Games that are called "RPG's", whether justified or not in the classic sense, I find polarize people moreso than other, more easily categorized genres. To me, classic computer RPG's are very different game types from modern Japanese console RPG's and again from modern first person computer RPG's. And then let's not even get into games like "Diablo", "Dungeon Explorer" and "X-Men Legends" that are more action oriented, but still called "RPG's" in many circles. There definitely needs to be a distinct sub-categorization for us to effectively discuss all of these very different classes under "RPG".

Again, to me, the user created multi-character party non-linear computer RPG is the ideal format, but that may have something to do with my roots in pen and paper RPG's and my first true exposure being "Phantasie". Perhaps if I were born a few years later, I may indeed have favored Japanese-styled RPG's if that's what I was exposed to first... (though of course those early games were heavily influenced by Western RPG's and even the NES had a metric ton of 8-bit computer conversions, RPG's included)

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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
[ My collection ]
[ http://www.MythCore.com ]