It seems, for whatever reason, the D&D folk were determined to make spells as underwhelming and boring and uninspiring as they possibly could. You don't even need to compare with BG. I did one sorc run in NWN and I was still able to have fun. It's like they took out the most fun spells, looked at the rest and went "now how do we make these ones even less fun?"
- Right, first we'll have a bunch of spells that increase one attribute score by 4 to fill up the level 2 slots, then make them aoe to fill up the level 6 slots, but don't forget to make these bonuses "enhancement", meaning that these spells become useless at around level 8 or so because by that point all characters already have a belt/headband that gives them +4/+6 enhancement to their core stat(s) anyway.
- Next, we have a spell that gives an ally a +2 morale bonus to a few things. Increase that bonus to +4 to make it a level 6 spell. Then make it aoe so we have a level 9 spell.
- Foresight is added by a mod to BG2 as an HLA and it's more or less worth a HLA slot. In Pathfinder? Useless. I find it baffling that they thought this spell is worth being a level 9 spells. In BG2 anything coming from level 9 has the potential to wreak havoc even in late game.
Like, seriously, what the hell happened? Like they seriously hated how fun spells are in BG/BG2 and made a point of not allowing players to have fun playing with spells anymore. Going through your available spell lists when you're playing level 18 clerics/mages is just heartbreakingly sad.
Having played NWN1 recently as a Bigbi's-handing evoker who soloed fights by squeezing enemies and raining death on their defenseless selves - yeah, it's on point. While 5e's spellcasting system has its issues (the concentration mechanic can be frustrating, but I get why it's there), I am hopeful looking at what we have already in BG3 that they won't shy away from the weirder, more niche magic. I mean, we already got Disguise Self. It's less about which system is inferior or superior (I prefer the complexity of the older ones/Pathfinder over the streamlined (a.k.a. dumbed down) nature of 5e) and more of what a particular adaptation does with it. Owlcat's feels like the blandest essay on a book you could imagine, Larian's a fanfiction - time will tell if it's a good one or not.
