Indeed.
I've been trying to push a system that's somewhere in the middle -- and I mean actually in the middle, not just action-shooting with some negligable stats for show. 3rd person or 1st person, you'd move and maneuver as usual, you'd choose whom to shoot and where to shoot him, you'd pull the trigger when you choose to... but what you wouldn't have to do is manually pinpoint the shots via a crosshair or ironsights, nor would you need to follow the target with what ever cursor there'd be to indicate facing (hip-firing with an adequate accuracy penalty aside, and that penalty going down as your related skill goes up), that'd be up to the character you've built and the situation at hand. And you could (optionally) pause the game to observe the situation and possibly choose to use some active cybernetics, which would double as the "tactical mode" (kind of a phase-based system where you queu up 1 or 2 actions from a list of options depending on how much effort they take to perform and then see how your character manages them -- succeeds or fails -- kind of like that VATS thing, but far more indepth mechanically and options-wise) if the player would want to use it.
Plenty of hectic action-action-action there for those wanting for it, even if it'd not work like your ordinary shooter, but still highly character driven and with those pausing options for messy situations calling for it.
Additionally, there could be difficulty options that determine how much the character system influences the hands-on gameplay (which would mean all gameplay, not just combat). Like "normal" for intended experience where stats pack a punch but are not all that crucial; "action" for stats being helpful but not really necessary in the big picture (play like a storydriven shooter with some very light character systems); and "RPG" for when stats are an absolutely crucial consideration in all manners of gameplay.
Couple that with a normal difficulty setup (item prices and availabilities, enemy AI, skill levels, amounts, etc) and you could basically tailor your experience.
It'd not make for a perfect RPG nor a perfect action game, and there'd definitely be people on both sides who'd hate it to no end, but it'd be an actual mid-ground that tries to cater to both sides whilst sacrificing elements from both. I could live with it.