Human Shield said:
That is why they are called "Action-RPGs" as opposed to RPGs, certain RPG elements are diluted and replaced with action gameplay.
That doesn't matter, they are still RPGs and this site and others would cover them as such. No one would deny that they are still RPGs despite not having TB strategic combat or similar. Let's not get bogged down in made-up categories that few people can ever agree on. It's bad enough trying to pin down "what is a RPG" to start with. Strategic combat and turn-based combat are key factors for defining strategy games, not RPGs. They might be something you enjoy, but they don't disqualify it from being a RPG altogether. Gothic 3 is a good RPG (bugs aside), despite these elements you say dilute it. I think the whole "action-RPGs" and all the other various categories people make up on the spot are great for describing a game and giving you an idea of what to expect, but not for solid categorizations/genres or you end up with "First person action-RPG Codex" or even "FPS-RPG-Pre-Havoc-Physics-Real-Time-Dungeon-Crawl-Sneaker-Simulatorâ„¢ Codex". It's best just to stick to "RPG" to cover it all when appropriate.
That is the minimum unless you want a piss-poor half game (with no challenge, no exploration, and no moral questions).
Do you consider the original Deus Ex to be a piss-poor game with no challenge, no exploration and no moral questions then?
I've played more simple and linear "kill the big Foozle" and dungeon crawl RPGs (from simple ASCII types to the bigger budget IWD types, old and newer).
I think TheGreatGodPan has a key point where player skills and the character skills come into it. The less reliant on on player skills, the more it is likely to feel true to the RPG roots for you. I know a few people were annoyed with Gothic 3 moving from using character skills to hit with bows and for the rolls on melee attacks to one that uses a physics based system that is more player dependant. The Sam Carter part he mentions is one that irked me too, but even without giving more choices it could have been accepted as a more linear RPG if that was the only problem.
As the move to more player-based skills in Gothic 3 doesn't disqualify it from being a RPG to anyone, what was lost can't be considered vital to a game being one though. It can't be exploration and large/free form game worlds either or GTA type games could be included with Gothic. If GTA had levelling and stats as you killed, would it be a RPG as much as other linear or action based RPGs? What about the X-Com games? Again, very close to slipping into the RPG "categories". They have many elements that are considered to be RPG staples, but no one would consider it to be an RPG.
At what point does it stop being a RPG and become something else? Or vice-versa. Purely out of interest as a Devil's Adovacte.