Final Fantasy draws significant inspiration from Dragon Quest, which, in turn, was an adaptation or simplification of Western computer role-playing games that aimed to replicate tabletop RPG experiences. This is why the term "RPG" came about. The fact that Final Fantasy is turn-based has nothing to do with "technical limitations". They were a stylistic choice from the beginning. Action RPGs were indeed possible and actually predate Final Fantasy.
Action RPGs aren't recent by any stretch of the imagination.
Just wanted to point out you're absolutely right.
Anyone that claims otherwise has no idea what they're talking about (or is trying to sell you something)
Tabletop RPGs use numbers to model what the characters are good at.
You know why they use numbers? Because that's the most sane way of modeling those character skills.
How do you measure physical strenght in real life? If you had to model that in a realistic manner, you would need a robust simulation to achieve that.
With numbers, that task is simplified and made easy for anyone to rationalize about.
Oh, this character has 10 strenght points and this one has 5. It's clear who's the strongest one.
In RPGs, one of the most important things is that character skill should prevail over player skill.
That is, ideally it's your characters' abilities and skills that define the result of a battle.
You as the player can only issue commands.
If the character dodged an attack it's because the
character is good at dodging, and not you, the player.
This is fundamental in any RPG.
Turn-based games put emphasis on planning and decision making rather than reflexes.
That is, since your player skills cannot determine the result of a battle, it's your responsability to give commands to your characters in order to succeed.
It's like a football coach giving orders to their team.
Action games are like sports games. You're the player in the field. You're in total control.
Action RPGs try to mix both, but the end result always favor player skills over the controlled character's skill.
All of these can coexist. One is not an evolution over the other.
It's time for this lie to end.
