Lend me a hand with finding games like what I'm looking for? [NOW WITH GIVEAWAY]

You guys ever thought about what'd be the perfect game to you? Not in terms of story or theme or art style, but in terms of gameplay, what you'd LOVE to sit down and play? Have any of you ever found your 'perfect' game? I mean, Fallout New Vegas is to me, the defining western RPG, but I have other 'perfect' games I'm after.

The first is, well, I love Path of Exile a lot. I love how fluid it plays, I love the gradual build up in your character's power, I ADORE the unique weapons (Between borderlands, path of exile and my general love for MMOs, I've realised I'm just a sucker for shiny loot). The problem is, I'm a bit burned out. I'll be picking it up again next league for sure, but I crave something else..
I've tried Grim Dawn, but it felt really... heavy? Like I was walking through mud or something. It wasn't smooth like PoE felt. I've tried Victor Vran, and that was a lot smoother and honestly pretty fun, but I found myself also bored quickly. Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing didnt grab me at all. Diablo 3? Too expensive, honestly, but otherwise I tried it cus it's free now and I still feel very meh about it.
So, question 1: are there any decent action rpgs that offer something even slightly close to the depth of Path of Exile without feeling so heavy or sluggish?

Second is - don't laugh - Maplestory. 11 Year old me LOVED maplestory. A platformer type game, with RPG elements? Absolutely awesome. The problem is, well, you know what maplestory's like I'm sure. I've tried plenty of private servers, they may not be kosher to talk about on here but I'll just say that you've seen one fan-made naruto job you've seen them all.
What I liked about maplestory, besides the grinding (god I'm a sucker for mindless grinding too), was the movement. It was unique being 2D and all about vertical movement. I've not really found much that was truly 2D and like Maplestory. Platformers, sure, plenty of platformers out there but those aren't a lot like RPGs, yknow? They're more "ok do this level, then this one, then this one".
I'm not looking for a maplestory clone, theres plenty out there. I didn't really enjoy the multiplayer aspect of the MMO. I'm also not looking for a sidescrolling beat-em-up. I've tried Mother Russia Bleeds and A) I suck at it and B) the whole moving in and out of the foreground - basically 3d with a 2d camera - is not what I'm after. One thing that came close is Aces Wild but again it's still a bit on the fighting game side rather than the grindy rpg side.
anyway, question 2: A 2D rpg sorta game with a lot of emphasis on vertical movement and or grinding? Sorta like maplestory without all the bad bits of maplestory (bar the grinding, bc some people think thats a bad thing and I can't blame them)

Third, and really I kind of already know the answer to this and it's 'the game just wasn't as fun as you remember it and so nothing else you find will be' is Mabinogi. I loved mabinogi for whole other reasons. It was like Harvest Moon, almost, with a bit of combat and a lot of life roleplaying. There's Black Desert Online, which came close but in the end was just too.. messy. Then there's stardew valley which, ok it's nothing like it but it's a relaxing farming game, but I just can't enjoy it for some reason. It's weird, but Stardew Valley I found super stressful to play!
Quick question 3 then: Are there any games similar to Mabinogi (if you've played it)? and question 3a, sorta related but not really - what I loved abt Mabinogi was its focus on Welsh and Irish mythology. Are there any other games out there with a focus on those two mythologies?

and lastly, a short question 4: are there any hidden gems of the 'bullet hell' genre out there? Would love to get into Touhou but goddamn some of them are hard to find and install and you need to mess around with your computer to get them to run properly. I love Mushihimesama, am waiting patiently for a sale on dondonpachi and I do like other smaller bullet hell shmups like Crimzon Clover and Ubermosh, but are there any others worth it to scratch that itch?

And whew, if you read all of that text, thanks, I guess! If you give a decent reply, I'll lob you onto my whitelist, as a little sweetener for clicking on this.

EDIT: as an extra extra sweetener, here's a giveaway. There is definitely no hidden giveaway on it, so don't look for it ;)

https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/Q88EL/ubermoshblack