Well, Unre, I have to admit I read a lot of detective stories and am pretty happy when anything makes me feel smart It's a diversion and escape for me. I just want it done with some originality and finesse. It's in the context, I guess.

When I play a strategy game, I want it to be as hard as possible, but in a rational way, and not just in battling overwhelming odds due to a cheating AI that gets advantages the player can't even dream of.

And like you, in an rpg I want to stretch my brain a bit and not just re-enact the same formula in another incarnation. Hopefully as the crpg ages it will continue to evolve and we'll see more intelligent gameplay models.