Originally Posted by qhristoff
c = computer RPG
a = action RPG
j = Japanese RPG

none of these are genres. they are formats. the genre is RPG.


Yep, for a long time it was just RPG, but people do like to categorize, and it's generally easier to go with the flow. For me, art style, presentation, rules/mechanics, control schemes and so on are individual discriminators on a game by game basis. If I like the package of choices made by developers, then I'll buy the game.

It's a shame that the quality of some games is increasingly compromised by the need for large financial return imposed on the dev teams.