Truthfully, when trying to think of the differences, one of the biggest paradigm shifts has been from party-based play to a single hero focus. With my old favorites, like the Wizardry, Bard's Tale, or Might and Magic series, you would create a complete party of six before setting foot in the world. Even in the Ultima games, you'd end up leading Iolo and Dupre into every encounter.

I grew up on the Bard's Tale and Wizardry series, as well as the fabled Gold Box series from SSI. Wizardry in particular was seminal in cementing my desire to create games, and I have very fond memories of it. But when I went back to play, all those things that I took for granted as just being a part of a game were honestly cumbersome and frustrating. Having to sit through one combat that literally took six minutes as I painstakingly slashed my way through four groups of 99 monsters was mind numbing. The "3D" walk through the world that was captivating at that time was warmly "old-timey" compared to how movement and combat are handled today - even when using a similar die roll-based system.

Strategy Informer: Where did the idea of Hellgate: London come about?

Bill Roper: The day after we left Blizzard North, Erich & Max Schaefer and I met with David Brevik in the front room of his house. We discussed forming a new game company and then started throwing around ideas for our first game. After a while, David proposed the core concept for Hellgate: London - a completely randomized RPG played from the first person perspective. The shorthand idea was Diablo II meets Half Life 2.