Good PC RPG?

If you like Diablo and RPGs with a dark/chilling/bleak atmosphere, you might want to check out Ultima VIII: Pagan.

You play the role of the Avatar, the fabled hero of many past Ultima games. But unlike previous Ultimas, your adventure in U8 is purely solo and takes place in a foreign world wrapped in eternal twilight. The game combines the familiar adventure elements of Ultima with real-time hack and slash action. In fact, you might even find U8's isometric view and graphics engine to be very reminiscent of Diablo. Catch is U8 came out some years earlier in 1994.

True to Ultima tradition, you can interact with many things in U8 (like moving crates etc.) and practically all the NPCs follow some sort of daily schedule, something I've always liked about Ultima. In U8, you don't gain experience by killing monsters. Rather, you grow stronger by executing actions that would utilize one of your core attributes. So jumping more often would improve your character's dexterity for instance. Incidentally, your strength dicates how much equipment you can carry. Another thing about U8 is that the Avatar is classless. Spell casting in U8 is a bit more troublesome than most games as you need certain reagents/ingredients in hand before most spells can be cast.

One major flaw of U8 are the jumping puzzles. There are alot of them and the slightest mistake can, more often than not, end your adventure prematurely. But if you can overlook that, the tedious spellcasting and the lack of an experience system, U8 is quite a unique RPG (for its time, at least). It's very challenging and sometimes, fighting your way through isn't always the best solution. The game is very dark and a bit disturbing. Even in town (there's only one in U8, by the way, but it's fairly big), all is not safe and well as you might stumble into "haunted" areas where zombies crawl out relentlessly from the ground to strike at you. The plot is very, very interesting and the characters you'll meet are interesting and believable.

Although many die-hard Ultima fans have canned U8 for deviating too much from the spirit of the Ultima series, and yet others criticize the game for being a failed Zelda/Mario wannabe, U8 is an underrated gem for the patient and open-minded.

Jam it back in, in the dark.