Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
Not only are they heavily focused on the story, but rather on a very specific narrative thread throughout the game which, although you can take some minor detours, you can't ever really avoid the major story points and in many cases, the lengthy cut scenes. As such, I don't think JRPGs differ much at all from traditional adventure games.
I don't think many adventure game fans would agree with you.

There are both linear adventure games and ones that are more freewheeling (such as The Last Express). This is also true of RPGs. That aspect doesn't define the genre unless you radically redefine everything.

Adventure games have no combat, or some combat in some cases, but it's not the emphasis of the game. They never have a fleshed-out combat system with statistics, equipment, spells, experience, etc. Adventure games typically have no use for statistics such as attack power, defense, agility, HP, MP, and so on, or the raising of such. Adventure games rarely have boss fights. Adventure games are driven by puzzle-solving, exploration, character interaction (dialog), and/or item manipulation.

Bottom line, RPG combat = RPG, IMO. Final Fantasy has more in common with Diablo than it does with Sam & Max.