The Best Part of a cRPG is...

If I follow you correctly, I ruled out the "shiny and new" aspect of a new cRPG. When I first played Gothic 4 it was "shiny and new" but in about an hour I knew it was a pretty bad Gothic game. Shiny and new can present a distraction for a moment, but it passes.

Well, for me not that much the "shiny & new" thing, but rather "diving into an entirely different world", of which exploration is a huge part for me.
Different cultures, different landscapes, different races ... etc. ... I will like it as long as there is new space/cultures/languages/species for me to explore.
 
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Well, for me not that much the "shiny & new" thing, but rather "diving into an entirely different world", of which exploration is a huge part for me.
Different cultures, different landscapes, different races … etc. … I will like it as long as there is new space/cultures/languages/species for me to explore.

I agree with what you've written. But that too will get boring if the game doesn't present good challenge. One of my biggest beefs with Skyrim (which according to steam I've logged nearly 1000 hours so if that isn't testimony that I enjoyed the game I don't know what is) is that too much of their world, while pretty to look out, doesn't have a whole lot of meaning... challenge, rewards, or anything really. Just looks pretty here, there, and there.
 
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I did take a look at Monster Hunter world but it struck me more of a kill monsters arcade like game versus a role playing game. Is monster hunter an rpg or can it be considered an rpg lite?

AFAIK, it's an asian loot grinder with the emphasis almost exclusively on combat.

Certainly, it's absolutely nothing like Skyrim.
 
I wish DOS2 had a stash, too.
It does right? You can send stuff to a chest on the ship. If I remember correctly, in Dungeon Siege 2 you could turn items on the ground into gold. A godsend, even if you could get more at the merchant for it.

Story, characters, art and sound are the primary reasons I play cRPGs (any game really). Simply because I'm very bad at them myself and thus respect people who can (e.g., I really can't draw). Funnily, culture, races, and general background information are one of the lowest reasons why I play cRPGs. Although they should be important as it overlaps with the story and characters. However, I blame games for presenting background information on culture and characters in such a bad way. Either (i) they have no interesting cultures/races (bland, run-off-the-mill) or (ii) they present it with too much text (whole books as in skyrim, or long dialogue as in PoE).

A random thought for your sleepless night. What about mixing several genres, but instead of presenting them all the time, put emphasis on a single genre at a certain stage in the game.

You talk about surviving the rats, so make it a real survival game at the beginning. With the mundane tasks of constructing a bow, even finding food, and (important!) exploration. Some survival games are very good this, the trick is to go over to the next stage of the game before it becomes boring. E.g., when you get equiped enough but fights are still dangerous, switch it to a more tactical turn-based game for the combat. Removing the mundane tasks or automatizing them (like food). If you get more powerful make it a real-time action RPG, or even a brawler. I'm thinking dark messiah of M&M combat here. Bonus points, try to fit a single character system (skill points etc.) for all stages.
 
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It does right? You can send stuff to a chest on the ship. If I remember correctly, in Dungeon Siege 2 you could turn items on the ground into gold. A godsend, even if you could get more at the merchant for it.

You know what, I believe you're right - but it's not as convenient? I seem to remember a ton of juggling shit back and forth in DOS2.
 
You know what, I believe you're right - but it's not as convenient? I seem to remember a ton of juggling shit back and forth in DOS2.
Not sure but I thought that you send directly from your inventory to the chest (or was it on pick up). You had to go to your ship to retrieve an item though. Never happened in my playthrough, I only stashed like 5 items and if I could have sold them I would have.
 
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Not sure but I thought that you send directly from your inventory to the chest (or was it on pick up). You had to go to your ship to retrieve an item though. Never happened in my playthrough, I only stashed like 5 items and if I could have sold them I would have.

Sounds about right. In PoE - it was extremely convenient.
 
So hard to choose just one thing! But I would say creating and growing a character. Maybe that is two things but consider it close enough since it is about making your character and watching them grow through the game. I love games with lots and lots of options for making a character, backgrounds, traits, perks, stats, all that stuff. Then watching them slowly develop over time.

I also love the start of a new game. The fist few levels are always my favorite. Even with my thousands (literally) of hours in Skyrim and FO4 my favorite parts are the first 20 levels.

I tend to get a little bored at the very high levels although I usually like to make it there at least once.

Third runner up is companions. I have become a companion addict in these kind of games.
 
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…not logging onto a server just to play single-player.:p

I said it as you all know my distaste of server based Single-player games.
 
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Then watching them slowly develop over time.

Reading what you wrote reminded me of MM6 through MM8. Those 3 games were perhaps the best I've ever played in terms of continual improvement of your character by way of attributes, skills, spells, and gear... across multiple characters. Whenever I play those game, I constantly say to myself, "okay, just one last thing, then I'm done playing for now." Three hours later, I'm still saying that. I really loved character progression in those games and how meaningful every little thing was throughout the entire game.
 
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For me the best part of cRPGs is the charm of the experience. If the game is charming you get intrigued and want to discover the world. You think about it when your not playing it. You imagine into throw-away lines further adventures.

For some cRPGs that charm only lasts as long as the opening segment when you realize the game has presented a cheap facade which it cannot maintain for the rest of the game. For the classics that charm lasts near the whole game.

It is rather hard to define charm so instead I will define what it isn't.

-If the game becomes a grind or monotonous then it has lost its charm.
-If the lore/story becomes redundant and the characters boring the charm is gone.
-If the exploration is a chore and the systems mere busy work or annoying the charm is gone.
-If the graphics/music fail to inspire the charm is gone.

TLDR;
I like it when cRPGs do the little things right. When they inspire a sense of intrigue about their world.
 
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My favorite part varies from game to game. Skyrim has epic landscapes and so many mods that I'm practically making my own game. Witcher games have great graphics, music, and stories. BioWare had good combat and superb characters.

Sometimes I love the starts of games because you're scraping around, trying to find any way to beat that giant(ish) rat. Other times it's more fun later on because you've got more tools you can combine to get more interesting battles while the start of the game is just "attack with sword" over and over. It all depends on what the game is good at and when it's good at it.
 
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I did take a look at Monster Hunter world but it struck me more of a kill monsters arcade like game versus a role playing game. Is monster hunter an rpg or can it be considered an rpg lite?

It's an action game with RPG style progression, exploration and crafting.

The reason I say it's closer to Skyrim than Dark Souls is because DS is mostly composed of tight corridors and dungeons and there's no herbs to collect or potions to craft. But MHW has open maps full of herbs, ores, rare finds, etc. The great outdoors! Some really spectacular outdoor scenery you won't find in DS where the most open it gets is just empty hills in a snowstorm in a DS2 DLC.

It absolutely is about hunting giant beasts. Finding clues like footprints will eventually display the monsters location on your map, plus the map remembers material locations you discover, too. There are environmental traps you can lure beasts into and even get them to fight eachother, so there is a lot of tactical gameplay going on. A lot of planning, learning about the monsters weaknesses, crafting something to exploit that weakness. It's not a button masher. The 14 weapons apparently have amazing combo systems.

Here's a little example of the first weapon you encounter in the game, Sword and Board. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/211368-monster-hunter-world/faqs/76089/basic-attacks-and-move-list which I don't think spoils anything. ed: This guide is from ps4, there is rebindable keys for PC and an option to switch the radial wheel for the Fkeys to use consumables.

If you want your RPG to be mostly multiple choice dialogues then it will likely disappoint, but if you mostly like being a knight in shining armor slaying dragons and care little about the insignificant troubles of the local NPCs then, like Dark Souls, it could suit you.

Of course, I have not played it yet and never played a MH game, but I'll be sure to give first impressions on the 9th :D
 
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I blame multiplayer and lazy dev's for junk loot systems.
 
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I agree with @Silver; , and the beauty is you can be charmed by many different things.

I was charmed by the world & lore, chracters and magical combat system of BG2 (actually, I was pretty much in love with all aspects of this game).

Aielund Saga delivered the best story and friends that a game can offer.

Stardew Valley caught me with charming music & graphics and freedom of creativity.

Etc.

But, for me, the most important things are story telling and companions. These basically define how I build my character, to a point I consider a certain class of a certain alignment best fit for each game I played lol :)
 
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