What makes Zelda not an (action-)RPG?

[Kalahari Inkantation]

especially botw

Is it strictly the lack of a direct character leveling mechanic?

because that seems p. arbitrary to me lol

And what about Zelda II? That actually does have proper character leveling.

[TooB]

I can accept it being called an "action rpg"

For me, it's mechanics and structure of the story and character building.

[Kalahari Inkantation]

which is a subgenre of rpg, and therefore, zelda is an rpg

[TooB]

which is a subgenre of rpg, and therefore, zelda is an rpg

barely

[don't let's]

Because she's a princess

[Move] [/move]

[Thyme]

idk man genres are dumb

Because she's a princess

[Move] [/move]

same

[Kalahari Inkantation]

idk man genres are dumb

i wouldn't say that that's generally true, at least not in video games

it's really just rpgs vs. everything else

the dividing line just seems way too arbitrary, and as a genre, "rpg" is far too broad

Because she's a princess

[Move] [/move]

[Kalahari Inkantation]

fun fact: even nintendo itself classifies oot of time as an rpg

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-3d-3ds

defend you'reself's

[TooB]

Nintendo doesn't know shit.
Evidence: most everything recent involving them

[Thyme]

creators sometimes don't know shit

see: steve wilhite on the pronunciation of "gif"

[Kalahari Inkantation]

creators sometimes don't know shit

see: steve wilhite on the pronunciation of "gif"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfI3AeIzSfE&t=618s

[Thyme]

creators sometimes don't know shit

see: steve wilhite on the pronunciation of "gif"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfI3AeIzSfE&t=618s

exactly, jiffers get the flames

[Kalahari Inkantation]

Well I hate to disagree with mommy Nina, but she was totally in the wrong and vv. rude there and boy do I wish she'd tenderly beat me for daring to say such a thing.

[Samus Aran]

personally i've never cared about this debate, but the dividing line for most people is usually zelda's (typical) lack of "rpg elements" like stats, levels, experience, etc. this is why most people consider zelda 2 to be the one zelda that does have "rpg elements."

the whole thing is pretty dumb, because action rpgs in particular owe a lot to zelda. pretty much every top-down action rpg is just a zelda game with a few traditional rpg elements thrown on top, and the progression of zelda games had direct influences on the action rpg, uh, "scene." for evidence, see the snes. secret of mana, illusion of gaia, etc.

plenty of people have brought up this argument before and some people (like nintendo themselves) like to consider zelda games to be rpgs and that's fine idgaf, but personally i usually just refer to them as "action adventure games" for convenience's sake

[Kalahari Inkantation]

i mean, i've never cared about this 'debate' either, but the only reason i brought it up is because it's relevant to your rpg music thread lol

but even i tend to think of them as more action-adventure games

but then, that means dark souls for example is also an action-adventure game like zelda, but with some more hardxxre "rpg" elements tossed in