This post is kind of my ramblings, but I do try to make a point (eventually). When I was a kiddy, I played RPG''s. It was on a computer at my school. Basically you fought stuff and talked with other people and solved puzzles. Then one day I discovered a text-based MUD RPG (Gemstone III) that got me addicted for a few years. During that time I decided to check out what other RPG''s looked like. All I found were these so-called 3D maze games. I hated them. Then I discovered The Legend of Zelda: Link''s Awakening for Game Boy. I loved it. I couldn''t get enough of it. Unknowingly to me, I had slipped from RPGs to adventure games, but to me, I was still playing RPGs. Until one day I played Diablo. I HATED Diablo. I thought it was rediculously stupid. I mean, there was a big pit in the back of town that said "HELL: Must be Level 30 to enter." That''s emersive. Was there really a splintering of RPG''s that created RPG''s like Diablo and all those other RPG''s of today and adventure games like King''s Quest and Zelda, or was that just in my head, and it''s always been like that? Why aren''t there more RPG/adventure game hybrids, like I used to play? The only game I can think of that is sort of like this is the Exile series. Why are there so many hardcore hack-and-slash RPG''s and hardly any adventure games?

i agree with you 150%!

I always liked the zelda games, even though there was a lack of good story, and i hated diablo too. and diablo 2. Heh heh.. 2 too.

Anyways, its pretty hard to find a good action/rpg nowadays. I think most developers just dont think that anyone is going to buy into them

FF and Chrono Trigger are classified as rpg only i believe