What's your lineage of favorite RPGs?

[Zing]

My history follows the same path as likely any Nintendo fan from the 80s. Started with Dragon Warrior. Continued with Final Fantasy. Then Final Fantasy II, and so on.

My last major RPG would have been Final Fantasy VII. I had it on the PC and got to disc 2 and never touched it again. After that, I temporarily retired from gaming, playing nothing more than Tekken or Mortal Kombat in the arcade. It wouldn't be until 2003 when I received an Xbox as a wedding gift that I got back into console gaming.

[outlaw_moon]

For me it was Grandia>Chrono Trigger>FFVII>Grandia 2>Skies of Arcadia>then just went through the entire FF series which I still love, ending with FFXII. Have not touched either XIIIs yet and not sure if I ever will

[ejamer]

banging head against wall at people calling Zelda games rpgs....

I don't keep up with modern gaming, but I wonder if something has happened to the modern RPG genre that allows people to retroactively categorize Ocarina of Time as an RPG. I don't consider it an RPG by any stretch and certainly no one back in 1996 would have called it an RPG.

Why suddenly do people think it is an RPG? Are modern RPGs so watered down that simply walking around, talking to NPCs, and fighting monsters classifies a game as an RPG? Has the rise of the MMORPG style gameplay permitted every action/adventure game to shoehorn its way into the RPG category?

I'm curious about this too. I don't get upset or really care that much... but calling Zelda an RPG is really stretching the label in my opinion.

My guess is that Western RPGs have pushed genre boundaries so far and mixed some of the best aspects from different genres that people no longer have a clear and consistent baseline for makes a game into an RPG.

If it's got story and a fantasy (or sci-fi) setting with NPCs that you can interact with to any degree then it qualifies, right? Zelda goes a step further by including a character that becomes progressively more powerful, leveling up with extra hearts and earning new equipment during his journey.

Of course, many of the tactical games that get listed are the same thing. If Final Fantasy Tactics is considered an RPG, then why not Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon (3DS)?
...

[Godot102]

I dont remember the exact order but my favorite RPG series would have to be:
-Chrono
-Golden Sun
-Xenosaga
-Shin megami Tensei

[AppleQueso]

If it's got story and a fantasy (or sci-fi) setting with NPCs that you can interact with to any degree then it qualifies, right? Zelda goes a step further by including a character that becomes progressively more powerful, leveling up with extra hearts and earning new equipment during his journey.

Wouldn't this make Metal Gear Solid just as much an RPG as Zelda?

[isiolia]

My guess is that Western RPGs have pushed genre boundaries so far and mixed some of the best aspects from different genres that people no longer have a clear and consistent baseline for makes a game into an RPG.

Eh, this is a larger topic that's been discussed in other threads.

To me, RPGs are hybrid games in general. The core of what makes them an RPG, ideally, is the "role play" - putting the player in a situation where they can act out a character. Thing is, that's really a concept, one that needs a framework to operate within if you want to make it a game (until such time as we invent the holodeck, I suppose).

Where I see it getting confusing is that the genre becomes defined by mechanics instead of the experience it's intending to simulate. Nobody would confuse Zelda games with what WRPGs typically do in terms of player choice, and thus role playing. You run around, get equipment/upgrades, do quests...which bears some similarity to the context that many RPGs happen in.

The credit I would give Zelda games as "RPGs" is a gateway to the genre. They introduce (some) concepts to players which can make it easier to transition to games with role playing elements present.

[Menegrothx]

Are modern RPGs so watered down that simply walking around, talking to NPCs, and fighting monsters classifies a game as an RPG?

Compare Fallout and Fallout 2 with 3 and New Vegas and you have an answer to your question. RPGs have generally been dumbed down for mass audiences

Has the rise of the MMORPG style gameplay permitted every action/adventure game to shoehorn its way into the RPG category?

What do you mean by MMORPG style gameplay?

[MrPopo]

Are modern RPGs so watered down that simply walking around, talking to NPCs, and fighting monsters classifies a game as an RPG?

Compare Fallout and Fallout 2 with 3 and New Vegas and you have an answer to your question. RPGs have generally been dumbed down for mass audiences

Don't confuse dumbing down with streamlining.