A game I really liked regarding that was NWN. Actually all magic items were unique, just slightly RNG influenced in their distribution.
NWN have some very interesting ideas, even today. :-]
However, magic items fixed mans that you was forced to build a character depends on certain items. So hard core gamer of NWN knew the location of items then create a build focused for these items.
Thats very odd. In case you want a mace&board cleric but you know there is no proper shield for cleric up to 13lvl and no proper mace at all.
For items I would prefer a flexible system based on sockets and craft. So you could put a stone to the item. Or you could disassemble - so you choose item or the stone. The second thing is broken.
