Back to the original topic...
I think some combat should be mandatory in a fantasy or sci-fi RPG.
But I would like most of it in optional side quests, for example you are contacted by the city guard to stop muggings in a district, you go to the district and on the way are waylaid by a couple of the muggers and you must drive them off, etc.
I feel that scenarios such as this make a game more realistic while keeping combat in optional quests that do not force people to do in order to continue the story.
Of course the option of combat is given to characters in the main story, but offers options to either talk your way past it, sneak past, or find another alternate solution.
Just my two cents.
TripleRRR