Hello,
I am a big fan of role playing games from the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s where you create a party at the beginning of the game. Some examples would be Pool of Radiance (1988) and other similar SSI's games with their cool action figure fights and the overall faithful Dungeons & Dragons experience they provide and early Might & Magic games (I like the later ones too) with their open exploration where the increasing challenge offered by enemies is the only thing blocking your progression. The first inspiration for the games I'm casually working on would be the original Wasteland, I especially like the high level of interactivity with environment (other than combat and dialogs).