Warning: Long Winded post about Arx Fatalis.
Arx Fatalis. Although I actually have never played the other games on that list, except for a save few, Arx Fatalis always jump to me as an RPG that was not fairly recognized. The game had a unique spell system, but it's combat system, I hear, was too much like Morrowind. Luckily, the two games basically split of in how they are similar there.
Perhaps one of the major reasons that Arx Fatalis was not all the popular was that, unlike many games these days, in my opinion, it earned it's mature rating, with gore, from everything from stained torture equipment, blood dripping walls, and grotesque corpses. Following this, many people who typically do not play games rated as Mature with that level of gore, may not have enjoyed it as some of us others. However, even though this game had some impressive graphics in it, all of it added together was not exactly as pleasant as I would have liked myself, but I enjoyed the game none the less, through the somewhat... angular characters. The graphics may have been a little dated, considering that at the time, this was a release for Xbox, and many games coming out for it were of a more ground breaking design, or at least what many called (myself as well) different. The sound was something that they could have improved, as some parts were repetitive and, well, to be perfectly honest, boring.
Oh yes, and the eating habits.
The game was a little more linear than many would have liked though. I wouldn't have minded if it went in depth a little more as well. Or the use of the amnesia beginning... something that I got tired of long ago. Also, the storyline may have been a little overused... the entire under the Earth thing was a little original, however, so I enjoyed that.
Not to say I did not enjoy parts. the world of this game was littered with little devices that you could find and pull and play around with, and the detail that the game went into in some places, was extraordinary. I liked the spell casting system, for reasons unknown to me in some cases, but for others (The book of Runes) the game did interest me more than I thought it would, in that aspect. Or, when my memory was dieing from overusing spells, I could always take out my trusty melee weapon and beat them to death with it. Not glamorous, but hey, neither's the games atmosphere (Gruesome and Deadly... nice).
The puzzles were better than many other games, and sometimes, it is worth to be observant of what is around you. The goblin guys always made me laugh too, I had to admit. Speaking of them, the enemies in this game are excellently epicted... still a little dated, but well made. Still, some of the images when fighting them are not the best, but considering that I am looking back after playing KotOR and watching Witcher previews, perhaps what I am comparing it to are a little unfair, considering the former was ahead of it's time. In the end, yes, I enjoyed this game, not as a RPG gamer, more or less, but using it as a pleasant and fun distraction from hardcore, open ended, replay-this-twenty-times-to-finish games. It was not the best game I had played, but far better than others.
In the end, the game simply was not recognized as it could not live up to the recent achievements of games like KotOR, in my opinion, which was another game released for Xbox, with better graphics, game play and abilities in battle, not to mention a better interface. Its graphics were not at par with what many would like these days, but the quest for self or identity was much more interesting then many games that came out. It was unfortunate that this game did not come out two or three years earlier, when much more attention would have been on it. The release of KotOR and Morrowind... obscured this title. A game that was gone before the gaming community could get around to it.
EDIT- How appropriate. My 5000th post is long winded.