That's one of the failures of many video games ( RPG or otherwise ) ; take away combat and there is not a lot left. For RPGs in particular, this is something of a failure to make a faithful transition to a video format.
I was particularly pleased that CDPR took in the feedback of many who saw their early CP2077 game footage and asked for non-combat options; such that they now say the whole game can be completed without combat ( not without mayhem and death ) using stealth and tech options.
But then CDPR have so far proved to be the gold standard both for RPGs and for listening; few other big video games companies seem to even try.
I agree with all this 100%. CDPR is my #1 RPG developer out there. I have long hated first-person RPGs and also cyberpunk genre RPGs. And yet, because CP2077 is being made by CDPR, and for solely that reason, I have it on my Steam wishlist. For a true AAA game of that magnitude to allow you to complete the game without engaging in even one combat, that is amazingly remarkable.
Also, so true about what modern cRPGs have become. As I've said elsewhere, RPGs used to be role-playing with some combat elements mixed in. Now, they are mostly combat games with some role-playing elements mixed in. I think we need to start demanding that cRPG developers tell us upfront what percentage of their game will be combat versus outside-of-combat time. After all, they are able to estimate how much time in total the game will take to play, so it should be only a small stretch from there to also estimate what percentage of that time will involve combat. And of course the greatest benefit of this would be that for games in which combat is only a small % of the game, the combat system won't matter that much and we can all move on from the RT v. TB wars.
