And I think everybody is entitled to his own opinion, culture and way of doing stuff, in my table days RPG stood for role playing game, and it used to be more about people less about dice, by itself RPG does not = story, it means playing a role in said story based game, in other words, making choices that will define your role in said story.
Demon's Souls has a story, one that is less implicit as you pointed out but still it's a background more than an element of the game, there's almost nothing about role playing there
If however you do play role playing games otherwise, fine, not my concern, just don't assume someone is wrong based on your definition of RPG rather than the general one.
Edit: Added dok_dx quote
vladhslavh
I understand where you're coming from however you're missing the point. When RPG players constantly think that RPG = story and not let's say action, excitement, fear, or the actual stats and dice roll they are missing the point of what RPG were. The Roll you played in paper D&D was not told to you by the DM or your friends. It was your imagination. Through your actions you defined the roll you were playing. Most, video game RPGs literally tells you what you have to do, how you have to go about it and where you need to go next and thus tell you how you fit into this story. DS doesn't tell you anything. You have to figure it out and then use your imagination to fill in the blanks.
When RPGs made it's way in to video games, it was piercingly the dice roll and the stats that related to it that made them RPGs. Most of the early games had the same story as DS. But it wasn't the story that made them RPGs it was the rolls and the stats related to them. Look at borderlands or Deus Ex with their RPG elements (granted the latter had a great story but was not considered a true RPG). By your definition almost all games are Roll Playing Games b/c most games you're, "playing a role in said story based game, in other words, making choices that will define your role in said story." Think Infamous a game I would not call an RPG or have RPG elements and it does everything you just said. This not my opinion of what an RPG is, it is the definition of a RPG. Your "general one" seem to be some love affair with past RPGs that had epic stories. BTW I loved all those stories in both WRPGs and JRPGs that most RPG fans come to expect. But, I'm not blinded by it.
The only real argument that can be made about DS not being a true RPG is about the fact that there is no Dice Roll it just has stats. But you didn't make that one. But it's an Action RPG which imples no dice roll.
*Spoiler*
In DS the background information and the limited NPC interactions, which the game does let you miss out on, informs the story that you actually have to think about for it to make sense. It's not just a story about you killing a great evil. It's about what you are doing to fight that great evil. The Old One chooses you for a reason b/c you are by the end of the game the most powerful Soul Arts User. Basically you're playing the game leveling up using souls to become more powerful just like the person who released the Old One in the first place.
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