Is Zelda an RPG or an Adventure Game?

[Vincent Valentine]

if this is an adventure game then what is kingdom hearts

An adventure game that uses superficial RPG elements to appeal to a RPG obsessed Japanese fanbase, maybe?

[Flying Mullet]

Kingdom Hearts is an RPG. Kingdom Hearts and Zelda are very different games with very little in common besides the fact that battles are real time, so you can't say that because Kingdom Hearts is an RPG that Zelda must be.

[Giga Guess]

Adventure. There are RPG elements, but there so minor I dont think they make Zelda an RPG.

Pretty much. The only thing you manage is how much life you have by the end, and one or two hidden items.

[Lychon]

Adventure game. I would classify a genuine RPG as a game that relies on numerical calculations, strategy and level ehancment to govern it's basic battle system. Buying items and upgrading some equipment in your inventory hardly makes a game an RPG, at least not in my view.

*votes for the first option*

Pure adventure games, such as the Gabriel Knight series, Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest series (not MOE), are quite rare, if not totally unexistent these days. (Actually, I think the last official PURE adventure game was Gabriel Knight 3).

If you want to be fussy, those kind of games are technically referred to as Point & Click games. A basic "Adventure" game is one where you lead your character around your enviroment, completing whatever tasks the game sets forth for you. Essentially what all the Zelda games have been, right from their conception.

I disagree. The games I mentioned are purely adventure, not only by my definition, but by general consensus of the gaming community. Point and Click games are games like minesweeper, basic card games, blockbuster, hearts, and other such basic games. By your logic, if adventure games are point and click games, then strategy games should also be "point and click" games since I can go through all 3 World of Warcrafts, both Diablos, Age of Empires, Starcraft or any other strategy SIMPLY by POINTING AND CLICKING.

I know that in the past, Point and Click was preferred to 'adventure,' but it is no longer a genre when referring to games. Since many adventure games (such as the ones I mentioned) have progressed a long way from their original roots, it is more accurate to describe them as adventure rather than "point and click."

-LYCHON

[Vincent Valentine]

I disagree. The games I mentioned are purely adventure, not only by my definition, but by general consensus of the gaming community. Point and Click games are games like minesweeper, basic card games, blockbuster, hearts, and other such basic games. By your logic, if adventure games are point and click games, then strategy games should also be "point and click" games since I can go through all 3 World of Warcrafts, both Diablos, Age of Empires, Starcraft or any other strategy SIMPLY by POINTING AND CLICKING.

-LYCHON

Ummm... no.

1) Games like mineweeper and the other ones you listed are puzzle games and card games.

2) Point & Click GAMES, or text adventures, as they were called in their earliest forms, are a genre of game that relies on using an inventory of items to make you're way throughout the gaming, using siad items to solve rudimentory puzzles. Usually by pointing, and clicking.

Examples of the Point & Click genre:
Monkey Island
Day of the Tentacle
Beneath A Steel Sky
Gabriel Knight
Broken Sword

You're simply taking the phrase too literally Lychon.

The later games in some of those series are adventure games.
The earlier ones are not.
That's what I'm disputing here.

I know that in the past, Point and Click was preferred to 'adventure,' but it is no longer a genre when referring to games. Since many adventure games (such as the ones I mentioned) have progressed a long way from their original roots, it is more accurate to describe them as adventure rather than "point and click."

Regardless of whether (for example) the new Broken Sword is an adventure game, it does not stop the older games from being Point & Click games. It may be a genre that is largely dead, but the term still holds true regardless.

[Lychon]

I disagree. The games I mentioned are purely adventure, not only by my definition, but by general consensus of the gaming community. Point and Click games are games like minesweeper, basic card games, blockbuster, hearts, and other such basic games. By your logic, if adventure games are point and click games, then strategy games should also be "point and click" games since I can go through all 3 World of Warcrafts, both Diablos, Age of Empires, Starcraft or any other strategy SIMPLY by POINTING AND CLICKING.

-LYCHON

Ummm... no.

1) Games like mineweeper and the other ones you listed are puzzle games and card games.

2)Point & Click GAMES, or text adventures, as they were called in their earliest forms, are a genre of game that relies on using an inventory of items to make you're way throughout the gaming, using siad items to solve rudimentory puzzles. Usually by pointing, and clicking.

Examples of the Point & Click genre:
Monkey Island
Day of the Tentacle
Beneath A Steel Sky
Gabriel Knight
Broken Sword

You're simply taking the phrase too literally Lychon.

The later games in some of those series are adventure games.
The earlier ones are not.
That's what I'm disputing here.

I know that in the past, Point and Click was preferred to 'adventure,' but it is no longer a genre when referring to games. Since many adventure games (such as the ones I mentioned) have progressed a long way from their original roots, it is more accurate to describe them as adventure rather than "point and click."

Regardless of whether (for example) the new Broken Sword is an adventure game, it does not stop the older games from being Point & Click games. It may be a genre that is largely dead, but the term still holds true regardless.

Incorrect. Firstly, you reference to text adventures is completely fallacious. The games you listed are adventure games, not point and clickers, and absolutely none of the games I cited previoulsy have anything to do with text adventure.

Like I said, prior to the adventure series developing into its prime, "point and clicker" was a suitable definition. Obvioulsy, you have not played the King's Quest or Gabriel Knight series, otherwise you would know that these games exceed the complexity of point and clickers on an exponential scale. Another example of your flawed logic is the series of computer games starting with the ever-popular "Myst." If you have played this game, you know that it is entirely POINT and CLICK. But it is not a point and clicker, it is an ADVENTURE game...mmmkay?

Examples of Adventure games:
King's Quest
Gabriel Knight
Police Quest
Leisure Suit Larry

Example of Action Adventure games:
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Legend of Zelds: Majora's Mask
Tomb Raider
Prince of Persia series

Minesweeper, hearts, solitare, are not puzzle games. Puzzle games are games such as Tetris or Mahjong, so "Ummm....no" is more like "Ummm...yes."

Also, here is a link for some information on King's Quest on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Quest
Why don't you read the first sentence of that article and then get back to me, mmmkay?

Here is the article for Gabriel Knight: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Knight
Again, read the first sentence and get back to me, mmmkay?

Here is the article for Day of the Tentacle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Tentacle
Read the first sentence about the game's genre and get back to me.

[Yuffie514]

adventure. lots of dungeons, lots of caves...

[bipper]

Adventure. That is, unlless RPG stands for "advanetuRe Played Game" er somthing.

For clarifications, text based adventures lived in many different styles, not justadventure by any means. I think a more comonly known PnC would be Shadowgate. What a classic Myst could be as well.

By the way, a Hybrid genre can be very subjective. I remember seeing Shaq-Fu herolded as a "An Out Standing RPG for the Sega Genesis" -_-


Zelda has been an adventure somce day one. I can see the second one being more of an RPG, but still falling in the adventure genere.

Bipper

[Levian]

Stop making stuff harder than it is. Zelda is a princess.

[bipper]

Stop making stuff harder than it is. Zelda is a princess.

[Vincent Valentine]

If it is simplier for you to process, please replace every mention I make of "Point & Click" with "Point & Click Adventure Game", mmmkay?

Incorrect. Firstly, you reference to text adventures is completely fallacious. The games you listed are adventure games, not point and clickers, and absolutely none of the games I cited previoulsy have anything to do with text adventure.

Please, would you care to tell me where I said that any of the games you cited previously were text adventure? What I said was that the Point & Click genre was an evolution of the text adventure genre.

Ever play Zork? It was text adveture game realeased many a moon ago.
Okay, following me to this point?
As time passed, graphics were introduced to many of these games.
Hence we reach games such as the initial Kings Quest, which is essentially just a text adventure with graphics.
Many people at this time expressed their frustration with this verbal based system of exploration.
You still with me? This part is especially important!
A system was pioneered (for which Sierra is often credited), whereby people could play through such games using a graphical interface. Instead of spending half an hour trying to find the right word for an action, all they had to do was POINT & CLICK!
(Note: I'm actually old enough to have lived through 90% of this.)

Like I said, prior to the adventure series developing into its prime, "point and clicker" was a suitable definition.

And it still is, when you refer to those kind of games. Are you going to tell me that Syberia and Syberia II aren't Point & Click games?

But hey, if you really want to be so incredibly fuzzy and trivial with your phrasing, then technically they are "Point & Click Adventure Games".

Obvioulsy, you have not played the King's Quest or Gabriel Knight series,

Actually, I have. Before you were even out of diapers.

...otherwise you would know that these games exceed the complexity of point and clickers on an exponential scale.

How, exactly?

Yes, Kings Quest IV (one of my personal favourite games, ever, for record's sake) and Gabriel Knight were genuinely mature games in both their execution and their stories, with an amazing level of depth and intelligence, but this does not change the fact that you POINT with your mouse, and you CLICK on the screen, to move your avatar through the stories, often using items to solve puzzles in the scenery.

Examples of Adventure games:
King's Quest
Gabriel Knight
Police Quest
Leisure Suit Larry

Played them all. I recall quite clearly pointing and clicking on things, using my inventory of items to solve the puzzles in the gameword.

Case in Point:
"Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars" is a Point & Click game.
"Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon" is an adventure game.

Minesweeper, hearts, solitare, are not puzzle games. Puzzle games are games such as Tetris or Mahjong,

Did I say that Hearts and Solitaire were puzzle games? No. I said the list of games you mentioned were either puzzle games or card games. Please, read what I actually type first, mmmkay?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Quest
Why don't you read the first sentence of that article and then get back to me, mmmkay?

Here is the article for Gabriel Knight: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Knight
Again, read the first sentence and get back to me, mmmkay?

Here is the article for Day of the Tentacle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Tentacle
Read the first sentence about the game's genre and get back to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Island
Why don't you read the first sentence of THAT article and then get back to ME, mmmkay?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_amazon_queen
Or that, even.

Pwned, as the youngsters would say.

(I would never actually take the opinion of Wikipedia seriously, seeing how most of it's information is usually misinformed tripe submitted by internet fanboys, but if you feel that it's a credible source to help "prove" your point, then I may as well use it's articles to "prove" mine.)

My point from the very beginning is that the games you listed were not simply adventure games. They were Point & Click Adventure Games, which is a very different beast to the basic adventure game itself, which is the genre into which Zelda lies.

[KentaRawr!]

I didn't know Zelda was a P&CAG. o_o

[Vincent Valentine]

I didn't know Zelda was a P&CAG. o_o

I didn't say it was...

[KentaRawr!]

I know you didn't, young one. :kaofight:

[Crossblades]

IMO Zelda is an RPG because you talk to people, buy items, etc. like a typical RPG