buckeye wrote on 2020-04-02, 14:22:

Can anyone recommend another RPG with an easier learning curve?

Try the Eschalon series. I've beaten Book 1 and 2 so far and they are pretty easy to get into and relatively short. I believe Book 1 took me about 30 hours and Book 2 took 50 hours. I really enjoyed them. Another one to consider is Legend of Grimrock. It's 1st person and combat is real-time (unlike the simplistic turn-based combat in Eschalon). But it's also fairly easy on the easier setting and provides a good RPG experience. edit: Grimrock is even short, it took me about 20 hours to finish. I have more experience with DOS-based RPGs but I'm not sure that's what you're asking for. If you want, I can give a few recommendations there too.

buckeye wrote on 2020-04-02, 14:22:

Anyone else struggle this much with this game?

You can always check solution / walkthrough (youtube).

clueless1 wrote on 2020-04-02, 16:50:

buckeye wrote on 2020-04-02, 14:22:

Can anyone recommend another RPG with an easier learning curve?

Try the Eschalon series. I've beaten Book 1 and 2 so far and they are pretty easy to get into and relatively short. I believe Book 1 took me about 30 hours and Book 2 took 50 hours. I really enjoyed them. Another one to consider is Legend of Grimrock. It's 1st person and combat is real-time (unlike the simplistic turn-based combat in Eschalon). But it's also fairly easy on the easier setting and provides a good RPG experience. edit: Grimrock is even short, it took me about 20 hours to finish. I have more experience with DOS-based RPGs but I'm not sure that's what you're asking for. If you want, I can give a few recommendations there too.

30-50 hours per game? Wow, maybe I need to be re-evaluate the time needed to play these types of games. I'll look into the Eschalon series, thanks!

robertmo wrote on 2020-04-02, 17:48:

buckeye wrote on 2020-04-02, 14:22:

Anyone else struggle this much with this game?

You can always check solution / walkthrough (youtube).

Yeah, going to watch all the youtubes I can and keep pouring over the manual.

you can always get stuck in any game and watching just one youtube walkthrough is always the easiest solution.

You don't even have to watch it from the beginning.
You just skip to the moment you are currently in and start watching from there.

Just tried CART Precision Racing on my Win2k, it was as bad as before. Now installed Papyrus IndyCar Racing II, much better on my VM for MSDOS622+Win311. I have a few more games that may be better suited for my Win2k VM.

Next games on the list: FIFA 97 - Garbage, NR2003, Daytona USA, and Grand Prix Legends.

EDIT: Discarded all the games but NR2003, waiting to install my steering wheel.

GPL can wait a bit longer. I know this one is harder.

buckeye wrote:

30-50 hours per game? Wow, maybe I need to be re-evaluate the time needed to play these types of games. I'll look into the Eschalon series, thanks!

Typical RPGs are 40-80 hrs long. The Witcher series are probably on the high end (60-80 hrs). Check gamefaqs.com and howlongtobeat.com for good estimates of playtime per game.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is 13 hours only

you can also try Final Fantasy XV

For the beginner it is always best to choose rpg with already prepared characters.
Betrayal at Krondor has Heroes of Might and Magic like battles.
Summoner has battles like The Witcher

buckeye wrote on 2020-04-02, 14:22:

Anyone else struggle this much with this game? Got Witcher 2 but really want to finish this game first before moving on. Part of the
problem could be me playing it late at night when I'm tired so maybe early morning on the weekend with plenty of coffee flowing
will fare better. Are all RPG's like this? Can anyone recommend another RPG with an easier learning curve?

The Witcher 1 is an overall terrible game and all the complaints you have about it are 100% accurate, it has some of the worst controls and combat/crafting mechanics ever in an RPG, I couldn't stand it for more than 5 hours.

I can recommend you a LOT of good RPGs, but you have to tell me whether you want something new/modern or whether you would be OK with playing an older game.

Shagittarius wrote on 2020-04-02, 13:20:

The biggest problem I had with Divinity: Original Sin was that the combat felt too puzzle-y most of the time. Due to the environmental factors the dev routinely decide to throw encounters that you couldn't defeat without using environmental factors, like electrifying water or setting something on fire, or other less obvious things. To me this gave the combat too much of a puzzle feel, I'd rather strategy be the deciding factor in encounters in a game or else it starts to feel more like an adventure game than an RPG. I didn't enjoy this game as much as everyone else did either.

There is that too; the combat is very strategic and relies heavily on chaining environmental effects from things like explosive/poison/oil etc. barrels with spells/grenades/arrows, it gets gimmicky and immersion breaking very fast. When a combat encounter turns into a race about who can keep the other side knocked off their feet more reliably, it stops being fun. I'm still playing, 20 hours in and I can't say the game got better but being more invested in developing my characters is kind of pushing me on. I can see myself finishing this game but I doubt I can be bothered to 100% it. I'm dying to move onto something more interesting like Tyranny.

appiah4 wrote on 2020-04-03, 07:30:

buckeye wrote on 2020-04-02, 14:22:

Anyone else struggle this much with this game? Got Witcher 2 but really want to finish this game first before moving on. Part of the
problem could be me playing it late at night when I'm tired so maybe early morning on the weekend with plenty of coffee flowing
will fare better. Are all RPG's like this? Can anyone recommend another RPG with an easier learning curve?

The Witcher 1 is an overall terrible game and all the complaints you have about it are 100% accurate, it has some of the worst controls and combat/crafting mechanics ever in an RPG, I couldn't stand it for more than 5 hours.

I can recommend you a LOT of good RPGs, but you have to tell me whether you want something new/modern or whether you would be OK with playing an older game.

I'm game for anything that came out from 1995 and on up. I'm sure a lot of them are offered on GOG, that's where I've been getting my games lately.

Betrayal at Krondor is from 1993 but it's like a game from the future with open 3D world

buckeye wrote on 2020-04-03, 13:12:

I'm game for anything that came out from 1995 and on up. I'm sure a lot of them are offered on GOG, that's where I've been getting my games lately.

Well in that case, here are my suggestions:

Baldur's Gate 1/2: Possibly the defining D&D RPG on PC, it strikes a fantastic balance of storytelling and gaming aspects of what makes an RPG. THink of it as the more approachable middle ground between its siblings Icewind Dale and Torment. Enhanced Editions of both games are available on Steam and GOG and you can't go wrong with trying these. The first game clocks in around 100 hours and the second one is easily 200 hours long, without the expansion.
Icewind Dale 1/2: Black sheep of the Black Isle D&D games, this is the gamist one of the bunch and has a much higher emphasis on tactical combat and party building than the others, but it is an enjoyable ride. In many ways it can be more frustrating and less rewarding than the others.
Planescape Torment: This is possibly the game that approached the tabletop roleplaying experience as best you can without the involvement of a human GM, it is more of a story expressed through gameplay rather than a game experience, be prepared to read volumes of books' worth of text if you want to play this but finishing it is more rewarding than any game I have ever finished.
Fallout 1/2: Post apocalyptic roleplaying from Black Isle at their finest, these games basically kickstarted the whole open world roleplaying thing along with Elder Scrolls Arena and Daggerfall.
Morrowind: The second best Elder Scrolls game, but I can't recommend Daggerfall over this despite feeling it is the better game because it aged very badly in some ways. Morrowind is huge. It is also not easy to 'get' mechanically. But it is incredibly fun once you get over the slow start and hit your stride, and start experiencing its world.
Might & Magic 6/7: To be honest I am more a Might & Magic 3/4/5 guy but those games haven't aged terribly well and I feel there are better dungeon crawlers than those so I will instead go with 6 and 7 both of which have very engaging stories, great gameplay, fantastic dungeons.
Eye of the Beholder 1/2: The quintessential dungeon crawlers AFAIC. These gems from Westwood Studios perfected the Dungeon Master formula and in almost 30 years since their release the genre has been improved only marginally by everything that came after.
Lands of Lore: Westwood's next dungeon crawler after losing the AD&D license, it looks and plays a lot like Eye of the Beholder, but it is the better game in many ways. The fact that you can only play pregen characters makes it more approachable to newbies unlike Eye of the Beholder where you have to create a party which can be frustrating - play this first.
Legend of Grimrock 1/2: Alternatively if you want a modern dungeon crawler you can't go wrong with LoG 1/2 but be warned, they are very unforgiving and difficult games.
Vampire Bloodlines: Included only because how many people hail it to be an amazing game - I personally couldn't stand it long enough to see where the story went. The Source engine aged terribly and the game is a bugfest. World of Darnkess and Vampire the Masquarade in general are very engaging setting/games so I can see this as being a great game at the time but it's probably not a great game to play today. Still, if it appeals to you, try it.
Arx Fatalis: I did not recommend any Ultima games as I think their controls aged pretty bad and do not have much appeal to a newcomer to the genre today but this game, initially designed to be Ultima Underworld 3, is a fantastic open world dungeon crawler few people know about.
Age of Decadence: Another newcomer, this is probably the best storytelling in an RPG I have come across in late years, prepare to be pleasantly surprised.
System Shock 1/2: More action RPGs than a pure RPGs but these games are absolute classics; the first one has an enhanced edition you should go for due to updated mouse controls alone, and the second game is just a classic that has influenced a lot of modern games like Bioshock and Prey..

appiah4, thanks for the list. Ironically already have Elder Scrolls Arena/Daggerfall as part of a package deal from buying Quake the offering,
just never got interested in trying them out. Have SS2 which was a nice suprise find at a flea market , didn't know it was classified as an RPG.

Every game containing characters' development classifies as an RPG including Cannon Fodder and Myth 😀

Only second game of System Shock falls into RPG category. First game is just a shooter.

If we talk about Vampire: The Masquerade then Redemption unlike Bloodlines makes use of long life of the character and starts in middle ages and continues to present day.

I just can't seem to get motivated to play much lately so I'm settling for watching Kim Justice's back catalogue - great YouTuber.

You asked for RPG recommendations with an easier learning curve. Many of the recommendations above are the opposite of that. Here are my recommendations from mid-90s to present:
-Lands of Lore. Actually, this is the perfect definition of classic RPG with easy learning curve. Super fun, immersive, and easy to get in and out of.
-System Shock 1/2. There's lots of debate on whether this series has RPG elements or not. It definitely is not a FPS IMO. You spend most of the game sneaking around trying to avoid combat, not seeking it out. The interface is not really conducive to running around shooting monsters. I do agree that you should play the Enhanced Edition of the first. Customizable keyboard controls, high res, designed to play on a modern system, etc. Way better.
-Stonekeep. This is a very fun, easy to get into RPG. Great mood, soundtrack, voice acting. Reminds me a little of a precursor to Legend of Grimrock.
-Crusader: No Remorse and No Regret. Again, a mix of genres. Some will say it's a pure shooter, others say there are RPG elements. Whatever. It's fun in both ways.
-Baldur's Gate 1/2. Great RPG experience. I was not crazy about realtime-with-pause combat. It felt like too much was going on behind the scenes that I could not control. But that's just me.
-again, the Eschalon series (first one is free on GOG). The epitomy of easy-to-get-into but fun/immersive RPG.
-Legend of Grimrock. I didn't find it that difficult once I cranked the difficulty down. 😉 The difficulty centers around twitch skills since combat is in real-time and requires good reflexes. I'm old and have bad reflexes, and I was still able to beat this game.
-Lords of Xulima. It's not a super easy learning curve but I'll still put it here because it was so damn fun. A serious hidden gem IMO.
-Pillars of Eternity. It plays interface-wise like Baldur's Gate and has a great story. My biggest gripe with it was the realtime-with-pause combat. I guess I might be in the minority over my opinion of that combat interface.

These are just games I've actually played and beaten.

Here's a few games I can conditionally recommend. I own them but haven't played them yet. Just going off of internet buzz, not my own opinion:
-Avernum: Escape from the Pit (I've heard good things from all of Spiderweb Software's RPGs)
-Avadon: The Black Fortress
-Balrum (seems to be Eschalon-like but with crafting elements)
-The Bard's Tale (2005) has a lot of comedic elements mixed into an RPG

hmm