Zelda is definitely not an ARPG (2024)

kbenson on July 29, 2020 | next [–]

Why don't you think it qualifies? You have an inventory, you have money and buy items, you advance your character (not through experience points, but through finding secrets and beating major enemies).

What specifically do you think it's missing?

henryfjordan on July 29, 2020 | parent | next [–]

You don't really make choices in most Zelda game. All the character advancement is coupled to story progression (you get an item in the 1st dungeon that lets you access the 2nd dungeon and so on). I think that reduces the "role playing" that goes on and makes Zelda more of an Action/Adventure series.

xsmasher on July 30, 2020 | root | parent | next [–]

Diablo is the ur-ARPG on pc, and it doesn't have any choices to speak of; the story is completely on rails.

hedora on July 30, 2020 | root | parent | prev | next [–]

I’ve beaten zelda without picking up the sword on the first screen.

There are definitely more “normal” choices to be made. Should you level up with heart containers, or get better at not dying, for example?

merb on July 29, 2020 | root | parent | prev | next [–]

not true for botw

duskwuff on July 29, 2020 | root | parent | next [–]

It's not even true for many of the "classic" Zelda games like Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time. Sure, there's a series of mandatory quests with associated items -- but there's also a bunch of side quests to pick up optional items, like extra heart containers, additional bottles, and various tools (like the Cape of Byrna in LttP or the masks in OoT).

whateveracct on July 29, 2020 | parent | prev | next [–]

I think some people think RPGs need to have numbers on the screen?

bodhiandpysics1 on July 29, 2020 | root | parent | next [–]

Those numbers are important! In classic rpgs, both western and Japanese, skillful play consists in strategically manipulating those numbers to defeat challenges. It's a very different feeling than in an action game where skillful play is about manipulating the virtual physics of your avatar.

whateveracct on July 30, 2020 | root | parent | next [–]

Paper Mario is clearly an RPG, but it has a similar amount of numbers backing it's system as your average Zelda. It's just that Zelda hides the numbers from you and Paper Mario does not.

mouyes on July 29, 2020 | prev | next [–]

Zelda II can be considered an action RPG, but the rest of the series is a bit light on RPG elements.

krapp on July 29, 2020 | prev | next [–]

Zelda was pretty much the standard for "Action RPG" until the Souls games overshadowed it.

anthk on July 30, 2020 | parent | next [–]

Zelda is NOT an ARPG. An ARPG could be Diablo, Baldur's Gate, Dungeon Siege... but NOT Zelda.

Zelda is as much as of an ARPG as Tomb Raider is.

tus88 on July 30, 2020 | root | parent | next [–]

Brah if u think BG is arpg u can gtfo.

anon73044 on July 29, 2020 | prev [–]

Yeah, more on the Action/Adventure side than RPG.Though the modern ones do have a lot more RPG elements than the old school NES games.

bodhiandpysics1 on July 29, 2020 | parent [–]

A good way of thinking about this is that the Zelda games are genetically rpgs, in the sense that Miyamoto was doing his spin on the style of game that Nihon Falcom had introduced. Obviously, the absense of numerical character abilities in LoZ makes it feel somewhat different than quintessential Japanese ARPGs like YS or Seiken Denetsu (Legend of Mana).