Have you considered joining a TTRPG group?

You get a lot more freedom with RPG elements if you have a good DM/GM and you don't need to focus as much on combat.

If the first 2 games are any indication, you definitely won't like the third entry in the series.

Outside of that, River City Ransom is an NES side scrolling beat em up with RPG elements and a story.

The combat is super simplistic, one button for punch/kick, both buttons to jump, and you block if you press the same attack as enemy.

It still combat focused but a bit more out of the box.

Got 7 or 8 hours in the Act 1 EA.

Combats a major factor in this game. However it is more avoidable than the likes of the Div and Pathfinder games, mainly via bypassing with stealth or dialog. Combats a core part of the game still. We don't know what it will be like post act 1. But I feel it will be more of the same.

Combats a main function of the gameplay loop, and is a large part of the content. Which is a bit unfortunate for people who just want the story aspects, im not aware of any difficulty setting they may add to trivialise it. Combat play is similar to pathfinder wotr game overall / turn-based combat.

Based off your descriptions, I don't think you'd enjoy the combat in this game either. Unless they add some kinda of mode specifically for story only goers.

That being said the rpg, story, dialog and everything else feels top notch from what I've played.

I haven't played BG3 but I have played BG1 and 2, Pillars, Divinity, and pretty much all other major CRPGs, and in all of them the combat system is a major part of the game. And I think it's safe to assume that it's a big part of BG3 too.

But i can empathize with you about not liking the combat system. Even though i really love the combat system of CRPGs like Baldur's Gate (it may even be my favorite part about the game and my favorite type of combat system ever) there are other systems that i really dislike such as what you find in the various FromSoft games. Because it is such a major part of those games and because i don't enjoy that type of combat i will probably never play those games regardless how good the story elements are. Sometimes you just have to say that certain games are not for you and that's ok.

It's a lot like the divinity original sin games in terms of combat. I love turn-based combat so I'm gonna inject this game into my veins when it launches but if you aren't a fan of that type of gameplay idk if you'll like this game since there will be a lot of it

Already pre-purchased it. Want to find someone to play with, but considering the fact I'm in China I can't but worry about the latency.

If you like role-playing games but not so much the combat maybe check out Age of Decadence and Colony Ship by Iron Tower. The combat in those games is intentionally brutal to incentivise thinking ways around it if you can, and I'm pretty sure you can make it through the whole game avoiding combat entirely.

Age of Decadence especially is complete and has many branching paths depending on your build, and Colony Ship is still early access but planning on releasing fully later this year.

The settings are pretty awesome for both, with AoD set in a post apocalyptic land with tech analogous to the late Roman Empire, and Colony Ship being set sometime during a centuries long generation ship voyage.

i bought the early access about two weeks ago because i have a friend who bought it over a year ago and just raved about it, and the reviews on steam were positively glowing. I don't tend to like these games but i want to. I thought this might be the one that I like and discover a whole genre of games I usually avoid.

It wasn't. I ended up refunding it before 2 hours. I just can't get into these kinds of games at all.