| Jumpin said: The term "RPG" is used FAR too loosely nowadays. The defining characteristic of an RPG is a turn based battle system, it is really the only thing that separates it from adventure titles. For the most part, the first time I ever heard of an RPG being anything else other than that were Nintendo fans on the N64 saying Zelda: Ocarina of Time was an RPG, in the face of high criticism about the N64 having no RPGs. |
That's not true at all. RPGs traditionally used to have a turn-based battle system because they were hold-overs from the initial transitory days when RPGs were first made based on game systems - large-scale strategy game systems.
You're thinking of turn-based strategy games, which are the root of RPGs.
RPGs are defined by playing the role of a character or characters, where defining how that character interacts with the world is the primary mechanical qualifier of the genre.
