BG3 BG and planetscape on pc loves the D&D lore and paper board game

I used to love them when I had the time to play them. Now I dislike them for not even being able to finish one battle in the limited time I have for gaming.

I tried to like BG3. I put about 10 hours into it but it's just to slow. We also tried co-op but that was a mess. I'm sure I would have liked it in my twenties with more time than responsibilities. Now it's too much effort to get going again, too many systems to remember and keep track off when only playing half an hour couple times a week.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is my favorite game from that list and my favorite game in years. I'm playing it again right now because of the new DLC and updates. It's complex, it has memorable characters, the story is interesting and moves forward at a nice pace, and the core mechanics are sound. The fact that it has different paths such as Angel, Demon, Lich, etc., adds an extra layer. It's also encouraging to see a developer make so many improvements over their previous game (Kingmaker).

My second favorite would probably be Wasteland 3. The world feels unique and I like the emphasis on the player figuring out solutions with different outcomes.

I haven't played Baldur's Gate 3 yet, however, mostly because I gave up on Divinity: Original Sin 2 and don't trust Larian enough to pay full price. Also waiting for patching and such to finish. With DOS2, all I can say is that I got SO SICK OF BEING ON FIRE. It was such a big gimmick and massive crutch for the game that everything had to happen near barrels that would explode and light THE ENTIRE WORLD on fire. Also, combat always initiated with an ambush and was mainly about positioning. Again, it felt very gimmicky, like everything was set up around you wandering by. The way the game would flood you with small enemies was bothersome, as well, then have a lot of effects that would take away your turns. I remember a couple of times when I actually started playing a game on my phone while I waited for my go.

Regarding Pillars of Eternity, I'm one of the many, many people who didn't finish it. The world was dull, the people were dull, and Obsidian needs to understand that throwing massive amounts of words on the screen DOES NOT equate to good writing. The best authors will tell you that finding a good editor to pare down the excess is the key to making your work engaging.

I haven't played Rogue Trader yet--again, waiting for patching and DLC--but Owlcat is a developer that has caught my interest and the fact that they supposedly have several games in development makes me excited.

Yeah, love me some CRPGs of isometric nature.

I don't find BG3 to be specially good full-fledged CRPG, especially if you look at it from Baldur's Gate sequel perspective (I gave it 6/10 for that), but it's great megadungeon crawl (or dungeon megacrawl, however you like to look at it) - that's what Larian's games really boil down to, so 9/10 if measured that way (for overall 7.5/10).

I'm not sure I can pinpoint best one, between Fallout 1/2, Planescape: Torment, Arcanum:Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, BGII and some of the Ultimas, with maybe some of the newer in the mix, like Disco Elysium and Pathfinder, they all have their pros and cons.

CRPGs are the closest one can get (so far) to TTRPG experience in many aspects, yet they pale quite a bit compared to TTRPG experience, and I generally play them only when I don't have TT campaign running or playing in one, so if you have a chance, please do try actual TTRPGs.

That sucks. Although I think most people should be able to find time for their hobby or do you have many other hobbies? If even you made a hour once a day you'd beat a fairly large game on a month and that's 12 games a year. You need to put away that headset of yours and focus on games you can pick up and get straight into. My current total time gaming this year is 314 hours, beaten 8 or so (big) games and that equates to about one and a half hours per day gaming. I know I do more, probably sank into games that didn't hook me but at about 2 hours a day I make it work. Cut out social media/Youtube/ TV and phone scrolling, you'll find time there I promise, check your usage in the android settings. You'll be surprised. 

Man, you're lucky to have people who'll TTRP. I've always wanted to try it but no-one here grew up with it so I've never met anyone who plays anything more complex than poker. 

Any tips for a build to start out on, I've tried several times to get into the game but it's so complex and then you find party member who dupe your own build and end up with three people with the same class focus and then they throw some kind of overall path like the path of God's or something and I have no idea what I done to unlock that path for skill checks. It's so complex. 

Let me know how it goes with Divinity. Disco Elysium is cool AF but it can get boring and sluggish in parts when it feels like you've exhausted all options and tend to be running all over the map to find things. It REALLY needs to be played solely as the only game your playing and probably with good time on your hands cause ot's so easy to forget what little details are going on on the game. Divinity OS2 though, you won't be disappointed, it'll become an addiction.

Maybe you can try playing online via one of Virtual Tabletops (Foundry, Roll20, Fantasy Grounds...) - personally, I don't like playing it that way, but I see lot of people doing it and enjoying it.

Other approach is for you to learn some TTRPG system and GM it yourself, and see if anyone's willing to try it. If you chose that, I strongly recommend watching Matt Collvile's "Running the Game" series - he's a video game/boardgame/TTRPG developer and writer and started YT channel back in 2016 while he was still working at Turtle Rock Studios with specific goal to show that anyone can be DM, run the game and have fun while doing it. He mostly references D&D (pretty much all editions), but his advice is universal, no matter the system.

As for system, since you say you don't have pool of players around you that are into 5e as most popular TTRPG (not to be confused with the "best" by a long shot, even in its own genre), you might as well go with something easier to run and teach, that won't break your bank - I would recommend Dragonbane Boxed Set, a class/level type of fantasy TTRPG that somewhat resembles both D&D and Runequest (which was influenced by), but easier to play and run than both, especially for beginners.

It's the second, too many other hobbies in summer :) I rather spend time outside and with the long days eat late, then help my youngest with his projects (wood working lately). By the time I sit down to play it's already after 11 pm.

So if I play something it's half an hour of VR during the summer months, which is mostly some GT7 or Puzzling Places.

I don't have a mobile phone, so no scrolling :) And this site is pretty much the only one left I keep track of daily. Yet between playing a game and reading a book outside, swimming, jogging, biking, games always lose. I'm not the youngest anymore (50), staying up till 3-4 AM to play an RPG is a thing of the past. I have many fond memories of BG1 and 2, Icewind Dale etc. Dragon Age and The Witcher series were the last I sunk my teeth in. And TotK which is designed for bite sized play.

Gaming habits do change over the years which is fine I guess. My kids play the long games now, in party chat, while scrolling on a phone or having a laptop or TV running you tube nearby. I need all my focus on one thing nowadays, hence VR is pretty ideal at this stage of my life. It's just not compatible with hot summer days!



Anyway Dragon Age Origins was a huge favorite of mine and show cased what I love in these type of games. Experiencing the world with different parties (taking even more time!) I played Dragon Age Origins through 4 times when it came out to get all the story and party permutations.

I also sued to do good and evil playthroughs. The focus in the past was discovering all the systems, nowadays my focus is more on experiencing a story. BG3 definitely leans heavily to the first. I tried it on story mode and it was still far too much 'accounting' work. I loved min-maxing in the past, now I rather not have to keep track of different gear sets for a whole party. Today I would go for modes where you only equip the main character and let the others handle themselves. I think Dragon Age did that?

I need to get back into Demeo. While meat for multiplayer, it was actually quite fun to attack solo. That scratches the strategic turn based battle itch. BG3 does a great job of it apart from some targeting issues. However one battle easily lasts half an hour with all the looting and cleaning up included. Maybe I'll fire it back up in winter.