I lucked into Cinema 4D as I was working at a community college for a while and qualified for the academic pricing. Without that I could not afford it. However, that was years ago and its several versions behind now. I had Bryce 4 for a while but switched to Vue D'Sprit 4 during one of their special offers. (Under $100) Bryce and Vue seem to leap-frog each other in features. I found I liked Vue a little better and its interface seemed a little more professional.

But as you say, at first, and even now, I use simple primative objects when trying something new. And at first I played with just a few simple objects over, and over, and over,... again until the interface seemed natural and second nature. And then work through the manual and tutorials. ANd work throught them more than once. Work through a tutorial several times until you almost dont have to read the instructions to do it.  Then go through it some more only do things differently with different settings or objects. And so on.

DS seems to be a good free program if you dont expect Maya like things from it and take your time to learn it in steps.
Henry