How did this thread descend into bickering about the middle ages?

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Fantasy stories become interesting because of differences in cultures, species, powers. If everyone is the same, then there is no discussion, no conflict and no reason to read a story, watch a movie or play a game.

I've been thinking about this too, mostly in normal life though. I'm an immigrant, so am often confronted with benefits/weaknesses of cultural differences, borders, languages etc. We're not so different from each other, but at the end of the day, if everywhere was the same, why would I have moved? At some point the twitter/ crit role/ gen z outcast crowd merges with corporate hr in a vision of equality and acceptance that is so depressingly bland one almost prefers intollerance. Where your appearance can be infinitely varied but those variations mean nothing. I can have horns and my eyes can be on fire but I still shop at Starbucks, just like you!

And in a fantasy setting, where mystery, secrets and discovery are the major escapist lures from the mundaneity of late-capitalist life, having a world of infinite races who are all pretty much the same is dull.

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Back to Larian my biggest issue with their lore is the already mentioned issue of everything is sooooo special that it just becomes a meaningless blur. In EA as level 1 character you already see more rare creatures, utterly exceptional companions and races than most established heroes in their life time. It completely lacks any discression or subtlety how things are introduced and used. It feels like the whole first act is sprinkled with one-of-a-kinds...

Part of Larian's charm is their complete lack of taste in armour/weapon design, spell effects, mechanics, characters and most other things. Everything is so trashy, but I kind of love it? It's like a group of really excitable but prodigiously talented teenage nerds lock themselves in a basement to make all their wildest dreams come true. It's adorable.

But you're right, if they want to make a really great game, then they need to address the fact that you can't meaningful disrupt/ challenge norms without establishing them in the first place. "If everyone's super, no one is."