Recommendations please

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Help out an aging veteran that no longer has the time and stamina to keep current. Background info: I want to destress, change sceneries, recharge, go back to work. Farming XP/gold or conquering the whole map has lost its appeal (maybe it's growing up or something).

— Mount & Blade (and Warband, and Fire & Sword): my chief worry is about playing any sandbox game, basically, does it somehow manage to be interesting anyway, as in something else than farming and getting powerful?

— Europa Universalis III (and all its countless addons): again, dreading the time factor; is it sufficiently non-dull to justify playing this type of game?

— King Arthur: the Roleplaying Wargame: same as the two above;

— Age of Empires 3: managed never to play it; are the campaigns worth it? (not gonna look at multiplayer);

— Shogun II: impressions?

— Any arcade or otherwise simple enough car racing game that has nice views (main reason for playing it), won't choke on my PC (E7200 2.4 GHz, GF 460GX, old RAM (4 GB) at 800 MHz, has to run smoothly in full HD), doesn't use the illegal racing cliche, allows you to have fun without following a career and upgrading/replacing cars for money from prizes (don't like this style)?

— Alpha Protocol? I dread to ask but it's ridiculously cheap right now, but I care more about whether it's worth the time anyway.

Please mention if any of the above, in your view, contains prolonged dull moments, relies on XP/gold farming, has a storyline that consists in conquering the whole map, recycles its content for repetitive quests/missions.

Thanks. Please feel free to recommend something from outside the shortlist if you believe there's a good reason to do so.

Thanks.

 

— Mount & Blade (and Warband, and Fire & Sword): my chief worry is about playing any sandbox game, basically, does it somehow manage to be interesting anyway, as in something else than farming and getting powerful?

— King Arthur: the Roleplaying Wargame: same as the two above;

— Shogun II: impressions?

— Alpha Protocol? I dread to ask but it's ridiculously cheap right now, but I care more about whether it's worth the time anyway.

I owe the above games and don't consider the money wasted- Most of the games come along with big modding communities and guarantee lots of mods that cater to all kinds of tastes and game modes.
Which is a big factor for me when buying.

If you need more in-depth info, post here.

 

After NWN1, I don't think any other game for me has kept me enthralled for so long. The expansions are generally well worth it, except maybe the last (although I haven't played since the latest patch), all adding some great extra features to it. It is really a truly amazing game, and I don't say that lightly.

In worrying about time investment, set yourself a goal. Your goal can be as big or as small as you wish - unite the Celtic people under one banner, claim the Iron Crown of Lombardy, form the mighty empire of Japan. The only real necessary investment of time is in coming to grips with some of the systems. For that, the best resource you can find is the EU3 wiki : http://www.paradoxian.org/eu3wiki/ It's an invaluable source of information when playing the game.

 

Great game. Doesn't have all the little and big differences in playstyle compared to Medieval 2 or Rome (haven't played Empire), but is still impressive in its own right and worthy successor of the first game. I haven't seen it in multiplayer, but the versus/coop campaigns and the online "MMO" campaign have the potential to be awesome indeed.

I tried it out for a few missions, and it looked good. Has its problems, apparently, but imo a very good game if you want a spy-flavored game with action and RPG elements, so I recommend it. It reminded me a little of Mass Effect, I guess - not a traditional RP game, but the potential for roleplaying is certainly there.