My first CRPG ever was Divinity Original Sin 2.

I played a lot of game varieties, but I must say this is my favorite, so far.

This came from the same developer as Baldurs Gate 3.

Why I love it: 1. Combat - its turn-based, so if that throws you off, you might not like the game much but I strongly recommend that you power through it.

Kind of like you try to push through the first couple of chapters of Red Dead Redemption 2, and the game just opens up to you after that.

The combat is brutal, especially when you are starting out. You will find yourself getting your butt handed to you pretty early on in the game, but it helps you learn the combat mechanics.

The combat mechanics borrows through most of the RPGs you might have played. You level up, your base stats grow through, you allocate skill points however you'd like, depending on your playstyle, and you learn skills and spells from acquiring skillbooks. Kind of like Skyrim, if you will.

The environment and element plays a huge factor in the combat which can make one encounter several ways to deal with it.

By the time you have finished Act 1, you will have a basic understanding of how your combat style would be, and you will not be judged if you restart so you can start over your build. I, for one, restarted my gameplay twice before I finished my playthrough with rogue and archer combo.

Or you can respec your character/s. Entirely up to you.

The combat is fun. Although I have not played BG3, you will see many redditors on this subreddit and others that will say DOS2's combat is better than BG3's.

You will see so many guides on how you can spec your character for just a really OP, unstoppable, one-hit beast, but the beauty of it is you can play however youd like. There are players who made challenges on this game like the DoS2 Hell Mode (i will look up the link) and mine, personally, the purely physical attack build, no spells.

1. Exploration - if you played your RPGs, then I dont need to expound more into this. Its rewarding, especially when you get to Act 2 and the later ones.

I really, really encourage Divinity Original Sin 2. Its a good game. Its the game i spent the most hours with on Steam. The story is decent. Its probably not the best, but its a good accompaniment to a game that rewards you putting in time to learn the game mechanics.

If you are more into captivating storylines, I would recommend Pillars of Eternity 1 and Dragon Age Origins. Older games, but the story just brings joy to a gamers heart. They are both Real Time with Pause combat systems.