I decided to go with the adventure/rpg route and I’m currently looking at tiled map generation. The player would start in a town and perhaps buy/sell items and then explore the world (see screenshot) where treasure and enemies await.

I’m thinking that if a battle occurs, it can be resolved RPG style by cutting to a battle scene and choosing to use options or items.

It’s also 5am and I’ve been awake for 22 hours. I might go watch the sun rise and put on some coffee