Wow, everyone has made some great points here. There's just so much to talk about when it comes to CRPGs; that's another reason why I love them so much. With an FPS, you don't have that much room for discussion. Does the game have good graphics? Check. Lots of weapon types? Check. Good AI? Check. After that, where do you go? The best FPS seem to integrate GAG or Racing elements or simulations (i.e., the crane in Half-Life 2). Though I suppose with squad-based FPS you might get into CRPG type discussions. I think Raven Shield even lets your characters "level up" in a fashion if they survive missions (I'm not certain, though). I'm trying to remember if the arcade/strategy game Cannon Fodder had some level-up system in place as well.

There are also games like Bull Frog's Syndicate, which to me seem a nice balance of strategy, arcade, and CRPG elements. Sometimes the lines get so blurry it makes your head hurt just thinking about it. I've seen people argue that Metroid and even Super Mario Bros. are CRPGs, since you can gain new abilities. I can almost see Metroid; but Mario is definitely a platform/action game even if you can grab some power-ups. The same goes for the Warcraft games (not WOW). Warcraft, Starcraft, and Heroes of Might and Magic have many elements that remind me of CRPGs, but the strategy elements are obviously what defines those games.

To my mind, CRPGs are more like GAGs than any other genre. It isn't that much of a stretch to take a CRPG, graft on some stats, combat routines, and so on, and end up with a great CRPG. Infocom and Sierra both had hybrid games that did exactly that (Infocom's Beyond Zork, Sierra's Quest for Glory and Krondor games). The only trouble is that sometimes these CRPG elements irritate adventure fans, who see combat and such as repetitive and boring. The old magazines I looked at criticized CRPGs extensively for being too repetitive and unimaginative. The GAGs required you to be more creative to succeed, though many GAGs suffer from non-intuitive puzzles and hopelessly obscure clues.

I'm not sure why there haven't been more CRPGs that aren't sci-fi or fantasy based. I'm curious if the "dating games" popular in the East may have some CRPG elements. I haven't played them. I might also wonder about Super Mario RPG. I distinctly remember reading Miyamoto in an interview ranting about how much he hated RPGs and found them boring. I wonder if it's too much of a stretch to call Mail Order Monsters a CRPG?