On the subject of PC vs. NPC creation, I dont mind NPCs having a simplified system as long as the final numbers are comparable. If one of the player characters is absent from a scene, I want to be able to hand that player a guardsman to play, and it should work out of the box. How those numbers were made up? I couldn't really care less as longa s they make sense in the story. 3E's insitance that you build monsters like characters was one of the main flaws with it in my book.
What I actually play these days is Action, which is pretty much DnD reimagined using Feng Shui as a base ruleset. Though it nominally does other genres, DnD is what we have actually use it for. Character creation in Action is entirely points-based, but there is something equivalent to level. In a lot of ways, Action characters are built like NPCs in other games - there are very few restrictions and its the player's responsibility to make it into a cohesive whole. Fits my table.
The free League (Fria Ligan) used to appear at game cons in Sweden maybe 20 years ago with innovative but weird scenarios. Doing things like Twilight 2000 today, they have become much more conventional - but others in the group still do the wierd naughty word. Good kids!