Was the original Xbox the best Microsoft console?

[bouzane]

Tachikoma said:

bouzane said:

To be fair the term RPG is often a misnomer as it is incorrectly applied to games in which you are effectively given no control over the direction of the plot, character development or approach to any given situation. My experience with Shenmue would lead me to believe that it is not an actual role playing game as you don't really play much of a role in the sequence of events or final outcome (outside of failure).

That's a weak argument considering Sega themselves refer to it as a role playing game in the Prima official strategy guide, and prior to the game being pushed to Sega's new platform, the project was often stated by Sega to the press as being a "Virtua Fighter RPG".

They built it as one, the guide reffers to it as one, and wikipedia covers both 1 and 2 as being within the RPG genre, too.

Pretty conclusive to me.

Japanese developers misuse the term role playing game all of the time and a many JRPGs are ironically named (especially the classics). Chris Hu while not technically correct was right when you consider the fact that you don't actually play a role in the events of Shenmue and it wouldn't actually fit the original definition of role playing. If my DM captured the Shenmue experience as a pen n paper RPG I'd have to be honest and tell him that it was the flimsiest example of role playing outside of early JRPGs. Semantics, the spirit of the law and other non-sequiturs I suppose. I enjoyed Shenmue by the way, the battle with the massive gang was an amazing experience as was the fight with that damn ninja.

On topic: I really loved MechAssault, KotOR, Jet Set Radio, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, Crimson Skies and Psychonauts. They were absolute essentials as far as I am concerned and they really seperated the system from the competition (although I still prefer my PS2).