[QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]
And I would argue that the people saying ME isn't an RPG don't know what a role playing game is, at least not past the surface mechanics ;)
N30F3N1X
So how do you call Black Isle games? Turn based strategy games with inventory and levelling?
Never actually played a Black Isle game. But even if one uses stats, levelling, and classes as the defining feature, it's there in the Mass Effect series, even in 2 and 3. It's just not a traditional set since it's contextual to the setting of the game. The series can't be disqualified based on that criteria.
But what I'm really saying is that while stats and levelling does have it's part in the genre (was never saying otherwise), neither is it the sole defining feature to what sets role playing games apart from other genres. Otherwise games like Force Unleashed and COD would also be RPGs.
Role playing is defined more by the experience you get from its game design beyond just mechanics alone. There are gameplay aspects that levelling and inventory doesn't always facilitate such as personal character growth, not just abilities but attitude & perspective, interaction with the world around you, and basically playing the game in such a way that the character is an extension of yourself. The core of role playing.
This can also work the other way as well, if a game lets you make choices or has branching story paths, but you still play with a static character, you don't evolve or develop them along the lines you want to make them an expression of your play style. So really RPGs need to be a combination of both plyer driven interaction as well as the means to grow your character (the levelling in what ever form it takes within the fiction).
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