What Is A CRPG? It's Complicated.

I just use CRPG to mean any computerized RPG. Consoles are computers so I include all RPGs played on consoles or any other kind of computer. I take a very inclusive view of what can be considered an RPG. I do count the Dungeons And Dragons arcade games, Zelda, Harvest Moon, etc. I don't think levels, experience points, and character customization are the only elements that make an RPG. Fork Knife has levels. Akalabeth doesn't. Plenty of RPGs have set protagonists and preset level progression. All genres exist on a spectrum. They're judged based on influences, legacy, common audience, contemporary works, and general sentiment. That's why The Lord Of The Rings is in the same genre as Game Of Thrones. And they overlap. Is Star Wars science fiction or fantasy? It's both. And it's action adventure, and it's a space opera, and it's a family saga, and it's a generational epic, etc. Genres are far more inclusive and far less rigid than a lot of people want to make them. So essentially my view is that any videogame that falls somewhere on the RPG spectrum is a CRPG and I think we should generally embrace a more inclusive and fluid attitude when we try to fit media into specific genres

I was looking up this topic in preparation for Baldurs Gate 3 being released on Xbox Series S soon and I'm glad you have a video on it. I was going to comment asking if there are any free crpgs you'd recommend that aren't very hardware intensive (my PC isn't the greatest 😆) but I see you have a video on CRPGs for beginners so I guess that answers my question (kinda, I'm not sure if you recommend any that are free in that video but I'm about to find out 😅)

For me it would always be: Crpg = Isometric Rpg

Thanks for this, with the term being thrown around all the time now with the discussion of Baldur’s Gate 3, I needed some clarity on the history of the term.

Lol i thought this meant chinese rpg, à la jrpg

Very informative ty much!

Oh I always thought it was Character Role Playing Games. The game revolved around the characters in your party not just your main character. I like my definition as I think it captures the essence of these types of games.

CRPG comparison to TRPG?

From what I’ve heard, the history of the split from CRPG and JRPG started with Dragon Quest.
Yuji Horii, Dragon Quest’s creator, was a big fan of Wizardry and Ultima, and wanted to make an RPG for the Japanese market. Since computer games weren’t really that popular in Japan, he decided to develop it for the Famicom. Because of the much limited storage of a console compared to a computer, many of the game mechanics had to be streamlined and simplified. This meant having a predetermined character, a more linear story, automatic leveling, etc.
So generally speaking, games that follow this more streamlined design are labeled JRPGS, while games that follow the older design of computer RPGS are called CRPGS.

I love how you said Choice and Consequences.. both of those do seem to be defining characteristics of a CRPG! And it helps that they both start with a C too! 😉 You mentioned Customization too! The 3 C's that put the C in RPG!

I thought the C stood for "character." Haha. Goes to show what I know. Never did play anything in the genre, but I will now, thanks to your great content.

Years ago, I used to think that CRPGs were Chinese Roleplaying Game (because JRPGs stand for Japanese Roleplaying Game). Haha.

Also, I saw a game called Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms. Although it seems to leaning towards Action RPG genre more, they have used 'CRPG' in promo videos. Any chance that you'll cover it in future?

how many rpg versions are there?
I know only of
aprg (action rpg like path of exile)
jrpg (japanese rpg like turn based final fantasy)
and now just discored crpg, because of warhammer 40k trailer Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.

Dragon Age Origins definitely is a cRPG ; hell, you can even play it in top down mode and one encounter in specific LOVES top down. Morrowind could be considered one, it all depends where we draw the line when it comes to RNG. In fact, why wouldn't Morrowind be a cRPG? Oblivion+ definitely aren't. They are more akin to Open World Action Adventures than anything else. Actually a hybrid between ActAdv and a RPG. A thribrid? Sorry for overly Aeon interpretation.

One thing I'd like to see mended about cRPGs is the sucky Early Game. It really doesn't need to be like that.

Is there any cRPGs that you can play as solo character aka no party without missing too much of the story, experience or gameplay

Just curious, what would you consider the old SSI Gold Box games, the Eye of the Beholder series, and stuff like Lands of Lore or Might & Magic?

To me, the C still stands for "computer", as in a way to say that game is more or less a translation of a tabletop experience, but as a program running on that machine. Which already follows a different formula from jrpg and arpg

Anybody else notice him using the "throwing the chest full of weight" trick in Divinity: OS on that Void Dragon? Learned about that from the Spiffing Brit and noticed Mort doing like over 3k damage per throw with the chest lmao

and now i feel stupid for never asking anyone

What is the last game in this video called?

What is the name of your intro song?

From what ive gathered here, CRPG is a role playing game. Any other detail is a maybe, and youre still probably wrong :P

IMO the best definition is the one that allows us to differentiate them from jRPGs and aRPGs, especially the latter. In that sense, THE most important and core feature of cRPGs is that every single thing that your character does is part of some "system" behind it, as in, dice rolls, probability checks, etc. The clearest example is, of course, combat. In a cRPG you don't physically "hit" a target, you click, then your character does his thing, but it is the roll that says whether you hit or not, meaning even if the animation hits, if the roll fails, it's not a hit, while in action RPGs, you MUST "physically" hit the target with a player skill based action before rolls happen.

Following the above rule, you get sth like this:

BG2: cRPG
Skyrim: NOT cRPG
DA Origins: cRPG
DA2: aRPG
Diablo: aRPG
Fallout 1/2: cRPG vs Fallout 3/4: Not cRPGs

But yeah the term is kinda arbitrary, I just find the described method useful for me.

for the algorithm

For me the C stands for classic. Witcher 3, Skyrim, Mass Effect etc are all played on computers and are technically RPGs. You are playing a "role", you can make decisions, there are (usually) consequences to the choices that you make, you can customize your character up to a point. But they are more action games than true RPGs to me.

I mean even Red Dead 2 lets you make decisions, customize your character, your stats level up but I wouldn't call it an RPG. Same with the Far Cry or Assassin's Creed games. The modern RPG games usually have some different elements to them, whereas a game like WOTR is a pure RPG.

Obviously just my opinion but to me CRPGs, even if they are brand new, follow that classic game style set out by the like's of Baldur's Gate and Fallout 1 & 2.

Guess I am officially old For me it will always be 'computer RPG', first time I heard about 'classical' approach.
Also funny timing of that video, it was just last week when I wondered if Mass Effects is more of cRPG or a shooter with RPG elements. Are you a mindreader now? =P

To me I just like to refer them as "complex" rpg's, at least that's what I looking for, rpg's that provide more complex gameplay options, deeper lore and world building.

ah yes, the true way to play divinity... a chest full of random garbage and telekinesis

Hey Mortis, you should try out Kenshi :D

Often, just the way I see it used online, I usually assume it just means an older style rpg. I rarely hear anyone call Baldur's Gate 3 a crpg (Tho it clearly could be called such), but I heard almost everyone called WoTR a CRPG. I love both games, just a distinction I noticed.

I think this is something that plagues genre labels in general, not even just in video games. What is and isn't horror? Where's the exact line between an ARPG and an Action/Adventure game? That band isn't punk! And on and on. Labels are useful to an extent, but ultimately they're open to interpretation and don't REALLY matter.

Game genres are weird :D I thinkg CRPG stands for "Classical" where tropes like strategy, deep lore, choice + consequence are more present compare to action RPG where everything you do is somehow connected to the combat most of the time.

i love your videos and i liked this
but i disagree with your explanation
with your explanation dark souls 3, dragons dogma and dragon age inquisition are crpg´s
for me its more about the gameplay

Currently going through pillars of eternity 2 ultimate edition. I’m still not sold on the story, but at least now I can see the forest for the trees. It’s a hard game to understand going into it blind. It sometimes has a ‘pick your own adventure’ feel to it, which is growing on me.

To me, every RPG that is played on a computer is cRPG. "C" stands for "computer". Frankly, I don't see a need to change or overcomplicate this classification, it doesn't have to be that strict. As long as the game is good, it doesn't matter. What does the term RPG mean to me? It's simple - being able to roleplay a character and having some choices. Just having things like attributes and talents isn't enough, even some shooters have these mechanics, but don't offer any roleplaying.

The main RPGs on computers in the 80s were games like the Ultima series (top-down), games like the Wizardry series (first-person perspective), and games like Rogue (roguelikes). In 1986, Enix released Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior on the NES), the first JRPG, which simplified elements of Wizardry and Ultima so that it would work better on the Famicom. By 2000, CRPGs were games like Baldur's Gate while JRPGs were more movie-like games like Final Fantasy VII that worked well on consoles. Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect were technically CRPGs when they were released but worked well on consoles and were more cinematic, so the definition of CRPG was revised to specifically mean games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale.

I think with so many views of what a CRPG really is, guess it's important to not get too bothered by it, this certainly seems to have a time framing aspect to it (like early isometric vs modern 3D).

Can agree that the choices, role-playing and character customization are the true core, the rest is more or less semantics people get stuck on.

For me CRPG in a modern sense, are generally the RPG's that play/build on the tropes/features of the RPG's that were traditionally labeled as CRPG's during the time that it meant "computer RPG's" (like Baldur's Gate, original Fallout, etc.). Generally isometric view, generally choice-driven narrative, typically has a party-based set of protagonist/s with companion/s, and typically a deeper character building system relative to the zeitgeist. Also if the game's style of play is described either "real time with pause" or "turn-based" in that dichotomy, that's typically something unique to the genre (unlike real time strategy vs turn-based strategy, there is no "real time with pause strategy")

speaking of c&c, are you considering covering the witcher games? i get that you're not into games with set protagonists, but tell that to your younger, jrpg-playing self. that train has sailed! =)

what is a free comment? this. not complicated.

Just finished Encased and thinking of starting Solasta or Wasteland 3 next

Its not as eloquent, but instead of isometric I tend to just call them "top-down RPGs".
Because when you look at pretty much every one of these games that's the single defining trait. The ability to play with the camera looking down at a battlefield.
Mixed with a character creator, a story with choice & consequence & a combat system that isn't brainless button mashing.
So I call DA Origins a CRPG because it has all of those. The camera being optional. At least on PC. Which is where these kind of games are really meant to be played.

I loved the background footage when you're killing the void dragon with a chest, so relatable. :)

I always assumed that 'computer' was used to imply an adaptation (whether faithful or loose) of a ttrpg ruleset/'feel' rather than serving to distinguish from console rpgs

My couple of cents..... RPG means Role Playing Game, CRPG means role playing game that is played on a computer, it is as simple as that. What complicates things is, what exactly is a role-playing game? It us here that we may define two broad sub-genres, classical RPG and action RPG, though TBH i would not classify the latter as RPGs at all, but separate genre of games all together. Never the less, they were inspired by the classical RPGs, so i'll stuff them all together. BTW, there were CRPGs even before BG and Diablo, both based of DnD and not. But that is a different topic.
1. Classical RPG, the game tries to abstract player actions through an underlying game mechanic, that can be hidden from the player on the highest level. In other words, the player choses what the character in the game should do, and the character does it according to a set of rules.
2. Action RPG, the player takes direct control over the actions of the character (i.e. attack, dodge, block...) but the the player's actions are modified by some underlying mechanic, similarly to the classical RPG.
As for playing your own character or a premade character, both classical pen and paper and CRPG's have examples of both, so i don't really have an issue with either.

On the topic of first person, third person, top down or isometric, i don't think there should be an issue, these are all adjectives you add before the term CRPG, with the caveat that some of these perspectives work better then others. I.E. Morrowing is probably the most famous example, of First person game, that had an underlying game mechanic that established successful hits. To add to the player confusion, the game itself was presented like an action game, that is, the player performed the actions directly, which often resulted in a rather unintuitive and puzzling case of the player attacking, the weapon connecting but the underlying mechanic calculating a miss that resulted in the weapon passing harmlessly through the target. Never the less, the system was present and worked as such.

We should just go the MetroidVania route and start calling them FallGate-likes. Especially since everyone wants to be a "spiritual successor" these days.

For me, personally, a CRPG is specifically one with a top down/isometric camera, character customization (especially where the stats choices can strongly influence in-game outcomes) & lots of choice & consequence. Even more so if its also party based & features turn-based combat. For me that includes all the Baldurs Gate games, the Divnity games, the Pathfinder games, Pillars of Eternity 1& 2, all the Shadowrun games, Fallout 1& 2, Wasteland 1-3 & Disco Elysium. Morrowind, Outer Worlds, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas & Dragon Age I would label as 1st person & 3rd person RPG's respectively. Games with a greater emphasis on fighting rather than stat-based dialogue (Witcher, Mass Effect, Skyrim, Fallout 4 & CP2077, for instance) I would label as Action RPGs (whether 3rd or 1st person).