Ragnarok.Ghishlain said:
»Ah yes, I am reminded of Max's rant about the "Best Fighting" category.
Genres are one of those constructs we use because the human brain just loves categorizing things, even when there is no obvious boundary for it. They're very fickle, and blend together more and more as time goes on.
If I heard a game coming out was a "fighting game", the first thing my brain would think of is a game with a variety of characters to choose from, each with different moves that I'd have to master on both mine and all the other characters to know what my opponent is capable of, maybe learn some combos or something.
And because that description is just so unbelievably vague, it doesn't really describe anything anyway. I've realized that even my favourite genres don't excite me anymore because there are so many different ways to make them. I almost think we'd be better off describing games as the games they're most inspired by. Like, OK you've got a "tactical RPG". But does it more closely resemble the gameplay of XCOM or Tactics Ogre? You've got a "2D platformer", but is it more like Castlevania, Mario, Sonic...? Even games like Final Fantasy XI and XIV are so different that it's harmful to give them the exact same genre label.