This was Troika's last game if I'm correct...
Second-to-last, out of three (Bloodlines was the last). They sure lived up to their name in how many games they've created...
I guess calling them all "diamonds in the rough" is about as descriptive as one can be. Arcanum has a truly unique setting, strong plot and writing, robust dialogues, and a giant world to explore - but the combat is a miserable experience with braindead AI (especially on your companions), overleveled enemies requiring either grinding or cheese to deal with, and the awkward mix of real-time and turn-based (not a single instance of trying to combine the two ever really worked right - from Arcanum to Fallout: Tactics to the Pathfinder games). And there's a lot of combat - the main plot's got its share of dungeons which have little to offer except for corridors filled with enemies, and bypassing some of them requires a very specific character (and there are plentiful ways to screw your character up and end up with something useless). It was also a buggy mess back at release - I sure remember dead-locking quests and Raven (one of the companions) gender-swapping upon loading a save.
ToEE is probably the most technically sound and mechanically refined of the three, with the 3.5e combat replicated very accurately, save for the grid. Everything that has to do with fighting is about as well-done as it could be - but there's little to do except for fighting. There are only two peaceful hubs, out of which only the first one really has a plethora of quests, most of which are as complex as "go to my neighbour, use your diplomacy skill, go back, get reward". The rest is wilderness and dungeons, and the square mileage of locations is relatively small. It still takes a while to beat, because you will be fighting A LOT. Most of the fights are actually meaningful and require tactical thinking, though, so it's definitely a step-up from Arcanum in that department.
And Bloodlines... Again, the plot and the writing and the setting are all superb, but calling it "unfinished" is generous. They were pushed to release it alongside Half-Life 2 in time for the holidays, and the game was NOT complete by then. The entire last third is a sloppily put-together mess that devolves into two very long, very boring combat gauntlets with some of the worst boss fights ever conceived for a CRPG. On the bright side, everything up till then is a delight from an RPG standpoint. Playing as different clans offers a really different experience, and your choice of skills and disciplines on a tight budget of points offered to you allows for vastly varying playthroughs. Technically, it's a jankfest. It's Source engine in the hands of not-Valve. Combat and stealth alike are a trial in patience, because both are heavily influenced by your skill values, and function anything but naturally, so any way to skew them in your favour (disciplines, basically) is certainly a way to go.
It goes without saying that there's an abundance of mods for all three and they are all cult classics (although ToEE is often overlooked), all being passionately made games that suffered through development hell and misguided publishers.
