tkr4lf wrote:I could get into this with you, but honestly, I'm tired of the debate. Suffice it to say, Skyrim is an RPG in the same way that God of War is a puzzle game. Sure, it has some of the elements, but the main gameplay is different. God of War is an action game, with mild puzzle elements. Skyrim is an action/adventure game, with mild RPG elements.
The game contains little to no depth. It's all about shiny new graphics and NPC AI. The earlier games focused on RPG gameplay, almost exclusively. The combat wasn't very good in those games. But they weren't combat games. They were RPG games that gave you the tools to play any role you could imagine in the gameworld. Skyrim has since removed most of those things, simplified (dumbdowned) the other elements, and made the combat better.
Now none of this is to say it's not a good game. It's probably a great game if you take it for what it is, an action/adventure game. But as an RPG, it's an abysmal failure.
But when did numbers ever make a game an RPG? When D&D kicked off way back when it had the numbers and stuff but it was more about the adventure, not the stats. The original Legend of Zelda games picked up on this pretty well: they had open worlds where even though there was a set order to things, you could go and do whatever you wanted. At the same time you have games like Final Fantasy that follow the party/class model and still have that open-ended feel. Cut ahead to a game like FFVII and you have a game that's the story of Cloud Strife and his ragtag group of fighters. Not exactly the same spirit as those first few games.
We've entered a new age of gaming where freedom of choice is held in high regard. That's where games like Skyrim and Mass Effect come in. In FFVII I have a limited ability to do what I want, and I'm always playing from a small set of characters. Commander Shepard, on the other hand, is nobody and nothing until I say he's somebody and something. I determine Shepard's gender, skin color, abilities, background, everything. Then you make important decisions about the fate of the galaxy in a (mostly) open world environment. What game does this sound more like: D&D or the cat yack that is Final Fantasy 7?
My opinions on FFVII aside, none of these games were ever about statistical depth. There has been that aspect, and if you're into that there's nothing wrong with that. But it's never been the crux of the game, and you can't say a game isn't an (actual) RPG because it doesn't have that aspect (Zelda never had it). Mass Effect and Skyrim are actually doing something that's kind of gotten lost over the years: encouraging players to play a role. It's kinda in the name.
So what's in a name, then?
