Quote Originally Posted by Daria View Post
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What Makes an RPG?
Stripped of any real freedom, you're left with a number of common characteristics that many RPGs share; an experience system, battle system, system of barter and trade, and exploration.

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What doesn't make an RPG?
This is the part of my article where we enter the realm of subjective classification. It's what stops us from lumping in the GTAs of the world with the Dragon Warriors. Sandbox games are a relatively new genre and I don't think they should be lumped in with Role-playing games. Without getting into what's a sandbox game, let’s just say if it's something other than an RPG then it can't also be an RPG. I think this also takes care of our dirty little imposter the Castlevania/Metroid type platformer with experience points. If it's a Castlevania game then it can not also be an RPG. This doesn't include spin-off titles such as Super Mario RPG which changes everything about the classic Mario game to make it an RPG, as Castlevania with experience points is exactly like Castlevania without experience points.
I find the justification behind the experience system in Zelda to be pretty weak and I do not find hearts to be a valid substitution for experience. When you go out of your way to say that, "hey, hearts are a form of experience because you get them from completing levels" then you're opening the door for shit like, "Super C is an RPG because additional lives are a valid form of experience".

Also, it's odd that you elimitate games that do meet your four criteria for what makes an RPG simply because they incorporate additional elements into the gameplay. How can a Castlevania game not be an RPG if it includes:
A) Experience System
B) Battle System
C) System of barter and trade
D) Exploration

Simply because it's Castlevania and the first game was a side scrolling action game? What about Ys III, Exile, Sorcerian, or any number of other side scrolling RPGs? Why can't a game fall under the RPG umbrella along with other umbrellas? Deus Ex and System Shock 2 are both perfect marriages of first person shooters and RPGs with very little division between the two. They appeal just as well to anyone who wants an RPG with a bit more in the way of action as they do to someone who wants a first person shooter with a bit more in the way of depth and story.

When you say that something can't be an RPG along with being something else, then you're effectively saying "nothing can be an RPG". Everything is an RPG and something else. They're simply other games with additional depth through the addition of emphasis on statistics and experience.

For reference, here's some games that I feel meet the established criteria and some that I feel do not:

Meets
- Grand Theft Auto San Andreas: Open area for exploration, barter with NPCs for items or to obtain missions, third person combat engine, and the biggest addition to the series since going 3D: experience points.
- Deus Ex: Level up individual abilities, barter with NPCs, first person combat engine, freedom to accomplish missions in a variety of ways (the first mission alone has a minimum of three distinct paths depending on play style).
- Puzzle Quest: Experience point based character growth, shops, a world map to explore (though a bit less conventional than, say Final Fantasy), and a unique puzzle based combat engine
- Baten Kaitos: Experience points, shops/npcs, world map, card based combat engine. Yadda Yadda Yadda.
- Yakuza: Experience point based character growth, exploration throughout a detailed city, bartering with NPCs, and a separate realtime combat engine.

Does not meet
- Drakan: Does not have experience points and lacks shops or NPCs to barter with.
- Giants Citizen Kabuto: Lacks a barter system or experience point system
- Advance Wards: Lacks any experience system or barter system
- Heroes of Might and Magic: Lacks experience points or bartering. Strictly turn based strategy in a fantasy realm.
- Ghost Recon / Sum of All Fears / Rainbow Six: Sense of exploration on expansive maps, party management, experience/promotion/award system and real time combat, but lacks any sort of barter system.