playing, just depends on the role
but if im just being pedantic, then no, other than the controls being the same, your attacks and weapons getting stronger, your health and armour increasing, your equipment changing-
hold on?
they are RPGS
(this was looked at from the perspective of ocarina of time)

Sure you get more and ?better? weapons, but that is standard progression in most games (Halo, Call of Duty, Resident Evil) and these games are not considered role playing games either (for the first reason).

no, thats because the ones youve mentioned are shooters before they are RPGs.
thats like saying "chips dont count as food because neither do vitamin pills"
While both can be eaten as sustenance, they cannot be compared indefinitely, and one cannot be used to define another.

 

[Yvl9921]

Goddammit you people this isn't a matter of opinion. It's not an RPG by definition.

 

[CoverYourHead]

Who the heck would think it is an RPG? There's no stats, no player control of the narritive, no leveling, no gear choices besides some tunics that you're forced to use for certain areas. Not an RPG.

 

[Captain Pancake]

They're adventure games, you don't enter your own role when you play, you're always Link, who uses a sword, shield, bow, boomerang etcetera. you can't specify what you want to do or anything like that, so it's just an adventure game. Good adventure games, though.

 

[Yvl9921]

think logically
you PLAY the ROLE of link in the GAME
yahtzee did a thing about this, all games are role playing, just depends on the role
but if im just being pedantic, then no, other than the controls being the same, your attacks and weapons getting stronger, your health and armour increasing, your equipment changing-
hold on?
they are RPGS
(this was looked at from the perspective of ocarina of time)

Sure you get more and ?better? weapons, but that is standard progression in most games (Halo, Call of Duty, Resident Evil) and these games are not considered role playing games either (for the first reason).

no, thats because the ones youve mentioned are shooters before they are RPGs.
thats like saying "chips dont count as food because neither do vitamin pills"
While both can be eaten as sustenance, they cannot be compared indefinitely, and one cannot be used to define another.

Then what, pray tell, is the point of distinguishing between games and RPGs at all? You're taking a misnomer, ignoring the origin of the phrase, and taking it literally.

 

[TheZapper]

They are more action/adventure games than anything. I can't really think of what would make them RPGs, they don't contain any choice,stats or character creation.

 

[DiD_NDSthemes]

In the most literal way, you could say, you play the role of Zelda. So it could define as an RPG. But then Halo or Duke Nukem could be defined as RPG's too.
Since there's indeed no stats, leveling etc... which are common in RPG's I think it doesn't fit in the category.

 

[Daveman]

Definitely not a rocket-propelled grenade. I am 100% certain of this.

 

[The Cheezy One]

Spoiler: cut

think logically
you PLAY the ROLE of link in the GAME
yahtzee did a thing about this, all games are role playing, just depends on the role
but if im just being pedantic, then no, other than the controls being the same, your attacks and weapons getting stronger, your health and armour increasing, your equipment changing-
hold on?
they are RPGS
(this was looked at from the perspective of ocarina of time)

Sure you get more and ?better? weapons, but that is standard progression in most games (Halo, Call of Duty, Resident Evil) and these games are not considered role playing games either (for the first reason).

no, thats because the ones youve mentioned are shooters before they are RPGs.
thats like saying "chips dont count as food because neither do vitamin pills"
While both can be eaten as sustenance, they cannot be compared indefinitely, and one cannot be used to define another.

Then what, pray tell, is the point of distinguishing between games and RPGs at all? You're taking a bit of a misnomer, ignoring the origin of the word, and taking it literally.

honestly? there is none. does it matter if, after youve stabbed a guy in the chest and stolen his ammo, you are playing an fps or an rpg
if you say "im enjoying this" and someone else says "its an rpg", you arent going to scream "i thought it was an fps" and throw the controller away
what distinguishes an fps with an inventory system and an rpg with guns?
does it matter?

 

[JEBWrench]

Definitely not a rocket-propelled grenade. I am 100% certain of this.

That's just what Nintendo wants you to think.

 

[Yvl9921]

Spoiler: cut

think logically
you PLAY the ROLE of link in the GAME
yahtzee did a thing about this, all games are role playing, just depends on the role
but if im just being pedantic, then no, other than the controls being the same, your attacks and weapons getting stronger, your health and armour increasing, your equipment changing-
hold on?
they are RPGS
(this was looked at from the perspective of ocarina of time)

Sure you get more and ?better? weapons, but that is standard progression in most games (Halo, Call of Duty, Resident Evil) and these games are not considered role playing games either (for the first reason).

no, thats because the ones youve mentioned are shooters before they are RPGs.
thats like saying "chips dont count as food because neither do vitamin pills"
While both can be eaten as sustenance, they cannot be compared indefinitely, and one cannot be used to define another.

Then what, pray tell, is the point of distinguishing between games and RPGs at all? You're taking a bit of a misnomer, ignoring the origin of the word, and taking it literally.

honestly? there is none. does it matter if, after youve stabbed a guy in the chest and stolen his ammo, you are playing an fps or an rpg
if you say "im enjoying this" and someone else says "its an rpg", you arent going to scream "i thought it was an fps" and throw the controller away
what distinguishes an fps with an inventory system and an rpg with guns?
does it matter?

It's necessary for the sake of classification, so that on the off chance somebody doesnt know what Zelda is like they can say "Oh, I really dont like having to deal with stats and grinding, but I've read this game isn't an RPG so I guess I don't have to worry about that!" And if you honestly don't feel that it matters, you should probably not be debating it with other people.

 

[A random person]

No stats or leveling for the one RPG definition.

No choices and "role playing" for the other RPG definition.

Zelda = Not an RPG

Pretty much this, and I've always been confused when I heard people call Zelda an RPG.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

No.


Give me some choices, some stats, or something else to that effect, and maybe.


Great game though.


I may dust off my Gamecube and play Windwaker...

(Best Zelda game ever. Fucking Ocarina)

 

[RvLeshrac]

I'm reasonably certain that most of you weren't even alive when Zelda was released, so you're forgiven for not reading the back of the box, where it clearly states that TLoZ is an Adventure game.

But still an RPG. The majority of games are, down to Monopoly. That's why we play them.

 

[UnravThreads]

Yes, in the sense that the role is very clear cut. You're Link and you play his role in the story. It's got gear upgrades, different weapon types and so forth. It's also generally quite heavy in the story department.
No, in the sense it's not a number-crunching, stat heavy game.

So, in summation:
Literally, yes. Otherwise, not really.

 

[Yvl9921]

Does anyone actually know how this silly idea of it being an RPG even got started? I'm struggling to figure out how this misinformation got this widespread. I dont get why this game has so many people calling ti something it isnt, as opposed to, say, Halo.

 

[The Cheezy One]

Spoiler: cut

Then what, pray tell, is the point of distinguishing between games and RPGs at all? You're taking a bit of a misnomer, ignoring the origin of the word, and taking it literally.

honestly? there is none. does it matter if, after youve stabbed a guy in the chest and stolen his ammo, you are playing an fps or an rpg
if you say "im enjoying this" and someone else says "its an rpg", you arent going to scream "i thought it was an fps" and throw the controller away
what distinguishes an fps with an inventory system and an rpg with guns?
does it matter?

It's necessary for the sake of classification, so that on the off chance somebody doesnt know what Zelda is like they can say "Oh, I really dont like having to deal with stats and grinding, but I've read this game isn't an RPG so I guess I don't have to worry about that!" And if you honestly don't feel that it matters, you should probably not be debating it with other people.

touche, my good sir, your arguing skills are impressive
but one last thing. would you avoid playing a game merely because of the genre? i believe zelda holds enough of RPG and adventure elements to put off anyone that severely dislikes cannot stand either, so they would know straight away. but for anyone on the fence, if you were unsure as to whether youd like the game, which i am sure most people will be, as very few people would condemn a game for its genre, with the freedom of youtube, just type "[game] gameplay" and see what you think. i know what i mean, but im tired, so this might seem a little illegible

also, go me, i went a whole post without saying that if you dont know what zelda is you are not human Damn

No stats or leveling for the one RPG definition.

No choices and "role playing" for the other RPG definition.

Zelda = Not an RPG

it does sort of have experience, i.e. 25% experience per heart piece you grab, one extra heart per level. killing boss = 100% level up
yes, i CAN tell how weak that is

 

[Yvl9921]

also, go me, i went a whole post without saying that if you dont know what zelda is you are not human

I was originally gonna say that classifications were necessary for our inevitable Martian overlords since they hadn't heard of the game yet but then the post got too convoluted.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Let me put this as clearly as I can: NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Most of the time I don't have a problem with other people's opinion but if you think that the LoZ is an RPG then you're a fricking idiot. It's an action adventure game. There are no stats, no levels, no dialogue trees, no role playing, no elements of RPGs what-so-ever. The only RPG flavor comes from the fact that over time Link gets stronger (new items and hearts) but by that logic any game ever is an RPG because most games feature a way to make the character stronger over time. Hell by that definition RTS games are RPGs because you have more options to build stuff over time. The Legend of Zelda is not an RPG and saying that it is is making the term RPG meaningless because it's being thrown around improperly. I like RPGs, stop messing with there definition.