by Ack Thu Jul 01, 2021 10:11 pm
I would argue that moving into new areas gated behind plot progress and being able to return to previous areas isn't necessarily a marker for RPGs, as open world games such as the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series also do this. I think the key points are more the leveling and skill progression, the MMO-based method of handling level disparity, and the use of characters as a class system similar to earlier action RPGs.
Yes, the shooting aspect is how it's mostly handled, but the construction of your character and your gearing choices for your build are the real meat and potatoes to me. For example, in the original Borderlands, I played Roland the soldier. I made a point to favor ammo regeneration, large magazine assault rifles, and stat boosts based on kills and crits so that whenever I killed, I'd go faster and faster in my attack speeds, this leading to more crits and more speed. My special ability was used only for a distraction, but I could have turned it around and focused on that if I had wanted or on other types of weapon classes (or even other styles within the assault rifle weapon grouping). That was how I wanted to build a character, but it could have been done in other ways. The point is, I approached building a character as I would in other action RPGs, not how I tend to view them in FPS.