The RPGs i mention are games like Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, KOTOR, all Final Fantasy games etc, and any other RPG in existence which follows a predefined plot the player has no real control over nor branching to speak of. But sure, go ahead and argue these aren't real games. This is nothing but a "no true Scotsman" fallacy you're employing.VN's are not games... they are, as their name clearly state novels. Whether they are completely linear or even non-linear doesn't matter. And those RPG's you mention are not actual games... they are VN's masquerading as RPG's (especially ones made in RPGM who are nothing but walking simulators).
Not to mention this is completely pointless argument. Does anyone perusing this thing actually care whether it's a "game" or "novel" they are fapping to, and they'll zip up and leave if it's the latter? Because such concept is entirely meme-worthy.
An utterly absurd claim. Have fun arguing how e.g. No One Lives Forever isn't a game about female spy because it doesn't have Lifepath. Or skills and stats for that matter.Do you need Lifepath and skills and stats to have a game about female spy? Yes, you do.
Just because Crush had silly idea of having few hours long sequence for what's a single-screen character creation, if that, doesn't make such element mandatory. That's just a gimmick.
At the most basic level the game can simply present the player with choices their character can take, without artificially blocking some of them. The player still would need multiple playthroughs to explore all possibilities, without having to repeatedly go through a long sequence which doesn't have anything to do with being an actual spy doing the spy work.
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