Parmandur
Book-Friend
Yep, understandable. Storyteller sold a /lot/ of books in the 90s, and they were, especially for rulebooks, pretty good cover-to-cover reads, but good luck finding a specific thing you vaguely remembered reading in one of them. Serious point-build systems, Hero, GURPS, could sometimes go the exact opposite, especially in presenting their core mechanics, very dry stuff.
Both more complex and presented in a less clear way, yes. But the less clear way is /natural language/, which is more comfortable to read, even if, having read it two or three times, you're still not clear on the intent. It was a design decision made up-front and shared from the Next playtest on - and generally well-received.
Which just shows to go you, human nature.
Maybe PF2 will manage /both/ form & function, both comfortable/entertaining presentation /and/ clarity/precision, organization & a good index.
I prefer my rules in clear, concise, efficient presentation that's easy to find & understand the thing I need at the moment, yeah, sounds good.
I'd like the setting information that makes a good cover-to-cover read in an entirely separate book, thanks.
IMX, though, I need entirely separate /games/ to get both. ;(
Lonely fun is a big part of the RPG hobby, and what one finds to be fun alone dictates a lot here: clear, concise technical rules don't give me any lonely fun, hence I'll invest less time or pursue playing a game if that is the primary thing. Narratively flavorful reading gets my motor going, rules are just a background framework.