confluxfighter said:
The term does not need to perfectly fit what it describes. For example, Persona 4, despite being developed in Japan, has several elements of a Western RPG.
I like the term 'tactical shooter' for the genre, even if there isn't much, or any, tactics in it.
Especially since JRPG and WRPG aren't really subgenres as they signify nothing but geographic location of creation.
Which is stupid.
The true RPG subgenres are:
CRPG (Classic, turn-based - eg. Final Fantasy VII, Dragon Quest)
SRPG or TRPG (Strategy or Tactical - eg. FF:Tactics, Valkyria Chronicles, Disgaea)
ARPG (Action - eg. Mass Effect, Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma)
MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online eg. World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, Everquest)
Hack n' Slash {could be merged with ARPG but some insist it is different} (eg. Diablo, Sacred, Dungeon Siege 3, Champions of Norrath)
Dungeon Crawler (eg - Wizardry, Class of Heroes, Etrian Odyssey, Persona 3)
Roguelike (eg. Rogue)
OP: I don't play enough shooters to tell you the difference. Except for camera (Third or first) I really don't see much difference between them.
For me one FPS looks almost identical to almost any other. I guess I can see a difference if its modern or futuristic. But beyond that - they look
to me like identical games.
Your mileage may vary considerably though.