/vr/ - Retro Games

>>5556702
>https://web.archive.org/web/20190120091518/http://insomnia.ac/commentary/on_role-playing_games/
long-winded storyfag

>>5144153
>To me this sounds like moving the goalposts
>Feel free to define RPGs based on their combat system if you'd like.
You're failing to understand that this isn't a binary litmus test. It never is. It's never JUST ONE trait that makes a game part of a particular genre. That said, the combat system is usually the most important distinguishing feature of a game and is the first thing to look at.

A game that looks like an RPG in every single aspect except the tactical combat system, might still make sense to call an RPG. you'd have to make the case for each individual game, though. If Dark Souls had the same combat engine, but the content itself was designed to be more like a typical RPG world with an overworld with towns and politics and such, and dungeons were placed in that context, maybe it might feel more like an RPG than an action game. At that point, the argument would be more than just the "has character customization, stats and leveling system."

Similarly, I never said tactical combat was the ONLY necessary feature of an RPG. Obviously not, and it's not moving the goalposts in the slightest to explain what distinguishes RPG tactical combat from other tactical combat.

>>5144159
>The issue here is that you consider "make your own character, develop it how you want" not to be a core gameplay system.
Because it's not a core system. The core system revolves around the part of the game where you can succeed or fail.
In computer RPGs, this is usually combat first and foremost, and secondarily exploration (pic-related) and interaction with NPCs. Character creation and development is the next layer up from the core systems. Without the core systems, character creation would be meaningless. Stats aren't meaningful until core gameplay is defined. Equipment choices or restrictions aren't meaningful until the core gameplay is defined. When Chr is a dump stat, that's because the core game systems failed to make that stat sufficiently relevant.