I have tried a ton of RPGs, and most just don't click for me. Here are a few:
- Skyrim - enjoyed Morrowind for the side content, Skyrim just felt empty
- Chrono Trigger - enjoyed until about halfway through with the battle with Magus; felt very RNG dependent, or maybe I was under leveled; I bailed after 5 or so attempts that all ended the same way (healer got killed and everyone got picked off)
- Pillars of Eternity - burned out somewhere in Act 2 (20-25 hours); combat system annoyed me, and I dislike picking new abilities
- Banner Saga - story is great, but I hate the combat, so I bailed
Some things about me:
- I don't care about leveling up/character builds, it feels like a chore; abilities also don't interest me
- I hate grinding
- using items feels like cheating, so I tend to just use character abilities (I will heal if needed); I'd rather "git gud" than buy and use items
- turn based combat (tactics) is generally boring, but I do like puzzles, so that can make it acceptable
- I don't like the feeling of being OP, I want to struggle through the end
- I don't like loot
That said, here are a few that I've really enjoyed:
- ARPGs like Ys and Zelda - items are rare or are tools in a puzzle-like system; favorites are Ys 1, Ys Origin, Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Zelda: Skyward Sword (probably because I played Skyward Sword recently); I dislike BotW, and Memories of Celceta has been dragging a bit (I'm near the end, but excited to finish)
- interesting RPGs like Undertale - short and very unique experience
- Souls-like games - challenge involving melee/dodging keeps me going
- Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - not a fan of the combat, but the story is interesting somewhat at least; I'm about 2/3 through I think (30 hours), but I've taken a multi-month break; likewise, Xenoblade Chronicles is interesting so far, but I'm not super excited about it (may bump down to story mode to get through it, the combat sucks imo)
- Nier: Replicant - great story, leveling stayed out of the way, and I never felt like I needed to grind or upgrade gear
I really like the storylines of RPGs, I just don't like actually playing them. Unfortunately, my preferred ARPG genre is filled with loot nonsense, and I've played most of the ones that don't really on that as a mechanic. Perhaps my favorite RPG-adjacent game not mentioned already is Yakuza 0, I'm not a fan of the combat, but he story is amazing and the side content is fun.
Does anyone feel similarly? Do you have any suggestions for other games to try?
It's a bit of a long shot, but you might enjoy traditional roguelikes. At least, I kind of felt similar and then found them to be what I was looking for. How they fare for your individual points, roughly sorted from pro to not-necessarily-pro:
Traditional roguelikes have brutal difficulty and grinding is effectively not a thing you can do.
The brutal difficulty forces you to use items. It won't feel like cheating, but rather the only way to progress.
And there's no way to sell loot, so basically whatever you find, either it's new equipment or you just leave it there.
This also means money is extremely tight. You won't be able to buy a hundred cheese wheels to counter-heal through encounters.
Very much turn-based, although not JRPG-style (which I dislike, too) and the games do generally feel like large, somewhat less strict puzzles.
Well, this one's a bit tricky. Traditional roguelikes are kind of all about that, moreso than RPGs. Because a death (or a win) resets your game progress, they can rapid-fire progress at you.
On the plus side, this is all part of the larger puzzle. It is not just a chore, but rather key to beating the difficulty.
I guess, I should also point out that by "traditional roguelikes", I mean games that are actually like the 1980 game Rogue. So, don't expect ~~hyperrealistic~~ 3D graphics. ๐
Here's two games that are relatively popular + beginner-friendly:
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Ehhh. You can definitely grind in Angband.
A number of traditional roguelikes, like Nethack or Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup, have a finite amount of food available that forces you to keep moving. But not all.
Yeah, I was wary making such sweeping statements about the genre, because I'm sure, there's oddballs, but I didn't either want to talk just of DCSS + Shattered Pixel Dungeon, which I've played more of...
And DCSS used to have food. They removed it some versions ago. What stops you from grinding, is that there's a rather limited number of (non-respawning) enemies/XP.
Ah, fair enough. I haven't played it in quite some time, and it's notable for the developers doing gameplay revisions.