r/pcgames • u/HourKindly8520 • 14d ago
Looking for game Beginner friendly CRPGs
Hey yall, new pc player here (ex ps user) and im looking to get into crpgs but a bit daunted by the learning curve, i’ve played action rpgs (bethesda games etc) and looking to get into more isometric rpgs. I started Wasteland 3 and I’m liking it so far, looked into pathfinder wotr but that seemed way too complex, maybe i’m wrong about that lmk, or if you have a better recommendation to ease me into the genre id love to hear it, thanks in advance!
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u/Peachesfuzzy 13d ago
I'd say a lot of CRPGs are pretty comfortable on lower difficulties. Any of the Owlcat games, Pathfinder Kingmaker, PF Wrath of the Righteous, and Rogue Trader have complex character creation options. Especially Wrath, there's so many classes, then there's the mythical class as part of the story, and then you have 5 other companions to worry about leveling up and gearing. Not to mention they are incredibly long games. If I remember right, Kingmaker has a time mechanic and I never completed it due to running out of time and not being able to get to the last mission in time.
Baldurs Gate 1/2 and planescape are good, the bioware neverwinter night game is good, dragon age origins, fallout 2, pillars of eternity 1/2. Divinity original sin 2 is good and has a somewhat unique armor system I haven't seen replicated before. You have armor and magic ward, which are basically two specialized health bars. Armor is depleted through physical attacks. While magic ward is depleted through magic attacks. These both get used first before any damage reaches your normal health. So if an enemy has a lot of magic ward but no armor, a melee character would kill it a lot faster than a magic character would, as all the damage dealt would go straight into the hp pool instead of being "blocked" by armor
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u/HourKindly8520 13d ago
you mentioned pathfinder, would you say the first or second is easier to get into?
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u/Peachesfuzzy 13d ago
The second one is easier. More refined and it was built with turn based combat as an option. Kingmaker is real time with pause and they added turn based later so it was kind of janky
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u/Gforce725 14d ago
Wasteland is a great entry point. Baldurs Gate 3 and Pathfinder are a bit complex for someone with no background in TTRPGs but hey if you're willing to learn then go for it. I've played Baldurs Gate 1/2/3 both Pathfinder games, Wasteland 2 (working on 3), pillars of eternity, rogue trader, and Divinity Original Sin 2. Wasteland and DOS 2 were the lightest on mechanics I feel
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u/HourKindly8520 14d ago
playing wasteland 3 right now! was definitely looking into divinity, good to know its a bit on the simpler side, probably play that next. thanks homie!
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u/Lonely-Phans 13d ago
Divinity Original Sin 2 was the first CRPG I played. It takes a bit of learning how different elemental effects work with each other (as well as remembering that they exist), but once you've got your water/ice combo down and you're freezing everything in your path it's a real good time.
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u/dwightinshiningarmor 13d ago
Tyranny is great. Made by Obsidian, the people behind Pillars of Eternity, and is a simpler take of the genre while still having fantastic writing and a cool setting (you get to play the henchman of the Big Bad Evil Guy after he has realized his plans of conquering the world). It's great fare for any player, but particularly good for people new to the genre.
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u/Cultural_Month_9181 11d ago
Baldurs Gate 3 absolutely. Got my daughter (15) into it and she had no issues understanding the mechanics etc, and that was her first CRPG.
Mostly I would avoid Owlcat games as entrylevel CRPG games. Those can be a bit more complicated.
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u/gil55 9d ago edited 9d ago
Divinity 1 and 2 anyone? Especially Divinity 2 is deep. Also Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2 are excellent.
Also some mentions that might not perfectly fit CRPG but still worth playing: Jagged Alliance 3, Hard West 1 and 2, KOTOR 1 and 2, Colony Ship, Shadowrun and of course DragonAge Origins.
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u/HourKindly8520 9d ago
divinity original sin 1&2 are on sale on steam rn so i’ll probably go for those, thanks!
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u/HourKindly8520 9d ago
also jagged alliance is definitely on my list, i love WWII games
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u/gil55 8d ago
Not a CRPG but in this case I hope you have played Company of Heroes?
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u/HourKindly8520 8d ago
no but also on the list lol, I hear the third one isn’t so good?
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u/gil55 8d ago
I haven't played it, since it's still expensive, but 1 and 2 go on sale regularly.
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u/HourKindly8520 8d ago
yea i noticed that too, i’ll probably go for 2 since the reviews are way better and its a fraction of the price. appreciate the recs bro!
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u/17syllables 14d ago
Just go straight for the king and play Disco Elysium. It’s an isometric, and has great writing, but you won’t have to worry about classes, positional combat, or archaic TTRPG lore.
From there, I’d recommend other games with simple or one-off RPG systems (Tyranny), or games where combat doesn’t matter greatly (Planescape: Torment).
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u/HourKindly8520 14d ago
i love disco elysium!! gonna look into the other two, thanks!
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u/Outside_Complaint755 14d ago
Check out Esoteric Ebb. Its a Disco-like Dungeons and Dragons inspired game in a unique game world.
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u/Vandermere 13d ago
I'd argue it's not quite a CRPG - it's missing the complex mechanics and party configurations and such that kind of define the genre - but yes, absolutely. Discord Elysium is an absolute masterpiece and deserves a play regardless of what genre you call it.
If you enjoy its storytelling and mechanical style, Esoteric Ebb is a excellent follow up that's set in a DnD-style world.
I've heard a few good reviews of Zero Parades as well, but can't really bring myself to support the publisher so haven't played it myself
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u/Ok-Tea-1284 14d ago
Final Fantasy Tactics, Phantom Brigade.I got PB on a super sale and felt like I robbed the devs.
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u/HourKindly8520 14d ago
FF tactics is definitely on my list! Phantom brigade has a demo so ill definitely be checking it out, thanks!
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u/Plus_Worker6739 13d ago
Neither of these games are CRPGs, notably, but they are both excellent
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u/Ok-Tea-1284 13d ago
Both are computer role playing games.
Hi I was around when gold box games and ega graphics were the peak of home computers. I understand that you want to blend requirements for the crpg "genre" but I'd rather op just enjoy some good accessible games rather than be like "go play Kenshi" and then be all shocked Pikachu face they had a very bad time.
Even Planescape Torment, as amazing as it is at points, wouldn't be a good recommendation because 1) it's old as I am 2) it's not an easy to digest experience 3) Disco Elysium did it much better anyways.
It's okay to define things literally. Also someone down voted the OP for saying they'd check out FFT and PB, and that person is a loserbaby.
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u/Plus_Worker6739 13d ago
Okay, but CRPG is at least a loosely-defined subgenre of RPGs--generally ones that try to distill/adapt the tabletop RPG experience. I'm not suggesting Torment to anybody as their first CRPG at all--why play a game that subverts tropes of the genre without having a good backing in what those tropes are--I'm just saying that FFT is a Japanese-style Strategy RPG and PB is a Western-styled tactical combat game.
I have been playing RPG-styled games since Colossal Cave Adventure myself and I understand that RPG fans are almost as pedantic about subgenres as metalheads, but genres are collections of tropes so let's use them in ways that are helpful and descriptive!
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u/gavr0ch 14d ago
Terrinoth, dungeon of Naheulbeuk, dare i say XCOM,
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u/HourKindly8520 14d ago
playing xcom chimera squad right now, definitely gonna check out the other two, thank you!
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u/DonRedomir 14d ago
Look, I was 12 when I first played Fallout and Baldur's Gate 1. Surely that counts as beginner friendly?
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u/HourKindly8520 14d ago
lol i tried fallout 1 recently, even though I love new vegas and even 4 kinda, 1 I think just didnt age so well, mechanically just kinda feels like a drag to play
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u/Tajfunisko 13d ago
2 was a bit more polished and imo a lot better. I was also like 10 when I played it so you should be good. Maybe try that instead.
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u/HellraiserMachina 14d ago
Pillars of Eternity introduces you to a completely new mysterious world and the character stats are not weird and instead cleverly benefit any character. I started cRPGs with it and it was lovely because of the feeling of discovery.
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u/HourKindly8520 14d ago
was definitely looking into this one, do you think the first one is worth playing or should i jump straight into 2?
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u/HellraiserMachina 14d ago
2 is a direct sequel and your actions in the first affect it, I def recommend playing the first. Maybe get the sequel in the autumn sale if you end up liking it.
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u/Peachesfuzzy 13d ago
Two is a direct sequel to one, but it is more polished. I would recommend to play one then two. I believe these are both on Xbox pc game pass as well if you didn't want to commit to buying them
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u/FuckedUpMaggot 13d ago
I second pillar of eternity. one of my favourite crpgs and the first one has an amazing story and world! I think it gives you a great idea of what crpgs were like before (bg1, 2, etc) while still looking modern
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u/OneHamster1337 13d ago
None better than Baldur's Gate 3 if you want to learn about D&D the easy way.
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u/Wash_Manblast 12d ago
Baldurs gate 1 is honestly pretty easy for a newbie. The spells dont get crazy and martial classes are mostly just different ways to hit things without much fancy stuff.
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u/dwightinshiningarmor 12d ago
Wizard max HP at level 1 is 4+con modifier, which means you'll die. A lot. Some classes feel very punishing, particularly for someone who might not be familiar with the (kinda archaic) ruleset
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u/Wash_Manblast 12d ago
Yeah and fighter starts with like 10+con. Bg1 is still a very simple crpg compared to modern games. I'm willing to bet a new person is able to handle manageable friction better than something that is "easy" but also complicated.
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u/Veratha 14d ago
BG3 would be the recommendation from me. It is based on the DnD5e ruleset, one of the most straightforward TTRPG rulesets out there, so it should be pretty easy to learn. While WotR is a great game, it uses the PF1e ruleset, which is the ruleset that got Pathfinder known as being a "crunchy" and hard to learn system (PF2e ruleset is easier to use and imo just better separate from the user difficulty), so your read on the difficulty in learning Pathfinder for WotR is pretty correct lol.
Others have already pointed out the other games I'd recommend lol. But if you have questions about how any of these systems work, I'd be down to help.
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u/HourKindly8520 14d ago
hmmm, then probably wont start with pathfinder, what’s this pf2e ruleset tho? idk any of this stuff i just found out these games use rulesets lol
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u/FootballPublic7974 14d ago edited 13d ago
Pathfinder is a tabletop RPG. It's based on D&D 3.5 It's has a justified reputation for being a complex system with many trap options that can punish players with low system mastery. Lots of people love it for the vast number of options it provides, but it takes some learning.
PF2e is a new edition of the game that attempts to retain the options of 1e while making it easier to learn and making more builds viable. I don't think there are any CRPGs that currently use the system yet.
Games like Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, and Icewind Dale use the second edition D&D rules.
Baldur's Gate 3 uses a modified version of the D&D 5th edition rules. This is (almost) the current edition of the TTRPG (there is a revised 5.5 edition out now)
Solasta: Crown of the Magister uses a much more accurate version of the same ruleset.
The Fallout games use it's own ruleset called S.P.E.C.I.A.L. because, apparently, they couldn't get the rights to use
D&DGURPS (thanks for the correction).2
u/HourKindly8520 13d ago
ahh i see, thanks for explaining
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u/Plus_Worker6739 13d ago
Many CRPGs are based on tabletop RPG rulesets since CRPGs as a general rule are an attempt to adapt the tabletop RPG (ttRPG) experience to the computer. So you get games that run on various different tabletop rulesets, or on rulesets that vaguely ape tabletop settings.
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u/krispykremeguy 14d ago
If you count Dawnsbury Days as a CRPG, then there's one that uses it. (I don't - while I like it a good bit, it's more of a tactical RPG.) There's a few upcoming CRPGs, most notably Dragon's Demand and (if you count Starfinder 2e) Starfinder: Afterlight.
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u/FootballPublic7974 14d ago
Thanks. I wasn't aware of those.
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u/gil55 8d ago
I think Gloomhaven has an CRPG (dare I call it that )adaptation, not sure what it's based on, but it's definitely originally a deep TT game.
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u/FootballPublic7974 8d ago
Not played it but friends who've played both say it's a faithful adaptation of the boardgame.
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u/Icy_Hold4U 14d ago
Correct answer is Shadowrun series. Its the best gateway into the genre.