Deconstructing the Role-Playing Video Game

Re:Deconstructing the Role-Playing Video Game by avereveard on Wednesday July 17, 2024 @01:16AM (#40982797)

I think the defining characteristic is that you can play in different roles within the same game world. Flight simulator is not an rpg, you're always a pilot. Likewise, the content react to your character. Diablo 4 doesn't have any dialogue or level related to character choices, it's an action game with a skill tree.

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Re:Deconstructing the Role-Playing Video Game by thiagoharry on Wednesday July 17, 2024 @08:00AM (#40984904)

There are some JRPGs where you control a single character (first Dragon Quest).

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Re:Deconstructing the Role-Playing Video Game by avereveard on Wednesday July 17, 2024 @09:34AM (#40985777)

Yeah, there are bound to be a few oddities, albeit in this case I think technical and market challenges are more a factor than design decisions, coupled with a bit of "this game doesn't really fit as anything else"

Anyway when I wrote different roles I didn't necessarily meant "trough multiple characters"

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Re:Deconstructing the Role-Playing Video Game by dahauns on Wednesday July 17, 2024 @12:37PM (#40987684)

"playing different roles" is kind of nebulous, though - and especially historically, it doesn't really mesh with what has been considered an RPG. Depending on your strictness of definition, quite a bit more than "a few oddities" among the RPG classics would not fit this definition, on the other end it would encompass a ton of non-linear P&C/VN/Interactive fiction in general.

I know that the moniker has it's issues when taking it literally, but doing so too strictly makes the term almost meaningless when discussing genres. (..."even more meaningless", some may argue. ;) )

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