Trying to pretend they have the same level of content? Where did I say that?
Yes, skills and equipment are present in all RPG's and many games. Wow. I was trying to convey the focus of ARPG's and what makes them shine when they're done right. "Action" shouldn't just be a word that gets tacked onto 'bad' RPG's as a way to indicate that it's boring and not fun.
But look at how equipment and skill-based Diablo II (the gold standard for ARPG's) or it's clones (Titan Quest, Sacred) are. Huge lists of unique items, set items, runes and charms and gems and jewels to socket, endless ways to craft items with the Horadric Cube or something similar. Hacks and editors galore that you create items and edit them to get skills from other classes and combine with your own. I don't play FPS so maybe they do have that level of development.
I like story, plot, dialogue and characterization. I would rank The Witcher, Jade Empire, Torment, over any action RPG if they were on the same list. These games just don't need to focus on rich skill systems or endless successions of super-armor and weapons, cause they're doing something else - engaging you in a story and bringing you into a world.
Of course Raze is basically right. I'm just making a case for a too much-maligned genre (hey, this thread does have 'RANT' in the title after all)
