By Fenrir.Schutz 2010-09-04 16:43:51
Yah, sadly the notion of what is a RPG is sort of blurry nowadays.
The very traditional "RPG definition" of grind, levels, pointless wandering, opening chests, and even exp-farmed mobs (like the Dragonquest slime, Phantasy Star rappy, ubiquitous skeleton, whatever) has been adapted to other types of games.
Having too loose a definition and any game which is both "immersive" and has players "playing a role" and reacting as that character while "improving ability" would start to take on traditional RPG-like-elements--like Shenmue, GTA, Bully, Mass Effect, or Pokemon. LOL :p
It's a lot easier to say that Final Fantasy 6 was a RPG, for sure, but harder to say whether Pokemon Diamond/Pearl was, also. :p