So why are some games called RPG when they're not?

[The Austin]

... How is Diablo not an RPG?
Do you even know what an RPG is?

It's not an RPG from the point of view of a purist or hardcore RPG gamers. It lacks many of the qualifying traits, there's little freedom and almost no interaction with the world except killing. It's purely a loot based hack and slash ala NetHack. Purely a more graphics focused roguelike. An RPG from this point of view would be more a succesor to games like the Ultima series, the Gold Box games or more recently titles like Baldur's Gate or Fallout.

It had Character Skills, Armor Stats, and the loots.



So it's an RPG.

And lacks Role-Playing in Role-Playing Game

Let me reiterate, because clearly you didn't understand me:

IT HAD CHARACTER SKILLS, ARMOR STATS, AND LOOT.

All those things=RPG

AND? It still lacks Role-Playing, there is not even an illusion of choice, no one responds to your character actions, no form of interaction aside from quest getting, kill and loot. If the game lacked character skills, armor stats and loot but has character and npc reactions, npc respond to your character actions it would be a RPG (a non traditional rpg, but a rpg nonetheless).

Jesus christ, really?

IT HAD CHARACTER SKILLS, ARMOR STATS, AND LOOT.

As in: ROLE PLAYING

 

[crypt-creature]

AND? It still lacks Role-Playing, there is not even an illusion of choice, no one responds to your character actions, no form of interaction aside from quest getting, kill and loot. If the game lacked character skills, armor stats and loot but has character and npc reactions, npc respond to your character actions it would be a RPG (a non traditional rpg, but a rpg nonetheless).

You can role-play online much more effectively than you could offline.
You did have some choices when talking to vendors and getting quests, but it wasn't much. It was a limited choice but a choice nonetheless.
You had different types of characters that you could chose from and group with in a party, each with different skills and uses. When soloing, you still had to chose your character based on the skills you wanted since the characters played differently.

Even in PnP games, if the DM (Dungeon Master) has a set story and specific ways they want things to happen... you will not end up getting much variation in your adventure. It only has that 'illusion of choice'.

Diablo does have the elements to allow you to roleplay, whether or not it's to your liking is another matter entirely.

 

[teisjm]

Oh god not this again...

Look, learn what a JRPG is, then make this thread.

Actually, no, don't make this thread.

Just do something more constructive.

Like watching Clerks.

Watching clerks isn't constructive, constructive indicates that you're like working or studying, or working out or some other booring stuff.
Watching clerks is awesome.

 

[crypt-creature]

Watching clerks isn't constructive, constructive indicates that you're like working or studying, or working out or some other booring stuff.
Watching clerks is awesome.

But you are working.
You're working on getting more enjoyment out of life, which so happens to come from watching Clerks.

It just so happens that is also awesome.

 

[Akisa]

... How is Diablo not an RPG?
Do you even know what an RPG is?

It's not an RPG from the point of view of a purist or hardcore RPG gamers. It lacks many of the qualifying traits, there's little freedom and almost no interaction with the world except killing. It's purely a loot based hack and slash ala NetHack. Purely a more graphics focused roguelike. An RPG from this point of view would be more a succesor to games like the Ultima series, the Gold Box games or more recently titles like Baldur's Gate or Fallout.

It had Character Skills, Armor Stats, and the loots.



So it's an RPG.

And lacks Role-Playing in Role-Playing Game

Let me reiterate, because clearly you didn't understand me:

IT HAD CHARACTER SKILLS, ARMOR STATS, AND LOOT.

All those things=RPG

AND? It still lacks Role-Playing, there is not even an illusion of choice, no one responds to your character actions, no form of interaction aside from quest getting, kill and loot. If the game lacked character skills, armor stats and loot but has character and npc reactions, npc respond to your character actions it would be a RPG (a non traditional rpg, but a rpg nonetheless).

Jesus christ, really?

IT HAD CHARACTER SKILLS, ARMOR STATS, AND LOOT.

As in: ROLE PLAYING

Ok time to ignore you because character skills, armor stats, and loot means you role-play **rolls her eyes**

AND? It still lacks Role-Playing, there is not even an illusion of choice, no one responds to your character actions, no form of interaction aside from quest getting, kill and loot. If the game lacked character skills, armor stats and loot but has character and npc reactions, npc respond to your character actions it would be a RPG (a non traditional rpg, but a rpg nonetheless).

You can role-play online much more effectively than you could offline.
You did have some choices when talking to vendors and getting quests, but it wasn't much. It was just a limited choice but a choice nonetheless.
You had different types of characters that you could chose from and group with in a party, each with different skills and uses.

Even in PnP games, if the DM (Dungeon Master) has a set story and specific ways they want things to happen... you will not end up getting much variation in your adventure. It only has that 'illusion of choice'.

Diablo does have the elements to allow you to roleplay, whether or not it's to your liking is another matter entirely.

Weapon and Armor selection is not really role-playing, he would still sell/buy stuff even if rob all the other merchants blind or rob his "barrels". Even in a railroad campaign the world still respond to your character actions, burn down an orphanage people will call you a monster. In PnP 90% of games are railroads, some are disguised by illusion of choice. Ever play PnP game when players get off the tracks and and the DM slowly try to get the players back on the rails?

 

[teisjm]

Watching clerks isn't constructive, constructive indicates that you're like working or studying, or working out or some other booring stuff.
Watching clerks is awesome.

But you are working.
You're working on getting more enjoyment out of life, which so happens to come from watching Clerks.

It just so happens that is also awesome.

Well you may have a point. + work doesn't have to be that hard, i'm at work now for insatnce, and i've been browsing this site and watching tv since i got here 1½ hours ago. and i'll keep doing so for the majority of the next 4-5 hours.

 

[Kasawd]

Oh man, not this again.

Listen, please.

Roleplaying is having a ROLE to PLAY in a party of characters(Wizard=Tactical, Rogue=Support, Fighter=Combat). Though they may come with the same alignment and even personality they PLAY a differing ROLE dictated by the manner in which the player wishes them to progress in determining how that role plays out.

Character personality is entirely secondary to the original purpose(Borne mostly from D&D, whose first edition sported very little chance to have a personality so much as it was meathshielding and slinging missiles, magic or otherwise).

I don't mean to be this guy but this has actually ben done to death in another recent thread. Ah, well, it's always nice to reiterate, I suppose.

 

[crypt-creature]

Weapon and Armor selection is not really role-playing, he would still sell/buy stuff even if rob all the other merchants blind or rob his "barrels". Even in a railroad campaign the world still respond to your character actions, burn down an orphanage people will call you a monster. In PnP 90% of games are railroads, some are disguised by illusion of choice. Ever play PnP game when players get off the tracks and and the DM slowly try to get the players back on the rails?

I wasn't talking about weapon and armor selection, in fact that didn't even come to mind when I was typing that first response.
What I was talking about, were the people you could talk to randomly and see if they had anything new to say (townies, quest givers, people you needed to talk to while questing, etc.) and you can make your own RP with other people in your party while you are online.

You can play whichever character you select and become that role, if you can get invested in it. When I play my rogue, I'm not going to try and get in to the thick of the fight like I would with my warrior. I could, but if I'm going to RP the class and character it wouldn't be something I'd do unless it was part of the character. Plus a rogue plays differently than a warrior and has different mechanics, which I have to keep in mind to stay alive.

Every RP game will have limitations because a game can not think like a human brain and make up things as you go along (be it quests, stories, or new areas to explore), it will always have a set of rules and guidelines that you will follow in one way or another.
A DM can do those things. They can let you get side tracked and think of the moral implications of your actions and adjust the game accordingly. A game cannot, because a game will not be able to understand your motivation or evaluate why you might have murdered a whole village of people (who were going to turn into zombies eventually, but you were unlikely to get them a serum in time and you felt it better to kill them all while they were still human to spare the lives of the surrounding villages... for example).

And yes, our last PnP session we got off track and the DM did try to steer us back on track. Eventually. Games do that too, but they are not in the same manner as a DM would.

Video game RPG's have limitations, and will not be exactly like PnP games where you are interacting with other free-thinking humans. Data in video games are free thinking up to a point, so the experience will not be exactly the same but will have similarities.

 

[Twilight_guy]

The name RPG refers to the system which underlies the game mechanics. RPGs have a state system where the numbers are often clearly visible along with a leveling system to improve said numbers. Battles are based on these numbers. There RPGs because they original budded from table-top RPG games by using the system which drives games like Dungeons and Dragons. It's a misnomer really, they should be called Stat-based Games or SBG but there not.

 

[Arisato-kun]

You're still playing a role. The game never said that you were allowed to choose the role. You also have to consider that games with mechanics like stats, leveling and a battle system are considered RPGs. I think you really just need to educate yourself on what it means for a game to be a RPG.

 

[Dr.Sean]

Yeah, what's the deal? There are hardly any RPG elements in Borderlands! You just level up abilities, use guns, and do quests.

 

[Kasawd]

You're still playing a role. The game never said that you were allowed to choose the role.

... Something in me loves your answer.

Oh, wait, it's the side of my DMing that forces my group to do something they don't have any skill in.

Heh heh.


Suckers.

 

[TelHybrid]

Here's a more to the point question: why are people such pedantic fucktards?

It's just a term used for a bunch of games that possess similar traits! Shut up about it!

 

[Coaxill]

You are currently reading my post.