And as a player that don't like being told how I should play/improve my characters, I'm mostly stuck with +1 weapons/armors for 25 hours.
And that is exactly what i like about this game so much ... that you can.
I dunno, usualy in CRPGs i played i just get flat bonuses ...
First magical items you find is +1 ... some time later you find +2 ... it doesnt really matter if it is Intelligence for your Wizard, or Strength for your Fighter ...
What choices do you have in such game?
I think you've kinda missed the point of Max's statement here. What I read is that from his perspective, he has no more choice than you feel you have in other crpgs. He doesn't like the weirder, niche behaviour items being provided and in his place he's sayins he's presented with...just using the same items for long stretches without even the chance to change to the +2 gear you're talking about. So it's not actually a choice between the two styles, it's either use the items that present lots of variety, or be stuck with the same handful of items for the foreseeable future. I haven't played BG3 since like, patch 5 so I don't know how accurate that assessment is to the game experience, but if it's accurate-and you don't seem to be arguing that it is-then it's not actually a choice in the same way that deciding to use a sword of ice or a sword of fire, or a great sword that increases critical hit rate would be.
I think it's also worth bringing up that for all your talk of players being able to choose what they do and don't do, every game, no matter how open, has an intended playstyle envisioned by the developers, because they can't really make the game without that intended vision. And even if the game can support other playstyles, the game isn't, at its core, meant for that. And that intended vision is always going tobe putting pressure on anyone who deviates from it. Like how people play these games without companions and only do it solo. The game is much more difficult because it's meant to be played as a group. And people who ignore the party members. They're missing out on the story, as well as enemies and even areas because that's not the intended way this game is meant to be played. So if a lot of players are deviating from that intended vision not because they want to impose the challenge on themselves or because they don't mind missing out on one experience in exchange for another, but because the alternative is simply not fun for them, then they're gonna constantly be playing against the pressure of the intended vision.
What that all means in relation to this topic is that if the intended vision is for players to use these items and adjust their playstyle accordingly, then they'll be punished for not doing so by getting fewer items that they actually want to engage with. Which isn't to say that this is the intended vision. But if it were, then that's something to be conscious of.
