Exactly. It's like... once Oblivion Dropped and I got into that, I couldn't see myself ever going back to the old pixel graphics. I told my daughter I couldn't believe they were still making such crappy graphics games these days. She said the younger generations don't mind it cuz they didn't grow up 'stuck' playing those and become tired of it. I guessed that made sense. But, since I did grow up with ONLY those type games... I can never go back. There is an exception or two ofc. I really got into the 'Steamworld Dig' game even though it's sort of a parkour type. Kind of reminded me of an advanced 'Dig Dug' game, lol.

Ahaha! I guess players like us who've experienced "live" the old graphics in the 80s/90s can't stand it anymore now, I completely agree on that! With very few notable exceptions...

That's exactly what 'RPG' is 'supposed' to be and that is my FAVorite genre... or used to be. Can't be bothered with any game that requires a smash fest of button mashing... can't stand those. Don't like parkour based games or FPShooter games. Refuse to play anything with graphics similar to 'Minecraft' or what I lke to call games from the 1980's lol. Kind of started leaning toward building games now that my eyesight is so bad. Makes it hard to read in a lot of those RPG's... which makes me sad *sniff* cuz I never really liked TV. So, PC gaming and RPG's had always been my thing for Entertainment.

Even if it's not strictly the "definition" of RPG, I can agree that your description fits what most players actually think when they're searching for "RPG" gameplay.

That's just my opinion, mind you; I could be wrong.

Anything that's class-based, you're with a party, each party member has a well-delineated role (sniper, cleric, tank, etc), your choices matter (they change the story), you've quests to complete (not all of them compulsory), you can swap gear in and out, there are NPCs that converse with you, you've choices in the conversation = RPG