Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Gonna get this game budget be damned... I'll work a little overtime if needed, but having never played the PS2 version this one is very high on my list.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find anybody who *doesn't* consider Zelda to be an Action RPG (perhaps *the* canonical ARPG), and since Okami is basically Zelda with a kick-ass godly wolf in place of a dude in tights, that's why they tagged it that way. You develop your character by buying new weapons (and armor? I forget) and abilities; you get upgrades that increase your life and magic capacities; you can go on side quests to discover additional magic powers. Does that sound like an RPG to you?

Does a game have to have a stat called "Experience Points" to be worthy of the moniker? If Okami is not an ARPG, then what is? Are you saying you don't like the name of the genre in the first place?

I haven't played Okamu much yet, but I don't consider Zelda to be an RPG either. The definition of an RPG seems to be getting more and more vague but generally it still involves a bunch of stats that gradually improve through combat or other activities, and some measure of character customization. I guess you could argue that Link's max HP (heart containers) count as a stat, but you can't really customize him as far as I remember.

Maybe the issue here is that 'action adventure' is also becoming more and more vague, now apparently encompassing platform games and other genres. Consequently Zelda-likes get shoved into the ARPG category, where they seem to fit in better by comparison. I suppose that's fine.

@James: Zelda, an action RPG? *sigh* Role playing games date back to the pen and paper format, as in the first installment of Dungeons and Dragons(there may have been others before, I don't know). Since then, it has changed quite a bit. Still, the Quintessential Elements of what makes an rpg an rpg are those that mirror that PnP format, ie stats that grow through experience. You can call it whatever you want but there needs to be a statistical improvement through the accumulation of points earned through combat/questing.

That is not present in either Okami or Zelda. In both of these games, you improve your abilities through the gathering of items. Items are scattered throughout the game world and you have to explore to find them. That's called an adventure game. Adventure games date back to old text-based games like Zork and less but still old point and click games like King's Quest. In these games, you had to explore the world to find items which would unlock paths further or allow you to eliminate enemies.

Heroes of Norrath would be an action RPG. Diablo is an ARPG. If you can't see the gaping differences between Diablo and Zelda... Well, you need to play more games and diversify your palette.