Gratification in Acquiring Epic/Legendary Items

[dr membrano]

It'd be cool to see consideration regarding replay-ability with this. If there were say 10 legends of mystical items in the world, it only seems natural that some of them would be fictional, right? Sawyer mentioned a drop list with random generation so it'd be cool if there were 10 legendary items in total but each time you play you could only acquire a random 7 of them if you played the game 100%, the remaining three would be proven mere legends. 

 

So;

Game 1

Boss A drops Item X

Boss B drops Item Y

Boss C drops Item Z

 

Game 2

Boss A drops Item Y

Boss B drops Item Z

Boss C drops Item X

 

But in all honesty I would prefer not to see any Uber items. I think an enchantment that could be attached to ANY item would be more fitting with open-ended roleplaying. If instead of always having to kill the dragon for the Golden Axe of Brutality you could, by your own choice, be using the Iron Mace of Brutality or shooting from the Crossbow of Brutality.

[Silent Winter]

But in all honesty I would prefer not to see any Uber items. I think an enchantment that could be attached to ANY item would be more fitting with open-ended roleplaying. If instead of always having to kill the dragon for the Golden Axe of Brutality you could, by your own choice, be using the Iron Mace of Brutality or shooting from the Crossbow of Brutality.

^This would be cool - an 'epic enchantment' for your weapon/armour of choice.

So you could quest for the recipe (perhaps needing to find the scroll and the ingredients) but apply it according to your character's needs.

[Suburban-Fox]

Legendary items should be hard to find, and you shouldn't easily stumble upon them.

 

However, in order to be worthwhile, they have to be significantly better than everything else. There's no point getting excited over a +4 longsword when you can buy a +3 longsword in the shops (and a +5 longsword in the next location you visit).

Edited June 25, 2014 by Suburban-Fox

[Karkarov]

The way items will be placed is pretty much already done regardless.

 

My concern at this point is that maybe there will be too many legendary items considering the fact that all backers past a certain point may have had a chance to make one.  That and there will be no legendary swords (I like swords, sue me) since Obsidian said "please suggest something other than a sword" and as a result almost no one suggested one apparently.

[Diseasedyak]

I like the idea of legendaries, but they should be uber rare, and very hard to find.

[Mannock]

The way items will be placed is pretty much already done regardless.

 

My concern at this point is that maybe there will be too many legendary items considering the fact that all backers past a certain point may have had a chance to make one.  That and there will be no legendary swords (I like swords, sue me) since Obsidian said "please suggest something other than a sword" and as a result almost no one suggested one apparently.

 

But the backers aren't the only people making items. Obsidian are doing items too and I assume they will make items that are lacking. I'm quite sure there will be fancy swords.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Mannock

[Messierg]

Now this strays slightly off topic, but I would like to suggest having the "Lore" ability play a larger role in "unique" weapon effectiveness.  Say you find a long sword that looks different than a normal longsword so you identify it, and it looks to be a longsword +1 with some flame damage, pretty basic enchantment. However, if youre "Lore" ability is super high, not only do you discover additional enchantments, but 1) the description upon examining the item is different/more detailed and the thing has a special name instead of something standard like "longsword of flame +1", or 2) the description reveals something missing from the item, and once you "activate" it (by dipping it in a lava pit, laying it on a shrine in a haunted forest, or combining it with some special, rare material, etc.) the effects change, the look changes, and the description changes to show the item's true identity.  People could go through the entire game not knowing they have some sweet item unless they invested in the lore skill, you could apply this tactic to other skills as well, in terms of increasing their impact on the overall content and explorability of the game. 

 

Might be too late for such a change, but it would add to the fun and challenge of finding "legendary" or "unique" items.  I always enjoyed building the equalizer in BG, cool story, cool look, felt satisfying to accomplish.

[Karkarov]

But the backers aren't the only people making items. Obsidian are doing items too and I assume they will make items that are lacking. I'm quite sure there will be fancy swords.

Fancy swords?  Who cares about fancy swords?  I want some huge, blackened, serrated, flaming, death dealing, sword of world destroying madness!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. .. haahhhhaa.... uugghhh ..... *cough/hack*.... Oh sorry got a little carried away there... 

[Lephys]

I think there should be a family with the name "Legen", who runs a Dairy, and you should find a cache of weapons buried on their farm somewhere, if you solve the mystery of their location (it will be a rather elaborate mystery).

 

However, in order to be worthwhile, they have to be significantly better than everything else. There's no point getting excited over a +4 longsword when you can buy a +3 longsword in the shops (and a +5 longsword in the next location you visit).

True true. I will add that the "we'll just make it +17" approach shouldn't be used to make them worthwhile, since that just ends up still being bland, but OP. It's better when they do something really interesting/unique that ends up making them worthwhile, rather than just having exorbitant amounts of pure attack-boosting qualities (accuracy/damage upping). I'd honestly prefer to find legendary weapons that are "plus nothing", because they're so unique they can't even really be compared to other, "mundane" weapons on the same scale.

 

It should be kind of like apples and oranges. Because, if it isn't, there's inevitably something else that's almost the same thing. "Oh, I could enchant this other sword with fire, but this legendary sword of the Fire Paladin, Rouark, does fire damage, but more damage than what you can enchant a sword to do."

 

When the only different is quantity, that doesn't make it very legendary. It just makes it... weirdly multiplied? That said, it could still easily be a +something weapon WITH some awesome, unique attribute. Maybe the person who used it was wielding a well-crafted weapon (+something) when it became imbued with whatever makes it unique. That'd be fine. I don't think it has to have absolutely nothing in common with regular weapons. It just needs to be more than a regular weapon with shifted numbers.

[Zwiebelchen]

Hidden and powerful bosses, mostly, such as the lich from BG2. But I do think that sidequests and "regular" bosses should have them too. Just don't put them in a shop with a 10000$ tag on it.

 

I don't want to ruin the fun here, but why exactly would that be a problem?

 

RPGs need a good money sink. I've played so many games that suffered from a ****ed up economy system where you would get loads and loads of money, but nowhere to spend it on. Having certain great items sold by shops is the bread & butter of a good RPG economy.

 

Btw, Baldurs Gate II was such a game. There was only a handful of items you could buy from the adventurers market that were any good. And I could always afford all of them even before even going into the underdark.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Zwiebelchen

[Gralq]

Is it too late to add my bit?

 

Boss fights are ok, and stumbling upon them works as well fine. What I don't like is that weird obsession about getting every item as if you couldn't just open a console if you really really wanted them.

 

I like to (and would like players) to compromise.  I mean that you either get one legendary item or the other, not just once in the game. 

 

Something like you have defeated that terrible boss who sinks slowly in the lava with that axe + 5 in his left hand and that poisoned rapier +4 on his right.. you rush to him eyes shining in green but your one hand last second stretch will be enough to pick only one of them.....

 

One thing I've never seen is sacrificing something from your character(s) to gain that kick-ass item. Say,loose 1 str permanently to gibe the life-force needed to create a totally disruptive lightsaber in this medieval world.. 

 

Regards!

[Randomthom]

One thing I've never seen is sacrificing something from your character(s) to gain that kick-ass item. Say,loose 1 str permanently to gibe the life-force needed to create a totally disruptive lightsaber in this medieval world.. 

 

Blackrazor in BG2 says Hi. You become permanently evil (chaotic evil I think) if you choose to keep it (if you weren't already of course).

[Kogorn733]

This might fall under the definition of some of the choices, but an interesting way to acquire a legendary item artifact might be to have the player create one. 

[Sofaking]

Anybody say "carry around a pair of pantaloons through the game's sequels" yet?