.hack//infection -- Why am I still playing CRPGs?

Recently I felt like I needed to play a CRPG. The only one around at the time was my suitemate's copy of .hack//infection (she has the rest of the .hack games too), so I started playing it. It was okay for a while, but then got boring.

It's an action RPG; the combat is okay but nothing really special. You can also get levels. I'm sort of annoyed or disappointed that the only way to acquire new skills is to equip items that grant them. In other words, the only thing that really changes about the character is their level... I want something more customizable!

So I've been looking for a game recently with a lot of building/crafting/character customization. Most of the games which have those elements seem to be MMORPGs, which I'm not so fond of for a variety of reasons. The main thing is that I usually have to wait a lot for crafting to finish, or otherwise be inconvenienced in the name of game balance, when I don't actually care that there are other people playing the game at the same time. (Incidentally, CoffeeMud is a MUD with an incredible crafting system; unfortunately, it's a MUD, which means it does things in a way to promote balance between lots of people, whereas I want a single-player experience.)

Someone told me to check out Dark Cloud 2, which is an action RPG where you rebuild the world. Sounds neat. I'm looking for a copy of it.