LogFAQs > #937249013

This poll is a perfect example of how no one actually knows what an RPG is anymore. Ask 10 people "What makes a game an RPG" and you get 10 different answers.

In the traditional sense, Dark Souls is not an RPG. It's main gameplay arc is real-time hack-and-slash style action, regardless of the various "RPG elements" involved in the equipment.

The skills required to master it are closer to God of War than they are to Pokemon. Saying Dark Souls is the same genre as a game like Chrono Trigger is borderline ridiculous since almost non of the skillsets involved in mastering those games intersect.

But, we're in an era where we slap "RPG" on almost everything (Horizon Zero Dawn!??) so people can always find ways to label all games as RPGs. The genre title has lost all meaning since it can apparently mean anything. People arguing in favor of it in this thread pretend that they know the "rules" for how the label works...but no one actually follows any guidelines. Genres are marketing tools now and nothing more.