I didn't get into crafting in the last game. It was a bit too opaque. That said, afaik, there was no way to enchant items which is what I think the ultimate goal of crafting should be in a fantasy game. Like, I totally want to be able to make my own uber staff with chances to cast fireballs and whatnot for "leet" damage. If that's not in the game, I don't see much point to crafting. Repairing I can see, but only as an extension of that mechanic.
So, question: could you do that in the first game?
Crafted gear generally gave the best damage/defenses, you could make set of +5 sneak, over 100 all resist with wearable stuff, immune to slip, +1/2 to any stats and intiative, unique crafted weapons were best in game at level 20, improve damage/defense of loot, creat any spell in game on scroll, create grenades/arrows, so on and so forth. Make and sell stuff for tons of money to buy stuff...
By leverage the crafting system, you could pretty much take a character at any comparable level and make him much more powerful and/or effective in combat. From a min-max perspective it's required to use.
