Is Legend of Zelda an RPG?
165798#19
"The Legend of Zelda" is considered a spiritual forerunner of the modern role-playing video game (RPG) genre. Though it is often not considered part of the genre since it lacked key RPG mechanics such as experience points, it had many features in common with RPGs and served as the template for the action role-playing game genre. The game's fantasy setting, musical style and action-adventure gameplay were adopted by many RPGs. Its commercial success helped lay the groundwork for involved, non-linear games in fantasy settings, such as those found in successful RPGs, including "Crystalis", "Soul Blazer", Square's "Seiken Densetsu" series, "Alundra", and "Brave Fencer Musashi". The popularity of the game also spawned several clones trying to emulate the game.
The Legend of Zelda (video game)
2255337#7
An important influence on the action RPG genre was the 1986 action-adventure, "The Legend of Zelda", which served as the template for many future action RPGs. In contrast to previous action RPGs, such as "Dragon Slayer" and "Hydlide," which required the player to bump into enemies in order to attack them, "The Legend of Zelda" featured an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen. It was also an early example of open-world, nonlinear gameplay, and introduced new features such as battery backup saving. These elements have been used in many action RPGs since.
Action role-playing game
356777#49
Typically action RPGs feature each player directly controlling a single character in real time, and feature a strong focus on combat and action with plot and character interaction kept to a minimum. Early action RPGs tended to follow the template set by 1980s Nihon Falcom titles such as the "Dragon Slayer" and "Ys" series, which feature hack and slash combat where the player character's movements and actions are controlled directly, using a keyboard or game controller, rather than using menus. This formula was refined by the action-adventure game, "The Legend of Zelda" (1986), which set the template used by many subsequent action RPGs, including innovations such as an open world, nonlinear gameplay, battery backup saving, and an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen. The game was largely responsible for the surge of action-oriented RPGs released since the late 1980s, both in Japan and North America. "The Legend of Zelda" series would continue to exert an influence on the transition of both console and computer RPGs from stat-heavy, turn-based combat towards real-time action combat in the following decades.
Role-playing video game
22604364#0
The player controls a boy who must save the world from the evil monsters and villains the roam the areas outside the villages and the dungeons. The game is considered to be an action-RPG similar to the "Legend of Zelda" and "Secret of Mana" style of video games. According to the story, the super-nation Millennium which had conquered the world before searches for the secret which had disappeared in one night. Up to three people can be in a party, these three party members are changed around depending on the part of the story that is being played.
Eternal Legend
165798#17
"Computer Gaming World" in 1988 named the game as the best adventure of the year for Nintendo, stating that "Zelda" had been a "sensational success" in translating a computer RPG to consoles. In 1990 the magazine stated that the game was a killer app, causing computer CRPG players who had dismissed consoles as "mere arcade toys" to buy the NES. "Zelda" was reviewed in 1992 by "Total!" #2 where it received a 78% rating due in great part to mediocre subscores for music and graphics. A 1993 review of the game was printed in "Dragon" #198 by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.
The Legend of Zelda (video game)
773215#42
Bill Johnson compared "Dragon Warrior" to modern RPGs and noted the game's complete lack of replay value, which is due as much to the requirement that almost everything in the game must be done to beat it as to its difficulty. Johnson noted the game's historical importance; he said: "[Playing "Dragon Warrior" is] a tough road to walk, but reaching its end will instill a new appreciation of what today's RPG's are all about." The 2009 book "Vintage Games" contrasted "Dragon Warrior" to the 1986 NES title "The Legend of Zelda"; it said, while both titles share common RPG elements, "Zelda" features a fantasy setting and magic but no level or turn-based combat system, and "Dragon Warrior" features both. "Nintendo Power" said the game's historical significance is its greatest aspect, and noted that "playing "Dragon Warrior" these days can be a bit of a chore". "GamePro" wrote that their favorite aspect of the game was the Elizabethan-English dialogue, and that they were disappointed by its removal in the GBC remake.
Dragon Quest (video game)
30035#27
The second game, "", was released for the Famicom Disk System in Japan on January 14, 1987, and for the Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe in November 1988 and North America in December 1988. The game exchanged the top-down perspective for side-scrolling (though the top-down point of view was retained for overworld areas), and introduced RPG elements (such as experience points) not used previously or thereafter in the series. "The Legend of Zelda" and "Zelda II" were released in gold-coloured cartridges instead of the console's regular grey cartridges. Both were re-released in the final years of the Nintendo Entertainment System with grey cartridges.
The Legend of Zelda
694625#3
The original "Dragon Slayer", released for the PC-88 in 1984, is considered to be the first action-RPG. In contrast to earlier turn-based roguelikes, "Dragon Slayer" was a dungeon crawl RPG that was entirely real-time with action-oriented combat. "Dragon Slayer" also featured an in-game map to help with the dungeon-crawling, required item management due to the inventory being limited to one item at a time, and introduced the use of item-based puzzles which later influenced "The Legend of Zelda". "Dragon Slayer" was a major success in Japan, where its overhead action-RPG formula was used in many later games. The game's MSX port was also one of the first titles to be published by Square.
Dragon Slayer (series)
79982#11
The successor to "The Legend of Zelda", "", bears little resemblance to the first game in the series. "The Adventure of Link" features side-scrolling areas within a larger world map rather than the bird's eye view of the previous title. The game incorporates a strategic combat system and more RPG elements, including an experience points (EXP) system, magic spells, and more interaction with non-player characters (NPCs). Link has extra lives; no other game in the series includes this feature. "The Adventure of Link" plays out in a two-mode dynamic. The overworld, the area where the majority of the action occurs in other "The Legend of Zelda" games, is still from a top-down perspective, but it now serves as a hub to the other areas. Whenever Link enters a new area such as a town, the game switches to a side-scrolling view. These separate methods of traveling and entering combat are one of many aspects adapted from the role-playing genre. The game was highly successful at the time, and introduced elements such as Link's "magic meter" and the Dark Link character that would become commonplace in future Zelda games, although the role-playing elements such as experience points and the platform-style side-scrolling and multiple lives were never used again in the official series. The game is also looked upon as one of the most difficult games in the "Zelda" series and 8-bit gaming as a whole. Additionally, "The Adventure of Link" was one of the first games to combine role-playing video game and platforming elements to a considerable degree.
Shigeru Miyamoto
2957671#4
Scary Larry of "GamePro" viewed the game as the Genesis's answer to "", and remarked that "While "Zelda" had tons of hidden surprises, weapons, and fearsome bosses (making it one of the best action/RPGs ever), "Crusader of Centy" has a too-familiar story line, minor enemies, and a serious shortage of puzzles." He nonetheless concluded that though "Crusader of Centy" would bore the average RPG gamer, it successfully appeals to its young target audience. The four reviewers of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" contended that the game is a worthy "Zelda" clone, with Ed Semrad and Sushi-X going so far as to say it is equally good as the "Zelda" series. They identified the story and Zelda-like play mechanics as the game's strongest points, and gave the game a 7.75 out of 10.
Crusader of Centy