Had this game been released with the second generation of shooters, it would have been deemed pretty decent. The fact that it showed up during the 3rd generation of shooters, after the likes of Half-Life, System Shock 2, and Unreal made this game a real stinker.
HL had a better story and gameplay.
SS2 had WAY better RPG elements and a better story.
Unreal had WAY better AI, gameplay, and even it's story was better.
All of these games were released at least a year before Daikatana, and the hype that all of these had prior to their releases could not have added up to nearly a quarter of the hype Romero way pumping.
The extreme amount of hype for this game, combined with the previous generation's gameplay/AI is what crushed this game