Many posters have given wise advice. I would only add one thing. Linear games are easier to finish than open worlds because they tend to have objectives that are easier to identify and the path to get from A to B is clearer. I'm on a bus now and can't run long, but games like Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah of Might & Magic come to mind. Dishonored too. Plus my mind is all full of stuff I have to study, so I'm sure our brothers and sisters of the gaming family have more good suggestions.

You did what all people rationally do:
Stop playing after it stops being fun.
If you're gaming so much or on something so hard that you stop enjoying it and it becomes a chore, then what's the point? You may as well do actual WORK you hate and at least get paid for it.

I have a different problem, for me its either:

1) Sit there and tell myself I have some free time I'll go play some backlog, and wind up listening to music and browsing web forums conversing with people I'll never see and know
2) Fire up a classic or indie designed to be brutal hard and just quit after so many deaths
3) Have a completionist complex where if I do have a game I liked I'm itching to go back and get every last achievement.

Right now 1 and 3 are combatting cause I wanna play NV and get to 100 percent achievements but every time I do get free time I dont even use it.

Its called a 'stall'

I get it quite often too.

Most often due to a crash.... i really cannot be bothered re-doing stuff if i don't happen to have a very recent save - so that game is done, next!

Sometimes i decide a particular objective/mission is simply too hard and i quit. But I don't mind challenges though, i love to think of strategies and ideas to try and beat it.... just that sometimes a game just shuts me down cold, so nothing more to do but quit.

Sidequests don't count, for me at least. I mean, if they are fun I will do them, but finishing the story is what I consider completing the game. Not finding all the coins or gold stars or finding every single peasant who would like me to help him look for his chickens or whatever.

Maybe look for different genres, something you will simply do better at, or something like adventure games where you can not run into enemies you can't beat, only puzzles you at worst use a walkthrough for.

Other than that, I pretty much can only second what HereForTheBeer said. Games ar supposed to be fun, so use whatever you need - a walkthrough, a cheat, lower the difficulty. Just have fun. And if it's not fun, then it's not worth playing to the end. And you don't even need to set out planning to finish the game to have fun. Right now I'm playing Morrowind, and I'm having fun despite being pretty sure I will never finish it. It's a huge, long game and I have plenty of other stuff to play. I'll definately feel like playing something else long before I reach the end, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the game, and it won't meant the fun time with was wasted.

And don't worry about luck. Even if we are to believe in luck, being unlucky in games doesn't have to meant being unlucky in life. I have a friend who is somewhat legendary in our gaming group for his terrible dice rolls in RPGs. When he played a scout he could not find his ass with both hands and would get lost in a broom closet. Doesn't mean anvils keep falling on him when he walks down the street.

Well, if you only managed to complete a few games in 20+ years, maybe you're just crap at games. :P
Perhaps the fact that you give up after only 6 tries means that you aren't really that interested.
Btw, you should learn to backup your savegames.

Just started another playthrough, and now I'm stuck, at the fucking prison. Seriously. For some reason the prison has an excessive number of prisoners in it that kill my tank in a single round, every combat. I tried to run away from them, only to have the guards at the entrance to the area kill all of them, and deny me hundreds of xp.

So yeah, my game is ruined. I just missed out on xp. My first time playing, the game just got exponentially harder because I died so much I ended up underleveled. And of course the less xp you get, the more you die as the game progresses. So, now my game is unplayable. At the fucking prison.

This is futile.

And I do look up guides, mostly all I see though is 'kill the enemies'. It doesn't say how, it just says do it, even if its virtually impossible. I had this problem when I played nwn2. I struggled to get through each dungeon because I kept getting owned by everything. First is that dungeon with all the undead in it. I would have to go through the entire dungeon with my entire party diseased, and the disease lowered constitution, and one of my party members is of course neeshka who's a tielfing who suffers from an ECL AND a low constituation already, meaning she dies instantly at the beginning of every fight. And then the area in neverwinter itself with all the high-level bandits that walk up to you invisible and kill you with a sneak attack. And the game swarms you with dozens of them! After mounmental struggling, I somehow got to chapter 2, where I ended up just giving up because my entire party would be wiped right at the start of a fight. And all the guides I looked at just say 'do it', now how, as if its effortless.

And why the hell is my game spawning 20 prisoners in the prison??? I've been through that area dozens of times in the past, never once had a serious problem with it, and now the damned thing spawns so many enemies that I can't possibly go through it!!!!

I'm obviously cursed. And I don't mean that as a joke, I'm fucking dead serious.

Is this NWN1? If so, that's one of the toughest of the 4 starting areas. Beggar's nest (or whatever that area's called) is easier. Could be the way you're building your characters as well as your gear and playstyle that's causing issues, too.

Yes, this is nwn1. And I am actually following a guide I found online. To put it simply, I got fed up with the stupid AI making my rogue commit suicide in every room of a dungeon, so after much debate (I normally play spell-casters, sorcerers and clerics mostly) I decided I would play one myself. I found a guide that gave various tips for playing a rogue, including different playstyles. I choose the 'slasher' type. Basically its a dual-wielding rogue that mostly performs sneak attacks.

My character's build is as follows:

Elf

Rogue 3 Ranger 1

10 str
14 constitution
17 dex (originally 16)
14 int
10 wis
12 cha

Skills investments: Disable device, heal, hide, listen, open lock, move silently, persuade, search, spot tumble

Feats taken: great fortitude, weapon finesse

The guide suggest taking two-weapon fighting first, but I chose to be a rogue/ranger so I opted out of that. After half an hour of debating, I ended up taking great fortitude as my first feat since I simply had no better choice. I took ranger as my second-level to get my dual-wielding feats and some extra hit points (my character has 36 currently, I intend to make sure my character rolls the maximum possible on every level for hit points).

As far as tactics, I've been letting Linu initiate. She tanks for my while I kill everything with sneak attacks. My weapons are a short sword in my main hand and a +1 dagger in my off-hand. My other equipment is leather armor +1, clock of protection vs evil, and archer's belt. And yeah, having Linu tank more than a dozen prisoners doesn't end well. Why is there so many enemies in there??? I only recall fighting like 4 or 5 people in that area the last time I tried to play this game a year ago!

I've always done the prison first because its the one the game recommends, so I assumed that that was the first one you had to do.

And here's the link to the guide I used:


As for guides and help, I've had problems in the past. Long ago when I was trying to play the nwn2 campaign, I kept asking for help on the forums, and they kept telling me to do stupid things that couldn't possibly work. Like in the room with all the rogues? They told me the best solution was to fireball them. Well, that did no good. Then they told me about the rogue's ability that makes them practically immune to fireball. They duped me several times into doing obviously stupid stuff like that. You really just can't trust anyone online.

Right now, I'm thinking that guide may be designed to screw me over.

I've never had a problem with my tank getting killed constantly. And doing research into the game, apparently the system spawns more enemies if you have companions, or are playing a certain class. I suspect my rogue/ranger build is causing the game to spawn a ludicrous number of enemies that's making it impossible for me to progress. I mean, I didn't notice an abnormally high number of enemies walking around the peninsula district, or even in most of the prison. Its just in that one room. I started a fight in the corner, and soon Linu is trying to tank over a dozen prisoners (including a gang leader) and I'm forced to run.

Okay, sorry to take so long - family commitments:

First off, it's been a long time since I've played NWN, but when I did, I played it exclusively for about 3 years. I may make a few errors, but it's not intentional.

Second: forget about combining Ranger with Rogue. It sounds like a good idea, and looks good on paper, but Rangers in NWN1 are pretty much useless. Rogue/Fighter is a far better combination.

Third: since your character is an Elf, you're getting a 20% experience point penalty right now. Elves' favored class is Wizard, so if you take class combos with base classes other than that, you must keep them in 'balance', which means they can never be more than one level apart or you'll get hit with an XP penalty of 20%. Companions also eat up a portion of the XP you'd get, so that's a double hit. But the game's designed with the idea you'd take a companion, so no need to worry about that too much.

Elf isn't a bad choice if you're playing a Rogue, as they make great Rogues if you build them right. I'd suggest going Rogue/Fighter. Start with Rogue, then either go with Fighter or another Rogue level, then start alternating them as you level up. Never have more than one level of separation, so you avoid the XP penalty.

For skills, forget about Persuade. You can get some mileage out of it, yes, but the rewards aren't worth the investment of skill points. You can also drop Spot and just keep Listen (this still allows you to hear enemies, which is good enough). Don't bother with Heal either. You need all your skill points for Rogue skills: Disable, Listen, Open Locks, Search, Hide, Move Silently, Use Magic Device, Tumble. Believe it or not, if you have skill points left over (you probably won't), Spellcraft is also something to consider.

Have to go for now, but I'll try to get back later with a build and some more suggestions.

Okay, here's an old build of mine that should be quite playable for NWN. I took this one through Darkness over Daggerford, as well as a couple other modules, and it was very effective. The build is mapped out to level 20, but you'll likely only hit 16 or 17 by the end of the game, so take that into consideration.

Elf

STR: 16
DEX: 17 (22)
CON: 12
INT: 14
WIS: 8
CHA: 8

1 )Rogue1: Two Weapon Fighting
2 )FTR1: Weapon Focus:Dagger (or whatever light weapon you wish)
3 )Rogue2: Ambidexterity
4 )FTR2: Weapon Finesse/ DEX (18)
5 )FTR3
6 )Rogue3: Knockdown
7 )Rogue4
8 )FTR4: Weapon Specialization/ DEX (19)
9 )FTR5: Improved Knockdown
10)Rogue5
11)FTR6: Improved Two Weapon Fighting
12)Rogue6: Improved Critical/ DEX (20)
13)Rogue7
14)FTR7
15)FTR8: Iron Will/ Blind Fight
16)Rogue8: DEX (21)
17)Rogue9
18)FTR9: YOUR CHOICE
19)FTR10: YOUR CHOICE
20)Rogue10: Improved Evasion/ DEX (22)

A few things of note: Use your skill points for the skills mentioned in my previous post. Save any points that you can't invest as class skills until you can use them efficiently. In other words, Fighters have a very limited skill set, so when leveling as Fighter, don't invest in something like Disable Trap, since it will cost you double. Only level up class skills when leveling as that class. The exception would be Spellcraft, if you choose to take it or can squeeze it in, since it's cross class for both classes.

Spellcraft is suggested because it improves your saves vs spells by 1 point for every 5 points in the skill (the INT bonus from high INT also counts for this). Don't bother though, if you don't feel you have the points to spare (you probably won't).
Tumble gives you +1 AC for every 5 points invested (not affected by ability modifiers)
UMD operates on the basis of value of items (can't recall the exact levels) It also works in units of 5 points invested, but is affected by your CHA modifier as well. This skill is a must for a Rogue, IMO, as it means you can use scrolls and magic items that would otherwise be restricted to magic-using classes.

So, with the above skills, only invest when you have enough points to move up in increments of 5. In other words a base score of 9 in Tumble is no better than 5. So don't bother putting points there until you've got 5 to invest all at once.

Oh, you may want to consider Set Trap as well. You can recover traps and then use them yourself. But I can't recall if it's really that useful in the NWN1 campaign. Something to think about though. If you think you'll be hurting for skill points, you could drop STR to 12 and raise INT to 16 for +1 skill point per level. The reason I have higher STR in this build though, is because Rogues can't sneak attack undead (and there are a lot of them in the NWN1 campaign). So the extra STR is useful to add to damage.

Don't be afraid to use a shield and different weapons, depending on the situation. If you're up against skellies, for example, whip out a mace and shield. You can still knock them down with Knockdown, but you can't sneak attack them. ace makes short work of them, since they're resistant to piercing and slashing damage. Shield gives you extra protection, which is sometimes necessary.

Use potions and scrolls to buff up. Use your skills to gain an advantage (sneak around to see what's waiting for you). You can give your companions simple commands like 'wait here' and what not, so use those when necessary (you don't want a loud clunky Cleric following you around when you're scouting). Daelan Red Tiger is a pretty effective Fighter (although he does like to die sometimes), so he may be a good choice for tougher areas.

Don't use your best weapon in your offhand. Because of the way the engine works, you'll be far less effective. Best weapon in the main hand. And don't dual wield until you have both Ambi and TWF: and make sure your offhand weapon is light. For the first few levels, weapon and shield. And consider wearing heavier armor until you get some levels and HPs under your belt.

Okay, that's all I can think of for now. Feel free to toss any questions in here if you need more advice/clarification. I'll try to pop in and out through the day, but can't promise a fast response.

I'm getting sick of being forced to play what I have to play, rather than what I want to.

If I had a fucking choice, I'd play this game as a sorcerer. But that's not viable at all. You want to do this stupid campaign, you need either to hire that suicidal halfling that's good for nothing other than his disable device and open lock skills, or you have to do it yourself, meaning you have to be either a rogue, a cleric/wizard/sorcerer with the knock spell AND melf's acid arrow, or a fairy familiar. What's the point in the other classes even existing????

This is why I hate rogues. They offer nothing to the game other than performing some stupid little skill check that only they are even allowed to attempt. There's NO reason to play a rogue or include a rogue in your party other than to have access to those two stupid little skills. You want a decent combatant? Play a fighter/weaponmaster or paladin. And just about any spell caster can make your whole party invisible, so who needs stealth?

This game forces you to either play one of 4 classes, three of which have VERY specific requirements (knock spell, mefl's acid arrow, or a fairy familiar), or tolerate a complete idiot that you're going to have to go back to the temple to retrieve after every room. If it wasn't for those stupid op skills you would be better off playing this game on your own than with that stupid worthless little halfling.

Woah, dude, dial it back. I only suggested this build because you said you were playing a Rogue/Ranger. If you want to play a Sorcerer, then go ahead. I've done it - it's quite do-able, although there are some tough areas where you have to really take your time and strategize. In fact, a Sorcerer with Daelen Red Tiger - and you helping to buff him up (and add in a pixie familiar as well to take care of Rogue stuff), and you've got a pretty decent party. You'll probably need to rest-spam a lot to replenish your spellcasting though. You can play whatever you want.

But if you're getting this upset about the game, maybe you should shelf it and try something else. It doesn't sound like you're enjoying it all, so why force yourself to play it?

Wow. Sorry I evn got into this. enjoy your gaming life. I'm out.