Dungeon Master Forum

Okay, so it's not a whole lot like DM, but it's one of the best games I've ever played. This, along with Outcast and Gothic II, make my top three. Arx Fatalis is the spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld 3. As the story goes, Arkane asked Orion if they could use the Ultima name, and Orion said screw you, so they called it Arx Fatalis instead.

Highly interactive, and highly entertaining. You only get one character, but he's customizable, and the variety of places you'll go and people you'll meet make up for it. Plus, you can bake your own apple pies! My favorite past-time.

There was a sequel in development for some time, but Arkane has turned their efforts over to Dark Messiah. (I'm guessing it's Arx 2 with a new name and facelift. Looks like more of a hack-n-slasher to me. Let's hope they cram some Arx in there for good measure.)

http://www.stygianabyss.com/

(That's not the official site. It's the Ultima Underworld fan site, but they devote the majority of their space to Arx. Better than the official site, plus it has lots of info on Dark Messiah.)

well ...I do not like Gothic so I will not like Arx Fatalis ...

They're nothing alike.

No, they aren't (but Gothic is good too).

I've been playing this recently; excellent stuff. I generally like my RPGs to be a little less linear, and have plots that aren't really silly, but when the gameplay's this good, who cares? The magic system in particular is a stand-out, although the fact Movis and Taar can get confused is more than a little frustrating (especially if you're out of pre-memorised spells).

Incidentally, I'm up to the bit where the Ylsides go a bit mental (you know what I mean). Geez those boys are tough.