RPG Mechanics in NON RPG Games?

As the title suggests, I am interested in finding out what type of classic RPG mechanics you think would work well in other types of games? For example, I personally consider the 'health' mechanic to be RPG-y. But there are hundreds of game types where a health/similar attribute is present.

I also think that more games should adopt having 'stats'. Again, I feel that player/character statistics are very RPG like, but what do you think? Should more games have random stats that affect things, or other RPG type mechanics? like, imagine a call of duty type game where you can have elemental affinities/weaknesses based on equipment, or a tetris style game where you have a gauge that fills up as you successfully clear the level, that allows you to cast a revive spell when you die.

So yea, any thoughts?

Out of pretty much any genre of games, I believe that RPGs is the one that seems to get pulled into other genres the most. The reason for this belief is the fact that RPGs are pretty hard to really identify these days. Something that I would consider an action game because you primarily run around shooting things, many others now call those RPGs because the characters have stats and can be upgraded over the course of the game.

I really consider anything with equipment to have RPG elements.

I consider stat progression is RPG Element, even better with customizing the character, including equipment and/or controlled level up like stat distribution. For example, XCOM is a tactic game, but it does have RPG element since your unit is leveling up. Granted, I haven't put a research what are the differences between RPG and non-RPG in old games.

Not all games necessarily to adopt RPG elements though. For example, and instant action games doesn't need it. Like action platformer where the focus is about jumping in platform and pass the stages. Unless you want to make it RPG-ish like Starbound (It doesn't have level up progression though, only upgrade).

Blending genres is always interesting, like "Awesome" by Psygnosis or "Sigma Star Saga" by WayForward. Those two titles blended the RPG with full on shoot-em-ups. Completely dissimilar genres connect with those titles.

With that said, we see lots of RPG elements in a wide variety of games, from Resident Evil and Castlevania to Mass Effect. Improving skills, harvesting, and crafting are all elements that come from RPG's. Pretty much, most elements of an RPG eventually end up in more than one style of game. When it doesn't, then those other elements get brought into an RPG. "Tales of Phantasia," by Namco, introduced the beat-em-up concept to RPG's for example. Pretty much if something is advertised as a "Sandbox," it has a checklist of RPG elements.

Interesting. It seems fairly common opinion that most games are some kind of 'RPG'. Perhaps not in the traditional sense, but still a form of roleplaying.

My perspective comes from being around when the video game era began. Because computers were very limited, game genres were very distinct. They had to be. There weren't enough resources to go around. Action games typically couldn't have upgradable stats and dozens of weapons and armors. Power-ups were cheaper and more doable due to most of the resources going towards the action game-play elements. Sports games had to focus on sports elements. RPGs had to focus on RPG elements. The genres exist mostly because of those early years when games couldn't have it all. Now that we are long past those limitations, we can blend whatever elements we want into a game. Make something that transcends genres. The labels have become mostly pointless. I'm fairly sure that if early action games and such could have gotten the types of RPG elements that work well with them, they would have. Some games actually tried and did a reasonably good job at it (Faxanadu, Castlevania II, Zelda II). Even those successful tries had their limitations, though.

Avoiding the tangent of "what is an RPG", and focusing on "what common RPG mechanics work well in other genres" - I feel that nearly every RPG mechanic can play well in other genres, except for turn-based, menu-driven battles, and the concept of controlling an entire party at once.

Character stats, resource management, inventories, currency, sidequests (underused but I think really effective in other genres), overworld maps, safe explorable towns, upgrade systems, emphasis on narrative, and emphasis on character development are all elements or mechanics that are RPG standards which - properly implemented - can work beautifully in other genres too.

These days its easier to list games that dont have RPG mechanics. Hell, even racing games that allow you to increase your vehicles stats with new parts are technically RPGs in that sense.

I'll talk about identifying which is RPG first. A general way to identify an RPG is to ask these 3 questions:

1. Are you playing for a character?
2. Are there a goal/ambition for the character you played?
3. Are there a minimum of 3 general RPG mechanics being implemented?

That's a simple version of it, there are several rules governing each three, but if you answered yes to all three for a game, then that game is generally an RPG.

As for RPG mechanics for non-RPG games, character condition and stats are probably the only things that I could think of.
Character condition includes Health, Mana, Stamina, body condition, etc. This is used in survival games (some of which is generally an RPG), while stats includes RPG stats (attack, defense), resistances, vulnerabilities, chances (counter, evade), rates and basically everything else numerical that could usually change, or fixed but affect other's change (relationship points?). These two alone covers a lot of genres. Rhythm? Stats. Base building? Condition and stats. Racing? Stats, and condition if the cars could break. FPS? Condition and Stats.

Don't think too far. Conditions and stats will go a long way.

P.S It brings us back to the first thing I said. I only explained 2 mechanics and yet you need 3 to call it generally an RPG.

Well now, I love me some RPG/FPS games, like Fallout 3/NV/4, Bioshock, Skyrim, System Shock 2, and both Borderlands games. Basically, you have the action-oriented, pulse-pounding action of a shooter with the constant flow of new toys and abilities an RPG provides. It's rather sad that this specific merging is so rare.