Except competitive multiplayer; there is no good reason to give a player who has played longer a mechanical advantage over one that hasn't. Also, there are some types of games where RPG elements would be hard or impossible to implement, like puzzle games (how would you add RPG elements to something like Tetris or Sokoban without it feeling contrived). There's also the fact that adding RPG elements to a game makes it much harder to balance, as you need to predict how powerful a player is at each part of the game; if you mispredict, the game becomes either trivial or frustratingly difficult (perhaps forcing the player to spend hours earning XP).

So no, there are some places where RPG elements don't belong.

In Stalker CS and CoP, do you also start with a gun that has a hard time hitting the broadside of a barn at point blank range?
Agreed on persistent stats in competitive multiplayer, however RPG elements within a match very much have their place - just look at MOBAs.

I don't see why it would be that much harder to add RPG elements to Tetris than it is to match 3 games.

RPG Elements in Tetris. With a bit more work, could've become a full blown Tetris Quest.

What's wrong with having gameplay be numbers and stats? I actually find it rather fun.

(Cookie Clicker, which I am playing now, is really just numbers and stats.)

Solid points about the game. It does feel like I'm just clicking heads a lot of the time. Maybe I'll switch to something else. It's just nice having an "action game" to dip into on the side while I replay Pillars of Eternity, which is what I'm mostly doing right now.

Have you considered something like Painkiller? Or just plain ol' Quake or Duke 3D?

You get a pistol and a Kalashnikov as starting equipment in both, and you can have those upgraded if you have the money, so your starting equipment isn't quite as crap as in Shadow of Chernobyl (Clear Sky is noticeably harder though).

There's one thing I like about Bethesda, it's the option to have First Person and Third Person, I prefer third person myself, however, the best first person games I've played is the Half-Life series.

Speaking for myself, I feel that Mount & Blade: Warband (and maybe the others) does a decent job of balancing RPG skill advancement and player skill. But maybe it's an exception.

It may be a personal taste. I myself do not enjoy FPSs at all while enjoy RPG hybrids just like you. Only exception was Clive Barker's Undying Which is probably the only FPS I finished and loved every second of it.

I own "Legendary" games like Doom or Crysis but I failed to enjoy them and stopped playing after 4-5 hours. And that long only because I wanted to give it a chance.

The funny thing is, while I too like the option, I HATE GAMES THAT GO BACK AND FORTH DURING GAME PLAY!

You here me Bloodlines!? Great game but cmon! Cut a slow old man some slack!

Tried borderlands (1 or 2)? I think that's the 'purest' FPS with RPG elements type of game. a bit of stats and level up and a bit of looting. It feels very much more like an FPS than for example Fallout 3 / NV / 4 or Deus Ex, which are more like RPG's played in first person view.

anyway, I agree hybrid genres can be much more fun than 'pure' genres, just because they tend to have more to do and have more variation., as well as replayability.

I don't consider Borderlands series to be anything close to a "pure" FPS. The enemies, especially the elites, get ridiculously bullet spongey unless you keep up with having top gear for the level. I'm talking being able to tank like 50 headshots from a sniper rifle that's just a bit out of date.

if you have mobs that needs "50 headshots from a sniper rifle", then you are playing it wrong... anyway, bulletsponges exists in 'pure' FPS's also, at least in Borderlands you can do something about it. and I never said it was a 'pure' FPS anyway, but the 'purest' of the hybrids.

Borderlands is Diablo mixed with an FPS, and I hate Diablo. I'm not a grindy loot driven RPG guy, I kind of don't even consider that the same genre as Baldur's Gate (not to sound snooty). Fallout New Vegas would definitely be my ideal combination; the world and mechanics mostly feel like the RPGs I love but the combat is FPS.

I agree. Even when going under a bridge in cars that go for 1st person view is kinda unnecessary but I can live with that but I have that game and have yet to play it, so thank you for the warning.