What is a RPG?

[Slothy]

To be honest, I feel the same way about most of Mass Effect. I can count literally two choices in the game that actually affect the story in any great respect (involving Wrex, Ashley and the other dude who's name escapes me because I didn't like him). And even those don't really change the overall story if I'm not mistaken. They simply determine which characters you get to use. For all of the ability to role play that these WRPG's supposedly give, it's dissapointing how little your choices matter.

Anyway, as for the definition of what constitutes an RPG, I typically consider something to be an RPG based on a few factors.

Stat development - whether it's as simple as leveling up in the original FF or more complicated and customized such as Oblivion, most RPG's feature this aspect of character growth.

Strategic battle system - This is more common for JRPG's to be honest as they tend to have battle systems that try and focus on strategy to varying degrees of success. WRPG's usually still include strategy, but recent titles like Fallout 3 and Oblivion haven't really required it to be honest, and even Mass Effect was pretty light on how much thought you had to put into combat.

Focus on story - Yeah, a lot of genres can focus on the story, but it's not really an RPG if it doesn't. Whether it's a linear tale like in FF, or something focused on giving the character choices that rarely ever matter (Fallout 3), if there isn't some focus on the story and characters then it's probably not an RPG.

To be honest, I like Bolivar's definition the best, and it's true of any genre to be honest. I can't really define it but I know it when I see it.

I guess my next question for you two is simply this, does an RPG need to have all those requirement or does it only need one or a few to be considered an RPG? If so, which ones are more important than others?

I'd definitely lump story focus and stat development in as the most important factors. Story focus doesn't have to just mean having a long involved, or even that original story though, it could also mean being able to develop your character through the game. I mean to be perfectly honest, Mass Effect's story was pretty cliche sci-fi fodder, but the character interaction made it better than it really was even if your choices didn't matter that much.

Stat development is largely what separates other genres from RPG's though because even while other genres take on elements that were traditionally the domain of RPG's such as the focus on story or, even some more strategic battle systems, actually being able to develop your character how you like in any significant depth is still pretty much relegated to RPG's.

Like I said in my other post, a strategic combat system is certainly part of most RPG's, but the level of strategy can vary so much (largely due to poor game balance) that it's really not as important as others. Some games pull off a strategic combat system well like Final Fantasy IX or Persona 3 (AI teammates aside), but others like FFVIII, FFVI, and Fallout 3 have only a minimum amount of strategy involved but no one would accuse them of being anything other than RPG's (you could argue about Fallout 3, but considering the heavy use of VATS and the fact that it's a piss poor FPS suggests otherwise.

Long story short, character building and a focus on story are the two most important elements.