RPG categories, and which do you prefer?

In my mind, RPGs can be divided in to 4 categories, depending on the combat/gameplay, and to 3 more categories, depending on what the main focus of the game is outside of combat.

-In terms gameplay there are these styles, from the least action based to the most:

1) Turn Based RPGs. The most traditional ones and the closest to their pen and paper counterparts. There is a wide range of Turn Based RPGs, from Pokemon to Divinity:Original Sin.

2) Isometric Team Based RPGs with real time action. These games, while being real time, often use the pause system where you can can plan your actions, still giving the game a "turn based" feel. The gameplay mostly centers around tactical playing. Due to the golden era of RPGs, this style is what most people think(at least used to) when somebody called a game an RPG. Some of the most legendary RPGs were using this system, from Baldur's Gate, Ice Wind Dale and Dragon Age:Origins to the recent Pillars of Eternity.

3) Isometric Hack n' Slash, or ARPG. The difference between this and the Isometric Team Based style, is mainly that you control one hero instead of a team, it is more fast paced and you can never pause the game to do actions. However most of the mechanics are depending on RPG style statistics(like x% block chance), rather than action based style, which is mostly restricted to manually avoiding some heavy hits, and thinking quickly. Of course Diablo, Torchlight, Titan Quest, Path of Exile belong in this category.

4) Third or First Person Action RPGS. In this style, the gameplay is very action based, while at the same time it includes most of the clasic RPG components like leveling up, creating a build and finding and upgrading gear. This is the most wide open style that can include games ranging from The Elder's Scrolls, The Witcher, Dark Souls to shooters like Mass Effect and Borderlands.

-In terms of the games main focus outside of gameplay/combat, we can identify 3 styles(agreeing with this very decent yet lacking article on RPGs (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/185353/focusing_creativity_rpg_genres.php):

1) Narrative or Story Driven. In this style the main focus is the story and the quest design. Often there is a system of branching paths in the plot or the relationship between your characters(if you have a team) depending on your choices. Many RPGs can be described as story driven, from planescape torment to Dragon Age to Mass effect to The Witcher. All clasic RPGs are usually story driven. Of course games that are not described as story driven, can still have excellent story or lore, but paying attention to it is not the main focus.

2) Sandbox RPG. In this style the main focus is big open worlds for you to explore. Be anyone do anything. The Elder's Scroll series are obvisouly the best example of sandbox RPGs.

3) Dungeon Crawler. Here the most immportant focus is killing shitloads of monsters and gathering loot. Plain and simple. Path of Exile, Dark Souls, Diablo etc. belong here.


As you can see, games with very different gameplay can have the same focus, which always made the definition of RPGs very hard. The Witcher eg. is 4 and 1, Dark Souls is 4 and 3, PoE is 3 and 3, Skyrim is 4 and 2, Baldur's Gate is 2 and 1 etc. Some games also combine more than 1 of these styles. Others do it poorly(like Kingdom of Amalur), and others do it extremelly good(like the Witcher 3).

So my quetion is which of these styles of RPG do prefer the most? Do you object in the categorisation?

Personally my favourites are Third Person, Story Driven Action RPGS(4+1), but this does not prevent Planescape from being my favourite game of all time. Neither Dark Souls being also one of my favourites.

first: "Betrayal at krondor:

favorite:"Record of Lodoss War" on dreamcast, regural hack'n'slash, just best ever

10/10: Zeldas (Oracle of seasons and 1 more, dont remember), Legacy of Kain 1, Grandia 2, Witcher 2, Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale (probably 1st part), Fallout 3, Suikoden 2 and Frontier Saga 2, Mount and Blade and M&B Warband

(I hope question wasn't about category, because I had no fav one)

My favourite from the first category is first person action RPGs. System Shock 2 and similar games are just the best. That being said, I like all the other ones; it's weird to read people consider things like Baldur's Gate classic (maybe because there are not RPGs like that anymore, and no one seems to know them here where I live). Turn based has become stagnant, and isometric ARPGs are still fun.

From the second category, I love Dungeon Crawlers. Sandbox are a nice thing to have, but nothing important. Story based RPGs are a saturated market. There are few games that can impress you (some old Final Fantasy, Planescape: Torment, some Atlus games).

At the end of the day, I like inmersive, interactive games like System Shock 2, or avant garde RPGs that don't play by the rules (Shin Megami Tensei series, Planescape: Torment). Diablo is one of my favourites for the atmosphere and lore, and Path of Exile is fascinating for how its mechanics are interwoven with the world (even places have affixes and suffixes; I wish GGG would play more with that).

What category does Might and Magic VI fall into? speaking of which, anybody played the remake?

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Good rpgs:

Earthbound

FF 3(6) /7/8

Mario RPG

Baten Kaitos

"Tales" series

Diablo 2

PoE

Chrono trigger


among others

Secret of Mana

Shadowrun SNES

Act Raiser

E: FF Legend II/III FF Adventure

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"Tales" series

Damn right.

Phantasia was the best one.

Breath of Fire 3

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GooberM wrote:

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"Tales" series

Damn right.

Phantasia was the best one.

Oh and I forgot Skies of Arcadia and I don't know if the Zelda series is still considered an RPG but I liked most of those games too

I had a Dreamcast and I still never got to play it. Never knew it was released on Gamecube either.

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GooberM wrote:

"Tales" series

I had a Dreamcast and I still never got to play it. Never knew it was released on Gamecube either.

dreamcast were made with another company, sega

ithad not exclusives and died in 1 year or so, but there was few nice games (jet set radio :3)

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Poutsos wrote:

In my mind, RPGs can be divided in to 4 categories, depending on the combat/gameplay, and to 3 more categories, depending on what the main focus of the game is outside of combat.

...

So my quetion is which of these styles of RPG do prefer the most? Do you object in the categorisation?

Which movies do you prefer, those in which the hero wears red or blue?

I do dislike your categorization. imo games are all about the options available to the player and the dynamics which force us to put in at least a little thought:
Does the player have a diverse set of actions available at any moment in time?
Can you accomplish each objective in different ways?
Is there a wide range of potential viable character builds?
Is everything so despicably balanced that your choices are rendered trivial?
Is one option so ridiculously OP in every circumstance that youd be a fool to choose anything else?
Do you need to change tactics often?

These are the 'right' questions (imo) to ask when evaluating a game for mature audiences.
Kid games just need bright colors and button mashing, no real science there. Unfortunately most every game on the market seems to cater to the kids:( (including poe)