Action role-playing game

Not to be confused with Live action role-playing game.

Action role-playing games (abbreviated action RPG, action/RPG, or ARPG) form a loosely-defined sub-genre of role-playing video games that incorporate elements of action or action-adventure games, emphasizing real-time action that requires direct input from the player, instead of turn-based or menu-based combat. These games often use combat systems similar to hack and slash or shooter games.

Early real-time elements

Early dungeon crawl video games used turn-based movement, where if the party didn't move, neither did the enemies. Dungeons of Daggorath, released for the TRS-80 Color Computer in 1982, combined a typical first-person dungeon crawl with real-time elements, requiring timed keyboard commands and where enemies move independently of the player. The game lacked numerical statistics such as hit points or vitality, but instead used an arcade-like fatique system where the heart pulsates to indicate the player's health.

The following year, ASCII released the Sharp X1 computer game Bokosuka Wars, considered an early example of an action RPG, though it is more often considered an early strategy RPG. In Bokosuka Wars, each soldier was able to gain experience and level up through battle, while the action occurred entirely in real-time.

Classic action RPGs / hack & slash

1980s

While Western computer developers continued to explore the possibilities of real-time RPG gameplay to a certain extent, Japanese developers, with their recently aroused interest in the RPG genre, tweaked the formula to create a new brand of action/RPG. The company initially at the forefront of this was Nihon Falcom, whose Dragon Slayer series is regarded as the progenitor of the action RPG genre, abandoning the command-based battles of previous RPGs in favour of real-time hack and slash combat that requires direct input from the player, alongside puzzle-solving elements. The original Dragon Slayer, released for the NEC PC-88 computer in 1984, is considered to be the first action-RPG. In contrast to earlier turn-based roguelikes, Dragon Slayer was a dungeon crawl RPG that was entirely real-time with action-oriented combat. The game also featured an in-game map to help with the dungeon-crawling, required item management due to the inventory being limited to one item at a time, and introduced the use of item-based puzzles which later influenced The Legend of Zelda. Dragon Slayer's overhead action-RPG formula was used in many later games. Another early action RPG, The Tower of Druaga, was an arcade game released by Namco the same year. Both Dragon Slayer and The Tower of Druaga laid the foundations for future action RPG series such as Hydlide, Ys, and The Legend of Zelda.

The MSX cover art of Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu (1985), one of the first action RPGs.

Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu, released in 1985, was a fully-fledged action RPG with many character stats and a large quest, with action-based combat setting it apart from other RPGs. It also incorporated a side-scrolling view during exploration and an overhead view during battle, though some rooms were also explored using an overhead view. The game also allowed the player to visit towns, which had training facilities that can improve statistics, and shops that sell items, equipment that change the player character's visible appearance, and food that is consumed slowly over time and is essential for keeping the player alive. It also introduced gameplay mechanics such as platform jumping, magic that can be used to attack enemies from a distance, an early Karma morality system where the character's Karma meter will rise if he commits sin which in turn affects the temple's reaction to him, and individual experience for equipped items. The game gained immense popularity in Japan, setting records for PC game sales, selling more than 400,000 copies. The way Dragon Slayer reworked the entire game system of each installment is considered an influence on Final Fantasy, which would do the same for each of its installments.

Another influential early action RPG was Namco's 1984 arcade release Dragon Buster, the first game to feature a life meter, called "Vitality" in-game. It also introduced side-scrolling platform elements and a "world view" map similar to Super Mario Bros. released the following year. Another 1984 release, T&E Soft's Hydlide, while influenced by Dragon Slayer or The Tower of Druaga, introduced its own innovations. For example, Hydlide introduced the ability to switch between attack mode and defense mode, quick save and load options which can be done at any moment of the game through the use of passwords, and the introduction of a health regeneration mechanic where health and magic slowly regenerate when standing still. Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness, released in 1985, introduced an early morality meter, where the player can be aligned with Justice, Normal, or Evil, which is affected by whether the player kills humans, good monsters, or evil monsters, leading to townsfolk ignoring players with an evil alignment, denying access to certain clues, dialogues, equipment, and training. The game also introduced a time option, allowing the player to speed up or slow down the gameplay. Magical Zoo's The Screamer, a 1985 post-apocalyptic cyberpunk horror RPG released for the PC-8801, featured gameplay that switched between first-person dungeon crawl exploration and side-scrolling shooter combat, where the the player could jump, duck and shoot at enemies in real-time.

Link attacking monsters with his sword in The Legend of Zelda (1986), an action-adventure game that had an important influence on the action RPG genre.

The next two years would see the release of games that would further define the action/RPG genre in Japan. An important influence on the genre was the 1986 action-adventure game, The Legend of Zelda, which is often not considered an action RPG since it lacked key RPG mechanics like experience points, but had many features in common with RPGs and served as the template for future action RPGs. In contrast to previous action RPGs such as Dragon Slayer and Hydlide which required the player to bump into enemies in order to attack them, The Legend of Zelda featured an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen. It was also an early example of open world, nonlinear gameplay, and introduced innovations like battery backup saving. These elements have been used in many action RPGs since. The game was largely responsible for the surge of action-oriented RPGs released since the late 1980s, both in Japan as well as in America, where it was often cited as an influence on action-oriented computer RPGs. The Legend of Zelda series would exert an influence on the transition of both console and computer RPGs from stat-heavy turn-based combat towards real-time action combat in the following decades. Due to its similarities to action RPGs and its impact on the genre, there continues to be much debate regarding whether or not The Legend of Zelda should be considered an action RPG. That same year also saw the arcade release of the sequel to The Tower of Druaga, The Return of Ishtar, an early action RPG to feature two-player cooperative gameplay, dual-stick control in single player, a female protagonist, the first heroic couple in gaming, and the first password save system in an arcade game.

In 1987, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link implemented an RPG-esque system, including experience points and levels, with action game elements, making it closer to an action RPG than other Zelda games. Zelda II was also one of the first video games where non-player characters (NPCs) walked around and seemingly had their own agendas, giving the world a life of its own rather than being a simple stage for the story to unfold. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was an action RPG that combined the platform-action mechanics of the original Castlevania with the open world of an action-adventure and RPG mechanics such as experience points. It also introduced a persistent world with its own day-night cycle that affects when certain NPCs appear in certain locations and offered three possible multiple endings depending on the time it took to complete the game. Another "Metroidvania" style open-world action RPG released that year was System Sacom's Sharp X1 computer game Euphory, which was possibly the only Metroidvania-style multiplayer action RPG produced, allowing two-player cooperative gameplay. That same year also saw the release of several Dragon Slayer titles, including Faxanadu, a spin-off of Xanadu and a fully side-scrolling action RPG, and Dragon Slayer IV: Legacy of the Wizard, another early example of a non-linear open-world action RPG. Falcom also released the first installment of its Ys series in 1987. While not very popular in the West, the long-running Ys series has performed strongly in the Japanese market, with many sequels, remakes and ports in the decades that followed its release. Besides Dragon Slayer, the series was also influenced by Hydlide, from which it borrowed certain mechanics such as health-regeneration when standing still.

Hydlide 3: The Space Memories, released for the MSX in 1987 and for the Mega Drive as Super Hydlide in 1989, adopted the morality meter of its predecessor, expanded on its time option with the introduction of an in-game clock setting day-night cycles and a need to sleep and eat, and made other improvements such as cut scenes for the opening and ending, a combat system closer to The Legend of Zelda, the choice between four distinct character classes, a wider variety of equipment and spells, and a weight system affecting the player's movement depending on the overall weight of the equipment carried. Another 1987 action RPG, The Magic of Scheherazade, was notable for several innovations, including a unique setting based on the Arabian Nights, time travel between five different time periods, a unique combat system featuring both real-time solo action and turn-based team battles, and the introduction of team attacks where two party members could join forces to perform an extra-powerful attack. That same year, Kogado Studio's sci-fi RPG Cosmic Soldier: Psychic War featured a unique "tug of war" style real-time combat system, where battles are a clash of energy between the party and the enemy, with the player needing to push the energy towards the enemy to strike them, while being able to use a shield to block or a suction ability to absorb the opponent's power. It also featured a unique conversation system, where the player can recruit allies by talking to them, choose whether to kill or spare an enemy, and engage enemies in conversation, similar to Megami Tensei. Wonder Boy in Monster Land combined the platform gameplay of the original Wonder Boy with many RPG elements, which would inspire later action RPGs such as Popful Mail (1991).

1988 saw the debut of Telenet Japan's Exile, a series of action-platform RPGs, beginning with XZR: Idols of Apostate. The series was controversial for its plot, which revolves around a time-traveling Crusades-era Syrian Islamic Assassin who assassinates various religious/historical figures as well as modern-day political leaders, with similarities to the present-day Assassin's Creed action game series. The gameplay of Exile included both overhead exploration and side-scrolling combat, featured a heart monitor to represent the player's Attack Power and Armour Class statistics, and another controversial aspect of the game involved taking drugs (instead of potions) that increase/decrease attributes but with side-effects such as affecting the heart-rate or causing death. The developer of the Ultima series, Origin Systems, released an action RPG that year, Times of Lore, which was inspired by NES titles, particularly The Legend of Zelda. In turn, Times of Lore inspired several later titles by Origin Systems, such as the 1990 games Bad Blood, another action RPG based on the same engine, and Ultima VI: The False Prophet, based on the same interface.

In 1989, Sega released an Metroidvania-style open-world action RPG for the Master System console, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap. Dungeon Explorer, developed by Atlus and published by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-16 in 1989, is considered a pioneer title in the action RPG genre with its cooperative multiplayer gameplay, which allowed up to five players to play simultaneously. That same year, River City Ransom (named Street Gangs in Europe) featured elements of both the beat 'em up and action RPG genres, combining brawler combat with many RPG elements, including an inventory, buying and selling items, learning new abilities and skills, needing to listen for clues, searching to find all the bosses, shopping in the malls, buying items to heal, and increasing stats.

1990s-2000s

1990 would see the release of Crystalis for the NES as well as Golden Axe Warrior for the Sega Master System. These games featured Zelda-like gameplay blended with genuine RPG elements, such as experience points, statistics-based equipment, and a magic-casting system. Crystalis also featured a post-apocalyptic setting inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Crystalis in turn influenced Secret of Mana. Data East's Gate of Doom was an arcade action RPG that combined beat 'em up fighting gameplay with fantasy role-playing and introduced an isometric perspective. That same year, Enix released a unique biological simulation action RPG by Almanic that revolved around the theme of evolution, 46 Okunen Monogatari, a revised version of which was released in 1992 as E.V.O.: Search for Eden.

In 1991, Squaresoft released Seiken Densetsu, also known as Final Fantasy Adventure or Sword of Mana in the West, for the Game Boy. Like Crystallis, the action in Seiken Densetsu bore a strong resemblance to that of Zelda, but added more RPG elements. It was one of the first action RPGs to allow players to kill townspeople, though later Mana games lack this feature. That same year, the erotic adult RPG Dragon Knight III, released for the PC-8801 and as Knights of Xentar for MS-DOS, introduced a unique pausable real-time battle system, where characters automatically attack based on a list of different AI scripts, though this meant the player had no control over the characters during battle other than to give commands for spells, item use, and AI routines. Arcus Odyssey by Wolf Team (now Namco Tales Studio) was an action RPG that featured an isometric perspective and co-operative multiplayer gameplay. In 1992, Sega released the Climax Entertainment game Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole, an early isometric RPG that combined the gameplay of an open-world action RPG with an isometric platformer, alongside an emphasis on varied puzzle-solving as well as strong characterization and humorous conversations.

Secret of Mana (1993) was acclaimed for its innovative cooperative multiplayer that allowed players to drop in and out at any time, unique real-time battle system and "Ring Command" menu system, and customizable AI for computer-controlled allies.

In 1993, the second Seiken Densetsu game, Secret of Mana, received considerable acclaim, for its innovative pausable real-time action battle system, modified Active Time Battle meter adapted for real-time action, the "Ring Command" menu system where a variety of actions can be performed without needing to switch screens, its innovative cooperative multiplayer gameplay, where the second or third players could drop in and out of the game at any time rather than players having to join the game at the same time, and the customizable AI settings for computer-controlled allies. The game has remained influential through to the present day, with its ring menu system still used in modern games (such as The Temple of Elemental Evil) and its cooperative multiplayer mentioned as an influence on games as recent as the upcoming Dungeon Siege III. Other action RPGs at the time combined the puzzle-oriented action-adventure gameplay style of the Zelda series with RPG elements. Examples include Illusion of Gaia (1993) and its successor Terranigma (1995), as well as Alundra (1997), a spiritual successor to LandStalker.

Unique among video games are Capcom's Knights of the Round (1991), King of Dragons (1991), Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (1993) and Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara (1996). These games were released for the arcades, and featured a blending of beat 'em up and RPG characteristics, giving rise to hack and slash RPGs. The games were later released for the Sega Saturn together as the Dungeons & Dragons Collection (1999). Several later beat 'em ups followed a similar hack & slash brawler-RPG formula, including Guardian Heroes, Castle Crashers, Dungeon & Fighter, and Princess Crown and its successors Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

On the Super Famicom, Tales of Phantasia was released in Japan in 1995, featuring a real-time side-scrolling combat mode and an exploration mode similar to classic console RPGs. In 1996, Star Ocean was released with similar real-time combat and classic exploration, but featured a more isometric view during battle. Star Ocean also introduced a "private actions" system, where the player can affect the relationships between characters, which in turn affects the storyline and leads to multiple endings, a feature that the Star Ocean series has become known for. Namco and Enix did not publish these two titles in America, though many of their sequels were later released in the U.S., beginning with Tales of Destiny and Star Ocean: The Second Story, respectively.

File:Tosbattle.jpg

Tales of Symphonia for the PS2 and GameCube is a more modern 3D action RPG. Protagonist Lloyd is shown attacking enemies.

The fifth generation era of consoles saw a number of other popular action RPGs, such as King's Field, Brave Fencer Musashi, The Legend of Oasis, Tail of the Sun, Dragon Valor, and Tales of Eternia. All consoles of the sixth generation era had a number of action RPGs, such as Phantasy Star Online, Dark Cloud & Dark Chronicle, Sudeki, King's Field IV & Shadow Tower Abyss, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath, Kingdom Hearts, Chaos Legion, .hack, Monster Hunter, World of Mana, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles & Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Rogue Galaxy, Odin Sphere, and several Tales games such as Symphonia.

Other subgenres

First-person dungeon crawl

The great majority of first-person computer games up until the late 1980s were turn-based, though a few had attempted to incorporated real-time elements, such as Dungeons of Daggorath and the 1985 game Alterate Reality: The City. Most first-person computer RPGs at the time, used turn-based movement, where if the party didn't move, neither did the enemies, though The Bard's Tale in 1985 attempted to generate random encounters when the player is away from the keyboard to give the impression that monsters weren't just waiting for players to stumble across them. However, such tricks were no substitute for a real-time world where monsters and other characters move about independently and autonomously of the player. This changed in late 1987, when FTL Games released Dungeon Master, a critically acclaimed dungeon crawler where the game world and combat was in real-time, requiring players to quickly issue orders to the characters, setting the standard for real-time first-person computer RPGs for the next several years. Dungeon Master achieved the number-one sales rank in both the U.S. and Japan, where it was released in 1990. Other real-time first-person RPGs in the style of Dungeon Master include SSI's Eye of the Beholder (1990) and Raven Software's Black Crypt (1992).

As a revolutionary step, Arsys Software released Star Cruiser for the NEC PC-8801 computer in early 1988. This innovative game is notable for being a very early example of an action RPG with fully 3D polygonal graphics, combined with first-person shooter gameplay. It was later ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1990. In 1992, Blue Sky Productions released Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, which was considered a technological marvel for its 3D first-person ray casting graphics combined with real-time action and a surprisingly deep role-playing experience. One of the game's developers, Warren Spector, would go on to help develop more games combining first-person action and RPG gameplay, such as System Shock and Deus Ex.

Other first-person RPGs in the style of Ultima Underworld include Shadowcaster by Raven Software and id Software in 1993 created with an early version of the Doom engine, The Elder Scrolls series and Fallout 3 by Bethesda, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines by Troika Games, Baroque by Sting Entertainment and recently Hellgate: London by Flagship Studios which was formed from Blizzard North executives and developers responsible for the Diablo franchise (also supports third-person view). From Software's King's Field series of dungeon-crawler action RPGs for consoles had been using a fully 3D polygonal first-person perspective from 1994 to 2001, though the series' 2009 spiritual successor Demon's Souls had adopted a third-person view instead.

Point and click

Action RPGs were far more common on consoles rather than computers, due to gamepads being better suited to real-time action than the keyboard and mouse. Though there have been attempts at creating action-oriented computer RPGs during the late 1980s and early 1990s, often in the vein of Zelda, very few saw any success, the most notable being the 1992 game Ultima VII. Its 1994 sequel Ultima VIII attempted to add precision jumping sequences reminiscent of a Mario game, though reactions to the game's mouse-based combat were mixed. It was not until 1996 that a stagnant PC RPG market was revitalized by Blizzard's Diablo, an action RPG that used a point-and-click interface and offered gamers a free online service to play with others that maintained the same rules and gameplay.

Diablo's effect on the market was significant; it had many imitators and its style of combat went on to be used by many MMORPGs that came after. For many years afterwards, games that closely mimicked the Diablo formula were referred to as "Diablo clones." The definition of a Diablo clone is even vaguer than that of an action RPG, but typically such games have each player controlling a single character and have a strong focus on combat, with plot and character interaction kept to a minimum. In some examples, non-player characters have only one purpose—be it to buy or sell items or upgrade the player's abilities—or issue them with combat-centric quests. They also have few or no puzzles, with all problems instead having an action-based solution (such as breaking a wooden door open with an axe rather than having to find its key).

Blizzard later released a sequel, Diablo II in 2000, and it became an international sensation in America, Europe, and Asia. Diablo II's effect on the gaming industry led to an even larger number of "clones" than its predecessor, inspiring games for almost a decade. Diablo III is currently being developed. Some of the aforementioned Diablo clones are: the Sacred series, Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, Titan Quest, Dungeon Siege series, Loki: Heroes of Mythology, Legend: Hand of God, Fate, Torchlight, and Path of Exile.

Role-playing shooters

Role-playing shooters (often abbreviated RPS) are sometimes considered a sub-genre, featuring elements of both shooter games and action RPGs. The earliest known example was Magical Zoo's The Screamer, a 1985 post-apocalyptic sci-fi RPG released in Japan for the NEC PC-8801 computer, set after World War III and revolving around cyberpunk and biological horror themes. The gameplay switched between first-person dungeon crawl exploration and side-scrolling shooter combat, where the the player could jump, duck and shoot at enemies in real-time. The earliest to feature 3D polygonal graphics was the 1986 game WiBArm, released by Arsys Software for the NEC PC-88 computer in Japan and ported to MS-DOS for Western release by Brøderbund. In WiBArm, the player controls a transformable mecha robot, switching between a 2D side-scrolling view in outdoor areas to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses are fought in an arena-style 2D shoot 'em up battle. The game featured a variety of weapons and equipment as well as an automap, and the player could upgrade equipment and earn experience to raise stats. In contrast to first-person RPGs at the time that were restricted to 90-degree movements, WiBArm's use of 3D polygons allowed full 360-degree movement.

In 1987, Shiryou Sensen: War of the Dead, an MSX2 title developed by Fun Factory and published by Victor Music Industries, was the first true survival horror RPG. Designed by Katsuya Iwamoto, the game revolved around a female SWAT member Lila rescuing survivors in an isolated monster-infested town and bringing them to safety in a church. It was open-ended like Dragon Quest and had real-time side-view battles like Zelda II. Unlike other RPGs at the time, however, the game had a dark and creepy atmosphere expressed through the story, graphics, and music, while the gameplay used shooter-based combat and gave limited ammunition for each weapon, forcing the player to search for ammo and often run away from monsters in order to conserve ammo.

In 1988, The Scheme, released by Bothtec for the PC-8801, was an action RPG with a similar side-scrolling open-world gameplay to Metroid. That same year, Arsys Software released Star Cruiser for the PC-88. This innovative game is notable for being a very early example of an RPG with fully 3D polygonal graphics, combined with first-person shooter gameplay, which would occasionally switch to space flight simulator gameplay when exploring outer space with six degrees of freedom. All the backgrounds, objects and opponents in the game were rendered in 3D polygons, many years before they were widely adopted by the gaming industry. The game also emphasized storytelling, with plot twists and extensive character dialogues. It was later ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1990. The game's sequel, Star Cruiser 2, was released in 1992, for the PC-9821 and FM Towns computers.

In 1990, Hideo Kojima's SD Snatcher, while turn-based, introduced an innovative first-person shooter-based battle system where firearm weapons (each with different abilities and target ranges) have limited ammunition and the player can aim at specific parts of the enemy's body with each part weakening the enemy in different ways. Such a battle system has rarely been used since, though similar battle systems based on targetting individual body parts can later be found in Square's Vagrant Story (2000), Bethesda's Fallout 3 (2008), and Nippon Ichi's Last Rebellion (2010). In 1996, Night Slave was a shooter RPG released for the PC-98 that combined the side-scrolling shooter gameplay of Assault Suits Valken and Gradius, including an armaments system that employs recoil physics, with many RPG elements such as permanently levelling up the mecha and various weapons using power-orbs obtained from defeating enemies as well as storyline cut scenes, which occasionally contain erotic lesbian adult content.

System Shock 2 (1999) is a 3D role-playing shooter where the player navigates from a first-person perspective.

Other early shooter-based action RPGs include the Parasite Eve series of survival horror RPGs (1998 onwards) by Square (now Square Enix), the Deus Ex series (2000 onwards) by Eidos Interactive (now Square Enix Europe), Ancient's vehicular combat RPG Car Battler Joe (2002), Konami's solar-powered stealth-based Boktai series (2003 onwards), Irem's Steambot Chronicles (2005), Square Enix's third-person shooter RPG Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (2006) which introduced an over-the-shoulder perspective similar to Resident Evil 4, and the MMO vehicular combat game Auto Assault (2006) by NetDevil and NCsoft. Other action RPGs featured both hack & slash and shooting elements, with the use of both guns (or in some cases, bow & arrow or flight combat) and melee weapons, including the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner series (1995 onwards) by Atlus, tri-Ace's Star Ocean series (1996 onwards), Cavia's flight-based Drakengard series (2003 to 2005), and Level-5's Rogue Galaxy (2005).

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (2006) is a 3D role-playing shooter played from a third-person perspective, from an over-the-shoulder viewpoint.

Recent RPS games include the Mass Effect series (2007 onwards), Fallout 3 (2008), and Borderlands (2009). Borderlands is considered a role-playing shooter due to the heavy RPG elements within the game, such as quest-based gameplay and also its character traits and leveling system, for which its developer Gearbox software has dubbed it as a "role-playing shooter". Sega's Valkyria Chronicles series (2008 onwards) features a unique blend of tactical role-playing game, real-time strategy and third-person tactical shooter elements, for which it has been described as "the missing link" between Final Fantasy Tactics and Full Spectrum Warrior. Half-Minute Hero (2009) is an RPG shooter featuring self-referential humour and a 30-second time limit for each level and boss encounter. Other recent action role-playing games with shooter elements include the 2010 titles Resonance of Fate by tri-Ace, Xenoblade by Monolith Soft, Alpha Protocol by Obsidian Entertainment, and The Last Story by Mistwalker which uses crossbows (instead of guns) in a manner similar to third-person shooters. Upcoming examples include Imageepoch's post-apocapytic Black Rock Shooter which employs first-person shooter elements, as well as third-person shooter elements, and Square Enix's Final Fantasy Versus XIII which will feature both hack & slash and third-person shooter elements.

Choices and consequences

While most action RPGs focus on hack and slash while exploring a world (often an open world) and building character stats, some non-linear titles contain events or dialogue choices with consequences in the game world or storyline. The concept of moral consequences and alignments can be seen in action RPGs as early as the 1985 releases Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu, with its Karma system where the character's Karma meter will change depending on who he kills which in turn affects the way other NPCs react to him, and Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness, where the player can be aligned with Justice, Normal, or Evil, depending on whether the player kills good/evil monsters or humans, leading to townsfolk ignoring players with an evil alignment. Cosmic Soldier: Psychic War in 1987 featured a non-linear conversation system, where the player can recruit allies by talking to them, choose whether to kill or spare an enemy, and engage enemies in conversation, similar to Megami Tensei. One of the first action RPGs to feature multiple endings was Konami's 1987 release Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, which introduced a day-night cycle that affects when certain NPCs appear in certain locations and offered three possible endings depending on the time it took to complete the game. Some of Quintet's action RPGs allowed players to shape the game world through town-building simulation elements, such as Soul Blazer in 1992 and Terranigma in 1995. That same year, Square's Seiken Densetsu 3 allowed a number of different possible storyline paths and endings depending on which combination of characters the player selected. The game also introduced a class-change system that incorporated light-dark alignments. The following year, Treasure's Guardian Heroes allowed players to alter the storyline through their actions, such as choosing between a number of branching paths leading to multiple different endings and through the Karma meter which changes depending on whether the player kills civilians or shows mercy to enemies.

Some of the earliest action RPGs to allow players to alter the storyline's outcome through dialogue choices were tri-Ace's Star Ocean series of sci-fi RPGs. The original Star Ocean, published by Enix in 1996, introduced a "private actions" social system, where the protagonist's relationship points with the other characters are affected by the player's choices, which in turn affects the storyline, leading to branching paths and multiple different endings. This was expanded in its 1999 sequel, Star Ocean: The Second Story, which boasted as many as 86 different endings, with each of the possible permutations to these endings numbering in the hundreds, setting a benchmark for the amount of outcomes possible for a video game. Using a relationship system inspired by dating sims, each of the characters had friendship points and relationship points with each of the other characters, allowing the player to pair together, or ship, any couples (both romantic heterosexual relationships as well as friendships) of their choice, allowing a form of fan fiction to exist within the game itself. This type of social system was later extended to allow romantic lesbian relationships in BioWare's 2007 sci-fi RPG Mass Effect. However, the relationship system in Star Ocean not only affected the storyline, but also the gameplay, affecting the way the characters behave towards each other in battle.

File:Legend of Mana Screenshot.jpg

Legend of Mana (1999) was the most open-ended in the Mana series, featuring an open world, free-roaming nonlinear gameplay, and consequential dialogue choices.

In 1997, Quintet's The Granstream Saga, while having a mostly linear plot, offered a difficult moral choice towards the end of the game regarding which of two characters to save, each leading to a different ending. In 1999, Square's Legend of Mana, the most open-ended in the Mana series, allowed the player to build the game world however they choose, complete any quests and subplots they choose in any order of their choice, and choose which storyline paths to follow, departing from most other action RPGs in its time. That same year, Square's survival horror RPG Parasite Eve II featured branching storylines and up to three different possible endings.

Other games such as Orphen: Scion of Sorcery (2000), Ephemeral Fantasia (2001), Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003), Tales of Symphonia (2003), Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (2004),Radiata Stories (2005), Steambot Chronicles (2005), The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006), Odin Sphere (2007), Fallout 3 (2008), White Gold: War in Paradise (2008), Alpha Protocol (2010), and the Gothic, Way of the Samurai, Drakengard, Fable, Yakuza, Devil Summoner and Mass Effect series, allow the player to make many game-altering choices in dialogues and events, while still maintaining their respective action elements, whether they be in the first person or the third person. Some of these feature a full-fledged dialogue system with highly impressionable NPC.

See also

• Action-adventure game
• Adventure game
• Hack and slash
• History of role-playing video games
• Role-playing video game
• Tactical role-playing game