hey, did you like the idea of replacing combat by mini-game ?
aslo i got an idea while thinking of suggestion for you a walking gallery where there's not much action but lot of short scene (i'm going to use it either as a bonus game or in the intro of the game i'm doing at the moment to make a recap of the lore and historical event in the world of my games, they are all stand alone, but in the same universe and there's more than 6 year since my last game so ... ^^) anyway thanks to you i got a nice idea if it can give you some inspiration it's even better, i'll come back see how your game go in a couple update since i like the theme