CRPGs It's Complicated

My complicated history with CRPGs

CRPG are in my opinion is one of the coolest video game genres out there. It’s not hard for me to justify why I think so with everything that they offer: deep character customization changes how you interact with the world; epic stories where your choices matter; Expansive and immersive worldbuilding, to truly get lost in.

They make for an amazing narrative experience, allowing you to craft characters and stories specific to your wants and needs, you might want to be an heroic Jedi knight in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic always looking to save the day, or a lunatic who embraces his darkest of urges in Baldur’s Gate 3. The world is your oyster, the narrative yours to influence. Sounds good right? I have nothing but praise for them, as it is I have 13 sitting in my steam library, clearly I am something of an aficionado. Sadly no, despite all the praise, time, and money I put into them , I have a dirty little secret, I have not finished a single one, much to my chagrin.

My modest collection. According to HowLongtoBeat I just need around 950 hours to beat them all.

It’s always been hard for me to pinpoint why I exactly have such a commitment issue when it comes to CRPG’s. I am not very analytical by nature, so my excuses when I eventually fall off a title are hardly ever much more than that, excuses. The most common reason people use is the length of these games. I can’t use it, I am an avid consumer of JRPG’s such as the Persona, and Trails, series and those are some long-ass games. Similarly with games like Crusader Kings 3 , Skyrim, and Minecraft, I have enough playtime in each that dwarfs what a single playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 would take. Not to mention the thousands of hours I have put into various MMO’s.

In fact, one of those MMOs is Star Wars: The Old Republic, I started playing it in 2012 and have continued playing on and off since then, almost every year I redownload it to start up a new Sith Warrior, or a Smuggler, because I love those stories so damn much. Star Wars has always been a huge presence in my life. I remember when Revenge of the Sith was released, and being devastated that I was not allowed to go to the movie since it was rated 16+ in Iceland, and I happened to be only 8, but I’m getting off topic. My love for Star Wars naturally led me down the path towards my first attempt to play a CRPG, Knights of the Old Republic.

That attempt did not last long, I’m not even sure I made it off the exploding ship in the beginning. I was confused, the game looked nothing like Star Wars to me, the tutorialization was poor, the combat system felt clunky, and unresponsive, and I was not helped by the fact I had no concept of what a “D20 system” was. And lets not forget reading, there was a lot of reading, and I’m not talking words, I was an avid reader. I’m talking numbers. Cold hard numbers. Every weapon, feat, and skill had some sort of number attached to it. It was too much for me to handle, I hated math.

That first try became emblematic of my journey with the genre. Since that fateful day I have made various attempts to play it over the years, on many different systems. I own it on Steam, Nintendo Switch, hell I even own it on my smartphone. But I never made it past Taris, a very common issue for many who want to play it. I have been told multiple times that the game gets better after that that first planet, but I can never stick through it. I question if it’s even worth it with the big reveal of the game thoroughly spoiled to me now.

This happens time after time like a masochist I keep going. Baldur’s Gate 3, Pathfinder Kingmaker, and Tyranny are the games that have suffered most in my hands they are the games I wish nothing more but to play to completion, since the premise of them is so interesting. So why can’t I? Why can’t I just sit down and binge these games like so many do? I question it all the time and I have only recently started to rationalize it:

• Choice-induced paralysis is my middle name. And almost all these games have character creation. With an overwhelming amount of choices, I get an overwhelming want to try them all out. Why do I have to pick between Ranger and Sorcerer? Why can’t I use all the character concepts I have cooked up. Baldur’s Gate 3 and the Pathfinder games are the worst for this, there are so many options, and they all sound so fun in concept. Most of my attempts to play these games die in the first hour or two, when I want to go and test something else out in the character creation.

• Combat also gets deep and complex. They might be based on a D20 system similar to Dungeons & Dragons, or they might have their own original system. I am not very system savvy, I am the type that learns mostly by playing and slowly at that, just ask my friends who occasionally suffer through tabletop games with me. It does not help that I never want to pick a pre-made character that the game offers. I want to craft my character to his fullest potential, even though I have no idea how the system works. Unsurprisingly its usually a disaster that becomes clear in the first few combat encounters.

When it comes to story and and following it, I have come to realize that inside me are two wolves.

• One wants to choose exactly how my character is, his personality and ideals. To work with that for the rest of the game, to stick to the roleplay. He wants to be the noble warrior, who seeks to save the princess, or the charisma based rogue, who uses his silver tongue to manipulate, cheat, and steal for his shady endeavors. He wants to follow the will of the dice, even if not in his favor.

• The Other wants the easy route, the non-confrontational, or funny choices, he constantly loads quicksaves when the skill-check fails, and he does not want to be mean to the party members because he is a people pleaser.

There is a constant fight between those two wolves, leaving me flip-flopping on choices, leading me to an unsatisfying narrative experience.

I love Baldurs Gate 3 to bits, and I have put 100 hours into it since release, but only one playthrough has made it to Moonrise Tower in act two. I have made dozens of characters, all that have reached various stages of act one before quitting I am sure Shadowheart has gotten enough waking up to my wide variety of different colored Tieflings, standing over her on the beach. The game also feels slow, even with a fully voiced cast, and amazing voice actors that do a lot of the heavy lifting. There is still an overwhelming amount of text when it comes to the various skills and hand-crafted magic items the game gives you, so that you customize your gameplay experience even more. The map is huge and the party moves slowly. It just so dense, when I get home from work, and play the game for 2 to 3 hours, it feels like I have done so much, and put so much mental power into it. But at the same time it feels like I made no real progress, the main goal is still feels just as far off. Repeat that often enough and I start getting demoralized.

My current project is still Baldur’s Gate 3. In late August 2025 I started a new playthrough as a Paladin of Vengeance whose sole purpose in life is to smite those who do evil or aid it. In the 4 months since I have only made it back to Moonrise tower in early act 2, because I want to take my time, instead of binging the game over a short time-frame, I talking 2-3 play sessions per month, letting enough time pass between to make sure I don’t get exhausted, or overwhelmed, so far its worked wonders. I’m treating it like this year-long project of my backlog resolution, and I hope that I will be able to come back here and call it complete by the end 2026.

Despite all these issues I have, valid or not, I still stand by my earlier statement. I think CRPG is the coolest genre out there. And I have no intention to stop trying them. I won’t buy the next big Larian, or Owlcat, game on release just so it can sit in the purgatory that is my steam library, I will rather wait for a sale, and, until I play some of these games I already own to completion. Hoping that they finally click with me, and I get that high I have been chasing.

And who knows, maybe its time for my 20th Kotor attempt!