I tried to beat Ultima 9 many, many times. But time and again I would reach a point in the story where I needed to speak to Lord British, and when I arrived he'd be spawned underneath his throne. Just staring at me from under the chair legs with no way to talk to him, forcing me to restart. It happened at least 3 different times.
When I was younger, I sincerely tried to finish the game in vain. I didn't encounter the same bug you did, but eventually, I gave up and went to break the game by climbing the mountains with the 'create crystal' spell over and over just to bypass whatever plot bullshit they had to keep the open world closed off. And when I got to Yew before I was supposed to, it broke a lot of plot related stuff. Also, I got as far as the Gargoyles underwater city (lol) before uninstalling.
To be very sad to see favorite series end in such a manner.
I don't know if NWN2's orc caves are that bad on their own (they're pretty short after all), it's just that they're the last straw in the horrible first act that has you running around all over the map doing pointless errands just to get through a fucking door. You've just gone through a bunch of awful parts to get to the city of Neverwinter, and when you think it's finally going to get better the game says "fuck you" and pulls the rug from right under you by sending you again to some shit stain on the map to do the most boring shit imaginable.
Don't forget the court hearing.
OMG THIS IS GETTING GOOD..FINALLY ALL THAT SHITTY SHIT I'VE DONE IS VINDICATED BY A NICE APPLICATION OF CHARACTER INTERAC- Fuck. Khelgar, fight him for me.
Divinity Original Sin
The crafting system.
Yeah, and discovering that when selling the goods, the game doesn't check who in the party has highest Barter skill. Instead, the dude with the highest Barter need to carry all the loot himself and sell it. And the fans defend it by saying GOLD IS MEANINGLESS ANYWAY SINCE YOU GET SO MUCH LOOT! STOP BEING SUCH A POWERGAMER NANANANANANANAN BAD-MAN.
Barrels. When did these things become a staple of every RPG. See a barrel. Open a barrel. Find 32 gold pieces. Move to next barrel. CLOSED.
MUST OPEN IT.
Rabbit's foot amulet, Lucky dagger, Lucky Shield, Lucky Boots, Romantic Trait = Lucky Charm 6.
Wasteland 2. Fallouts. Bioshocks.
I think the first 2 is pretty much forgiven due to the post-apoc nature of scavenging, but my biggest issue with WL2 is the time spent on using the correct variant of unlocking container skill. Whether it is to disable electronics, detect traps, safe cracking, lock picking, bashing. The timer turns me off.