Nope again.
Yeah.

just when i have to go out >.< someone else can take my turn or i'll post one in a few hours if not :P

I'll go, then. This'll either be really easy or really hard. Also, it has a watermark. Ignore the text in the upper right corner.

Ragnarok! Played it before I even knew what a Roguelike was (though I guess Castle of the Winds was technically my introduction to the genre)
Edit: Weird, according to Mobygames the title is Valhalla.

'Tis true.

Ok, here's one along a similar vein.

ultima 3 perhaps?

If it was any ultima, I wouldn't have used that filename :)

King's quest 3?

Nope. It's definitely an RPG. Single character and battles do not take place in "arenas", but otherwise rather similar to the early Ultimas. Mobygames entry for the game has an almost identical screenshot.

any hint on what the platform is? i assume its DOS but you can never be 100% sure.

Yup, it's DOS.
According to MobyGames, it came out at the end of 1993, though apparently there's been a Windows release in 2000 (which requires a Pentium 90 according to the developer's website!)
The sequel with arguably better graphics was also released in 2000.

i feel like it's the game he made before ultima and that ultima was based on but my ability to remember its name escapes me.

Nope, its not Akalabeth. Like I said, this game came out in 1993. If you pay attention to the screenshot, it's actually 640x400 resolution (and screenshots taken using DOSBox's CTRL+F5 are "scaled" regardless of how you configure it to display the games).
To help jog the memory of those who might have played the game and forgotten:
1. In order to really improve your character when you level up you need to find 3 amulets which allow you to raise your primary stats with each level.
2. There is a really annoying dungeon-labyrinth across multiple floors, where light sources do not work so you only see one square around you in each direction.
3. There is a riddle dealing with "x dimensional worlds".
4. You melee enemies by bumping into them, though you can also use ranged weapons and spells.
5. There are lots of skills your character can learn. You might want to start with the music skill as that one is a realy ***** to get in the game, as you try to catch up to the bard who can teach you and in each town you hear "oh, he just left for that other town across the map!"
6. This game is mentioned in this very topic, though a while back :)

Unless my eyes deceive me, that's 11th Dimension's [url=http://www.nwlink.com/~dberke/ex1.htm]Excelsior[/url]!
I liked that game so much as a kid, that I went back and registered it once I was gainfully employed, and even exchanged an email with one of the (quite friendly) developers, Dan Berke, whose other work includes the marvelous Need for Speed 3.