It sounds like RPGs with strictly turn-based combat just don't satisfy you. You made mention of them being too slow, but I find action-RPGs to be too fast. I don't like the click-fest RPGs, and you don't like a 30-second combat (in turn-based game time) to take 5 minutes of real time. And that's okay.

I could list reasons upon reasons why you & I like opposite RPG styles, but none of it matters. Fallout 1/2, Arcanum, and Might & Magic 3-5 are the greatest RPGs I've ever played. But that doesn't mean you're missing out on their "greatness"...it just means they're not for you. You like action, I like time to consider my strategy, its just a matter of personal taste.

In short, don't feel like you're missing out on some great games, just enjoy what you enjoy.

After looking at the feedback I've gotten, I feel like I was unclear in my original post.

Truthfully, when I buy a game, one of the major selling points for me is the story. That's why I was attracted to the older 'pen-and-paper' style RPGs, since they offered a lot more depth in terms of storytelling than compared to the newer action RPGs. The main reason I wanted to play Planescape Torment was because so many people claim that it's like the crown jewel of video game stories.

Now I've also played a lot of the games that people have recommended to me (Oblivion, the newer Fallout games, Mass Effect, Torchlight) and enjoyed them with varying degrees. Oblivion and Fallout 3 are both games that I enjoy (though they tend to feel little repetitive after a while, but that's just how I feel) and I have logged many hours into each. Mass Effect I would like to pick up and continue again, but the 10 GB install makes me think I should wait until I get a better computer.

Now it was interesting to see that people mentioned Torchlight, as I still have Torchlight installed on my computer, and I wanted to see if I could finish it. However, I played the game for an hour, and afterward, I just felt bored as hell.

Now if you like Torchlight, then that's fine. I acknowledge that it's well made game, and that a lot of people really enjoy it. However, in trying to play Torchlight again, I just found the story to be paper-thin and uninteresting, the gameplay repetitive (to be fair, I was playing on Easy, so I could beat most every enemy within seconds, which probably played a role in the repetition) and the constant equipment management finally made me quit in annoyance, as I got bogged down every ten minutes trying to decide which equipment to keep, and which to give to pet to sell in town.

However, when I think about, that's exactly what dissuades me about some RPGs. When I play a game, I actually want to play the game. I don't want to spend time fretting about how to distribute my skill points properly so I don't shoot myself in the foot later in the game, and I also don't want to spend twenty minutes comparing my party's armor and equipment to make sure that I don't accidentally sell the wrong equipment set and lose out on better items. I know that most all RPGs do this and that at varying levels for each. It's just that I'd rather play the game and follow the story through, rather than spending time leveling up and balancing my equipment. It's like MaridAurdran pointed out: If you've got other obligations like school or work, then you don't want something as demanding.

However, I'd still like to play games like Planescape Torment and Neverwinter Nights, as the stories interest me. The stat-building and equipment managing may dissuade me, but perhaps I'll just have to get over that. Maybe the best thing for me to do is to actually buy one the games and see if I like it.

Also, I apologize if I offended anyone, as it seemed like I implied that action RPGs were better than pen-and-paper RPGs. I fully acknowledge that pen-and-paper RPGs have more depth and much better stories, and again, that's really why I'd like to try playing some of them. It's just that I find action RPGs more accessible to the average person who wants to sit down and play a game.

If you go for NWN, I suggest you skip the Original Campaign, and play some short community modules first to familiarize yourself with the game mechanics, and then try the Prophet series, which I personally found has one of the most exciting RPG stories since BG2 and PS:T.

Starts with this Prologue.

(With NWN modules it totally depends on the author whether you have to do a lot of item management or not. The OC and some community campaigns encourage looting everything that isn't nailed down, so you'll find yourself loaded with junk. But there are others that concentrate on the story and only give you what you really need.)

It appears to me as though your college workload makes you mentally fatigued when dealing w/the finer points of classic cRPG's (ie- deciding on what armor to keep, what armor to sell, etc). Understandable. I didn't play cRPG's much during my college terms. I played other games though.

I should mention that if I had better time management during those years of mine, I think I could've pulled off playing cRPG's for what they're worth. So perhaps divvy up your time better, and thus you might be able to get more out of the story based cRPG's you want to play. You can get away w/playing action games w/mediocre time management, but not a story based cRPG, if you want to get the most out of it.

Oh, and check walkthroughs and online forums for when you're stuck or need advice, like w/your armor delimma.

You could give Deathspank a try. It's really funny, doesn't have the best story but the storytelling is great. How stats etc are handled is pretty simple also, you can pretty much just play and not worry about them. It's similar to torchwood but less boring. Also it's pretty short, so you can have a chance at finishing. I don't know if there is a demo available :(

Gothic is one of my favorite games, and is pretty action packed. It is similar to fallout3 in some ways, with different factions you can join, and a smallish world that you can keep in your mind all at once. (Much smaller than F3). You wont come back weeks later and forget where the story was. Also the escape from new york style story from the first game is pretty unique among rpgs. The game is pretty evil, but I found it a lot easier than things like baldur's gate or arcanum. You have to run from a lot of enemies at first, but every time you get a new sword or armor its always fun to go find the enemies you ran from and see if you can take them. I really like that the enemies dont spawn - the world is populated by a fixed amount of enemies, and you can memorize exactly where they are so you can come back and fight when you are ready. There are parts when time goes forward and some of the enemies do come back, but by the end of the game you can literally make the whole world extinct, and steal all of the money from every single human. I love that :)

I know how you feel. When I get home after work I rarely have the energy to play the genres I love like intense FPS, complex cRPGs and strategy games.
What I've ended up with is a compromise. During workdays I play games that aren't very demanding, where I don't have to spend much time to be sorta finished and I intentionally play them so that they are easy. For my FPS fix I play a couple CS:S maps, strategy something like Kohan where maps don't take that long and for cRPG I mess around in Oblivion not accomplishing very much.

Then on weekends when I'm free and hopefully rested I play for example Dominions 3 or Master of Magic. Maybe try to actually make some progress in Oblivion. Games that take a while. :)

So regarding your cRPG gaming I recommend the following.
Play a action cRPG like Diablo, Torchlight or Sacred Gold that's here on GOG but play them a bit differently than you usually do.

1: Set a short and quick goal. Like finishing a quick quest or clearing a map. That way you won't feel the pressure to keep playing if you're a bit to tired to really enjoy playing.

2: Sell equipment you don't need or can't use right now or in a short while. When you can use them you're usually getting better or as good stuff.

3: Don't try to get everything perfect. Concentrate on those short goals and don't look much further. Build your character for what you need now and if that means you wont have a perfect build later so what? You're playing for fun. :P

Yeah Dungeon Siege is a good game and you might like it. Be aware though that some people call it a interactive screensaver. ;)
Play it as a tactical wargame with magic and you'll be fine.
But it have long quests and big maps so it won't fit in my play recommendations.

Okay, given your clarifications here, I'm going to suggest that you go ahead and pick up one or both Baldur's Gates and also a utility program called GateKeeper. (I've had a copy for years, so I'm not sure where to locate it for download nowadays, but Google ought to bring it up.) Pick a class, roll your points (don't spend hours here, avoiding hours of rerolls are one of the reasons for GateKeeper), and proceed to edit it up to your liking. Set yourself up with a Bag of Holding, a potion box, a quiver, and a gem bag at the outset, and you won't really have to worry about equipment management. If you realize you don't like something, no major issue, just edit the character again. Sit back and enjoy the game!

Please don't go into these expecting phenomenal graphics. With that said, there's no excuse not to try them, he offers very long demos and he's considered one of the better RPG story tellers.

I actually tried the NWN demo a couple of months ago, and after reading your suggestion, decided to play it again. I liked how you could just use the 'Recommended' button to automatically distribute your stats, and inventory management didn't seem too bad. I remember that I got interested in the game after I saw some community modules featured on GOG.

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone for their feedback. I'll look into some of the games that were suggested, and perhaps try playing the demos for them (I found a list of demos for most all the games on GOG).

I've always treated DS as a hybrid RTS/Third Person Shooter with RP elements, but the setting is so stereotypical for a fantasy RPG that I almost catch myself thinking of it as an RPG. Given its success, I know there were other games which cloned it, right? I don't know about DS2 (only DS1 got ported to OS X), but I heard that was pretty terrible.

DS2 is awful and way too easy (except maybe the Surgeons).

Well, I was going to further recommend Borderlands, but since that's essentially a 3D Sci-Fi/Western version of Torchlight I'd better not.

Given what you've said, I really think that what you should do is treat games like PS:T, or BG2, or IWD as more like "interactive books" than games. You're not so much playing a game as you are getting engrossed in a story. I know that stat management and equipment management is maddening (even for me) but they're part and parcel of the RPG experience. It may be something that you'll just have to plain get over...

This may seem odd, but I think it's worth downloading and playing the demos for games like Avernum 5, Avernum 6, or Geneforge 5, from Spiderweb Software. If you can stomach the Lo-Fi graphics, the game play is almost entirely story driven, and there is a fair bit of action to be had.

If you are having trouble going from action-y games into RPGs, I would suggest Deus Ex. It has a good story, so it'll keep you interested, and the RPG elements are not very intrusive. In fact, they mostly boil down to slight inventory management (which rarely gets too bothersome, unless you want to master the heavy weapons) and upgrading a few skills through the use of skill points earned by completed objectives and exploring.

The game is generally only as slow as you make it. On the easier difficulties, it is possible to run-n-gun, though that is definitely not the best method of dealing with your enemies, especially early on when your accuracy isn't the best.

Also, Bioshock is kinda sorta RPG-ish, and it definitely has a great story.

I dunno. After an extended session of Q3A/UT, I first got into Deus Ex and just jumped in guns blazing with a 9 mm pistol, only to get humiliated by a lowly NSF grunt.

I wouldn't really suggest any turn-based or strategic RPGs if you found Fallout too slow. Maybe try Gothic, which has real-time combat and a lovely open world. More modern games in a similar vein like Risen and Two Worlds 2 might also appeal more to your action game tastes.

There is also action games with RPG elements, though if you found Mass Effect too slow I'm not sure which others could turn you around. Deus Ex is probably the best of the bunch but it's slower paced than Mass Effect.

You mention Team Fortress 2, which is a multiplayer game and by nature extremely fast paced and without any story. Maybe that's just your bag and you have to roll with it. I'm the opposite, I like slower and more story-driven games and dislike multiplayer. We all have tastes and preferences and sometimes forcing yourself to play something is just pointless.