Is Zelda an RPG? 5 Perspectives

Every time I bring up Zelda as an RPG, those with some video game knowledge, tell me that Zelda is not an RPG. Whether one would classify Zelda as an action adventure game or an RPG, we will look at a different viewpoint altogether, that of the (FPS) first person shooter. Up to this point, the Zelda franchise rarely uses the first person screen angle in its games. Fans generally tolerate that Zelda be classified as action adventure. Games have different characteristics from one another and that does make it difficult to place them into a certain genre. However, you should find the perspective of Zelda as an RPG rather illuminating. These 5 sources tell about Zelda as it has taken the stage as an RPG.

First person shooters (FPS) are games in which the player generally plays in a fictional setting, but the game has the first person perspective( ie. the screen shows exactly what the character sees that shoots). There are other explanations of different genres, but the RPG entails a world in which the character one plays is in a fictional setting as well. It’s an Adventure setup, and the gameplay is set in the 1st-person or 3rd-person following the character as that doesn’t happen to be an element that defines this genre.

Of the few genres that are defined RPG in this source as a kind of game that has a main story and theme, while continuing side-quests. Other important elements include character development and inventory management of Zelda since its beginning. Zelda Breath of the wild has more elements of this nature than any Zelda before it.This source give strong grounding to the argument that Zelda is an RPG, Especially in its most current context.

Genres are made to help isolate certain materials out the ever growing amount of data in the world. You may like a game based on what area it was put in, but the decision is ultimately yours. Big companies go specifically for the stats in the genre that have happened in the past and taking them at face-value. The writer of this article tends toward the belief of taking a grain of salt to the big business approach.

The balancing act is what people in the market do whether the people in the big organizations realize it or not. If something fits into a checkbox or not will leave out the preference of the game; an important factor. Big gaming companies hope to cash in from word of mouth or advertisement claiming “this is an RPG like…” and they buy it simply because it was classified with another game the group or person likes.

3.) “Video Game Genres” by Casually Explained

This YouTuber summarizes the most popular game genres. He shows sports games, shooter games, or the higher growing in popularity battle royale. Those games are listed with the RPG to mention that the character takes on a vast open world or another which takes the character through linear dungeon crawls.

Zelda is characterized by both open world and linear dungeon crawls. If you have play only one 3D Zelda game you know that structure as soon as you play it. With the exception of Breath of the Wild you must take these dungeons in a linear fashion as you advance through the game. Those on the “Zelda is an RPG” side will want this in their arsenal. This also forms a nice break from reality for the gamer.

This source gives its basic definition of an RPG being a game that focuses on getting wealth, having a storyline, and skilled fighting. An RPG game meets the requirements of obtaining wealth, having a storyline, and skilled fighting by using visuals to make artistry.

The examples of each of the three details in the intro in Zelda are wealth in the form of rupees, a storyline is the entire gameplay, and the fighting in the form of swordplay and shooting weapons.

In the whole franchise, we have one Zelda game that really falls into what maybe most games look and feel like that are RPG and that would be Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. That game could be the most solid point someone on the side of RPG Zelda would use. The similarities with Skyrim, kingdom hearts, and verious other RPG’s are endless. Thus we see the game makes the character wealthy, situationalizes him, and teaches him to fight.

This source sites many other sources that articulate the way Zelda has turned into an RPG. Zelda, in the marketing sense, had been labeled an RPG by Nintendo since Zelda’s release. Among others,there are four requirements, one might call them, to make a Zelda game an RPG; the list is as follows:

These four similarities to other RPG’s bring the game’s case forward, though there may be a move back as there is unofficial status to these requirements. Some on the side of taking Zelda out of RPG genre say that the lack of numerical stats on the avatar would disqualify it, but Zelda is not the only game like this. A Japanese RPG called Mamo Mani Gateri (phonetic spelling) or “Big Kindergarten Kids” deals in just shapes and pictures for leveling, similar to hearts in Zelda, and never shows the player any numeric stats as the game progresses. Point blank if “Big Kindergarten Kids”is kept as an RPG, Zelda has to be classified like it with their similarities.

I agree with the Explaination of Zelda and the side of it being an RPG. Zelda making itself an RPG makes the genre a little complex. As he implied in the video, “Where do we go from here?”

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