A lot of people think Zelda is an RPG when its an action adventure game. The only Zelda game that was an RPG was Zelda 2: The adventure of Link. Just because its a fantasy game and you go on a quest doesn't make it an RPG. After all missions are the same as quest, we use the word mission instead of quests in games that take place in the modern age.
Mission-a group or committee of persons sent to a foreign country to conduct negotiations, establish relations, provide scientific and technical assistance, or the like.(Modern day quest)
Quest-a search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something: a quest for uranium mines; a quest for knowledge.(olden time mission)
MW1 can be an RPG because you go on missions to stop people from starting a war. While in Zelda you go on a quest to stop Ganondorf from destroying Hyrule. Both are action games but Zelda is an Action adventure and MW1 is an Action FPS. If you call all adventure game RPGs than Uncharated is an RPG.
In order for a game to be an RPG it need a levels system and you create a team or character to use any way you want to, to use in the game,=(Pokemon is the prime example what makes an RPG). If Zelda was an RPG you would be able to level up and get skill points to make your self stronger. But you only get new weapons to use.
At Capcom, Hiroyuki Kobayashi helped build franchises like Dino Crisis and Devil May Cry, as well as original games such as P.N.03 and Killer7. Now, more than 25 years after his first credited game (as a programmer on Resident Evil 1), the producer is relishing the challenge of creating an original IP once again.
The spin-off of Legend of Keepers takes a similar concept in a new direction.
Monster taming RPG Monster Crown: Sin Eater will launch for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series alongside its previously announced Switch and PC (Steam) versions on April 30, developer Studio Aurum announced. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions are ported by Red Art Studios.
Red Art Games will also release a physical edition of Monster Crown: Sin Eater for PlayStation 5 on July 2 in Europe. It includes a copy of the game and a double-sided poster. Pre-orders are available now via Red Art Games’ official online store.
Actually COD online is an RPG. Level up character, guns, get new guns, perks, kill streaks. Wish they would make a RPG Zelda game though, one that still has a big focus on story. Not grinding around for the sake of leveling up.
Zelda has been, since it's inception, categorized as an 'Action-RPG'.
You are a part of an epic story, usually with a certain degree of open-world. You acquire items and grow in power/ability. RPG's, like Zelda games, are also often story-heavy.
The 'action' part of Zelda is a result of real-time combat in contrast to the traditional turn-based RPG mechanic. There is also no leveling or statistics in Zelda games, this lending itself to a more 'action-oriented' RPG.
It's interesting you're challenging the definition of conventional genres. We definitely need that with the growing diversity and genre-hybrid games we've seen in the last 5-7 years.
The Legend of Zelda series was originally an RPG hybrid, much like Mass Effect and Dark Souls are part RPG, part action game. It was meant to require the twitch-based skills of an arcade game (go ahead and try to beat the original LoZ playing it like a turn-based RPG) but the exploration and leveling-up of a computer RPG.
Nowadays, it's mostly just a puzzle collection, but in the past it had the same exploration and freedom that RPGs have.
An RPG is not just categorized and defined by the western culture, keep in mind Bethesda's games, or old Bioware/blizzard games might seem a more pure kind of RPG just because they mimic the book kind of classic RPG better, but you see, Videogames themselves have expanded the definition of the genre.
I'll say it again; Videogames have expanded the definition of the genre,FF is an RPG, PS1's Alundra or Vagrant Story were two very different examples of Action RPGs, etc.
The way I see it, BakedGoods nailed it: The basic premises are an evolving character, a long and complex storyline, a fantastic and flexible context, and NPC's.
I might be wrong, then again, I think your point is debatable.