Zelda: Action RPG or Action Adventure?

[josh_manga]

Seems like most people agree that it is actually an action adventure game, but still i see this being thrown out there as an RPG. Sure, you have the Adventure of Link, which has experience, spells, HP, MP, etc... but the majority of Zelda games do not, and as a franchise Zelda has not followed that path.

I'm sure everyone is aware of what makes an Action game, and Adventure game seems to be defined as one where you have a "room", a "door", and a "key". I put those in quotation marks because they are metaphors for multiple things. the "Room" could be an actual room, or it might be a large field, or it might be another dimension. A "Door" could be an actual door, a cannon that sends you flying, a person who lets you pass, etc... And finally they "Key" is often a literal key, but sometimes is an arrow shot through a magic gem, a clever use of the hookshot, or multiple gears being turned simultaneously by the boomerang. Sometimes you just have to kill monsters to get the door to open.

This combined with the lack of Experience and Levels and traditional turn based combat (hence it is an Action game), people tend to throw Zelda out as an RPG.

Without going into the mundane and silly arguments about how Mario is a role playing game or monopoly is a role playing game, it is actually fairly easy to see that when you play a Zelda game, you do play the character, if not the role, of Link. The player's control over link is little different than that in X-Men Legends, World of Warcraft, Gauntlet Legends, or even a custom made character in Dungeons & Dragons Online. The difference is in the customization of the character of Link, a difference which is slowly being eroded.

When it comes to things like spells and skills, games such as D&D and WoW allow players to pick and choose, and certain spells become available at certain levels, but you can be sure that players will always pick what they feel are the most optimal choices, and some players will even follow a "build" guide for their character's class. The way i see it is Zelda simply removes all the non-optimal skills and spells leaving only those which are the obvious choices. Even those are optional, because it is possible to complete Zelda games without all the magic items and weapon skills. So what arsenal Link has is up to the player.

So, what about appearance? Wow and D&D have tons of equipment for characters. Well, most Zelda games do have lots of tools, but Link's clothing seldom changes. In the first Zelda, Link's color changed depending on his magic rings, and in the one for SNES, Link got better armor that were different colors. These were hardly cosmetic changes though, and while being optional, weren't interchangeable. By Ocarina of Time, Link could change his tunic depending on the situation, or if the Player just wanted a different colored Link. In the Twilight Princess, Link gets different sets of armor with different functions and appearances aside from color, and the player gets a different look at each of them depending on which one Link wears upon beating the game.

As far as making the character your own, players are still limited to just naming Link something other than Link, but some people can choose different playing styles as well. Some games can be cheated or bugs exploited that allow you to play without certain key items, such as the sword, but eventually you will need to play the game "right" to win.

Now, Levels and Experience. There are several RPG's, Gurps, Shadowrun, and World of Darkness, that do not use Levels, instead they use skills that can be improved over time, most likely through the use of experience though. So while Zelda might get by as being an RPG without levels, there is still no experience to improve skills with. However, in Zelda 2, Minish Cap, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Link to the Past, and others i'm sure, Link must go to someone who will teach him a skill or spell to use. So, while there is no numerical system for Experience points, there is an overt system of learning, which is far less abstract than a numerical system anyway. Even RPG's that use levels and experience have Trainers.

So to sum up, i view Zelda as an Action Role Playing Adventure Game. Or a Provisional Action RPG.

Thoughts?