^ I don't know about gamers vs. non-gamers, or whether I'd even be one or the other - I suspect I'm in the middle somewhere, and mostly I'm just task/order/efficiency-obsessive - but my issue with story or "realistic" RPG (vs. fast arpg's/looters) is if I realize a NPC is trying to give me a quest, I will run far away. Hence I never get anywhere in them in the long run so what's the point. It's not just combat - although that is a large factor re: whether I might even idly/briefly check something out at all - nor does it matter to me how well anything is written, I simply do not care to listen to/quest for NPC's, go away. 😛
There is generally little within most stat/gear based RPG loops - even sandboxy ones - that give me motivation anymore, outside of simple exploration/saw all the map perhaps. I wish I could still get into them but it's not where my brain travels.
Death Stranding wasn't an RPG, but its gameplay loop was so different from the norm that I've experienced (well, most of it), and in some weird way it was so meditative, that I put up with a lot of stuff I wouldn't normally - like the few weird combat sequences and those mega-cutscenes, blargh - here and there. Outside of explore/build sandboxes, I need more oddball and different like that, stuff that doesn't feel like the same thing with a different skin, yet again. Man I hope DS2 doesn't suck.