Really depends on what your definition of a WRPG, or even just an RPG, is.
Most people have all sorts of different opinions of what an RPG should be and there's no real common consensus other than that RPGs have to have some combination of stat management, XP, phat lewtz to be categorized as an RPG.
And even then, you don't particularly need those above mentioned things to make an RPG.
Should RPGs be turn-based or real time? Party based or rogue-like? Should they have a focus on exploration? Do they need to have gathering/crafting mechanics? Do they need dialogue choices and a malleable story? Should they be skill based or chance based?
There's quite a bit of variance in the genre, and different RPGs offer different things.
Stuff like Torchlight/Diablo II are rather simple 'kill stuff, get loot' types of games, but they still offer a lot of customization and build options that can affect how your character goes about killing stuff, e.g. throwing barb or whirly barb? Werewolf druid or werebear druid? Trap assassin or melee assassin? Bow or Javazon?
However, in terms of dialogue and story, it is rather linear and the player has no affect on it.
Bethesda games offer players a big wide world to explore and mess around in, and, by and large, give players the freedom to most anything they want. But this sacrifices the importance of the main plot in favour of side quests/faction quests, crafting, levelling, exploration etc.
Bioware games tend to be party-based with a focus on story, dialogue and characters, but tend to constrain player choices over the main plot and leave them to make choices that only affect side characters/places. So, in Dragon Age: Origins, there's never a way to not become a Grey Warden, as no matter what you do Duncan will conscript you and will drag you to Ostagar. And though you can role play a sulking jerk who hates Duncan, you still can't really disobey him since his orders move the plot forward.
However, you can make choices in hub areas that do make changes to the story and world, though in more of a minor way. So, choosing the werewolves over the elves, or Bhelen over Harrowmont, destroying the Urn, letting Flemeth go etc, does have consequences, but it doesn't really change the fact that you gotta kill that Archdemon.
Moreover they tend to railroad players at times, and the way they sometimes forcibly move the plot forward without player consent kind of... annoys some RPG players, to put it mildly.
Personally it seems that anything that offers players the ability to customize their characters and alter their play style in some fashion would be alike to an RPG.
Something like Bastion, for example, allowed players to customize their own play style by choosing two weapons and one skill from a plethora of options, and also allowing them the choice of what weapons to upgrade first. Simple, and lacking in stat management, to be sure, but it was enough I guess.
As to the shift towards more skill-based, action type RPGs... I really don't mind. Maybe I'm just cynical towards RPGs, but after a few hours of grinding levels and buying/finding uber gear, you'll eventually make the combat such a breeze that your character/party will be running around one-shotting most mobs outside of bosses, at which point there's... no real point to combat. All that's left is to explore, mop up side quests for cash/XP (though there's no real point by this stage other than being a completionist) and finish off the story.
RPGs just seem to get easier the more time you put into them, unlike most other games which drip feed you new skills and enemies to keep you on your toes and learning. Once gear and min/maxed talent builds start overtaking a player's actual skill in winning combats, challenge goes out the window and all that's left is story and loot.
Dark Souls at least made it that even if you were high level and in uber gear, you can still get your ass kicked if you play like a moron, and I'd prefer something like that than having my ME1 Uber God Tank Soldier Shepard running around spamming Master Immunity with a 100% uptime, slowly beating enemies to death with melee attacks simply because they literally couldn't hurt him.
TLDR: People need to reach consensus on what constitutes an RPG, as most people's preferences based on early experiences of RPGs probably colours their opinions on more modern RPGs.
Most people have all sorts of different opinions of what an RPG should be and there's no real common consensus other than that RPGs have to have some combination of stat management, XP, phat lewtz to be categorized as an RPG.
And even then, you don't particularly need those above mentioned things to make an RPG.
Should RPGs be turn-based or real time? Party based or rogue-like? Should they have a focus on exploration? Do they need to have gathering/crafting mechanics? Do they need dialogue choices and a malleable story? Should they be skill based or chance based?
There's quite a bit of variance in the genre, and different RPGs offer different things.
Stuff like Torchlight/Diablo II are rather simple 'kill stuff, get loot' types of games, but they still offer a lot of customization and build options that can affect how your character goes about killing stuff, e.g. throwing barb or whirly barb? Werewolf druid or werebear druid? Trap assassin or melee assassin? Bow or Javazon?
However, in terms of dialogue and story, it is rather linear and the player has no affect on it.
Bethesda games offer players a big wide world to explore and mess around in, and, by and large, give players the freedom to most anything they want. But this sacrifices the importance of the main plot in favour of side quests/faction quests, crafting, levelling, exploration etc.
Bioware games tend to be party-based with a focus on story, dialogue and characters, but tend to constrain player choices over the main plot and leave them to make choices that only affect side characters/places. So, in Dragon Age: Origins, there's never a way to not become a Grey Warden, as no matter what you do Duncan will conscript you and will drag you to Ostagar. And though you can role play a sulking jerk who hates Duncan, you still can't really disobey him since his orders move the plot forward.
However, you can make choices in hub areas that do make changes to the story and world, though in more of a minor way. So, choosing the werewolves over the elves, or Bhelen over Harrowmont, destroying the Urn, letting Flemeth go etc, does have consequences, but it doesn't really change the fact that you gotta kill that Archdemon.
Moreover they tend to railroad players at times, and the way they sometimes forcibly move the plot forward without player consent kind of... annoys some RPG players, to put it mildly.
Personally it seems that anything that offers players the ability to customize their characters and alter their play style in some fashion would be alike to an RPG.
Something like Bastion, for example, allowed players to customize their own play style by choosing two weapons and one skill from a plethora of options, and also allowing them the choice of what weapons to upgrade first. Simple, and lacking in stat management, to be sure, but it was enough I guess.
As to the shift towards more skill-based, action type RPGs... I really don't mind. Maybe I'm just cynical towards RPGs, but after a few hours of grinding levels and buying/finding uber gear, you'll eventually make the combat such a breeze that your character/party will be running around one-shotting most mobs outside of bosses, at which point there's... no real point to combat. All that's left is to explore, mop up side quests for cash/XP (though there's no real point by this stage other than being a completionist) and finish off the story.
RPGs just seem to get easier the more time you put into them, unlike most other games which drip feed you new skills and enemies to keep you on your toes and learning. Once gear and min/maxed talent builds start overtaking a player's actual skill in winning combats, challenge goes out the window and all that's left is story and loot.
Dark Souls at least made it that even if you were high level and in uber gear, you can still get your ass kicked if you play like a moron, and I'd prefer something like that than having my ME1 Uber God Tank Soldier Shepard running around spamming Master Immunity with a 100% uptime, slowly beating enemies to death with melee attacks simply because they literally couldn't hurt him.
TLDR: People need to reach consensus on what constitutes an RPG, as most people's preferences based on early experiences of RPGs probably colours their opinions on more modern RPGs.
