Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post
Actually Diablo is considered a Hack-n-Slash RPG since its basically about murdering things and getting loot as opposed to more typical RPG elements and Torchlight from what I've read is considered an action game though the sequel seems to be classified as an action-rpg.
This is monumentally incorrect on so many levels. Although KH might be classed as an Action RPG it's a really loose use of the term, because it's barely an RPG at all. Murdering things and getting loot is basically the definition of the ARPG genre, which is why it is applied to games like Diablo, Torchlight, Titan Quest, Grim Dawn, Dungeon Siege, Din's Curse, Drox Operative, and Path of Exile. It's true the term Hack'n'Slash is also used to describe such games but it tends to be a descriptor that differentiates the games from others which might fall into the Action RPG label rather than a genre description in and of itself.

There's also no way Torchlight could not be an ARPG while 2 is one, because they are mechanically almost identical.

Historically speaking, the genre has its roots in Japanese development with games like Dragon Slayer, Hydlide, Ys and controversially The Legend of Zelda whereas the games your talking about came ten years after all of this, so technically Diablo and Torchlight are the sub-genre not Tales and KH which are evolutions of the original games.
This is technically true, but at this point the term ARPG has long supplanted the Japanese origins. It's been a long, long time since I've seen ARPG used to refer to anything except Kill Baddies -> Get Loot -> Kill Stronger Baddies -> Get Better Loot -> 20GOTO10. The other games which get the designation are generally things that more closely straddle the line with other genres like Skyrim and Borderlands which, again, is where Hack'n'Slash comes in as a differentiating label. I mean it is a fairly nebulous genre because there's a wide swathe of games which incorporate varying degrees of RPG and action elements but the modern usage is definitely the one Pike and Auly said.