I depends on the RPG. Take Dragon Quest for example. I'm on the final boss, and if you don't have good defence you'll never survive. You can doo some heavy damage but almost all of his attacks can kill you in one hit, unless you have a palidin. (Which I do!) In fact I've had to stall out many bosses. If you asked me this before I played Dragon Quest, I would have without a doubt gone offense. But Dragon Quest changed my view.