The Legend of Zelda (video game)
"The Legend of Zelda" is considered a spiritual forerunner of the modern role-playing video game (RPG) genre. Though it is often not considered part of the genre since it lacked key RPG mechanics such as experience points, it had many features in common with RPGs and served as the template for the action role-playing game genre. The game's fantasy setting, musical style and action-adventure gameplay were adopted by many RPGs. Its commercial success helped lay the groundwork for involved, non-linear games in fantasy settings, such as those found in successful RPGs, including "Crystalis", "Soul Blazer", Square's "Seiken Densetsu" series, "Alundra", and "Brave Fencer Musashi". The popularity of the game also spawned several clones trying to emulate the game.
History of Western role-playing video games
"Times of Lore", designed by Chris Roberts and released by Origin Systems in 1988, introduced the action-adventure and action role-playing game formula of console titles such as "The Legend of Zelda" to the American computer RPG market. "Times of Lore" and "Dungeon Master" went on to directly inspire several later Origin Systems titles, including "Bad Blood" (1990), "" (1990) and "Ultima VII" (1992). "Ultima VI" made some major changes to the "Ultima" formula, including a constant-scale open world (replacing the unscaled overworld of earlier "Ultima" titles) and a point & click interface.