Short answer is no, not even remotely close. It's a debate that crops up fairly frequently, and they often degrade into heated arguments. I'd say, as with most genres, you know it when you see it, since if you try to pin down some concrete rules you'll always find many exceptions despite that said exceptions clearly belong too. I'd also say that it's the formation of concrete rules that muddles things even further because then you start throwing in stuff that really doesn't belong. Take Crystalis and Zelda for example. While some people include Zelda as an RPG, most don't. Crystalis clearly follows the same school of design, yet it's usually considered an RPG. Why? Just because it has HP, MP, and level ups? Modern Castlevania games do too, but they're generally not considered RPGs. In fact, they clearly take after Super Metroid style design, and that certainly isn't widely regarded as an RPG. For an even more telling example, replace Crystalis with Alundra. Alundra is flat-out considered a Zelda rip-off, yet it too is generally called an RPG. It's all a huge mess, so I take a huge grain of salt with anyone's categorization.Originally Posted by HappehLemons
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