Ultima IX: Ascension

The Good
An ambitious, quantum leap in scope; free-form movement indoors and out to an extent not attempted before. Next-generation graphics including spacious outdoor scenes, highly interactive, beautifully rich textures. Rich story, as with all Ultima's.

The Bad
Buggy and unplayable on systems at the time due to impossible system requirements. This game was released under pressure, full of bugs including (from memory) frequent crashes. But that hardly mattered, as virtually nobody could play this game on release due to absurdly high system specs. I had a reasonably high-end PC and it was virtually impossible just to move around. A workmate had a very high-end PC and it was hardly any better.

The Bottom Line
Beautiful, free-form role-playing game light-years ahead of its time (in 1999), but it's own ambitiousness was its ultimate downfall.