What was your very first RPG?

[geggis]

Pokemon?

*barely contained giggles*

Final Fantasy?!

*snort* *laugh* *tummy aches from laughing too much*

Awww... the innocense of youth. So charming.

My first RPG was Valhalla [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valhalla_(video_game)].

/S

Ahh, you indirectly answered Bluepilots question!

Aww, bless - some seriously young people in here or latecomers! ;-) I think my first was Eye of the Beholder II [http://www.mobygames.com/game/amiga/eye-of-the-beholder-ii-the-legend-of-darkmoon] or perhaps Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight [http://www.mobygames.com/game/amiga/moonstone-a-hard-days-knight]. I can't really think of any before then that I played on the Spectrum. My uncle had The Hobbit which was entirely text based but I was too young to appreciate it.

 

[Woem]

The Secret of Monkey Island!. The first of the Monkey Island series!

You're the second person to bring up the Monkey Island series. Those aren't RPG's, those are the epitome of adventure games. I can understand that you would confuse Zelda for a JRPG but really, Monkey Island is an adventure game.

 

[MrTrivia]

Shining Force for the Sega Genesis. It was also the first game I ever completed. There was actually a cheat to make it 2-player, so my brother let me control the enemy forces.

 

[Cutoid]

Red Box D&D - oh you meant computery ones?

hmm, don't rem anything that would qualify on the ZX81, so probably Dun Darach/Tir nan Og on the speccy or Bard's Tale on the C64

 

[Scrythe]

...


Super Mario RPG

 

[Loppy]

Pokemon Yellow Pikachu follows me around

 

[Fraught]

I know it's probably the most popular vote, but I have to admit.
Only games I played before getting a PS1 were Prince of Persia, Super Mario Bros. and some football game. One of the first games I got on the PS1 was Final Fantasy VII, and it blew my mind with its scope and I loved the universe it was set in.
To me, it was such a step-up from the NES.

 

[dudeman0001]

Crash Bandicoot 2 was my first one. Ahh, good times, goood times.
Platformers count, right? If not, then it was this J-RPG that nobody's ever heard of called Azure Dreams.
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/5/196675_41734_front.jpg
Kind of a noob, no sure how to post pictures.
Anyways, the main story is that theres tower filled with monsters that can be Tamed, Sold, etc.
and the protagonists dad (the master monster tamer) died in the tower, so now that he's old enough, he wants to continue on the legacy. It's not really a pick-your-on story game but you can choose how you interact with others (complete asswipe, decent guy.)
it works by ascending the tower full of monsters, and you get a fimiliar to help you, and you can also raise eggs you find to be your familiars. Problem is, the amount of training you have to do to get to the top of the tower is REDICULOUS, I literally got the game when I was 5 and never actually finished till I was 13, and even THEN I had to use a gameshark.

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

The Secret of Monkey Island!. The first of the Monkey Island series!

You're the second person to bring up the Monkey Island series. Those aren't RPG's, those are the epitome of adventure games. I can understand that you would confuse Zelda for a JRPG but really, Monkey Island is an adventure game.

Oh for crying out loud, not another one!!!; yes its a graphic adventure but it is from a gameplay point of view, a Role Playing Game!. You play a character (Guybrush Threepwood) in a themed setting (the island of Melee), that is by definition what a Role Play Game consists of!. You can quote its a 'graphic adventure' till your blue in the face but the whole definition of Role Play is that the player takes the persona of a character and you play it out. Why, I could just say every damn RPG is a graphic adventure (because it is, it's not like Fable or Deus Ex are puzzle games now is it?).

Monkey island may have a different camera angle and different controls but it s very much an adventure RPG

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Oh for crying out loud, not another one!!!

People will keep on correcting you because they are using the commonly accepted meaning and you are using your own private interpretation.

 

[Dragonearl]

The Secret of Monkey Island!. The first of the Monkey Island series!

You're the second person to bring up the Monkey Island series. Those aren't RPG's, those are the epitome of adventure games. I can understand that you would confuse Zelda for a JRPG but really, Monkey Island is an adventure game.

Oh for crying out loud, not another one!!!; yes its a graphic adventure but it is from a gameplay point of view, a Role Playing Game!. You play a character (Guybrush Threepwood) in a themed setting (the island of Melee), that is by definition what a Role Play Game consists of!. You can quote its a 'graphic adventure' till your blue in the face but the whole definition of Role Play is that the player takes the persona of a character and you play it out. Why, I could just say every damn RPG is a graphic adventure (because it is, it's not like Fable or Deus Ex are puzzle games now is it?).

Monkey island may have a different camera angle and different controls but it s very much an adventure RPG

This. All adventure games have a RPG root, even..CSI *shudder*

but as for the OP. Price of Persia 1

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Oh for crying out loud, not another one!!!

People will keep on correcting you because they are using the commonly accepted meaning and you are using your own private interpretation.

Au contraire good sir, some people chose to define the genre based on gameplay and not what is stuck on the box!. Therefore what is common and what is not is at the players discretion. I could clearly say Fallout 3 is an adventure game much as it is an RPG. The games says its a RPG but I don't limit myself to popular opinions.

 

[Woem]

The Secret of Monkey Island!. The first of the Monkey Island series!

You're the second person to bring up the Monkey Island series. Those aren't RPG's, those are the epitome of adventure games. I can understand that you would confuse Zelda for a JRPG but really, Monkey Island is an adventure game.

Oh for crying out loud, not another one!!!; yes its a graphic adventure but it is from a gameplay point of view, a Role Playing Game!. You play a character (Guybrush Threepwood) in a themed setting (the island of Melee), that is by definition what a Role Play Game consists of!. You can quote its a 'graphic adventure' till your blue in the face but the whole definition of Role Play is that the player takes the persona of a character and you play it out. Why, I could just say every damn RPG is a graphic adventure (because it is, it's not like Fable or Deus Ex are puzzle games now is it?).

Monkey island may have a different camera angle and different controls but it s very much an adventure RPG

In Super Mario Bros you play a character (Mario) in a themed setting (Mushroom Kingdom). But that hardly makes it an RPG...

But you are correct, this is an endless discussion, and I've coming to an insight on this that there are numerous genres that consider themselves RPG sub-genres (Diablo the Action Rpg, Final Fantasy the JRPG, Zelda the adventure RPG, and now Monkey Island the point-and-click adventure RPG) but that I with my pen & paper RPG background would not consider as such. In your definition each adventure game is an RPG, which I don't agree with but I understand and respect your reasons.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Oh for crying out loud, not another one!!!

People will keep on correcting you because they are using the commonly accepted meaning and you are using your own private interpretation.

Au contraire good sir, some people chose to define the genre based on gameplay and not what is stuck on the box!

In that case Monkey Island is a puzzle game, no?

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Oh for crying out loud, not another one!!!

People will keep on correcting you because they are using the commonly accepted meaning and you are using your own private interpretation.

Au contraire good sir, some people chose to define the genre based on gameplay and not what is stuck on the box!

In that case Monkey Island is a puzzle game, no?

It has the elements so why not?. The point is, "genres" are loosely cobbled up terms the developers use to give a summarized view about the main elements in the game. In no way does it truly represent what the came totally is about. You buy an RPG and it is, for all intents and purposes an RPG, but never 100%, you'll find it an Action RPG, or adventure RPGs or horror/action/survival RPG and god knows what else.

So coming back to my point, Monkey Island has a lot more to it than what the "adventure" tag says. Just because a game has a genre to it, doesn't mean that it's permanently fixed in that setting. No, most games now are multi-genre games, with sub genres and any game if you look at close enough is never really made up of one element.

*snip*

Agreed. But tell me, were you considering diablo to not be an RPG?. I'm pretty sure it is a well established action RPG!. Also for the record, yeah, I consider Mario to be an adventure RPG

 

[XJ-0461]

Jeez. It seems like everyone played Pokemon as a kid. Except me.

I didn't either. I was busy playing Spider-man games.

 

[geggis]

The Secret of Monkey Island!. The first of the Monkey Island series!

You're the second person to bring up the Monkey Island series. Those aren't RPG's, those are the epitome of adventure games. I can understand that you would confuse Zelda for a JRPG but really, Monkey Island is an adventure game.

Oh for crying out loud, not another one!!!; yes its a graphic adventure but it is from a gameplay point of view, a Role Playing Game!. You play a character (Guybrush Threepwood) in a themed setting (the island of Melee), that is by definition what a Role Play Game consists of!. You can quote its a 'graphic adventure' till your blue in the face but the whole definition of Role Play is that the player takes the persona of a character and you play it out. Why, I could just say every damn RPG is a graphic adventure (because it is, it's not like Fable or Deus Ex are puzzle games now is it?).

Monkey island may have a different camera angle and different controls but it s very much a RPG.

I won't argue until I'm blue in the face but by your logic does that mean Starwing is a roleplaying game or Halo or even F-Zero? It's not so much the mere act of playing a role that makes an RPG an RPG, it's usually the emphasis on building up and customising your characters stats and abilities. Adventure games don't offer these gameplay mechanics because they rely on progression through puzzles which aren't solved by character ability as opposed to say, Oblivion where stats determine success in given situations.

 

[orangebandguy]

Pokemon! That counts right?

 

[Woem]

*snip*

Agreed. But tell me, were you considering diablo to not be an RPG?. I'm pretty sure it is a well established action RPG!. Also for the record, yeah, I consider Mario to be an adventure RPG

There was a time when I didn't consider Diablo to be an action game but a hack-n-slash game. But I've come to terms and am no longer an RPG Nazi. JRPGs were my latest acceptances: I previously saw Final Fantasy as nothing more than a Zelda (and thus an adventure game) with more numbers to crunch.

The following made a lot of this clear to me: the wikipedia article on Action RPGs [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_role-playing_game].

Here's the interesting bits:

Most CRPGs place a strong emphasis on storyline-driven arcs and character development, with the payoff almost always based on storytelling instead of experiencing a more dynamic world via nonlinear gameplay. [...] Unlike most computer role-playing games, at the beginning of a console role-playing game the player is usually not given the option of customizing a character or making decisions on his/her nature or background. Instead, he/she is offered one or more predefined characters to play as for the rest of the game.

A console role-playing game is a video game genre that has its origin rooted in video game consoles and includes game mechanics and, frequently, settings derived from those of traditional role-playing games. [...] An action role-playing game is a video game based on role-playing combat systems, and typified by a heavy emphasis on real-time combat against large numbers of enemies. Games in the genre often simplify or remove non-combat attributes associated with more traditional role-playing games, such as charisma (the ability to manipulate enemies socially in lieu of fighting them).

So in both definitions it becomes clear that they aren't full-blowns RPGs but they are derives from the RPG genre, especially when it comes down to the stat-driven character development.