Topic: Game Types

Hi everyone, ok I know this is probably a dumb question, I have had my wii a little over 2 years and before that I have not owned a console since the Atari 2600. Could someone please explain the difference between RPGs and adventure games. Like I have seen Zelda described as both types but never at the same time. Also what exactly is meant by a platformer

RPGs are typically defined as adventure games where your abilities are determined by a list of numerical attributes that can be influenced by the player in various degrees. It's somewhat of an iffy genre to pin down (especially when you add "non-RPG games with RPG elements" into the mix), but Zelda shouldn't really be considered RPGs no matter what. Zelda 2 has RPG elements, though.

Platformers are another hard-to-pin-down genre, but is largely defined as relatively straight-forward games with much emphasis on jumping.

That helps, thanks.

Adventure games are usually more story-driven than action-driven. They can be as simple as a pure text adventure (Zork), text adventure with art work and puzzle elements (Hotel Dusk, Phoenix Wright), adventures where you point and click on objects to interact with them (Monkey Island, Zack & Wiki), or adventures where you solve a lot of puzzles and fight some enemies (Zelda, the first Resident Evil, Metroid Prime). Again, the story is the primary focus of adventure games rather than the action, though some of them do have plenty of action as well.

Not necessarily. Colossal Cave Adventure, Adventure for the 2600, the original Zelda... none of these have any more focus on their story than, say, Super Mario Bros had. Adventure games are defined by the focus on... well, adventuring. Exploration. Discovery.

Well like in college my roomate had an NES so the first 2 VC games I bought were tecmo bowl and blades of steel, and there other random times I had access to a console but yeah been away from consistent gaming for a long time. The first game I really go into after using up the Sports game was mario kart and legend of zelda: twilight princess, have also since downloaded a link to the past which was really good too.

for me adventure games are actually quests aka today as point and click ala monkey island.

EDIT: oops, what Moco Loco said.

"Adventure games" is a pretty broad description these days, so a sub-type is usually added, like "action adventure" (Zelda) or "point-and-click adventure" (Zack & Wiki)
RPGs in my opinion are games with visible statistics and ways to increase these statistics, usually by gaining experience and levels.
Platformers are all about jumping, and often have platforms to jump on.

@adamant: I still think of adventure games as story-driven even if the story is just exploring different areas to find particular objects or parts of objects. What little I've played of Metroid Prime didn't have much story in the traditional sense, but as you explored you discovered little bits of information that created a story. But I did miss out on exploration as a key element, you're right.

Alex Kierkegaard has a good article about what makes a role playing game. This snippet is relevant to the thread as it defines an adventure game, but you need to read the full article to understand his opinions on RPGs.

Before long, CRPGs had become something of a joke in the role-playing community, whereas in computer gaming circles the term "RPG" had been debased to a euphemism for a genre that contained a varying mixture of strategy, action, and adventure elements -- everything, that is to say, except role-playing.

It's worth taking a moment here to qualify this last statement. One can easily see that CRPGs contain elements of strategy and action, to varying degrees, but where does the adventuring element come from?

The adventure genre has hitherto encompassed all those games which allow the player to interact with the gameworld in ways more diverse than in those of pure reflex-based titles. In shooting/fighting/platform/racing games and the like, the player is usually limited to a few very specific kinds of actions, namely shooting/fighting/navigating platforms/racing, etc. But in adventure games -- whether purely text-based, graphical, or point-and-click -- the player is called upon to perform a much larger variety of actions, such as exploration, puzzle-solving, interaction with characters, etc. (That's why games like Silent Hill and Onimusha are sometimes referred to as action-adventure games: because there is a bit more to them than simply killing enemies.)

So, getting back to CRPGs, one needs to look at what remains after you deduct all the strategy elements, and once you do that you see that what is left is some form of "adventuring". You have to search for the key that unlocks the gate to the catacombs; you need to gather the necessary ingredients to cast the spell that will kill the dragon; you must track down the reclusive sage and convince him to reveal to you the location of the ancient ruins, etc. etc.

So CRPGs have always been -- and still are -- mostly games of strategy, with only occasional sprinklings of action and adventure, the exact formula of the mixture varying depending on the developer and the game in question. But whatever the formula, the end result has never had much to do with role-playing -- one need only sit in for a few minutes at a Dogs in the Vineyard game in progress in order to realize this. For those used to equating hit points and levelling to role-playing, such an experience would prove truly eye-opening.

For the benefit of the OP, CRPG means computer role playing game. Here's the full article if you're interested: http://insomnia.ac/commentary/on_role-playing_games/

It's a good read, like almost everything that guy writes.