Need RPG Recommendations

[Mzo]

Just throw out some names and I'll categorize them, it's easy.

Zelda games aren't RPGs, they're action/adventure for the record. I don't care what anybody says.

[g0zen]

System Shock.

[Mzo]

Fuck you.

Well, I only played the 2nd, and in that you set your starting stats and improve them at certain designated spots with items you find along the way.

I'd say it's a heavily modified FPS, but an FPS nonetheless.

[dave is ok]

Deus Ex

[Cowutopia]

an fps with, say, "RPG elements" ?

Dave beat me to deus ex...

[Mzo]

Never played, really. Just did the training and it seemed like pretty standard FPS stuff.

How do you improve your stats? It does have dialogue and dialogue choices that affect the story... hmm. Do you gain experience from actions like shooting, hacking, killing enemies, etc., or is this another case of collecting cybernetic enhancements?

[sethsez]

JRPGs generally:

• Load to a different screen for battles
• Feature representations for the landscape where cities are always smaller then they actually are and characters are always bigger then they actually are
• Character interaction has little to no choices and even when they're present it rarely actually affects the story in any sort of way beyond who ends up in your party
• Will carry on by themselves for huge amounts of time as mini-movies
• Have a pre-determined list of party characters that will all join you

Old Ultima
Old Ultima
Old Ultima
Okay, got me there
Old Ultima

[Compass]

Old Ultima
Old Ultima
Old Ultima
Okay, got me there
Old Ultima

There are obvious exceptions to all of these from time to time (KOTOR doesn't look like ass, DQVIII has proper size proportions, etc.) but these seem to be what they often stick to.

[sethsez]

Right, except Ultima is one of the cornerstones of the genre. It's not an isolated series, it's one of the building blocks of western RPGs in the first place, right next to Wizardry and (to a lesser extent) Might & Magic. It's like defining JRPGs with rules that don't apply to Final Fantasy.

[Frogacuda]

but...the early dragon quest games were kinda based on D&D, right? i don't understand all this "jrpg" stuff people are throwing around now adays.

It was more based on Ultima than anything else, but I suppose that doesn't change your point any. Basically it comes down to the fact that the vast majority of Japanese RPGs still adhere to a bunch of the conventions that Dragon Quest popularized, and western RPGs don't so much.

There are obvious exceptions to all of these from time to time

Honestly there are staggeringly few pure RPGs from japan that don't use a bunch of Ultima/Dragon Quest conventions as a backbone. Valkyrie Profile and Atelier Marie (series) are the only real exceptions I can think of.