Why is CRPG a genre?

[Count_Fuzzball]

Why is CRPG a genre? Is this a hold-off from the 80s when RPG video games were just in their teething stages and so there had to be a differentiation between tabletop RPGs and computer based RPGs?

[Danksama]

I like CRPGs, most notably Fallout 2. I would agree with you to an extent that CRPGs were more a thing of yesteryear, although there are likely a number of other reasons besides that which you mentioned for the existence and popularity of CRPGs at the time.

[Count_Fuzzball]

Just strikes me as 'funny' that the term 'RPG' has been picked up by the video game industry/community for (and here we go into murky definition territory! :D ) games that are heavily stat-based over the original 'CRPG' term.

imo, even first-person, real-time combat games like TES IV and V can be called CRPGs in the same breath as the classic fallout games or the baldur's gate series.

[Ishan451]

Początkowo opublikowane przez SAS_Sgt_Master:

Why is CRPG a genre?

Because it defines a subset of RPGs. Classic RPGs or CRPGs define the game as oldschool, top down type of rpg and sets it apart from JRPG (Japanese RPG) systems like Final Fantasy and the like.

Początkowo opublikowane przez SAS_Sgt_Master:

imo, even first-person, real-time combat games like TES IV and V can be called CRPGs

No, they can't, because they are neither top down nor classic in the traditional sense. They are First Person RPGs. Just like Diablo is an Action-RPG. It defines the method of play.

Just having RPG elements doesn't mean it can be whatever it wants. Genres exist in an attempt to make something easily identifiable. Muddling the waters doesn't help anyone.

[supertrooper225]

cRPG is typically used to refer to the Infinity games or classic Fallout games. Fallout 1 and 2 (not 3), Planescape Torment, Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale....those are all cRPG's. They are a bit more complex than RPGs intended for consoles. They are typically party based and geared towards tactics in combat rather than all out action or a purely turn based style.

And yea....it is like its own little mini-genre. There is a big difference between them and most games.

[Count_Fuzzball]

So wait, CRPG doesn't mean (nowadays) Computer Role Playing Game (as I was using it to refer to roleplaying games like the Wizardry series or TES), but Classic Role Playing Game (in the style of baldur's gate + other infinity engine games)? That's news to me. :D

I've been really meaning to pick up the infinity engine games + fallout 1, 2 and tactics on steam. I've heard so many great things about them.

[supertrooper225]

Początkowo opublikowane przez SAS_Sgt_Master:

So wait, CRPG doesn't mean (nowadays) Computer Role Playing Game (as I was using it to refer to roleplaying games like the Wizardry series or TES), but Classic Role Playing Game (in the style of baldur's gate + other infinity engine games)? That's news to me. :D

I've been really meaning to pick up the infinity engine games + fallout 1, 2 and tactics on steam. I've heard so many great things about them.

It is a little more specific than 'RPG on a computer'. By that definition you could say any RPG on a computer is a CRPG. Which isn't quite true. You should definitely play those games....they are some of the best games available to this day.

[Ishan451]

Początkowo opublikowane przez SAS_Sgt_Master:

So wait, CRPG doesn't mean (nowadays) Computer Role Playing Game

That might have been the case back when videogames were still new and needed the distinction, but these days its the other way around and PnP RPGs need the distinction from what is mainstream, which is video games.

Its much easier to understand CRPG as Classic RPG, as it does quite encompass all that CRPG is and set itself apart from JRPG, FPRPG and ActionRPGs.

[Mr2incher]

SWEET

[Count_Fuzzball]

Awesome, thanks guys for the enlightenment!


As a side note, the first site I came across refering to FPRPGS and good ol' RPGs under the one header of Computer Role Playing Game was here: http://www.angelfire.com/hero/tjekanefir/crpg.htm

Admittedly it's written from the perspective of someone who was playing both pnp and PC RPGs wayyy back in the 80s as a teen, but Wizardry 6-8, Gothic 1/2, Morrowind, Oblivion and The Witcher do get a mention all the same, along with the classic classics (no fallout though).

[jcottril]

Just as a side note, if you want perhaps the greatest cRPG of all time to try - I'd put my 2 cents worth in to vote for Ultima V - Ultima VII. The depth of these games, the moral choices and consequences were groundbreaking for their time and paved the way for games like Elder Scrolls et al