That mention of Moonblades reminds me of Xan's huge BG1 Moonblade fail hehe. Like way to take an awesome item idea and totally brick it, by having it tied exclusively to the game's least desirable NPC companion lol. Sure, the convo option to tell him off immediately was fun, but then you're just looking at the Moonblade like 'damn, too bad.' They could have just as easily made that blade a special thing that any Elf Wizard can get, or somehow build off the idea beyond a singular one off. Then again I guess they make up for it by the Ring of Holiness being in the same room. That item was totally OP but also a great compromise. I guess recognizing that Priests were sort of lame in 2e at lower levels even with the better xp table, they gave us a badass boost to spellcasting right away making it much simpler to justify having a bless spell or something, instead of just command command all day long. I actually kind of like that approach, to boost the game via conceits like powerful enchanted rings or amulets that make the system a bit more serviceable in a video game format. As long as they don't go so wild with it that you get like an Edwin Amulet, where that companion instantly eclipses everyone else just cause his special flare item is so kick ass. All the BG1 NPCs had something totally OP about them whether with an item or a special ability or crazy stat, but I didn't mind that so much cause it felt like a way to justify the gaminess with an appeal to an in-Universe rationale.
I think enchanted magical items and artifacts are great fun. The Book of Artifacts was always my favorite sourcebook I think, just all the Dragon's Orbs, lay it on me! But I do think they're missing an opportunity to make regular equipment more fun, especially in the first act but also over the long haul. I'd prefer regular equipment to be more about visual variety rather than stat boosting. They could easily set up a campaign where the player boosts their way through Fine, Keen, Masterwork, Exotic etc or various other ways to iterate non-enchanted stuff like in the older D&D tomes. Those always felt like something well suited to a computer game where you're constantly coming across loot. The idea of then enchanting regular equipment and having that be the means to acquire something like a +1 is also cool, because then it gives the player some aesthetic control along the way. I can imagine lots of ways this game could be handled where first act closes with the player finding a +1 anything and feeling totally stoked. But you have to pace it out for that to work. Right now you can get a flaming enchanted greatsword at lvl1 before even leaving the prologue hehe.
Last edited by Black_Elk; 12/08/22 08:15 PM.
