If Mass Effect 2 is an RPG..

[Jumpin]

Khuutra said:

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.

A strategy game would be Civilization or Starcraft. 

A videogame roleplaying game is not the same as "Roleplaying" in the traditional sense, the thing that psychologists do; in otherwords, faking a situation; although they can be understood the same way. Videogame RPGs are essentially adventure games where everything is simulated by statistics and menu selected decisions, rather than active participation - as would be the case in an action game like Zelda or Vice City.

Key points:  
* The control of one or more characters (as in an adventure game)
* Encounter system of some sort
* battles are role played, rather than directly controlled by the player (unlike an adventure game)
* A quest of some sort

Labeling games that lack these points is more just a marketing thing to get people to think "Hey this game is the same sort of game as Final Fantasy 7! Awesome!". Essentially, RPGs were very well respected and popular in the SNES and PSX era, so it would benefit a game to be called an RPG, even though it wasn't really one.