Ash
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2015
- Messages
- 6,744
But again, here's the problem with that.If your definition of RPG is purely a gameplay one (I.e. experience points, level ups and skill progression) then technically Call of Duty and The Sims are by definition RPGs. So I think the actual differentiating quality is player-driven ROLEPLAYING that allows you to have a sense of AGENCY in who your character is and how they deal with situations.
Bro...that's gameplay. The rules/design of the game allow for those things in the gameplay.
Call of Duty is a game with experience points, level ups, and stat-based progression. There's a wide range of different weapon types that allow you to fulfill whatever role you'd want on the battlefield. By your own definition, if gameplay is all that defines an RPG, Call of Duty is an RPG.
What part of the walls of text defining RPG gameplay that extends far beyond stats and xp did you not get? Roleplaying, adventure, combat, character customisation, logistics/resource micromanagement, die rolls, puzzle elements, navigation and exploration (not a TTRPG thing, but unique to cRPGs as a natural evolution of the concept) and so forth? Call of Duty is 15% an RPG at best. It's an FPS borrowing one mere core tenet of RPG gameplay. One of many.
The only non-gameplay concept I would ascribe as a pretty important aspect of RPGs is "fantasy", but even that isn't absolute. You can have realism-based RPGs no problem. Not really something I'd be interested in if it's too realistic, but hey. And even then it would still be a simulated fantasy of sorts to fuck around in, just in a world that closely represents ours.
Story is not completely worthless to the discussion, important if only merely to serve as a backdrop and initial context like in most classic cRPG, but that is a given for almost absolutely every video game since the 90s more complex than Tetris or Pong. It goes without saying and story is otherwise mostly irrelevant when it comes to definition and qualification. There are genuine RPGs with minimal story, including the very first era of cRPG e.g Ultima and Wizardry. Remember, they're role-playing games. Not role-playing stories. They exist and are called CYOA. Different thing entirely. RPGs are better, more fullfilled RPGs when there is a developed story threading the world and actions together with greater context, but not at all mandatory. Otherwise many 80s-era cRPGs aren't RPGs.
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