Wait, what prompted this? Including Skyward Sword in my list of RPGs I was going to play over the holidays? Also respected online journalist? I much appreciate that comment!

Well except that they aren't all part of that long storied heritage. You're forgetting the Action-RPG genre, many of which were very much inspired by Zelda, and yet somehow are RPGs over Zelda just because standard leveling mechanics? You're comparing it to the wrong heritage of RPGs. Look back at classics like Secret of Mana, Ys, Xanadu and others, and the issues of Zelda being an RPG or not becomes much more muddled. I'm actually really disappointed that you completely ignored such games in this argument. No one is going to claim Zelda fits in to the realm of traditional RPGs, which is the heritage you're talking about.

Except you're missing the big picture, looking only at what may have influenced the ORIGINAL Zelda, not what may have influenced more modern entries, or how the Zelda series has influenced RPGs.

Yes, that's great, it is all modernized and expanded...in the original Zelda. Have you played Skyward Sword? It is much more RPG-ish than previous entries. Also many games, for example, Crystal Chronicles, feature a similar lack of typical RPG features and yet no one has any issue with them being RPGs, which s strange. I mean are you seriously going to tell me that 3D Dot Game Heroes is an RPG over Zelda simply because it features leveling?

Well the first problem with all of this, is the genre you're talking about is Action Adventure. Zelda is no King's Quest sir. Secondly, why on earth would you take offense? Its not like I called Uncharted an RPG. Heck I could start calling Modern Warfare 3 an RPG since it has experience and leveling which I think you'd like less. I'll reiterate my opinion on the matter again to end this madness: Whether or not Zelda is an RPG is irrelevant, because the series influences and is influenced by RPGs.

I don't think we limit the industry that much, since its not a term actual companies tend to use, but it certainly has become almost a pointless term when talking about games. It doesn't even mean the same thing to everyone. Some people apply JRPG only to traditional RPGs in the vein of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Some use the literal meaning, as in RPG developed in Japan. I don't think the term is useful in either regard anymore. Does it matter what region a game was developed in? Is calling a game a JRPG because it is similar to Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy useful when the game isn't Japanese? Though there are still certain trends that stick to one region or another, such terms are not all that useful, and its not even clear at times what should deserve such a label. Would Etrian Odyssey be a JRPG because it was developed in Japan, or a WRPG because it takes from a genre of RPG originally from the west? These terms really need to be retired. Let's en-devour to call RPGs just RPGs, trying to continue to use outdated terms doesn't help anyone. I wouldn't even use it in a historical context. If people want a term that describes games that evolved from Dragon Quest and the like, they should come up with a better term. I know I use it, but I will now give myself the goal to stop that.

Well that's a fine question. We've got both Bethesda and Obsidian residing here in the US. Of course there's many find indie RPG makers such as Zeboyd, but those are the only big RPG makes located in the US that I can think of. We need more! Oh wait, I forgot about Snowblind.

Of course that's the point! My word my good sir, that is the finest version of Chrono Trigger available and you owe it to yourself to go play it right now. Granted the new dungeons in the game are kind of lame, but everything else about it is awesome. GO GO GO

I love the new translations. I'm sure many know of the trials and tribulations of early translations, so I think even Woolsey himself would be fine with a little reworking, and all the games I can think of turned out the better for it. I enjoyed the old quirks but I much prefer a nice solid translation, and I'm sure people playing such games for the first time do as well. As long as a new translation isn't missing the point ( going for direct translation instead of localization) I think it's fine.

There are several, and a few series I'd like completely re-translated as well. I'd love to see all the SaGa games re-translated for example, as many of those games are very rough around the edges. I'd love to see Suikoden II cleaned up a bit. Speaking of games I'm playing now, Chrono Cross can use some work, as some of the characters have strange accents that don't really work. Those would be the big ones. There's always Arc Rise Fantastia, which I think is a fine game cursed by a cheap localization. Honestly though, there's plenty of games that haven't gotten a first localization, so maybe we should talk about those next time!

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