Your Top 10 PSOne RPGs

[Tsubaki]

Then should Final Fantasy Tactics really count as a RPG? You don't go town to town and talk to people, and do goofy quests. And the game play is different from a typical rpg.

Considering the Japanese have called it, and all those like it, a specific genre name:

Simulation RPG (not Strategic/Strategy, as many westerners say)

[Kidnemo]

Considering the Japanese have called it, and all those like it, a specific genre name:

Simulation RPG (not Strategic/Strategy, as many westerners say)

Ignorant round eyes!

[kingoffighters]

RESIDENT EVIL 4 IS AN RPG, BECAUSE YOU PLAY A ROLE!

One of my biggest gripes about working in game retail, is assholes who walk in, ask if you have any good rpgs, then after you name some off, reply with, "no, not those games. RPGs like Resident Evil and Silent Hill."
Fuck, I hate those people.

Stop working at a game store. Your life will improve 10000%.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

not really. Working here is tied directly into my main source of income.
selling drugs and cigarettes to minors

[A Robot Bit Me]

Well the I put both on my list but if we are going to have one then shouldn't we not have the other. FFT is really a strategy game and SotN is an action/adventure game, but they both have RPG elements. So if one doesn't count then both of them shouldn't count.

Great point. FFT is just a strategy game with RPG elements, and SotN is just an action game with RPG elements. But what is an RPG element, exactly?

Well, let's compare SotN with a game on which I think we can all agree is defintely an Action game, not an Action RPG: Super Mario Bros. The keywords that immediately jump to mind are "stats" and "leveling up," but if you break it down, neither is exclusive to SotN.

SMB has plenty of stats. Enemies have an Attack value of 1 and a Hit Points value of 1. Small Mario has an HP value, also 1. When a Goomba's 1 ATK meets Mario's 1 HP, Mario is defeated. When Mario's ATK of 1 meets a Goomba's HP of 1, the Goomba is defeated.

"Leveling up" can be defined as the progression of stats in an RPG. Hey, Super Mario Bros. has that, too! When Mario levels up by getting a mushroom (!), his HP increases from 1 to 2.

So what is the difference, really?

[kingoffighters]

The difference is in the girth.

[A Robot Bit Me]

So if I hack an SMB ROM and add 200 more levels, will that make it an Action RPG?

Or is it the exploration aspect and the one giant level approach to SotN? That would make Metroid an Action RPG too, yes?

[Aurora]

The difference is in the girth.

a/s/l?

[George]

I would say yes, SotN is an RPG, based on this criteria:

Every combat system is based on some sort of damage algorithm, seen or unseen. What I consider an RPG is a stated emphasis on these algorithms that the player has control or influence over. That means adjusting these numbers through equipment, in-game abilities, etc. Some do it with a menu driven turn based method, others let you move freely. What seperated SotN from, say, Castlevania IV is that in IV you are relegated to few weapon choices that aren't always available for you to adjust. It's like WoW versus Devil May Cry, you're still running around in third person killing monsters, and the numbers are being crunched either way, but RPG's traditionally give you more control over them.

[Andrew]

Wikipedia says it's an "action-adventure." Wikipedia is also always right.