RPG = Role Playing Game
so, technically ALL video games are RPG's...
Yes, but no... Metal Gear in its pure essence is not a Role Playing Game... It is a stealth game. You are put in the role of Solid Snake and therefore could argue that you are taking on his role in the story, which isn't entirely true... In actual fact you are an observer... You are struggling through the mission with him documenting his experiences via memory... You are not tailoring any aspect of his story.
The only RPG element in Zelda, as far as I'm concerned not including Zelda 2 or any other game I haven't yet played, is the ability to enter your name instead of Links. That is the only part of the story you can tailor, what pops up on screen when referring to your character. So I agree Zelda does indeed have RPG elements, it is not in essence an RPG game, at its very core, it is an Action Adventure/Dungeon Crawler game.
The most honest RPG games out there off of the top of my head, is The Elders Scrolls, Fall Out 3, World of Warcraft, or Mass Effect to a certain extent. While games like Final Fantasy are RPG's, even they are trumped in comparison to what makes a full on RPG game when compared to the likes of World of Warcraft.
RPG to me, is the ability to tailor your characters story. Zelda lacks that.
Meh. That's just my opinion, not worth much, but there you go.
