I like finding collectibles in games. It gives it some actual PURPOSE besides mindless combat the whole time.

What's this "actual PURPOSE" you speak of?

Agree. Can't stand all the superfluous fetch quests - at this point I'm even sick of inventory management. In games like Fallout, or Elder Scrolls, Witcher - these days I hardly even loot the corpses because I'm so sick of it after 25+ years.

One of the best games I've played recently was - What Remains of Edith Finch - a linear, "walking simulator" which implements innovative/interesting design solutions to drive the story forward, very detailed and very tightly designed - kind of on the opposite spectrum of open-world RPGs - but very awesome.

One of the worst offenses I can think of is a bit in GTA: San Andreas where you have to pass a fairly difficult one-off rhythm game to keep playing. I had to be called in to do that part as a favor for a couple people I know. And if I failed, we'd have to slowly drive back to the beach to get another shot at it. It's like the developers at that point all agreed, if you haven't mastered Parappa the Rapper you can fuck straight off!