What's the best RPG from a western dev?

I have never been a fan of traditional hardcore RPGs that are too deep rooted in stats and and other bullshit. I absolutely despise any turn based garbage too. So, I tend to be drawn to games that are more action/adventure with RPG elements. Games like The Witcher 3, Mass Effect series, Skyrim, Fable, Zelda, Assasin's Creed, Horizon, Dark Souls, God of War, etc. are what I like. That being said... The Witcher 3 is my favourite.

Correct, sometimes less is indeed more. Mechanically Super Mario Odyssey actually wrecked SM64. But SM64, due to having 120 stars as opposed to 800, ended up arguably being the better game.

As a software developer. Feature creep is an issue that we face in our business.

Yup. Even though controlling Mario was a joy in Odyssey, I'd play Mario 64 over it any day. Or Sunshine. Tried replaying Odyssey more than once, but stopped everytime because of boredom. Compare that to Mario 64, which I've 100%-ed many times.

Mass Effects.

Disco Elysium was a revolution in narrative design and took this genre to another level, but besides that:

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (Turn-Based & Real Time)

Pathfinder: Kingmaker (Turn-Based & Real Time)

Pillars of Eternity

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

Baldur's Gate III (Turn-Based)

Divinity: Original Sin II (Turn-Based)

Tyranny

Atom RPG

Wasteland 3 (It's not the best RPG but I had a lot of fun, playing it)

Pentiment (on my wishlist, also on Game Pass)

Fallout: New Vegas

Kotor, Jade Empire and Dragon Age.

TES IV Oblivion back when Bethesda was good.

Mass Effect 2 back when Bioware was good.

The Witcher 3 back when CDPR was good.

Diablo 2 back when Blizzard North was good

But the best RPGs are made by the Japanese.

Elden Ring, FFX, FF7.

Its Fallout 3 for me.

I also realized western made RPG dont have good combat at least from ones I played. I guess its a difference in focus western RPG tends to focus on the world and story while Japan or Asian devs RPG tends to have flashy combat but the story tends to be pretty stupid.

I really need to try some of those pathfinder video games some time. The tabletop is superb.

I just fear I can't help myself and make a wizard for my party. trivializing the entire game :P

Elder Scrolls and Wizardry and Ultima but do not forget Dungeons and Dragon's!! This is the western inspiration of the complete RPG genre.

D&D 5e and AD&D 2e are my favorite editions. I never played the first edition but I heard a lot of positive things about it.

Pathfinder can be very challenging at first -especially on hard mode-but when you get the hang of it, it becomes very fun. Wrath of the Righteous is a great sequel to the first game and In my view Owlcat did an amazing job in implementing its complex ruleset. You can switch between turn-based and real time easily. Moreover the game gives you many classes, sub-classes and great feats 🤌.

P.S: I'm also excited for Owlcat's new game "Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader" but based on their resume, I'm sure it will be buggy at launch. So I'm gonna take my time and wait for a enhanced edition.

On top of my head, I'd say Witcher 3 based on how much fun it was for me.

Dragon Age Origins. And I am surprised that no one else has mentioned this game.

Story driven Standalone title TW3

Story Driven Series/cinematic package Mass Effect series

Freedom/sandbox RPG (with mods) probably Skyrim

Skyrim bar none. It's still selling 12 years later.