KH vs. Tales of... : The Rise of Action-RPGs,

[Dante WolfWood]

Having been a big fan of both, I'd definitely say Tales has had a bigger impact on me. I played KH first, but it was Tales of Legendia that got me into action RPGs and made me a huge fan of the genre. I have played almost every tales game after that and I am looking forward to new releases. KH...not so much. It's a good game but it just doesn't have the same appeal.

And I honestly feel most people would feel the same...except the fact that most of the market hasn't played them. I guarantee I can stand at my local gamestop and ask people if they have ever played any Tales game and most would say no. Yet, I know hardcore shooter fans, one I currently am roommates with, who absolutely LOVE Kingdom Hearts. They've played it, loved it, and are looking forward to further releases.

Why? I believe it's because of the inclusion of Disney characters. It appealed to their childhood AND looked like a RPG that wasn't "boring turn based game-play" in my friends words. Kingdom Hearts just had a bigger initial appeal to a broader audience. Tales games feel too Japanese without an American appeal for it to get mainstream gamers to give it a chance.

[Vyk]

That's a good point. People who were introduced to the genre through KH I don't feel really expanded on that initial introduction into much else. While people who got in through Tales almost inevitably went on to other things. Probably because they have a more typical JRPG flare and its easy to find comparable games. There's not really a whole like KH on the market to further sate the appetite of fans of the series. While you can compare pretty much any generic JRPG to a Tales game and invariably the only major difference will be the encounters. If people can stomach slowing down a bit, they can easily play games like Xenogears or Legaia. Or more recently The Last Story and Xenoblade (or, of course, Star Ocean)

On that note. Are there any games that directly compare to KH that I'm not aware of?

[Chibi Youkai]

KH is pretty much a sub-genre on it's own; although, if you added multiplayer to it, it could pretty easily be an mmorpg. That's closest thing I can think of to compare it to mechanics-wise. The gameplay elements are so similar; ie: your weapons/armor determine your stats more than your level, the semi-platformer and real time battle aspects. The fact that you control only one character the whole time, but have a changing roster of minions and companions.

All that being said, I never played a Tales game until two years ago, but if I had, it would have been a larger influence. The Tales games have a much broader appeal. KH was pretty much focused on serving two groups of people, where as anyone can pick up a tales game and not scratch their heads in confusion at the references. Most of my friends had played and loved the tales game, for me it was just a lack of the correct platform to play them at the time.

[Freya]

I wouldn't consider Diablo an Action RPG. Maybe technically but it's a dungeon crawler ARPG while KH and Tales are more along the lines of a general Action based RPG.

If you don't consider KH a ARPG then what the hell will you consider XV?

[Pumpkin]

If you don't consider KH a ARPG then what the hell will you consider XV?

A SARPG sub-genre 2 category 4

Honestly I just call them all RPG's and be done with it