You ever try Guildwars2? The game has everything, easy to play, easy to explore, and a huge world with lots of stories and characters. Can customize your outfit and just go explore the world. Its an online RPG that you buy once and then its free forever after, no online fees. Of course you can buy costumes and extra bags and all kinds of stuff later, so they do have a decent income from it.
Definitely worth a look.

I totally get that. The more AAA type developers are the worst in doing it and setting up an actually fun experience if you arent a die hard for it/want to grind. Its probably why i been moving to more single player indie style games and like city management games because feels less of a "chore" to play you could say.

Though i still am playing WoW due to the time already put into it and its grind central.

I feel the same when playing games like dark souls, elden ring. I feel like the level of difficulty is set for a certain percentage of players capable of beating the game. Now don't get me wrong, I still beat them but I'm like I just wanna have fun 😅

Try final fantasy. Ff13, 13-2, and lightning returns i wish theyd bring to ps4. Ff 12...they ruined it in my opinion by adding classes. Ff15 is heavy story very casual and good. Ff7 remake is really good too. Better actually. I love the leveling system of fallout 4, but the storyline is botched a bit. Having to basically delete all your progress, to go to a previous save to do the next storyline is no bueno. Gotta agree assassins creed is becoming too rehashed. Loved skyrim. Almost all multiplayer games suck in my opinion. Seriously, all these players coming in with crunked up storebought skins ruins the aesthetic. The last of us. Is a really good older story based zombie game. Kinda sad but really good. Oh yrah horizon is really good too. The battling is fun, and story is interesting.

Yeah I get what you're saying. You're not every gamer and you may not be the best but you are part of the demographic. And games today ARE really grindy and repetitive. I think developers are focusing more on methodical crap like what a game SHOULD be and how it SHOULD play out, rather than what's FUN. They're too "textbook".

I can agree with some of this. One of the big issues I have with modern games is how they artificially increase play time by adding in seemingly endless fetch quests or or the dreaded escort missions. My roster of games has dwindled down to 4 or 6 games I loop between in my free time and the two games I play on my 3DS when I get stuck on long shifts at work. The idea that the 100+ hour, open world, survival, crafting, RPG lite is becoming the norm for anything thats now a CoD clone or hero shooter is something I try to ignore at this point.

I definitely understand your point on new games. The last newly released game I enjoyed was red dead redemption 2, which is a masterpiece. Since then, any new game I play, I just can’t get into it. I’m at a point where I either revisit old games, or I look forward to remasters of older games. Something has changed with the way they are made, I can’t put my finger on what it is, but I don’t like it.

I've been finding myself having more and more trouble with new games. I used to play a lot of RPGs, so I'm kind of used to the grinding. But I also liked the slower paced strategic way of play. So many games today, including RPGs, are becoming action based reflex tests that I just can't keep up with due to having disabled hands.

Baldur's Gate 3 was great for me because it had good story, turn based play, and still felt new. It did feel rather difficult in the first chapter, but as I got through that it became much more manageable.

Red Dead 2 was amazing. It did have a lot of action, but the way Dead Eye worked really let me enjoy it despite my reflex issues.

I think game development getting more expensive have caused big developers to circle the wagons around what is popular with a core audience. If you are outside of that audience, you kind of get left in the cold. Indie games have been getting better, but many still lack that polish and wow factor.