Action Role Play Games is a mixture of action adventure and role-playing game. The action RPG offers its players direct control of characters in real-time battles. Traditional RPG customs used turn-based and menu-based combat. This meant that if the character did not move, the enemies did not move either, thus allowing the player to make decisions. Action RPGs place players in situations where they have to make decisions in real-time, and they lack tactical interfaces and menus to provide a link between themselves and their characters. Action RPG originated from Eastern traditions. They were first developed in Japan in response to the RPGs developed in North America. The development of action RPGs has had a considerable impact on the game’s current designs. There were important games that made great impact and changed the game significantly. Action RPGs surfaced in the 1980s when the Americans developed Rogue, and Dragon Slayer was released in Japan. The Legend of Zelda is another game that made impact on action RPGs worldwide. The Secret of Mana and Diablo are also iconic in the gaming industry. The above mentioned action RPGs influenced the development of other games.
Dragon Slayer
The game Dragon Slayer originated from Japan and is considered the first action RPG. It was designed by Yoshio Kiya and developed by Nihon Falcom. It laid foundations for many action RPGs and influenced the Dragon Slayer series (Craddock, 2013). The game was first released in 1984 for PC-8801, MSX, X1, and other platforms. At that time the gaming scene was occupied by traditional RPGs. Such games as Rogue introduced the concept of real-time actions, but it was the Dragon Slayer that was regarded as the real foundation of action RPG because of its several innovations. The game was a dungeon crawl RPG, similarly to the Rogue and other traditional games. It was completely real-time and had action-oriented combat. It combined traditional RPG mechanics and arcade style action mechanics. Some of its remarkable features included an in-game map, which was designed for the purpose of helping the player in navigating the dungeon. The game allowed the use of item management to ensure that the available inventory, assigned to a certain level, was used efficiently. It also had item-based puzzles that would later be utilized by other games (Craddock, 2013). Dragon Slayer introduced the concept of overhead action-RPG.
Dragon Slayer had a great impact on the gaming industry due to its innovation. The real-time innovation changed the designs from their traditional forms. Developers would later switch to action-RPG designs, which are presented nowadays. The item-based puzzles changed the design in this genre and influenced the development of other games, such as The Legend of Zelda (Aldama, 2012). In-game maps concept that was introduced in this game was later used in other series of action-RPGs. The idea is also common in today’s designs. The game launched the overhead action which would then be further developed in other series to become the mouse look and provide an over the watch to the player (Bernacchia & Jun’ichi, 2014). The contribution of the Dragon Slayer to innovations and design of later action-RPGs was outstanding; the game was helpful and laid a critical foundation for the growth of the action RPG genre and the gaming industry in general.
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The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda is not an action-RPG, but an action-adventure; however, its role in the development of the genre makes it one the most famous games in the history of action-RPG (Aldama, 2012). The game defined the genre of action-RPG explicitly. It was developed in 1986 for Nintendo Entertainment System. The game introduced certain innovative features, such as saving progress and battery back-up. It provided an opportunity for development of characters, stories, item gathering, and exploration (Aldama, 2012). The game influenced the action-RPG genre, as it served an example of open world and non-linear gameplay. Whereas traditional games involved moving from one point to another, The Legend of Zelda changed this approach by introducing an open world strategy. Zelda’s design has remained its influence in the industry to these days. In the game’s original version, the player needed to have both manual and mental dexterity to solve puzzles (Aldama, 2012). Additionally, the player needed to offer items and actions that would result in instant gratification. The design encouraged openness and accessibility of individual places within the game, which would then translate the character’s presumed emotions (Aldama, 2012). The game enabled integration of an evolving story into other games. Deep, more meaningful, and developing stories would be possible via innovations brought by The Legend of Zelda.
The design and mechanics of The Legend of Zelda influenced the transition of gaming from turn-based to real-time combat on both console and computer games. The innovations of the game, as it ventured into the third dimension, would shape the gaming industry entirely. The Z-targeting revolution gave the player an opportunity to manage multiple enemies in an efficient manner. The revolution was continued by many games that were developed after The Legend of Zelda. The influence of the game was revolutionary, especially for action-RPGs, despite the fact that the game was an action-adventure (Aldama, 2012). Most advancements in the gaming industry can be attributed to innovations and design changes introduced by The Legend of Zelda. It inspired the development of other similar titles across the world, popularly known as Zelda clones, and the genre of action RPG.
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Secret of Mana
The Secret of Mana, also known as Seiken Densetsu 2, is an action RPG released in 1993, developed by Square for Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is a sequel to The Final Fantasy, or Seiken Densetsu, game. The game was popular and had an immense impact on the gaming world.
The Secret of Mana had innovations that distinguished it from other games and attracted people’s attention as an influential action-RPG. Unlike its predecessor, The Final Fantasy, the game used real-time battles instead of a turn-based combat system. It had unique and stylish colored graphics that could not be found in any other game of the time. The game also had an excellent story line, an expansive plot, and ring command. The innovative real-time battle system, in combination with active time battle meter, made the game highly popular during its era. The game introduced a customizable artificial intelligence feature. What made it more unique was the innovation of cooperative multiplayer gameplay. The change allowed the second and third players to join and leave the game at any point, unlike other games, where the players were supposed to start playing at the same time. The game was influential in the gaming world, and its innovations of ring command, customizable artificial intelligence, and cooperative multiplayer are still used in modern games.
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Diablo
Diablo 1996, was developed by Blizzard for Apple Macintosh, PC and Sony PlayStation. The game introduced innovations that fundamentally changed the gaming industry. Its innovations inspired other developers to introduce improved designs, as well as to duplicate the design of Diablo (Bernacchia & Jun’ichi, 2014). The developers used the improved PC graphics, as well as its networking potential, to shape the video gaming industry. Diablo is famous for its ability to reduce the complexities that were common for other traditional games. From a player, the games required a prior understanding of the novels behind the game or reading manuals. The task was complex, especially for young generation. Diablo was simple, as the players would choose among three premade avatars and then start playing (Bernacchia & Jun’ichi, 2014), whereas in some traditional games the player was tasked with building characters and generating maps on his/her own. This made it difficult to win the game, as simple mistakes could lead to failure. Diablo removed the unnecessary operations of a traditional RPG and kept the ones that players enjoyed. The first person design was not introduced by Diablo, but this game made it popular. The Host, one of previous games, had utilized the feature instead of a third person perspective (Bernacchia & Jun’ichi, 2014). The design, however, became known owing to Diablo.
Diablo used quality graphics, the best music of the time, and full-motion video, unlike previous games, such as the Rogue that used a character set graphics. Moreover, the new game was fully animated and provided an onscreen map to help the player navigate the dungeons (Craddock, 2013). The game also connected to the server multiplayer scene by using the Battle.net server that focused on player-matching service. People who purchased the game would access the service with no monthly charges (Bernacchia & Jun’ichi, 2014). The impact of the game has proven to be durable. It introduced, among many other features, engaging audiovisuals, intuitive interface, and polished gameplay. Novices would quickly learn to play the game, but it was rather challenging to prevent boredom (Craddock, 2013). The idea of online gaming became available due to innovations introduced by developers of Diablo. The game also influenced the development of other games that were notable during the period.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, action-RPG genre has undergone historical transformation via innovations and changes of game designs. These developments have influenced the entire gaming industry and resulted in release of more appealing and improved games. Starting from the Dragon Slayer, which was the first action-RPG, the genre has sustained continuous growth due to innovations introduced by developers of iconic games. This game will always be considered the pioneer of the action RPG genre. The Legend of Zelda, though not considered an action RPG, made significant contribution to the gaming industry. It opened more possibilities of developing and designing games. Its remarkable contribution has inspired most of the series developed after including, Diablo, which is an iconic action RPG. Thus, development of series on the basis of RPG games has led to expansion of the gaming industry.