"zh666 said:"Gunraidan said:(Zelda is in no way a RPG)."this shows your age."
Explain to me how a game is a RPG if you can't level up nor do you pick a role to play nor do you max out any skills. Just because it's medievil themed doesn't make it a RPG. Zelda is acutally an Action-Adventure game as many claim that it defines them.
You don't need to gain experience or level up to be an RPG, you just need a character to progressively gets stronger as the game moves along. Link is 20xs stronger by the end of the game than he is at the start of the game, with his HP, Strength and Defense improve. This to me and alot of people is an RPG. Before you have a hissy fit, let me explain myself, because you're going to need perspective on the genre. Legend of Zelda came out in early 1986. There was only a handful of RPGs out at this time, Ultima, Wizardry, Might and Magic and so on. The only RPGs on the console might have been Black Onyx and Dragon Quest, but I'm to lazy to look up dates right now. There might of been a couple Action RPGs before Zelda was around, but Zelda basically set the templet for every Action RPG since then. Have you ever heard the term "Zelda clone"? Well this is because every Action RPG was compared to Zelda, and for good reason. This was of course before Diablo came around and set a new standard.
Basically, most games in 1986-1990 were side scrollers or shooters or sports games or whatever. None of these games have any progessive character traits, most of these games were arcade based games that revolved around Lives and linear stages. The Legend of Zelda was about freedom and exploring, and then about getting strong enough to defeat your foes. It might seem simple today, because every game released today have RPG elements, but Zelda was an RPG back in 1986 and it helped changed the RPG genre forever. It saddens me a little bit when I see people dismiss the Legend of Zelda as an RPG considering it's one of the most important ones ever created.
It wasn't until recently where people started calling Zelda an "Action / Adventure". Action Adventure isn't much of a genre for me. I remember back in the old Gamepro days when they held awards for each genre, Action Adventure back then meant anything that was action oriented and required to you move from A to B. Then there's also the Adventure genre on PC, like Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island, which have little to do with a Zelda game. So Action / Adventure was a loose blanket term until later for some reason.
Anyways, if you look back on old reviews you'll notice that all Zelda games were considered RPGs, heck, even Zelda clones were called RPGs too. Let's go to Gamespot for a few quick examples, since they have an old database:
Legend of Oasis: "Legend of Oasis is an action game with a role-playing twist"
Legacy of Kain: "Capturing the spirit of Zelda and Beyond Oasis, Legacy of Kain is a great hack-and-slash role-playing game."
Elemental Gimmick Gear: "Do you remember the great, older action-RPGs like The Legend of Zelda for the SNES or Legend of Oasis for the Saturn?"
Alundra: "If you're a fan of Zelda, Landstalker, or other action RPGs that have hit consoles before, then Alundra should be your next stop"
Remember, it wasn't until later when younger fans that first experienced RPGs with Final Fantasy 7 started calling Zelda an "Action Adventure" game.
RPG is a very very loose genre, alot of different games fall under the term.
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