So I assume you don't consider, say, the original Legend of Zelda to be an RPG? Link has no stats beyond health you can improve nor much in the way of gear to

So I assume you don't consider, say, the original Legend of Zelda to be an RPG? Link has no stats beyond health you can improve nor much in the way of gear to enhance. To be clear, I'm not arguing one way or the other. But I suspect it wouldn't be tough to find games considered RPGs that don't meet the definition you pose here.