Of all the games in The RPG sale I only own Shadowrun Returns, which I didn't really like all that much.

I tried Echalon: Book I, but quickly got tired of wandering around aimlessly and getting attacked by lizards. I also have a hard time relating to having to creating a character from scratch, before I have played the game and gotten an idea of what the stats actually do.

Do RPG just plain sucks, or do I have the wrong mindset...?

There's nothing wrong with not liking RPGs. Not every game is for everybody. Tastes differ. Beating yourself up about it is pointless and quite silly. That said, have you tried playing more streamlined, light RPGs like Knights of the Old Republic?

In my case, even I can't be bothered with certain "hardcore" RPGs that tend to be complex for the sake of complexity and obtuseness. When faced with mountains of stats my eyes just glaze over, and the whole notion of min-maxing doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. No, thanks.

Me too, but I've never played Echalon.

1) Eschalon books are awesome but a bit deliberately old schooley nichey. Not exactly the safest mainstream exemple of the genre.

2) Not knowing in advance which skills will be useful (well, used at all) in a given adventure is a common problem with RPGs. The better the RPG, the safer it is to assume that any skill set will open a path to victory (without having to restart with a new character three months into the game). No real workaround. Luck, or advices. In doubt (and unfortunately) fighting skills are the best bet. Not always the most interesting.

3) Correct mindset is precisely : Embrace the fact of being thrown in a brand new world, with your chosen skill, and explore it, its possibilities, its issues, just as freely as you would if genuinely randomly parachuted in that universe. The best RPGs, in my eyes, are the ones that let you ignore the main quests as much as you want. It's a universe simulator - dive in, and swim, and enjoy freedom.

I loved Shadowrun, but I don't truly see it as an RPG (it's more of a turn-based tactical game, à la Hard West or Steamworld Heist). Maybe try more intuitive RPGs like the Elder Scrolls (from Morrowind on), or the Gothic series, or Kotor (which is less open than them, but maybe you'll enjoy its more guided narration), or Planescape Torment, or Fallout (2d or 3d), etc.

Or maybe more hack'n'slashy ones ? With open maps but more straightforward slaughtery quests, à la Sacred ?...

Edit : Heck, just go with Bloodlines, and you'll see what it's all about.

Nothing wrong with disliking RPGs, however there are a wide variety of RPGs out there also and they appeal to different people, so it's possible you might like a different type of RPG perhaps. The Witcher 3 is extremely highly praised as one of the best RPGs ever made, so if you want to get a feel for that style of RPG, it's about the best out there that you could try.

There are dozens of genres of games though, and many games that are cross/multi-genre as well. Try various games out and figure out which genres are most enjoyable for yourself. It doesn't mean RPGs suck, however it might mean that you just personally don't find them appealing however and there's nothing wrong with that. :)

My it's simply not a genre for you. It certainly doesn't suck. But it may not be something you enjoy. There's plenty of genres I don't like, but I don't think they suck.

Or maybe you didn't play the right ones (right ones for you). I like RPGs, some of them I love, but I don't like Baldur's Gare and the other Infinity engine ones, and I hated Gothic. "RPG" is such a broad category, one can't, for example, play Shadowrun and apply that experience to something like Oblivion.

To me real RPG you create characters and effect the development and story of that characters, in other word, role playing. It does require more hand on. This isn't what most RPGs are today.

I got an answer for you. Witcher 3. If this one doesn't do it for you, then you should hang up RPG completely.

I did not like SR either. I would recommend Dragonfall as it was improved quite a ways. In part due to having actual party members with backstories and their own sidequests.

You could always try pointing and clicking...just saying.

That Echalon game seems to be pretty hardcore...judging from the reviews I'm not interested in it myself, and I've played quite a few crpgs.
Breja is right, it's a varied genre, you just have to see what might be interesting to you.

Best games are RPG and if I don't like something then I don't use/eat/drink/sleep/breath/wear/ride/watch/buy/play/whistle/sing/talk/...........to it.
Got it?

To be fair playing Echalon for the first time and get beaten to a pulp
by every enemy/flower/cloud/patch of grass is total normal.
This game expects you to play a charakter with specific skills.
If you try a Jack of all trades you will not last very long.
But once you know what skill to take and what the game
wants from you it can be very fun and entertaining.

I love RPGs, but as others have noted, perhaps RPGs just aren't to your taste, although the genre includes such a broad variety of games, it may be more a case that you'd only like a specific subset of the games in the RPG genre.

But one thing that tends to be fairly universal with RPGs where you build your own character is the mystery behind which stats/skills/abilities are useful and which are not. In some, they can all be useful, but unfortunately there are a lot that have a good number of 'garbage' or 'throwaway' skills/abilities/stats. This is the reason I almost always research character building for any RPG so I can plan my character build before I fire up the game and not waste points/time on crap builds.

Try playing RPGs that *don't* have you create your character at the start, like maybe JRPGs.

You could try Pier Solar or Celestial Tails: Old North. Costume Quest, even if a little simplistic, could also be an option. If you are interested in an RPG'ish game whose combat involves bullet hell dodging (albeit much easier that *real* bullet hell SHMUPs), you might want to look into Undertale as well.

Yeah, you could give JRPG's a try.

Western RPG's are all about creating your own character, usually a player avatar to a large degree, and dropping you into a large world you can often explore at will. People who enjoy that kind of thing are attracted to the freedom it gives them to do their own thing and customize their character however they wish.

JRPGs are pretty much the opposite in that they usually follow a closely laid-out plot and give the player plenty of direction on where to go and what to do next. The main character and his/her companions usually have well-defined personalities and pre-defined roles and the games are less about the player pretending to be the hero and more about the player witnessing the hero and his/her rag-tag bunch of misfits make their way through the game world and develop as people. Less freedom, but often a more tightly-woven narrative.