Zeliard said:
Quake is an FPS. What are the similarities between it and Deus Ex?
Both FPS and RPG are "proper genres." I've literally never seen anyone try to say otherwise. Seems odd.
You will find similarities by looking at how the player inhabits the game and the main ways he interacts with it. Basically if you look at the essential mechanics(think "controls" rather than "leveling system"), they are similar. Quake and Deus Ex are very different games(especially when looking at the degree of movement in Quake and weapons) if you look at them side by side, but if you contrast this to all of videogame-dom(other genres) they fit together fine.
It is rare, because it is rare to go against the canon. The backs of game boxes from the 80-90s dominate genre discussion. In an "open and shut" manner, unless someone wants to insult a PC franchise going console centric. (That said, people who want to believe RPG is a genre on the level of RTS or FPS find themselves with "What is a RPG?" thread everyday on some forum that is full of confusion and for good reason.)
RedSwirl said:
Out of curiosity, how would you define Fallout 3? That game is in first person and has guns, but combat is still based on dice rolls. That's pretty much the only RPG element that Deus Ex and Human Revolution are missing.
Dice rolls doesn't change how a game is played, only the results. If you take out aiming altogether(which auto-aim does) then it becomes a different beast. Now Fallout 3 has the VATS, which is quite interesting because it actually does make the game more like a classic CRPG(in other words it makes shooting strictly "strategic"). I would argue that VATS is superimposed onto a FPS(like leveling mechanics and stat attribution are) and that would be the genre you'd have to roll with. (On the flip side, I wouldn't call Final Fantasy XIII-2 an action game because it features QTEs and the Gestalt system.)
Also Deus Ex(but not HR) has a system like dice rolls by making you having to refine aiming to be more accurate. Mass Effect and Alpha Protocol did too. Worth noting.