Needs Help: Stylish Action

This is my first TRS post, although I've read TRS exemples and I think I have an grasp on how to do this, I may be wrong, also keep in mind that english is also not my native language, so feel free to correct me if i'm not being clear enough

For me this trope has 2 major problems and one that can be see as a personal nitpick, but before that I will try to explain a bit of history.

For those who don't know this is a subgenre of action games, it was created basically to distinguish Action games with Devil May Cry combat style from God of War style, most of the differences between those games can be attributed to the difference between the combat depth and Skill Ceiling and Skill Floor of these games. This Genre has gained a LOT of names through the years such as: Stylish Action, Spectacle Fighter, Cuhrayzee, Character Action, Deep Action, Extreme Action and others. Each one of these names is popular inside specific communities, but the most general well know of those is Stylish Action. The name used in this trope (Spectacle Figther) comes from a review of Mad World made by Yahtzee in mid 2009 in which he glossed over and half-bakedly coined this term

Now for the lesser of the problems:

This trope has a vague and not well defined description, it glosses over or don't explain well the concept of this sub-genre, it's mostly enough to get an general idea, but not enough to remove the chance of missuses, the worst part is that mostly of the "common exemples" cited are optional, and the ones required aren't explained.

There's this wiki which, in my opinion, managed to describe this genre in a mostly well defined way, although it is kinda of strict, it is well explained and I recommend that you guys give it a read, at least the game criteria section

Ok now this is the biggest problem: Most of the Exemples are batshit insane and don't fit at all with the genre, even with the vague description I have a hard time trying to imagine how the hell someone put Batman and Kirby as an exemple of a Spectacle Fighter, most of the exemples don't have reason and the ones that have a description don't really explain how in the fuck they qualify as an Spectacle Fighter, and worst of all is that most of these exemples are ONLY cited as being an Stylish Action/whatever IN THIS VERY WIKI, it makes no sense whatsoever

I think this is the part where I should do Wick Checks, I frankly didn't see an recent exemple on how to organize this mess, but I will try my best by copying the Wicks and putting them in category:

Removing trivia, YMMV and others things(like mentioning that a game is a Spectacle Fighter in another trope) I managed to boil all the problematic wicks to 2 major problems:

I decided that Wicks aren't enough, so I copied the most problematic exemples and again, separated they in categories:

I already discussed (and by that I mean that I simplified)some of the issues and the wrong exemples in the discussion page

This is a personal Nitpick and not the focus of this post but I would like to introduce it here: I think this trope should be "Stylish Action", since this term is older and more well know than Spectacle Fighter, for exemple: I can find results for Stylish Action in 2008 being used to describe games like Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and Bayonetta, and this is way before the Yahtezee Review of Mad World. The others names (Spectacle Fighter, Cuhrayzee, etc...) should be used as a redirect/alias for this trope.

EDIT: I made a Wick Check and a "exemple check", changed some of the text to be more comprehensible and that's it

I only now realized that maybe I only said that the trope was wrong without explaining WHY it is wrong(although I think that you guys can pick it from the way I said thing) it's a bit complicated because like I said this genre has existed before Yahtzee coined the term and the Cuhrayzee Wiki is the only place that I know that does a pretty good job describing it, but the most general idea is that in those games the "Spectacle" and the "Stylish" side of things comes from a combat with enough depth in it system that it makes possible for the player to be Stylish and to create a spectacle using the mechanics, which also explain why one of the names for this genre is Extreme-Action and Deep-Action Games. I know this isn't a good job explaining it, but this post is already freaking huge

edited 15th Jul '16 11:44:42 AM by ChristianWS

Opening and clocking.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Honestly, I don't even think that this page should exist. Yes, they are all action/hack-and-slash/beat-'em-up games, sometimes overlapping with other genres. But take all this into account:

- All listed games do have a sense of style in the combat. Even the most shallow examples (including the Batman: Arkham Series) do reward you for the efficiency of taking your enemies out. Though I can think of VERY few in which the whole goal is to efficiently kill your enemies. The Darksiders games, for example, aside from a hit counter, couldn't care less about how you go about the combat, despite giving you a wide variety of moves at your disposal. Despite this, however, most of the games don't have combat nearly technical enough to be considered "in-depth".

- The criteria is way too specific. Enough games meet all of it for the genre to exist, but there are so few of them that creating a separate page for it is completely pointless. The reason? There's hardly any games on the page that most people can agree count, and even with all the examples listed, it's still far, far smaller than say, the page for Platformers or First-Person Shooters. Why can't we just say that the games are "combo-based action games" and just leave them in the much broader pages?

- One of the qualifications bugs me: "Usually Nintendo Hard in difficulty." Not all the examples are all that hard. For example, by default, the Arkham games and the God of War games are probably moderately challenging at best. While I would say that they are not easy compared to some modern games I've played, I would not by any means call them difficult, at all. I can guarantee Ninja Gaiden on Normal is a fair bit harder than either of those series on Hard. Difficulty varies regardless of genre. You wouldn't put hard FPS games in a separate genre and list their difficulty as one of the reasons why, so why would you do that for third-person action games?

- All of the criteria is either entirely subjective (the depth of the combat) or way too broad (having rankings (Sonic has these, and even taking the vague description of this supposed "genre" into account, does not count) and kill counts (tons of games have this)).

I could keep going, but then my entry would be even longer despite it being long as shit already. Look, I've played just about every game on the Spectacle Fighter list and can see what they have in common. Definitely. But what I also can see is that they are far too different for them to be lumped into an entire sub-genre built around a specific set of mechanics that supposedly define it, which means that the "character action" or whatever-the-fuck label shouldn't exist at all.

My point is this. Do the games all have combo-based combat? Yes. Do they have quite a bit of depth to the gameplay? Going beyond combat, I would say yes (well, most examples). Do they reward you for the skills you exhibit to take your enemies out? Again, for the most part, yes. If we're going by that logic, then okay, keep the page up. But taking into account the specific criteria, game mechanics, difficulty, and complete style focus, which is probably the more likely option for most people that know about this supposed genre, then it's way, WAY too niche to have a page for. Maybe it can be a sub-folder or something, but a full page? I think it should just be erased.

For me, they are combo-based action video games, it's that simple. Hell, even just call them "action" and it makes sense. Am I wrong? Maybe, but that's how I see things. I'm sorry if I seem hostile, but the page just doesn't seem like it has much of a point to it. If anybody disagrees with me, I'll hear you out, though.

The name is a preexisting term for the combo driven mostly third person action games with an emphasis on visual beauty of combat and mechanics as opposed to more realistic combat. The genre basically originated from the original Devil May Cry.

it's even a steam tag.

edited 9th Jan '17 10:53:52 PM by Memers

Okay, it makes sense when you put it that way. Perhaps I overthought it in retaliation to the first person who posted a really long section. I enjoyed just about every game I tried from the list anyway, so if it is a genre then it's my favorite genre of game by far.

EDIT: Also, I was basically saying that if the first poster is right about the genre's qualifications, then it's too specific to have a page.

edited 9th Jan '17 6:40:55 PM by Metalhead14

Thought about it. I say leave it as it is, since this post is clocked and the original poster has all but abandoned it, and we can open another discussion later if any changes should be made.

Specific genres of games playing follow the leader do exist, that's how Rogue Likes exist.

People have been using the name for at least 7 years now and was coined by the critic Yahtzee.

You're right. I just got so thrown off by the original post that I was beginning to question things.

I simply don't think this is a distinct gameplay genre, as I never find "spectacle fighter" as a category in any video game trope page (unlike, say, Roguelike). The games that are put as Spectacle Fighter examples are either put as Beat 'em Up or Hack and Slash or Action/Adventure (or sometimes Action RPG or Platformer if they overlap) in other pages.

edited 9th Jan '17 10:03:57 PM by Getta

We don't need justice when we can forgive. We don't need tolerance when we can love.

Overlap is fine, games nowadays always have elements of other genres in them such as rogue like elements, RPG Elements, Simulation Elements and such. Very few games nowadays have just one genre in them.

If things are not wicked or indexed on the site that is a Needs More Love problem.

It's pretty well defined though as I put earlier, it's the difference between Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Rising or Resident Evil and Devil May Cry.

edited 9th Jan '17 10:44:46 PM by Memers

But the first post apparently tried to differentiate DMC with God Of War. Both look like Spectacle Fighters to me, but I have doubts...

We don't need justice when we can forgive. We don't need tolerance when we can love.

I think I get what WS is saying about it. Or no. But I'll give it a shot of what he meant.

In my opinion, Stylish Action games are known for being games where the combat system and flashy, over-the-top maneuvers are prioritized. Devil May Cry is a prime example of how these games work, and I can cite some more, like Nano Breaker (Which Konami abandoned after the first game, that was a shame), Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising, among other that prioritize a deep combat system and over-the-top action.

Also, I wonder where the hell people has come up with insane ideas, like insinuating that Kingdom Hearts 3D (An Action RPG in the same line of Birth By Sleep) and the Tales series (A more traditional RPG franchise with action-paced combat system) are Spetacle Fighters. Hell, I even wonder what drugs are necessary for one to believe that KIRBY of all things is a Spetacle Fighter.

edited 23rd Jan '17 3:37:02 PM by ZeroDozer

Growing up, it's like a civil war, don't turn away, it's something you can't ignore...

Oh boy, after months this thread is finally open and it just happens to open while I was on vacation with my relatives on the middle of nowhere with no internet connection.....

And I don't even know where to start this, I thought that I explained myself very well, but it seems that I didn't explain enough, but since english isn't my native language I was expecting this, anyway

First of All to Metalhead 14:

The point isn't to efficiently kill your enemies, it is to stylish kill your enemies using the mechanics itself, i.e. you shouldn't just smash a button and the character makes cool looking moves, I will try to illustrate my point using Metal Gear Rising, which arguably doesn't have the most deep of combat on my "oficial" list, but is well known enough and the mechanics are more easy to understand:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgsp4oasfAY

See this video? The Spectacle/Style of this video doesn't come from the way Raiden is looking cool, it comes from the way the player is using the game mechanics to create the spectacle itself, If i'm not mistaken the game has 3 types of dodge( Defensive Offensive), only the forward dodge is cancelable(?) using Blade Mode, what the player is doing is using the Forward Dodge at the moment the Boss Attacks hit to get the invincibility of the Dodge, then immediately cancelling the dodge animation with Blade Mode, which has the effect of making Raiden look like he's freaking invincible, of course there's other stuff going on the video, but this is the most obvious one. In short: MG Rising has enough depth in the combat, that It makes this video possible, and due to the boss being hard and those techniques being hard to master (IIRC to give these effect you need to cancel at the exact second frame of dodge) it makes all these crazy things feel stylish rather than cheesing the game

I must say that I have no fucking idea how someone can possible think this is supposed to be a big genre like Platformers or First-Person Shooters, this subgenre is supposed to be small, that's the point of it, its size is more comparable to the Souls-Like subgenre, which is totally a thing even if doesn't have a TV Tropes page, if that's too small, then I agree that it should be deleted, its way better that this page doesn't exist than to spread misinformation.

Yeah the page criteria is fucking weird (and also contradicts the Yahtzee definition), also Go W isn't Stylish Action

Look Metalhead 14, this is kinda confusing the first time you hear about the genre, because it is a concept hard to understand if you haven't already "felt" the difference between God Of War and Bayonetta, since they share some surface elements, but the whole point of the existence of this genre (which dates way back than the Zero Punctuation creation of Spectacle Fighter name) is to separate Devil May Cry from God Of War. Again even the creator of God Of War admitted that God Of War have shallow combat: https://www.vg247.com/2013/05/27/god-of-wars-spectacle-distracts-from-shallow-mechanics-says-jaffe/

Again, since as the creator of the first post I'm sure that I'm right, I too agree that this sub-genre is too specific, if it is worth of a page that's another thing, but by default this subgenre is specific, again, like Souls-Like

And all those games in the page have in common is that they're action games, which is a broad game genre, with a lot of genres and subgenres. Musou games are almost their own subgenre at this point, as is the Stylish Action genre. Do you know what Musou, God Of War and Devil May Cry have in common? They're all part of the Action genre and the Hack n Slash/Beat em up Genre

Now to aswer Memers:

You're right, the genre basically started with Devil May Cry and others Clover games, whoever Yahtzee itself didn't coined the genre, only the term, people have been referring to these games as Character Action and Stylish Action way before his review, I should note that in his Mad World review he also contradicted common logic (and the TV Tropes contradicts his definition), since he said that the enemies in Spectacular Fighters are easy to dispose of, which is kinda of not true, the enemies in DMC and Bayonetta do put a good fight and even the basic enemy in these games can kill the player on normal if the player isn't playing attention, while they're not the hardest enemies ever created, they're far far from being at you would call a standard in the industry, and Yahtzee even says in a way that make it seems like they're easier than the rest of the gaming industry.

And as I said, its to differentiate DMC from Go W, if it was simply to separate Metal Gear Solid from Metal Gear Rising and Resident Evil from Devil May Cry, we could simply say they're Hack n Lashs, that would be enough, but Character Action/Stylish Action/whatevers are made to separate God Of War and the """generic""" style of combat from the Devil May Cry style

Also I think my internet is trying to commit suicide, so If I gonna go missing its probably because of this

EDIT: Grammar and Trying to explain better

Also I don't know if you guys noticed, but I think Stylish Action should be the name of the Trope, it is more well known and was used way before Yahtzee created "Spectacle Fighter" term, a simple google search shows that Stylish Action has 44.400.000 results while Spectacle Fighter has only 571.000 results

edited 24th Jan '17 7:09:20 AM by ChristianWS

Glad to see you return, Christian WS. In response to your explanation to me, I have thought about this, and this is what I have to say. As somebody who is a huge fan of both God of War and Devil May Cry, I completely understand what you mean when you say they feel way different, I just didn't really pay attention to it until you mentioned it.

Basically, I had no idea that "stylish action" was even a thing at all until I stumbled across this page and found out that I enjoyed a ton of the games on the list. I paid no mind to the mechanics or anything like that, I just thought the games were fun action titles. Though taking into account the true explanation of the genre of "stylish action" as you put it, it actually makes sense.

God of War may have a lot of moves, but most of them aren't really that useful and serve no purpose other than to shake things up a bit. You could basically get away with, on lower difficulties, spamming attacks and still survive. Also, as I think you've explained before, the "style" does not come from the player's actions, but rather the animation. Devil May Cry to me feels more like you, the player, are in control of the way the action plays out. The moves are not as easy to pull off, and require a bit of practice to use properly, not to mention that you can't survive without some knowledge of the way the combat works.

They're the same kind of game, but not the same sub-genre of game. Yes, they are both combo-based action games that require reflexes and skill. But Devil May Cry plays so much differently and requires so much more of those reflexes and skills that it's very hard to look at them in the same light. Putting those two games in the same sub-genre is like putting Kingdom Hearts and Dark Souls in the same sub-genre just because they are both Action RPG games, or putting Goldeneye 007 in the same sub-genre as Borderlands because they are both first-person shooter games.

They fit the broad "hack-and-slash" characteristics, and that's it. You could argue that the way a game plays or how hard it is do not have impact on its genre. However, since the spectacle fighter genre is entirely based on the mechanics, the way they play does play a part in the sub-genre's classification.

Literally the only hole I see in the explanation, now that I've thought about it, is the fact that (or a least I've read multiple times) God of War was actually inspired by Devil May Cry, so it might seem odd trying to distance them so much. In my opinion, "Spectacle Fighter" needs to be either reduced to a sub-category on the hack-and-slash and/or beat-'em-up page, or erased. It's way too small of a genre to have its own page, and I really hope I'm not the only one who thinks that. If the page either stays the way it is, or stays up and gets drastically altered to fit the criteria 100%, then whatever; I'm just stating what I think and will be indifferent to its status from now on. This discussion has gone on far longer than it ever needed to, and there HAS to be something to just settle the status of this page once and for all.

Sorry if this isn't a good job explaining it, but I'm honestly running out of things to say on this topic.

EDIT: Also, WS, I'm curious, did God of War's creator call the game mechanics shallow because he was asked? I'm just wondering why the subject was brought up to him

edited 26th Jan '17 1:44:35 PM by Metalhead14

So the mechanic has to be complex? If so, then how complex? Does it have to be like DMC or could it be different?

Talking about proper definitions here.

We don't need justice when we can forgive. We don't need tolerance when we can love.

I do agree that Kingdom Hearts 3D doesn't really belong here as it is just an action RPG like the rest of the series, just with a fresh coat of paint, but I can say with 100% certainty that Asura's Wrath belongs here.

While combat itself is mostly basic and most of the action comes from cutscenes, it's worth pointing out that this game is a QTE fest of the highest degree. If you want a high rank you have to keep paying attention and timing your button presses, even after a cutscene starts. And let's not forget what happens when you counter someone. Those were clearly meant to be spectacle fighter material.

Huh, like I thought my Internet tried to commit suicide, but I managed to come back lol

Metalhead 14 you have no idea how I'm glad to finally make you understand my point, it really means something for me to know that I could explain my point well enough in english to the point that someone changed his ideia about a subject.

I don't think there's a hole in the explanation, simply being inspired doesn't mean that the thing is the same as the one who inspired it, if we would, then things would get pretty weird really quickly, I mean, Devil May Cry was inspired by arcade games (as in, the primary source of inspiration was the fact that Arcade Games are on these cabinets and a lot of people saw you, not in the "arcade-y style game"), does it means Devil May Cry is an arcade game?

Although I would like the page to be drastically changed so that it stays what I imagine to be "correct", if that isn't an option I'd rather see it deleted so that it stops spreading misinformation, however your idea of it being an sub-category appears to be a good solution, but it opens a can of problems like, if Stylish Action is worth enough to be an "official™" sub-category of the hack n slash page.... why isn't Souls-like worth enough to be a sub-category of the action RPG page? Or why isn't Musou worth of also being a sub-category of Hack n Slash? Heck, I saw some pretty logical arguments that Metroidvanias should be divided in METROID Vanias and metroidVANIAS, since it appears metroidvanias seems to be made either based on Metroid or in Castlevania unique elements. We could make sub-categories for the rest of our lives if we wanted, and I fear that making Stylish Action a sub-category of the Hack n Slash page would open the gates of hell... and Vanquish despite being an TPS is considered by many to be a Stylish Action game, since it do have mechanical depth that is more akin to a Stylish Action than to a "normal"-TPS, and also because Vanquish is pretty unique and feels more at home besides Bayonetta and the like than to Gears of Wars for exemple, this would be specially weird if Stylish action was on the Hack n Slash page

But if people like the idea, I'm not against it

The original interview/making of(?) isn't available and I'm kinda of lazy to search for it right now, so I don't know lol

See Prinny Overlord, I don't think that counts, I haven't played Asura's Wrath, but this seems really restrictive and as I said, the Stylish is supposed to come from the mechanics, not the animations itself if I'm making sense, besides one of the "points" of Stylish Action games is that they let the player be expressive, from your example it doesn't seem this is the case with all the QTE's being important enough for you to mention them

No problem, Christian WS. I admit, I did have to read some of your posts a few times to get what you were trying to say, but it was mainly due to grammar and spelling, your English actually isn't that bad!

Anyways, I think I get what you're saying. Not every game that was added, whether they counted or not, was a hack-and-slash or beat-'em-up. Most of them were, but enough weren't that it wouldn't make sense to put it as a sub-category just on one page.

I can't say I 100% agree with everything that you've said in all of your past entries, but I definitely see where you're coming from now. I think we should keep this discussion going, though, since I'm indifferent to the page's status and I don't think that we have enough solid opinions for there to really be a general consensus. I'm wondering what other people's thoughts are.

Now that I imagine it, maybe the complexity of "stylish action" games are similar to those "fast-paced" or "anime" fighting games? (Different genre, but I think you can understand)

Like how people say Dante in Marvel Vs Capcom 3 is as complex as Dante in his own series.

We don't need justice when we can forgive. We don't need tolerance when we can love.

I agree that a lot of the criteria on the page right now are extremely subjective, which is what probably led to some of the non-stylish action games being listed as such. Having more strict, objective criteria might help cut down some of the examples that are missing the point.

The following are all mandatory criteria for a stylish action game:

• A ranking and scoring system that grades the player's performance. Common grading variables include how much damage the player took, how long the mission or fight took to complete, and the player's combo score - the last of which is calculated to reward long, uninterrupted combos that make use of more combat options.
• The encouragement of fast-paced, strategic, and creative gameplay through a combination of deep, technical character capabilities and regular enemy encounters that greatly outnumber and outmuscle the player, making unskilled and simple Leeroy Jenkins strategies unviable.
• Starting weapons and/or movesets that are already suited to attaining high scores and ranks, and aren't weak or simple enough to force the player to discard them as they take on more advanced missions.
• Combat physics and character capabilities that are skewed towards creating a visual spectacle instead of realism, often employing magic or advanced technology as an excuse.

---

Stylish action games also make use of at least one of the following common elements:

• An energy or magic meter of some sort that is charged through regular combat and can be spent on special moves, such as powerful attacks or short-term enhanced combat capabilities.
• Combos that make use of at least two attacking buttons, such as light/heavy or punch/kick.
• In-game currency acquired through combat that can be spent on additional weapons or techniques.
• Unskippable battles making up the majority of game encounters, requiring the player to destroy all enemies to further proceed.
• Boss fights, even early ones, that consist of multiple phases and are ended when the player uses a special finishing move.
• Moves, especially dedicated defense moves, that reward the player for perfect or close-to-perfect timing.
• Quick-time events during cutscenes, which may or may not make use of Press X to Not Die.
• Optional missions that do not advance the plot and challenge the player to complete special objectives or fight under unusual conditions.
• Difficulty settings that make the player's controls more forgiving (on easier difficulties) or make timing more strict, yet more rewarding (on harder difficulties).
• Primarily single-player gameplay with a third-person perspective.
• Multiplayer modes, if the game has them, usually involve competitive co-op where players must finish a mission with a higher combo score than their rivals.

---

For reference, here are the current criteria, which are heavily subjective and led to games like Kirby being added:

• High speed, technical combat that is So Cool Its Awesome when mastered.
• The gameplay in general being Difficult, but Awesome, rivaling Fighting Games in depth.
• Style rankings, kill counts, or a general Awesomeness Meter to show just how awesome you're being.
• Protagonists that are badass to the Nth degree.
• Usually Nintendo Hard in difficulty.
• Often utilize Gameplay Roulette and Unexpected Shmup Level's to break up repetitive action.
• Many times (though not always) overlaps with the Action-Adventure genre.

edited 16th Feb '17 11:44:59 AM by TheOrbOfConfusion

I'd argue that Azure Striker Gunvolt meets most of your criteria. (I'll explain if you want)

We don't need justice when we can forgive. We don't need tolerance when we can love.

Go ahead.

Double post, but I think that the page quote should be changed to something that isn't just "lol meme that came from a spectacle fighter". Yahtzee's review of Bayonetta used the quote "Bayonetta has more combos than a roadside café." I think that's a better representation of the genre's mechanics, but there's probably a more suitable quote from somewhere else.

Huh I'm back, sorry for being dead, anyway.....

The Orb Of Confusion I think your list is pretty damn good, however, I would prefer if we changed the order of things (the way it is now, it appears that having a Ranking System is more important than combat, even though both are necessary)

And even though I do like your list, I feel that it would still leave room for games that aren't Stylish Action, like the guy said he could fit Azure Striker Gunvolt using your criteria, and at the same time I feel like someday there will be a game that is undoubted a Stylish Action but doesn't fit the 4 criteria, like Nie R: Automata doesn't appears to be the most deep game (I haven't played it yet due to lack of PS 4, so I'm just going by what others that I trust have said), but hearing the opinions of hardcore fans of Stylish Action, it appears to me that Automata can be a Stylish Action.

>Starting weapons and/or movesets that are already suited to attaining high scores and ranks, and aren't weak or simple enough to force the player to discard them as they take on more advanced missions

Meh? I know this is 99% of all Stylish Actions, but I can see how someone could argue that Transformers Devastation doesn't fit this criteria, Devastation has a shitton of weapons, with Upgrades and Stats, and while I think it's technically possible to get a SS Rank on the hardest difficulty using the starting weapon, It would be such a bore that players that I doubt anyone would try it, since most of them would feel they're being forced to discard the starting weapons to take more advanced difficulties

While I agree the quote should be changed and that Yahtzee quote is more fitting, I would prefer if we disassociate as much as we can from Yahtzee, heck I think we should change the trope name to Stylish Action and use Spectacle Fighter as one of the countless other names this genre have, it is a fact that Stylish Action is a name most used than Spectacle Fighter and was being used ages before Yahtzee created the term Spectacle Fighter, and as someone else pointed, Yahtzee himself kinda of fucked up on his criteria while he coined the term (specially the thing with difficulty)

"And even though I do like your list, I feel that it would still leave room for games that aren't Stylish Action, ... and at the same time I feel like someday there will be a game that is undoubted a Stylish Action but doesn't fit the 4 criteria"

Oh wow. Something is definitely wrong here, although I can't put it into words.

We don't need justice when we can forgive. We don't need tolerance when we can love.