Too many magic weapons

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I think the problem with magical weapons in BG2 is that you have the 'plain' +X weapons and the legendary named weapons and a huge gap between 'em.

I mean in ToB every smith and his dog sells +4 weapons, that's just silly because i'd rather have a +1-2 weapon which does a cool thingy (like +X fire damage or immunity to X...etc) than a stupid "Hey you got +4 attack bonus when you wield that".

And then you got the legendary "Carsomyr and friends" which adds huge bonuses and even uber cool thingies, which is stupid too because by being THAT more powerful than every other weapons in the game they become 'needed', theses ones are so 'special' that you play more the weapon that your character at the end.

 

The topic is so true. I always liked BG1 more than 2. BG2 is really at the limit I can take magical weapons. I really like it a lot more when you start with some basic mace and splint mail and then go "wow" when you find plate mail or a magic ring. And I dislike the way some games expect you to go out and get those super weapons or else you or your team will be inadqeuate in battle. Like in Diablo 2, if you don't run killing bosses with high magic find you'll likely be a below-average weak character (because of your ****ty gear). In Morrowind I can see the reverse. If you exploit everything and search everwhere your character will become godlike compared to your enemies.

So, hopefully BG3 is a fresh start with lvl 1 characters again.

 

Finding powerful weapons and other items should be more realistic. They should never just lie around. Moreover, cutting on item power a little makes class abilities and proper application of spells shine. Imagine paladin vs fighter without powerful items being in every barrel.

 

when you find a magic weapon, you want to keep it. Not Oh, magic sword(again) just sell it. Good magic weapons must be earned. Like the moonblade in IWD2.

but part of the problem is the money system.

 

In my opinion it doesn't make a big difference if there's a lot of +4 weapons lying around if they do nothing special. Weapons with minor enchantments, but with special abilities are more powerful, depending on what those special abilities are.

Dagger of Venom is what +1 or +2, but if you have it with you, it'll take you long way with it's poison. Stiletto of Demarchess might not do so much damage, but when its magic works, it will be more of a life saver than any +4 weapon with no other enchantments.

It seems like a runaway selection, in which the designers thought it would be cool (or something) if you had these monsters with immunity to normal weapons. Then they discovered that in order to have even more tougher enemies, they would have to be resistant to more powerful enchantments, so in the end you had loads of +X weapons which did nothing else at all. It didn't change things much from bg1, except now the weapons compared to those of bg1 seemed ridiculously over-enchanted.

If there's no permanent resistances to any normal or enchanted weapons, there won't be +10 enchanted weapons lying around in every barrell either. They just made those resistances, and those more enchanted weapons, so that they -and the players wouldn't have to figure out any tactics to beat harder enemies. Now the enemies with their resistances might seem tougher, but to beat them you really need only good 'ol hack 'n slash.

 

It's +2.

Finaly...
Someone else who appreciates the Dagger of Venom!

 

Too bad it doesn't do that much poison damage...But the thing is great if you can use it properly! As a backstabbing weapon, or combined with the Stiletto of Demarchess, it's really deadly!

Alas, it's not for those who prefer the head-on approach in battles. I prefer not to get into melee, but using some guile instead...

So considering that the future of gaming seems to be in short attention span console games, the future of role playing goes more into the direction of hack 'n slash. This might mean that in future games you'll see more of those uber-powerful magic weapons. No guile, or clever thieving in there. There might be some exceptions since I'm really not on top of what's going on in the industry...

 

My evil thief (dualed from a level 7 fighter) in BG1 is cleaning up with the Dagger of Venom. Victims include Drizzt and the Demon Knight among hunderds of lesser foes. I never tried to take Sarevok down with the back-stab yet. That's next. I roleplay and in my other two games my Paladin went head to head and my Mage used his spells.