2 picks for me: Stardew Valley, most boring shit ever, I don’t see the appeal, seriously how the hell did that thing sold 20 million copies?
And Witcher 3, I own that game since 2019 and I regret buying it, funny thing is that I’ve finished Dragon Age 1 and 2, which are kinda same genre but I actually enjoyed those games. I guess the old BioWare sauce carried those games unlike Witcher where there’s nothing to enjoy in its massive pointless world.
The first Mass Effect game was mechanically clunky. Some of that was really on display with the early combat, which might have been a big barrier.
Mass Effect 2 tossed a lot of the mechanics of the old game, turning combat into a cover shooter with squad commands for special abilities. At the time there was some complaint from the hardcore RPG community that combat was dumbed down, but overall the reaction was that it was smoother and less annoying even if it lost some nuance.
The story of ME1 was a bit of a deeper and more esoteric mystery. At times it could seem meandering, even if the high level ideas were solid. ME2 was “I’m building a team” as you assemble party members towards a clear and signposted final goal.