And I don't mean Diablo-like hack & slashes either but something with more traditional RPG gameplay than just murdering legions of monsters and pumping stats. Open world (preferably but not necessarily; doesn't need to be big), side-quests, dialog choices and all that stuff yet with actiony, suitable for gamepad combat. Perspective might be from side, isometric or top-down, doesn't matter.

The two best examples of such games for me are Dex and Death Trash and frankly I can't think of much anything else like that. I know some metroidvanias may roughly check the boxes but they usually feel like primarily platformers with RPG elements rather than other way around. Or Bastion and Transistor could be close but with less linear structure.

PC only.

Could you specify the 2D requirement? Is it a hard requirement? Where do you draw the line, if perspective in general doesn't matter that much? No 3D engine at all? Or just no free camera?

And you mean to play them with gamepad? (I guess that rules out most of them ..)

Anyway, what about:
- Divine Divinity
- Inquisitor
- Arcanum
- Revenant
- Nox
- Kult/Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition
- Driftmoon
- Dink Smallwood
- Fortune Summoners
- Seven: Enhanced Edition

Indivisible fits somewhat.
It's an ARPG/platformer, but the RPG elements are rather superficial I'd say.

Overhead view:

Ys games though 5 (including Ys 1+2 collections, but not including 3 or its remake, or the remake of 4) (Also note that 5 has no PC or other computer version, as it was a Super Famicom exclusive)

Side-scrolling:

Ys 3: Wanderers of Ys (not on GOG, and no DOS/Windows version to my knowledge, but was made for Japanese microcomputers) (note that the "remake", Oath in Felghana, is 3D with a fixed camera, and it interestingly has the most platforming of any Ys game to my knowledge)

Castlevania 2 (originally an NES game, but technically available for PC, thanks to collections including the Castlevania + Contra one available on GOG)

Dust: An Elysium Tail

Timespinner and Bloodstained

Not sure whether playable with controller but 2D, RPG and real time combat:
Exiled Kingdoms
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader

2D is for low requirements mainly (should run easily on iGPU) and I'd prefer "console like" controls over mouse focused.

Seven: Enhanced Edition looks good but probably too resource heavy. Never heard of it but looks interesting, reviews are mediocre though and it's quite pricey. I will look at discounts. I was actually thinking Dust when writing about metroidvanias that somewhat fit but feel more like platformers. But yeah, it's kinda close. Never played Bloodstained but for what I heard it's similar case.

The Ys games seem interesting, some are also 3D or 2.5D but requirements are so low it shouldn't be problem. Only which of the older ones are the best because it's quite a lot of them? 1&2, Origins, Oath in Felghana, VI?

Looking at Timespinner GOG suggested as similar also CrossCode which looks like might fit.

Foregone could fit the bill I think. I don't generally like metroidvanias, but I liked this game as it's not really that much of a metroidvania.

Actraiser, Secret of Mana, Soul Blazer, Terranigma, Adventures of Mana/Final Fantasy Adventure/Sword of Mana (you don't need to play this version), Legend of Mana, Illusion of Gaia (Go with a retranslation patch), the SNES was rife with Action RPGs.

Serpent in the Staglands and Mechajammer, maybe?
Might be "too cRPG" to qualify as ARPGs.

The latter one also has simultaneous turn-based combat (which feels like real-time ARPG combat, to me at least).

There's also the upcoming (and semi-confirmed to get released here, if GoG wills it) Gothic-inspired Drova: Forsaken Kin (Playthrough of the Teaser).

I feel like Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising fits well here.

Now that seems pretty cool and exactly the type I'm looking for. Insta upvoted.

CrossCode might fit, but it's actually not that similar to Timespinner. Timespinner is a metroidvania that plays very much like an Igavania (that is, a like the Castlevania games that Igarashi made, including Symphony of the Night and all the GBA/DS titles except Circle of the Moon), except for the different setting and use of time travel. Bloodstained is a metroidvania that is actually developed by Igarashi.

CrossCode uses an overhead view, and I think it might use one of the control sticks for aiming. 1 & 2 are the earliest games, and are meant to be played in that order, with 2 picking up right where 1 left off. These games are characterized by a bump combat system, with 2 adding in a fireball spell that you can use to attack as well. Note that these are early games, and as such some of the game design can be a bit rough, particular that one boss in 1 that has a tendency to drive players batty with how terrible that boss is designed. Also note that 1 expects you to max out your level around the middle of the game. Note that, unlike Ys 1, Ys 2 doesn't really have much of an overworld.

VI, Oath in Felghana, and Origins (in order of release) all use the same engine, and as such have 3D platforming. Oath did make some changes to the formula (adding immediate pick-ups, removing carryable healing items, changing magic from the rarely usable powerful attack it was in VI to weaker spells that you can use constantly and which are sometimes used for movement. Origin takes place entirely within the final dungeon of Ys 1 and has a lot of references (including musical references) to the first two games. Origin, I believe, is intended to be played after 1 and 2, while the order doesn't matter from a plot perspective for the others. (Note that Origin is the only game in the series to not have Adol as the protagonist; instead, there's a choice of characters, and there are significant plot and gameplay differences between them.)

Aside from the connections between 1, 2, and Origins, the Ys game stories are all independent of each other.

Drova - Forsaken Kin Gameplay Trailer

No GoG logo in sight yet, but a release is planned.
2024 isn't quite here anyway.