What really is an Action RPG. Is PoE the characteristic example?

Path of Exile is an Ultima VIII clone, point and click ARPG subgenre

ARPG generally just refers to an RPG with real time combat, as at the time when the term came into common usage real time combat was not the norm. It was the age of things like Final Fantasy IV being the market domination, and stuff like Secret of Mana needed a label to set it apart.

All diablo clones are just putting a gui to Moria/Angband, which is what Diablo did.

Roguelike without tiles. AMAZING!

Sadly a lot of strategy was lost making it not turn based, the first two fallouts understood that.

http://www.giantbomb.com/panorama-toh/3030-45796/

Found this game goes right back to 1983,don`t know it never played it but shows how far back the term was coined.

Guys, when i started the thread i never doubted that PoE is indeed an ARPG. The problem was the perception that only PoE(diablo) style games are ARPGs. Generally i agree with CantriP, and everything that fuses elements of an RPG with an Action game is literally an Action RPG.

However AcrylicHercules posted an excellent article on the matter by a famous developer of some sort, who argued that ARPG is not a very useful term.

He divides RPGs in 3 main categories:
Narrative (The witcher, Mass Effect, Dragon Age)
Sandox (Skyrim, fallout)
Dangeon Crawling or Hack n' Slash (Diablo, torchlite, PoE i guess)

Then he goes on to describe each subgenre pretty accurately, and telling that these terms describe pretty accurately the main focus of each game. About Action RPGs he goes and says:

The "Action RPG" genre is the current trend in the RPG industry; the issue with it is that contrary to its name, it is not representative of the main experience of the game. Consequently, it can be confusing both for developers and consumers to simply describe an RPG as an "action RPG." Let's take a few games that have all been described as action RPGs as examples:

The Witcher 2. The main experience is Narrative.
Skyrim. The main experience is Sandbox.
Dark Souls. The main experience is hardcore Dungeon Crawler.

.....

Ever heard someone say, "I bought The Witcher, but it's boring -- there's too much dialog!" or "I bought Diablo, but the story sucks!" or "Damn, why is the main campaign in Skyrim so lackluster?" Well, the reason for this is simple: the people who bought those games didn't realize they were buying a subgenre of RPG that focuses on an experience they don't like. They wanted awesome narration, deep character evolution, and pure action, or maybe more freedom.

And marketing doesn't help with that, as every RPG released nowadays is described as an action RPG.

......

Of course, there is no doubt that this trend started because marketing needed a way to market "RPGs that are cool to play with a pad." The thing is, in the end, it simply roughly describes what kind of combat you might expect, but not the core experience of the game. And as the trend grows, we can safely expect that in a couple years (if that's not the case already) every RPG will be an action RPG, making the label basically useless.

In the end, it is understandable that marketing a game as an action RPG is sexier than as a "Narrative RPG" or "Sandbox RPG" -- but it's still confusing nonetheless. If you are a developer, don't simply describe your game as an "action RPG," and if you are a consumer, don't simply buy a game because it is called an action RPG; try to understand what the core experience in it is, and see if that's what you want.

The type of combat you have in an RPG does not define your core experience; combat is only a support for that core experience, which is either: story, sandbox, or character evolution.



He has pretty good points. Even though all these games literally ARE ARPGs, the term is to generic to descrive to customers the main focus of the game. So in that sense, a fan of The Witcher, which is an ARPG, is more likely to enjoy Dragon Age, which is a regular RPG, rather than Diablo, because the main focus of the game is narrative, despite the completely different combat.