I enjoyed my time with 3E and 3.5 when I played them many years ago. But right now I am playing in a PF game a friend of mine has put together, and I have found as I have delved into the PFSRD that it has the same issues with it that 3E and 3.5 had for me... that there are dozens of fiddly little additive game mechanics and bonuses that allow you to "customize" your character, but when taken in total have absolutely no narrative differential. The description of the feature, or feat, or ability that is meant to evoke what your character can do just essentially disappears once the mechanical bonus is added into your sheet.
Case in point: the Dodge feat, a +1 to AC. Now feats are seemingly "special", in that you only get them every couple of levels. So they should seem to really be an important part of you your character is because it allows you to "customize" who you are. And when you select Dodge, the name and description makes you think "Ah ha! I'm a dodger! I can avoid attacks better than other people by rolling out of the way!"
So you add the +1 bonus to your AC total. Great. But then what happens? That bonus just becomes one in an entire series of bonuses that raise your AC, and pretty soon when you are actually playing at the table, all you end up thinking is "My AC is 21." That's it. How you got to 21 never comes up. A couple points from armor, a couple from a shield, Dodge, this bonus, that bonus... they never appear as part of the roleplay and you never think about them ever again. So this supposed defining narrative feature of your character is just washed away in the morass of numbers on your sheet.
So to me... specific individual mechanics you take for your character never actually define who you are in the world-- it always ends up being how you roleplay the character that does it. And as a result, I just don't care if more and more and more "game mechanics" get added (theoretically to allow me to even further "customize" my PC), because those mechanics to me don't actual CREATE who my character is and what he is known for. I get that from how my character behaves and how they interact with other people and the world itself.
And this is why I find the massive amounts of mechanics now found in 3.5 and PF to ultimately be more unwieldy that actually useful.
Case in point: the Dodge feat, a +1 to AC. Now feats are seemingly "special", in that you only get them every couple of levels. So they should seem to really be an important part of you your character is because it allows you to "customize" who you are. And when you select Dodge, the name and description makes you think "Ah ha! I'm a dodger! I can avoid attacks better than other people by rolling out of the way!"
So you add the +1 bonus to your AC total. Great. But then what happens? That bonus just becomes one in an entire series of bonuses that raise your AC, and pretty soon when you are actually playing at the table, all you end up thinking is "My AC is 21." That's it. How you got to 21 never comes up. A couple points from armor, a couple from a shield, Dodge, this bonus, that bonus... they never appear as part of the roleplay and you never think about them ever again. So this supposed defining narrative feature of your character is just washed away in the morass of numbers on your sheet.
So to me... specific individual mechanics you take for your character never actually define who you are in the world-- it always ends up being how you roleplay the character that does it. And as a result, I just don't care if more and more and more "game mechanics" get added (theoretically to allow me to even further "customize" my PC), because those mechanics to me don't actual CREATE who my character is and what he is known for. I get that from how my character behaves and how they interact with other people and the world itself.
And this is why I find the massive amounts of mechanics now found in 3.5 and PF to ultimately be more unwieldy that actually useful.