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Nintendo - Is Zelda an RPG? - View Post

Samus Aran on 30 March 2015
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Aeolus451 said:
Samus Aran said:

Zelda doesn't even have one rpg element in it.

Pokémon: has different types ("classes")

Fire Emblem: has different classes

Paper Mario: has different partners with different abilities

xenoblade: has different characters with their own abilities

Bravely Default: has different "jobs" (which basically functions as classes)

Runescape: Magic beats melee, melee beats range, range beats magic

South Park: Stick of Truth: mage, warrior, thief, jew.

Those are the only rpgs I play and they all have classes (except Mario & Luigi franchise).

Frankly, you have an extremely limited experience with rpg's if those are the only you ever played. You don't need multiple characters with different abilities, rock paper sissor combat, jobs, character customization, tactical or turn based combat for a game to be considered an rpg. There are many rpg elements in almost every genre. 

Zelda has rupee grinding, questing, similar combat to other action rpg's, explorable towns, npcs to talk to, shops, sizable game world to explore, dungeons, story is told at slower pace to a singular perspective, longer game play and earning gear/upgrades. That's just some that I can think of.  Not one rpg element, huh? Many genres have rpg elements in them now. 

It may not have a leveling system and stats in the traditional sense but that's not a must have. You do upgrade link's max hp/hearts. Elder Scrolls threw away traditional stats like strength, agility, wisdom, intelligence in favor of a more simplified system of just HP, fatigue and magika. 

Games like Dragon's dogma, souls series, mass effect series stretch what is known as rpg's.

Zelda has more in common with those rpg's than it does with games like shadow of the colossus, god of war, devil may cry, bayonetta, tomb raider, uncharted series and TLOU.

None of those are elements of rpg.

Earning gear/upgrades is one of the main characteristics of Metroidvania games. So is Metroid Prime an rpg now? You upgrade Samus's max HP/energy tanks.

Sonic 2006 has npcs to talk to. So Sonic is an rpg now? In fact, Metroid Prime 3 also has npcs to talk to.

What does longer gameplay have to do with anything? A game's length does not define an rpg. South Park: Stick of Truth is quite a short game.

Rupee grinding? Thanks for letting me know you never played a Zelda game. Rupees are useless in most Zelda games or so easy to come by that you don't need to grind for it. I guess Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is an rpg now because you can spend your banana coins in Cranky's shop to buy items. And obviously GTA games are rpgs too...

Quite frankly, you have a limited gaming experience if you think those are elements exclusive to rpgs. Is every game where you jump a platformer now?