This BS with trying to label one as True RPG or not is silly.

Can you play as a character and make decisions that alter your gameplay and storyline through the use of a combination of vocal and physical responses?

Okay, it's an RPG.

Now, whether it's a good RPG or not is still to be determined.

Having to say Alpha Protocol is an RPG is the same as having to say it's a Video Game. The whole premise behind Alpha Protocol is the RPG aspects, the method in which you play out the physical interactions and additional gameplay doesn't detract from the game in any way but only serves to act as additional gameplay elements to the storyline.

@Spoony: Actually, it's the other way around. Shooters have seen growth by implementing RPG structures into their game rather than sticking to the fairly mindless shoot and kill mentality. RPGs focused shooters are showing that gamers want a game with depth and emotional attachment rather than just good graphics, lots of weapons, and tons of things to shoot and watch bleed out on our screens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

now stop trying to make up your own damn definitions

I hope you see the irony in your post.

Hint: who writes what's on Wikipedia?

@Jsynn:

WRPGs have been around for a long time. Adding a gun or 3PS/FPS elements does not make a WRPG. Ask Bioware. Besides Mass EFFECT, they had developed quite a number of WRPGs sans firearms.

The manga look does not make an RPG. Turn-based combat does not make an RPG. These are merely staples of a popular form of RPG.

JRPGs benefit from the popularity of consoles while most of the great WRPGs were played on the oft forgotten platform, PC. Frankly, console gamers typically don't know crap about the large library of PC games. For instance, Baldur's Gate, an award-winning critically acclaimed RPG is often mistaken by console gamers for BG: Dark Alliance, a decent hack n' slash. This isn't anyone's fault really, big-budget console games are simply more visible.

But ignorance does not make the JRPG the "true" form of the genre. They are ALL of them RPGs with different styles and backed by different schools of thought regionally, culturally, ideologically, etc. Calling one of them the "true" RPG is plainly elitist and uninformed.

I do agree with you that people are seriously trying to throw every game in the world into the RPG genre. Though that's why they have sub catagories added like action rpg an so on. Just because a game has an ok story an you make some decisions doesn't make it an automatic rpg.

cgoodno when people ask what kind of rpgs are you into you don't say Need for speed Under ground 2 ya know. An you don't always make decsions in an rpg that change the course of the game, your trying to generalize it which in kind would make everything an rpg an that's simply not the case. Which is why the genre rpg exsist in the first place, even in the new splinter cell you make decisions but its not an rpg. I agree with X__JL__X that Western RPGS are clearly different but you have to draw the line somewhere when is it just a shooter or a spy game versus slapping the rpg name on it somewhere. I personally think they are throwing the genre rpg around to lightly not saying this doesn't deserve it but I'll know when I play it.

A game that is more action-oriented than RPG-oriented would be described first as an action game. Very similar to how Bioshock is first an FPS and then an RPG.

The fact is that it is still an RPG if it maintains RPG elements.

That's why we ascertain the quality of the RPG elements.

Yes indeed. May just install it on my PS5. You know, physical copy and all.

I adored Driveclub and the Bike expansion. I also loved Motorstorm. Evolution shutting down was a crime