With the most recent Role-Playing Game Renaissance, there's been a lot of talk about classic RPGs being inherently different than the newer ones. Nobody seems to have a strict definition as to what a classic RPG is, but everybody seems to know one when they see it.
Character development is the primary objective.
The game is party-based, with a view from the party's point of view. Monster appear and get in your face. You kill them and collect some gold, treasures and most importantly, experience points which advance your characters. How unfortunate, then, that this game with so many strong ties to the past is filled with so many of the annoyances we had hoped would become history years ago. Worse, the game's bug infestation is near epidemic.