[Harry]

Originally posted by Frozen
Harry, I think I see your point. could you give us some examples of a "true" RPG? I'm asking out of curiosity, not
intending to argue against your statement.

Hey no problem, but remember that I didn't intend to question the quality of FFX, but the statement that it's the best RPG ever.

You know, the classic Role Playing Genre is based on a concept: build your character, create his strengths and weaknesses, define its role, live your own story.

The Final Fantasy series created what can be considered a classic RPG "console" genre, much more user-friendly than so many other PC RPGs, but it's also a system that gives the player less freedom because is heavily story-driven - and sincerely Final Fantasy X offers even less freedom than any other previous game of the series - its linearity is typical of an adventure game, not of a RPG.

I'll try to explain myself a bit better. In Final Fantasy X you can modify your character, give him/her certain attributes, but his/her path, the story of the character, and even the way in which you go from point A to point B of this story, is entirely pre-determined.

One can love this kind of game structure - it has also the advantage of letting the game designers to create strong, well defined characters (and from this point of view, I can still say that Cloud from Final Fantasy VII is my favorite game character of all times, together with James from Silent Hill 2). But this advantage goes against the assumptions of the genre - it's still role-playing, because you play within a defined role, but there isn't the role-creating part, which is one of the most creative things offered to the player by the RPG genre.

So basically, a true RPG should offer the player the possibility to 1. create his character 2. play in the way that fits his role 3. travel in the in-game world in the direction he prefers.

A classic RPG, to make an example that everybody knows, is Morrowind from Bethesda (but also the previous Elder Scrolls games) - actually, it takes the assumptions of the genre to the point where it becomes a revolution into the genre: Morrowind gives the player complete freedom. You're basically thrown into a game world and you can explore it in every direction, do everything, play in every role, avoiding the (excellent) main quest, interacting with more than 2,000 non playable characters...

Actually, there would be tons of other considerations/exceptions to write here, enough to write a boog, also because we should consider that RPG elements are now featured in almost every game.