nostalgic rpg's

[morgorath]

Well there is no big line in the sand that separates RPG's from Act/Adv. With that being said there seams to be some guide lines in that makes up the two groups.

RPG's Must have:
Leveling up
The ability to change or up grade base stats.
A long drawn out story that seams to go no were but you grow a strong feel to the people in the story due to it's drawn out factor. Dialog moves the story not the action.
An active battle system or chess board battle map system.
More than one playable character. And a battle involves 3 to 12 playable character

Examples: FF (any version), Lunar, Secret of Mana, and Wild Arms

Act/Adv
Up grading your character but never messing with his base stats (Example Castlevania (PS2) you got better whips and Armor but they never changed his base stats)
Battles happen in real time with little to no menu interaction
The story is more condensed letting the action move the story not the dialog.
One main playable character, with a cast on NPC?s to move the story

Examples: Zelda, Metriod, Castlevania (PS2), Devil May Cry.

Those are just a few basic rules that I feel apply to all games of these styles.

There are a few that bend the rules such as:

Castlevania: SOTN, D&D Balders Gate, X-men Legends, and a few others