What is missing from JA2 to qualify it as an rpg?
Opinion and argument. Your comment was just opinion.
Perhaps PoR2 was bad, but then I also gave more examples so you do not get to cherrypick an argument you would like to refute and then ignore the others.
You are correct in arguing with me that it is an rpg. However, it has more in common with strategy games than the games you mentioned.
Normal RPGs like Baldur's Gate do not allow you to have more than 6 characters, split your forces, hold areas on the map, maintain those forces (gold from the mines), attack areas from multiple directions and it's combat system is more complex.
Your opinion may have had facts to support you, but those facts are irrelevant to me. I do not mind waiting for them to take their turn. If a game is too slow then you can bet that some modder will speed it up. That is not a weakness of TB games. That's a weakness in the way they implemented the system. For example: I had to get the mod to speed up Wiz 8 because the monsters were too slow, but I sure as hell would not want that game in realtime.
If you do not like turnbased games because of how slow they are then fine, but I like them for the level of control I have over my characters. I can plan out my tactics without being rushed. I do not mind the civilians taking their turns. Sure that could be improved upon like they did in TOEE, but overall I would rather have a game that allows me to think out my moves.
That said, I still like RTWP with RPGS where you have one party and only one party. Dragon Age was fine with me because of this. A game like JA2 is not ok to do in realtime.
As for cherry picking, lol. How many examples did you use? Fallout, Baldur's Gate and POR2. I chose that one because it was absolutely crazy you posted that youtube video when all the woman needs to do is get a mod to speed up how fast they run.
Plus, your other examples were ludicrous,
IMO. Fallout's combat being boring? Give me a break. Yes, it was slow at times, but not that slow. You also had a bunch of different options like different kinds of ammunition to use, different drugs, different companions, different styles of weapons, different rates at which those weapons could be fired, explosives and different kinds of behavior for your companions. Could it be improved upon? Of course, but there is no need to get rid of the whole system entirely. If that is boring to you then we have totally different tastes in games.
You mentioned waiting for the guards to come into position and how that was too slow. Well, that's part of the fun of the game. You don't know where they are at and have to be careful where you go. Normally I would have one scout with the others in position while we slowly crawled forward as a group. If the scout was any good he would see them before they saw him. If not then at least most of my guys would still be in position to take on the coming rush of guards.
I like that and I would believe a lot of other JA2 fans do as well or there wouldn't be such an uproar all over those forums and Bear's Pitt.
Hope this is enough detail for you. Basically it comes down to they are hoping that more people will think like you and buy this game because I know that most of the JA2 community wants nothing to do with it. Check out their forums if you don't believe me.