Milestones in gaming

[sub]

Sim City, the Sims, and Civilization for being the first games to really prove that a video game doesn't need violence / guns to be fun.

Grand Theft Auto... It's GTA

Half-Life / Quake for being revolutionary FPS'

 

[Gama]

no one saying Doom 1&2?

 

[Jakut]

Zelda, it brought us a saving system and the free-roaming genre.

 

[Dokutayuu]

Pong... Simple yet great...

 

[Ness]

Mario introduce adventures

Sonic introduced the speed games could achieve

Golden Eye showed how FPS could be

Mario 64 was one of the earliest 3d games

Duck Hunt was interactive

Dreamcast had internet connection

PS/DC Had memory cards

Rumble packs on the N64

Street Fighter defined fighter genre

Final Fantasy defined RPGs

GTA practically made a new genre.


There are so much more...

I beg to differ with Final Fantasy being a pioneer of RPGs. There's Zelda for a start which was released almost 2 years prior to Final Fantasy. And GTA is nothing special, it's still a role playing game. And even then, RockStar didn't make their fame until they went 3D with GTA 3.
And Optimus Prime, there was Driver 2, which came out a year before GTA 3. Inspiration for GTA 3's design was most likely built on the Driver 2 design People overrate GTA far too much -_-

 

[tolore]

Sim City, the Sims, and Civilization for being the first games to really prove that a video game doesn't need violence / guns to be fun.

there are tons and tons of games that came out before those that didn't have violence or guns.

no one saying Doom 1&2?

i did, and pride mentioned carmack.

I beg to differ with Final Fantasy being a pioneer of RPGs. There's Zelda for a start which was released almost 2 years prior to Final Fantasy. And GTA is nothing special, it's still a role playing game. And even then, RockStar didn't make their fame until they went 3D with GTA 3.
And Optimus Prime, there was Driver 2, which came out a year before GTA 3. Inspiration for GTA 3's design was most likely built on the Driver 2 design People overrate GTA far too much -_-

GTA 1 and 2 came out before driver and they were just as free as GTA 3, just because they weren't 3d doesn't mean they weren't incredily free form sandbox games(quite awesome ones at that).

 

[Optimus Prime]

And Optimus Prime, there was Driver 2, which came out a year before GTA 3. Inspiration for GTA 3's design was most likely built on the Driver 2 design People overrate GTA far too much -_-

And when was the last time anyone talked about the lack-lustre Driver 2? I rest my case, GTA:III revolutionised the sand-box, game-set-match.

 

[Mountain Dewd]

And when was the last time anyone talked about the lack-lustre Driver 2? I rest my case, GTA:III revolutionised the sand-box, game-set-match.

I agree, GTA:III gave us the sandbox, but in my opinion, they're yet to create a fully cohesive game out of it, I for one cant stand the mission structure.

Anyway you guys are forgetting Halo!, the game all the Xbox fanboys claim revolutionised the fps genre!

...

Moving on, I agree with shorty, Prince of Persia was way ahead of its time, It was one of the very few games I found fiendishly difficult, yet kept playing, even though I closed my eyes every time I fell onto the spikes.

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Halo was the most unrevolutionary game I've ever played. With the very minor exception of the regenerating health idea that is now essentially ingrained in the shooter genre, it really didn't do much. Though I should give credit where it's due; that regenerating health idea has made the shooter genre much better.

Prince of Persia is in a class by itself. Sheer brilliance.

 

[Adaptus]

I beg to differ with Final Fantasy being a pioneer of RPGs. There's Zelda for a start which was released almost 2 years prior to Final Fantasy. And GTA is nothing special, it's still a role playing game. And even then, RockStar didn't make their fame until they went 3D with GTA 3.
And Optimus Prime, there was Driver 2, which came out a year before GTA 3. Inspiration for GTA 3's design was most likely built on the Driver 2 design People overrate GTA far too much -_-

Comparing Zelda to Final Fantasy is like comparing Gran Turismo to Ace Combat.

It doesn't work.

Zelda is an action adventure, not an RPG.

There are no stats, no levelling-up, no parties, no turn-based combat, etc.

 

[tolore]

technically zelda is an RPG. the definition i learned for an RPG(i'm currently taking classes in game development and programming) is a game that focuses on inventory managmen integrated with consisten character growth and advancement as well as explorative puzzle solving. Zelda fits all these categories pretty well.

 

[Ness]

Comparing Zelda to Final Fantasy is like comparing Gran Turismo to Ace Combat.

It doesn't work.

Zelda is an action adventure, not an RPG.

There are no stats, no levelling-up, no parties, no turn-based combat, etc.

When did all the characteristics of Final Fantasy you mentioned in this post define what makes an RPG?

*edit*

And when was the last time anyone talked about the lack-lustre Driver 2? I rest my case, GTA:III revolutionised the sand-box, game-set-match.

Yeah because no-one had played Microsoft Flight Simulator back in the day.

 

[Adaptus]

Character development? In who? Zelda? Link? Ganon? They're the same in every game, they never change. Zelda's always the princess in need of saving, Link's the brave, silent warrior, and Ganon's the power-hungry tirant.

And those characteristics are what's generally found in games we label as RPGs, like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, etc. None of those are found in Zelda games. Thus, by that logic, Zelda is not an RPG.

 

[Ness]

Too bad WoW, GW, LOTR: SoA and many other popular MMORPGs don't feature Turn based combat. I was so sure they were a sub genre of RPGs.

And one more thing Opti, before you decide to say that I didn't refer to Driver to make my point, so my Flight Simulator point doesn't count; I'm guessing it's just coincidence that the GTA III, GTA VC and GTA VC are based in the same cities from Driver I

 

[Adaptus]

Kingdom Hearts also doesn't feature turn-based combat, but it does have stats, levelling, level-based skills, items, parties, etc, and that's an RPG.

Just because a game doesn't have one of the characteristics doesn't mean it's not an RPG.

Zelda, is not an RPG. Let it go.

 

[Ness]

I don't let things go, even when it reaches a point where I begin to look stupid and obsessive. Although there is no very distinct levelling process in Zelda, there still is one, everytime you go through a dungeon. An upgrade, a heart container etc etc.
The idea of Zelda is that they are all different realities of the people from the original series. Final Fantasy does the same thing, but with different characters and different worlds. Al the items have similar names, all the magic have the same names.
While it's true most of the characteristics you named make up a typical conventional RPG, when you mentioned turn based as an attribute of RPGs, that's the one that is making me still argue with you. There are god knows how many RPGs that do not have this type of system, I'm not too sure, but Ultima I didn't have this type of system. The idea of RPGs is far too broad for you to say what should be an RPG and what shouldn't, the truth is, imo, the majority of action adventures are RPGs. You follow a storyline, you have a role to fulfill, quests are to be completed in a party system or a solo gameplay system etc etc. The differences in gameplay are practically neglible, and most RPGs are defined in the way you said, with a Turn based combat system. But that's just a conventional view, not a real view of what SHOULD make an RPG an RPG. That or there needs to be a different genre for games like Final fantasy, like turn based action or some kind of strategy action. Don't even know why they gave it such a vague name like Role Playing Game anyway...you play the role of a character in practically every action adventure...

 

[Gama]

(Computer Role Playing Game) Role playing on the computer, typically in a fantasy environment, although some take place in a medieval setting. A major characteristic of CRPGs is the user's ability to move freely throughout the venue.

(Role Playing Game) A game in which players assume the roles of characters and act out fantastical adventures, the outcomes of which are partially determined by chance, as by the roll of dice.

So by meaning of the word for RPGs on the computer pretty much means u can go anywhere around the map ect

so yes Zelda is an RPG

 

[vinay87]

Dave.... Road rash....


Gotta love those. Remember playing Dave for hours at once.

And I loved to kick old ladies in Road Rash

 

[Ravendust]

Metal Gear Solid was the first game to take a cinematic approach I think. It showed the power characters, plot, narrative and presentation can have on a game.

World of Warcraft made the MMO market mainstream, finally making it a non-niche style of game catering to hardcore basement-dwellers. I'd also say the same about Counter-Strike for online FPS's. It was cheap, easy to obtain and had very low system requirements, and provided months of fun (years for some, it's still going strong despite it's Source equivalent).

Guitar Hero recieved astoundingly good reviews for what is a very simple game, and brought back the peripheral imo.

 

[Jariroth]

Hmm, lets see what Gamespot has to say about Zelda Twilight princess?

By: Nintendo
Genre: Fantasy Action Adventure
Release Date: Dec 11, 2006 (more)
Players: 1 Player (tech info)

Then lets see what it says about Link to the past?

By: Nintendo
Genre: Action Role-Playing
Release Date: Jan 22, 2007 (more)
Players: 1 Player (tech info)

Note that, Every other Zelda expect Link to the past and Classic Zelda, Are counted as Fantasy Action adventure. And LTTP and Classic are Counted as Action Role-playing...

But still this time i have to agree with Shiyo, because going by everyones logic Grand theft Auto's would be counted as RPG. Like almost every other modern game with free exploration...