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?
I’d suggest Shadowrun: Dragonfall. Fairly simple mechanics, character building and inventory. Great storytelling and characters in a familiar but fantastic setting.
I really liked the Yakuza games. They’ve improved a lot over the years, the story is engaging, and there’s tons of fun side stuff to do. Although the audio is all in Japanese, so you have to read subtitles.
I think this a great pick. I love the side quests and writing , and find the brawling to be a lot of fun too. Yakuza 0 is the place to get started for anyone interested.
Try CrossCode! It’s action based so it won’t feel too RPG-y.
The story is really good and the characters are extremely well written. At the risk of sounding cliche, they’re so well written they feel like real people.
The dungeons have puzzles which you may enjoy since you like Zelda games.
The combat is really fast and skill based, and you respawn immediately at the last door you walked through, so you might find this gameplay loop rewarding since you like Souls games.
You don’t have to grind, but if you do try this game, try beating a bunch of enemies until the S rank bar appears. Something fun will happen :)
Maybe the Mass Effect games? The first one is the only one with “loot” and the tactics aren’t very complex for the most part. The story is very good and the world won’t feel empty since the games are more linear. If you find the first game isn’t to your liking, try skipping straight to the second one. They streamline a lot of the mechanics after the first game.
This is a difficult one to answer as most RPGs I can think of have some combination of the stuff that puts you off. Have you tried the Witcher 3 (great story, and the RPG elements are fairly simplified) or Deus Ex: Human Revolution? And if you’ve played Nier Replicant and enjoyed it, I think you’d love Nier Automata.
Yeah, Nier Automata is certainly on the list, just waiting for a good vacation to really get into it.
And yeah, I’ve been putting off playing The Witcher 3 for a while since I wasn’t sure about the long playtime. I’ve played a lot of Witcher 1 and read some of the books, so I’m interested in the world, just not sure if I’m 100 hours interested. I’ll have to give it a shot though.
I also vote this. The side quest writing in the Witcher 3 is very high quality for the genre, and it’s easy enough to completely ignore the superfluous content like bandit camps and stuff littered around.
It’s a long game but it’s so good I never got that feeling of “uhhhgg this was fun but I’m ready to be done”. The thing about very good writing is that more is always better. Even excellent gameplay gets old after a while.
I’ve heard BL described as a “looter shooter”, but found that I can mostly ignore the loot aspect. Like OP, I’m not a fan of grinding for special drops, managing a shitload of inventory items, or memorizing loot stats. I just play through the games, occasionally checking drops for something better than what I have, and moving right along. It never felt like a burden to me because I didn’t care about having the “best” gear.
I couldn’t stand Borderlands, the first game felt like a loot fest and I bailed really early. There was pretty much no plot, just a bunch of fetch quests to get loot to upgrade stuff. I liked the humor at the start, but the core loop just didn’t click at all.
I do like BioShock though, but I’m not very interested in the powers and whatnot.
If you don’t mind old shitty graphics and mechanics, start with the original Deus Ex. I played it when it first came out and it blew my little stupid mind. I still replay it once every couple of years. It really taught me what an art video games can be, which was totally new to me after growing up on Wolfenstein and Doom.
Dragons Dogma - great action RPG, leveling up is automatic, you buy abilities and just assign them to your action slots. You can change vocations(classes) anytime without much penalty and it’s one of the few games where magic feels brutal and mages are super deadly, but all classes are fun to play.
The combat is something between Dark Souls and Devil May Cry and you can interact with all monsters: climb on large enemies, grab smaller foes, grab flying mobs, etc
The story is probably the weakest side, as it’s not very clear what is going on for a while, but once you piece stuff together it’s truly amazing, especially when you reach the endgame and beyond.
You can pick it up for a few euros/dollars as it’s often on sale.
Try Sea of Stars, it scratches that Chrono Trigger classic RPG itch, while nearly completely eliminating the grinding. I got every achievement in it, and at no time did it feel like a slog.
Wanna get every item? There’s a feature that facilitates that, which lets you know what areas still need to be swept, near the endgame.
Feel like you’re not leveling fast enough? There’s an easily purchased in-game item to double XP (toggleable)
Only got time for short sessions? Save points are everywhere
Beat it, finally, this week. Still have two achievements, but got the true ending+ and the… conversation with someone… had me choked up. I’m proud to have supported the studio.
“Bounce the 'rang 25 times”
and
“Equip a certain relic and do some boss fights”
For the first, just find an enemy you fight CLOSE to
and just button mash.
For the second, it’s not hard, just do it on NG+ and start EARLY.
Also, did you do the Kickstarter? If so, what’s your statue code, I’ll check you out – would share mine but don’t want to dox myself based on what i provided.
Ding Ding! haha I’m sitting at 24/25 bounces. I’ll get around to those last two eventually. Apparently the Autumn Hills boss is great for the Moonerang.
Not sure of my code, but just knowing a fellow fan fast scrolled past my name is enough for me. Cheers!
Have you tried Outward? It’s not the world’s prettiest game, and it is a bit clunky, but I loved it.
It definitely sits somewhere in the Morrowind-Soulslike-Zelda-ish genre you’re after.
The Steam store page says “survival,” which to me means lots of collecting stuff, items, etc, which just sounds annoying. I’ll check out a gameplay video though. Thanks for the rec!
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars might work. It’s going to be difficult (fear the spear) and you’ll want to use those items, but it is overall easier than Chrono Trigger. And it has a remake coming out soon with some system changes.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was intended for your situation, but it’s balanced in all the ways you dislike.
Otherwise, possibly the very easiest remakes of old games like the Final Fantasy 4 Pixel Remaster.
@sugar_in_your_tea Tbh as someone that’s felt similarly (even to the ARPG point somewhat), I’d suggest dropping the bulk of RPGs.
Adventure games (see Wadjet Eye’s releases) & some visual novels provide plenty of story & striking art without the gameplay elements that you’ve found unappealing in RPGs.
This is coming from having tried multiple times over the years to give RPGs a fair shake. Some genres just don’t click barring a few exceptions.
Have you looked into the Batman Arkham series? They have great stories, and feel kinda Zelda in that you get new tools as you progress. There are puzzles which I don’t always love, but maybe you do.
There is combat, but you can play on easy. And you upgrade your skills, but it is not very crucial to the experience.
And also maybe portal? Not very rpg, but environment changes as you progress.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
A gaming community free from the hype and oversaturation of current releases, catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game. Whether it’s price, waiting for bugs/issues to be patched, DLC to be released, don’t meet the system requirements, or just haven’t had the time to keep up with the latest releases.
I’d suggest Shadowrun: Dragonfall. Fairly simple mechanics, character building and inventory. Great storytelling and characters in a familiar but fantastic setting.
I really liked the Yakuza games. They’ve improved a lot over the years, the story is engaging, and there’s tons of fun side stuff to do. Although the audio is all in Japanese, so you have to read subtitles.
I think this a great pick. I love the side quests and writing , and find the brawling to be a lot of fun too. Yakuza 0 is the place to get started for anyone interested.
Yeah, I’ve played through Yakuza 2 and have enjoyed them all so far. It’s a fantastic series, thanks for the rec!
Have you played Judgement? It was supposed to be the successor to Yakuza.
Try CrossCode! It’s action based so it won’t feel too RPG-y.
The story is really good and the characters are extremely well written. At the risk of sounding cliche, they’re so well written they feel like real people.
The dungeons have puzzles which you may enjoy since you like Zelda games.
The combat is really fast and skill based, and you respawn immediately at the last door you walked through, so you might find this gameplay loop rewarding since you like Souls games.
You don’t have to grind, but if you do try this game, try beating a bunch of enemies until the S rank bar appears. Something fun will happen :)
I saw CrossCode recommended in another thread, I guess this is my signal to give it a shot. Thanks!
Maybe the Mass Effect games? The first one is the only one with “loot” and the tactics aren’t very complex for the most part. The story is very good and the world won’t feel empty since the games are more linear. If you find the first game isn’t to your liking, try skipping straight to the second one. They streamline a lot of the mechanics after the first game.
This is a difficult one to answer as most RPGs I can think of have some combination of the stuff that puts you off. Have you tried the Witcher 3 (great story, and the RPG elements are fairly simplified) or Deus Ex: Human Revolution? And if you’ve played Nier Replicant and enjoyed it, I think you’d love Nier Automata.
Yeah, Nier Automata is certainly on the list, just waiting for a good vacation to really get into it.
And yeah, I’ve been putting off playing The Witcher 3 for a while since I wasn’t sure about the long playtime. I’ve played a lot of Witcher 1 and read some of the books, so I’m interested in the world, just not sure if I’m 100 hours interested. I’ll have to give it a shot though.
I also vote this. The side quest writing in the Witcher 3 is very high quality for the genre, and it’s easy enough to completely ignore the superfluous content like bandit camps and stuff littered around.
It’s a long game but it’s so good I never got that feeling of “uhhhgg this was fun but I’m ready to be done”. The thing about very good writing is that more is always better. Even excellent gameplay gets old after a while.
W3 is not very similar to W1 though. You may want to try W2 instead if you liked 1.
If you’re into FPS games, here are a few suggestions that have RPG elements:
Borderlands is loot heavy (looter shooter) so it’s probably not the right game, but Bioshock on the other hand… highly recommended.
I’d also add Dishonored and VtM: Bloodlines.
I’ve heard BL described as a “looter shooter”, but found that I can mostly ignore the loot aspect. Like OP, I’m not a fan of grinding for special drops, managing a shitload of inventory items, or memorizing loot stats. I just play through the games, occasionally checking drops for something better than what I have, and moving right along. It never felt like a burden to me because I didn’t care about having the “best” gear.
Same. I just look for whatever has a bigger damage number.
deleted by creator
I couldn’t stand Borderlands, the first game felt like a loot fest and I bailed really early. There was pretty much no plot, just a bunch of fetch quests to get loot to upgrade stuff. I liked the humor at the start, but the core loop just didn’t click at all.
I do like BioShock though, but I’m not very interested in the powers and whatnot.
I’ll try Deus Ex, I hear it’s fantastic.
If you don’t mind old shitty graphics and mechanics, start with the original Deus Ex. I played it when it first came out and it blew my little stupid mind. I still replay it once every couple of years. It really taught me what an art video games can be, which was totally new to me after growing up on Wolfenstein and Doom.
Hogwarts Legacy fits all your critieria imo.
Dragons Dogma - great action RPG, leveling up is automatic, you buy abilities and just assign them to your action slots. You can change vocations(classes) anytime without much penalty and it’s one of the few games where magic feels brutal and mages are super deadly, but all classes are fun to play.
The combat is something between Dark Souls and Devil May Cry and you can interact with all monsters: climb on large enemies, grab smaller foes, grab flying mobs, etc
The story is probably the weakest side, as it’s not very clear what is going on for a while, but once you piece stuff together it’s truly amazing, especially when you reach the endgame and beyond.
You can pick it up for a few euros/dollars as it’s often on sale.
Try Sea of Stars, it scratches that Chrono Trigger classic RPG itch, while nearly completely eliminating the grinding. I got every achievement in it, and at no time did it feel like a slog.
Wanna get every item? There’s a feature that facilitates that, which lets you know what areas still need to be swept, near the endgame.
Feel like you’re not leveling fast enough? There’s an easily purchased in-game item to double XP (toggleable)
Only got time for short sessions? Save points are everywhere
And yet, the game isn’t too easy, either.
Beat it, finally, this week. Still have two achievements, but got the true ending+ and the… conversation with someone… had me choked up. I’m proud to have supported the studio.
Lemme guess on the two cheevos:
“Bounce the 'rang 25 times”
and
“Equip a certain relic and do some boss fights”
For the first, just find an enemy you fight CLOSE to and just button mash.
For the second, it’s not hard, just do it on NG+ and start EARLY.
Also, did you do the Kickstarter? If so, what’s your statue code, I’ll check you out – would share mine but don’t want to dox myself based on what i provided.
Ding Ding! haha I’m sitting at 24/25 bounces. I’ll get around to those last two eventually. Apparently the Autumn Hills boss is great for the Moonerang.
Not sure of my code, but just knowing a fellow fan fast scrolled past my name is enough for me. Cheers!
Have you tried Outward? It’s not the world’s prettiest game, and it is a bit clunky, but I loved it.
It definitely sits somewhere in the Morrowind-Soulslike-Zelda-ish genre you’re after.
The Steam store page says “survival,” which to me means lots of collecting stuff, items, etc, which just sounds annoying. I’ll check out a gameplay video though. Thanks for the rec!
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars might work. It’s going to be difficult (fear the spear) and you’ll want to use those items, but it is overall easier than Chrono Trigger. And it has a remake coming out soon with some system changes.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was intended for your situation, but it’s balanced in all the ways you dislike.
Otherwise, possibly the very easiest remakes of old games like the Final Fantasy 4 Pixel Remaster.
Oblivions shivering Isle expansion was really good. Quick and dense.
Keep going with the Trails series by order of release. The story gets pretty crazy. The crossbell arc that just released on switch is pretty good.
Maybe take a look at Tales of Arise as well. It might be a mixed bag for you, but I found myself easily engrossed by it.
@sugar_in_your_tea Tbh as someone that’s felt similarly (even to the ARPG point somewhat), I’d suggest dropping the bulk of RPGs.
Adventure games (see Wadjet Eye’s releases) & some visual novels provide plenty of story & striking art without the gameplay elements that you’ve found unappealing in RPGs.
This is coming from having tried multiple times over the years to give RPGs a fair shake. Some genres just don’t click barring a few exceptions.
Have you looked into the Batman Arkham series? They have great stories, and feel kinda Zelda in that you get new tools as you progress. There are puzzles which I don’t always love, but maybe you do.
There is combat, but you can play on easy. And you upgrade your skills, but it is not very crucial to the experience.
And also maybe portal? Not very rpg, but environment changes as you progress.
Yeah, I’ve played Arkham Asylum and started Arkham City (forget why I stopped), so I can confirm, it’s a great series.
And I loved Portal. I have also played some similar games, like Magrunner (good puzzles, crappy story) and Relicta (good puzzles, try-hard story).
Nice!
In my opinion, the arkham games got progressively better (except origins) - my favorite is Arkham Knight.