famousringo said:
Actually, on further reflection, Soriku is right. The essence of role-playing is having control over the decisions your character makes. That can include the way your character grows his skills, but I'd argue that having dynamic NPCs which react to your decisions and actions is actually more important to role-playing than allocating skill points. I think this game might actually be more of an RPG than any previous Final Fantasy game. |
Sorry, but this doesn't work as a description for the genre because most JRPG's give you very little choice. In fact, it is very difficult to distinct an RPG from an action-adventure as soon as the games go away from the known paths. The safest way is usually the battle system, as long as it's turn-based, you can be sure that you're playing an RPG. If it isn't, the case gets difficult.
NPC's are another important factor. In action-adventures, they are usually rare and not that important to the story. There is usually a couple of them and they reappear. In RPG's however, you meet new ones all the time and talk to them a lot. They are essentially for the story.
