I loved being in full control of my character and being able to fully block an attack with my sheild, using terrain to my advantage, sneaking around and taking out orcs with a dagger to the back…

My favorite has to be the combat system though, I wish more RPG’s would rely on the players skill instead of a random dice roll to determine hit/damage/block, etc.

Oblivion was almost there… but for some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on, it was still missing something. HellGate looks like it does rely a lot more on the player’s ability and skill, so maybe I’ll give that a try and see what it’s like.

Have you tried Wizardry 8? It’s turn-based but I think it fits the criteria and seems to be a cult classic. The few who have played it rave about it. It came out in 2001 and ended the saga if Sir-Tech. I haven’t played it yet.

Tuomas (and anyone, really): I’d still love to know if there are any other “freelook” first-person dungeon crawlers… (don’t say Daggerfall, been there, done that, don’t really want to go back!)

What else is there? Well, the atmosphere is really tight and many if the areas (the undead crypt, the lower levels of the whole cavern system etc.) are genuinely creepy. There are plenty of areas to explore, secrets waiting to be found and powerful creatures (giant tunnel worms rushing towards you, a dragon in its icy lair) to confront.

The environment is very interactive and I had a lot of fun mixing the potions and forming different spells from the rune alphabet. The voice acting is quite bad and the story isn’t very deep, but the plot does have some nice twists and turns and there are some interesting choices you can make.

Arx is actually one of my favorite games.

Shame really, because what else is there apart from UU and Arx for good western RPG dungeon crawling?

KG