In the debate over what is or is not RPG, people have argued that RPGs involve leveling up, and are story-driven.  Well, in God of War, you do level up your skills.  You collect red orb things for killing and trashing things, and placing the points in skills.  Throw in that it is story-driven, and then it sounds like an RPG.

However, if people want to argue that God of War is NOT an RPG, then what is an RPG?

it has rpg elements but it is a action adventure game

hack and slash

^agrees

It is a hack and slash action game although you make a valid point about the definition of RPG. How are you really playing a role in a final fantasy game??? You actually play more of a role in First person shooters in my opinion

Its an Action/Adventure

An RPG or Role Playing Game is supposed to be something where you have complete control over the development of your character and is driven by story (this originated in the old tabletop games)

Now most games are not pure RPG's as the genre as evolved over the ages.

In God of War, I allocate my points into what areas of magic and specialization I want to put them into.  

What I do see as an RPG electronically is a simulation of the role-playing experience, with all the mechanics left in, about none of what Role-playing was about.  My understanding of Role-playing was you played the role of someone who was not you, and walked around in their shoes awhile.  So, the question here is "What is an RPG?", not "What is God of War?".

And on a side note, I think I need to stop watching Zero Punctuation as much.  I am now channeling the voice of Yahtzee in my head reading the words I am typing, as if I guess it is supposed to give my words more authority or something.

RPG's come from the old traditional D&D days. It's essentially a story-driven game that revolves around a "point" system....you know--hit points, damage points, defense ratings, attack ratings, etc. God of War is not a RPG...it's a hack & slash action game with some MINOR RPG elements.

The difference is that you have no control over the development of Kratos. He doesn't become stronger through allocation of attack points. You can't increase his defense. You can't change his ability to withstand magic attacks. He is the same from the beginning of the game as he is to the end. You are simply leveling his moveset and weapons up. This is why it has RPG elements but is not an RPG itself.

See now I understand that but if you get technical "role playing game" technically means game where you play a role. I think in that definition just about every game released is a role playing game