There’s often a lot of debate as to what constitutes an RPG and what doesn’t. By some definitions, any title that sees the player take the role of a particular character is an RPG, while in other cases, only games with extensive stats to fiddle with, the prerequisite battles and so on will do.
Of course, you’d be hard-pressed to argue that the Borderlands games aren’t FPS titles, because you spend almost the entirety of your time shooting things from a first-person perspective (vehicles aside). However, there are also considerable RPG elements in these games.
The key to building and maintaining a Borderlands build is monitoring the many stats of a given weapon, swapping it out where needed, and making yourself more effective in battle by leveling up through EXP and investing in your chosen Vault Hunter’s extensive skill trees. It’s all very RPG-esque, then, and ever-outspoken Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford reports that he was the man who saw the potential in blending high-octane blasting action with RPG elements.
Speaking on Shacknews’ 24 'Til Launch: The Making of Borderlands 4 (as spotted by Gameranx), Pitchford recounted some of his earlier gaming memories. He said...
