This game is one that I have been searching for for a while but I only have very vague memories about it.
It was on PC and I played it sometime in the late 90's early 00's (but it may have been older). It was a medieval fantasy game, maybe RPG, that was first person 3D, and simple graphics. You moved about the overworld, time passed (day/night cycle witht visibility going down as it got darker), and NPCs were 2D sprites that got bigger as you approached them. The player character was a young male and I think that he had some sort of magical powers that were untrained at the start of the game. I think there was voice acting along with portrait-dialogue boxes when speaking to NPCs.
I remember a menu screen that was tied to learning your magical abilities. I have the impression of some sort of alchemical interface - a cauldron, or magical forge, some centralized mechanism and in order to learn new spells, you selected various properties and they 'combined' over in-game time. It may have even had something to do with your character spending time to 'study'. I was too young to really understand it at the time. I dont know that I ever actually crafted a spell.
Other tidbits I can recall:
-You could camp by the side of the road to pass time and restore health.
-Monsters came out at night into the overworld
-Player character was a novice mage/wizard whatever and part of the story was in trying to learn why you could do magic.
-There was an NPC you were supposed to find and talk to. When you found him, he complained about being out of tea (or ale, something like that) and would only help you if you brought him this beverage. I always got stuck here as a kid. Again, I dont know for sure but I have the vague idea he was dressed like a monk - brown robes, belt of rope, bald head.
-I think you always start a new game having washed up on a beach but this is the weakest memory.