What is the difference between the RPG and Adventure genres? What makes a game one or the other?
For extra credit, what is the difference between an RPG-Adventure and an Adventure-RPG?
The way I see it is that Adventure games focus on only one character. They tend to be more open world and involve more exploration and puzzles than raw combat compared to RPGs.
Looking at the slider preferences between the two:
Adventure is neutral with âgameplayâ where as RPG lists that as important. Adventure games really hold themselves to the story and the world. Where as RPGs need to depend more on more complex game mechanics as part of their appeal.
Both genres care about dialoguesâŚbut adventure is neutral on level design but RPGs favor it.
This speaks more to the tactical setup and visual layout of RPGs. Namely the battlefields where combat is handled are a huge part of the âlevel designâ. Adventure focuses less on combat, often having combat happen on the main world screen. Thus it doesnât need entirely separate âlevelsâ designed for fight sequences.
Further, Adventure DOESNâT like AI while RPG is neutral on it. AI controls both enemy characters and NPC allies. You get more of both in RPGs while adventures focus less on the combat and generally donât have NPC allies that join you in combat.
Both genres are equal when it comes to the third stage, favoring graphics and world design and being neutral on sound.
For RL examples:
Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: http://youtu.be/Y8xsLa1lx-8?t=2m54s
You explore around the world. You encounter enemies, but they appear on the main world like any others. You only control ONE person (Link). He acquires new items that make him stronger and give him more abilities, but he doesnât have any kind of exp. You donât get stronger simply by killing enemies.
RPG: Final Fantasy VII: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmj8VFDupus
Here we are controlling three people, not one. The overworld changes to a completely different view when the battle begins proper. There is a greater focus on the mechanics of the combat and thus the AI controlled enemies need to be more complex to present the player with a greater variety of challenges.
As for Adventure - RPGs or RPG/adventure games. They are hybrids, which combine elements of both but lean a little to one side or another.
Adventure -RPG: Dark Cloud http://youtu.be/Q4dYpylxZz4?t=1m1s
You control several characters, but only one at a time. They do have different abilities that level up as you use them and defeat foes, but the main focus of the game is on exploring dungeons and finding new items. Combat takes place on the main world without having to cut to a different battlefield.
RPG - Adventure: Paper Mario: The 1000 year Door http://youtu.be/wdGeqGEUfTE?t=2m28s
You control several characters, but can only use two at a time in combat, and one of the two MUST be Mario. Mario gains levels by defeating foes and grows stronger, and has a very complex mechanic to customize his powers (the badge system). His partners do not level up in the traditional way. They require specific items to gain power, and even then, gain power in a more static manner, though mario can boost them a bit. You transition to a new stage when combat starts, but much of the game takes place on the over world, requiring a little more dexterity and timing your jumps, something that is found more in adventure games than RPGs.
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EVO would be an Evolution Adventure then, not an Evolution RPG as Iâd thoughtâŚ
Thank you for your help in answering this question. I like your answer. More importantly, I believe I understand it.
Exactly, EVO would be an adventure game. It has a splash of RPG in the sense that you get points for every piece of meat you eat that can be used to upgrade your bodyâŚbut beyond that, youâre flying solo, the enemy AI is very simple minded, and you fight in real-time: all the hallmarks of a good adventure game.
Just personal opinion here but I think that mechanics and things like how much the world is focused on makes no difference in what genre a game should be considered. Just because a movie is dark and has monsters doesn't make it a horror, it could be a comedy depending on what kind of emotion the movie invokes. The same is true for games; western rpg games tend to be about becoming the character. Think about dialogue trees, side quests, choosing what class your character is and even what your character looks like. Everything in western RPG's tend to be about making **you** the main character. (That's why action is used with rpg's use action quite frequently, it makes it easy to make you feel like a hero).
For game dev tycoon I think pinstar hit it right on the head though.
Really? Iâve always felt this should be the other way around.
Adventure games often incorporate the level into the design of the puzzles (jump from 5F to hit a platform on 1F so hard it breaks to reach B1) and into the combat as well (knock monsters into the lava to kill them). Iâd go as far as to say that most Zelda games have âLevel Designâ as their primary catagory.
RPGs on the other hand donât seem to care at all about the levels. SNES and PS1 RPGs send you through generic dungeon after generic dungeon⌠the battle scene is graphics, if anything. Not level design. Levels are just there to stand between the player and the plot in RPGs.
I do agree that the Level Design aspect is a little unclear. I was merely trying to rationalize what was in the gameâs code with RL.
Complicating matters is that âAdventureâ contains a few different types of adventure games. You have the oldschool point-and-click adventure games, which is really where the need for story and dialogue come from.
You look at the adventure game I used as a primary example⌠A Link to the Past, there isnât actually a huge amount of dialogue or story. Sure it has a strong over-arching story, but when you talk to people, they only give you little snippets of plot relevant information.
At the end of the day, I think adventure is the way it is because it needs to to maintain game balance. Three design focused genres and three tech genres make gearing your team for one or the other a somewhat balanced choice. If it were a 4/2 split, the balance would be lost and youâd miss out on a very important player choice.