Legend of Zelda (NES) - wow, it's hard

[KholdStare]

[/quote]It's a role playing game in the sense that you are Link. Its more of an action adventure rpg, rather than a turnbased or strategy one.[/quote]

I still don't see it as an RPG. I see it as an action adventure/puzzle sort of game. It has NO elements of an RPG.

And if your argument is that "you are Link" then that means Donkey Kong, Metroid, and Sonic are RPG's.

Zelda isn't an RPG.[/quote]
Zelda is a western RPG, not a JRPG.[/quote]

Say what now?

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Western RPG's are primarily action oriented western style games with lots of Japanese RPG elements thrown in, such as inventories and money.

Where they differ is in the fact that random encounters do not occur as enemies can be plainly seen and avoided, and that all battles take place in real time instead of turn based segments.

[Raziel]

Western RPG's are primarily action oriented western style games with lots of Japanese RPG elements thrown in, such as inventories and money.

Where they differ is in the fact that random encounters do not occur as enemies can be plainly seen and avoided, and that all battles take place in real time instead of turn based segments.

Wait, what? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around, I mean, aren't JRPGs offsprings of WRPGs?

[MrPopo]

The earliest western RPGs like Wizardry were turn based. They made their way to Japan and spawned the whole JRPG genre. Meanwhile the PC scene continuously improved and it begat the action RPG that tends to define the modern western RPG. Really, though, the big defining feature between JRPG and WRPG is the level of character development. Western RPGs tend to give you more of a blank slate character and give you tons of options as to how to shape him. This is not only shaping him statistically but also personality-wise. Western RPGs were the forerunners of the moral choice system. JRPGs, on the other hand, give you a more ridigly defined character. No matter how you play the game, no matter what kind of equipment and espers you use, Terra will always be the same character every playthrough of FF6.

That rigid definition gives the JRPG more room for the dramatic, however. In the Western RPG you cannot do something like force a character to sacrifice themselves without breaking the immersion, as half the playerbase might have created a character that is completely selfish. But that kind of thing is par for the course in JRPGs, as they know all the characteristics of the PCs from the get-go.

[KholdStare]

The earliest western RPGs like Wizardry were turn based. They made their way to Japan and spawned the whole JRPG genre. Meanwhile the PC scene continuously improved and it begat the action RPG that tends to define the modern western RPG. Really, though, the big defining feature between JRPG and WRPG is the level of character development. Western RPGs tend to give you more of a blank slate character and give you tons of options as to how to shape him. This is not only shaping him statistically but also personality-wise. Western RPGs were the forerunners of the moral choice system. JRPGs, on the other hand, give you a more ridigly defined character. No matter how you play the game, no matter what kind of equipment and espers you use, Terra will always be the same character every playthrough of FF6.

That rigid definition gives the JRPG more room for the dramatic, however. In the Western RPG you cannot do something like force a character to sacrifice themselves without breaking the immersion, as half the playerbase might have created a character that is completely selfish. But that kind of thing is par for the course in JRPGs, as they know all the characteristics of the PCs from the get-go.

Which translates into.....ZELDA IS NOT AN RPG.

[jfrost]

I have difficulty in seeing Zelda as an RPG too. Not talking specifically about the first NES game, but as a series it doesn't seem to have many of the staples of the RPG genre, whether J or W.

For instance, I find it very hard to categorize Okami as an RPG, and it is definitely of the same genre of Zelda.

[Ivo]

Zelda is not IMO an RPG, but it certainly has RPG elements - you gain more health, improve your gear and so on. The Metroid games also have RPG elements, as does Kid Icarus.

Anyone who says Zelda has NO RPG elements at all is probably not being able to notice the "Exp" system is basically money based, and you get "levels" for defeating bosses. Is not a huge stretch (but it's certainly not a conventional action RPG). There are western RPGs like the Elder Scrolls series (Daggerfall to Oblivion) that don't have a traditional experience based system either.

Ivo.

[emwearz]

In terms of the gameplay I found the game pretty easy, never was stuck for a long period of time. You need a Overworld map for sure (For both First and Second Quest), its a classic that plays just as well today. LoZ is an Action Adventure in pretty much all ways. Doesn't really matter what genre it falls under, it kicks ass is all that matters.

Zelda II on the other hand is much more RPG than LoZ even though its a side scroller for the most part, Zelda II is a harder game I found, but again, nothing overtly hard compared to many other games in the 8-Bit era.