I always find these categories frustrating.
A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger do not belong in the same category. In the first, you have action fights that require quick hand-eye coordination and skilled reflexes. In the 2nd you just choose actions from menus, no hand-eye coordination nor reflexes required.
To me, an RPG, has always meant the latter (choose [attack, magic, item] from a menu). Wizardry, Bard's Tale (Apple II), FF7 are RPGs. A Link to the Past, Link's Adventure, Breath of the Wild, are not.
I know the letters RPG stand for "Role Playing Game" but if we're going to go down that route, Flight Sim is an RPG. You play the role of an airplane pilot. Mario Tennis, would also be an RPG. you play the role of a cartoon tennis players. GTA5 is an RPG. You play the role of a member of a street gang.
Since we know that's not what people mean when they say RPG, we're still left making sure were discussing comparable games. IMO, Zelda games (nearly all action games) are not comparable to Final Fantasy or other J-RPG games (nearly all select from a menu games). Their similarity is at most, they are set in a middle-earth tolken-esk setting where you fight monsters with swords. But that's clearly not a useful distinction as it would leave out Earthbound or any other RPG not set in a wizards & dragons type of setting.
A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger do not belong in the same category. In the first, you have action fights that require quick hand-eye coordination and skilled reflexes. In the 2nd you just choose actions from menus, no hand-eye coordination nor reflexes required.
To me, an RPG, has always meant the latter (choose [attack, magic, item] from a menu). Wizardry, Bard's Tale (Apple II), FF7 are RPGs. A Link to the Past, Link's Adventure, Breath of the Wild, are not.
I know the letters RPG stand for "Role Playing Game" but if we're going to go down that route, Flight Sim is an RPG. You play the role of an airplane pilot. Mario Tennis, would also be an RPG. you play the role of a cartoon tennis players. GTA5 is an RPG. You play the role of a member of a street gang.
Since we know that's not what people mean when they say RPG, we're still left making sure were discussing comparable games. IMO, Zelda games (nearly all action games) are not comparable to Final Fantasy or other J-RPG games (nearly all select from a menu games). Their similarity is at most, they are set in a middle-earth tolken-esk setting where you fight monsters with swords. But that's clearly not a useful distinction as it would leave out Earthbound or any other RPG not set in a wizards & dragons type of setting.