Discussion Disappointing "Legendary" items that are supposed to be good but really sucks.

All too often while reading LitRPG—or any kind of game elements system with items/equipment etc.—I find that the Author gives the MC some equipment they think is cool and totally thinks is epic OP shit, but then I see it and I'm just thinking, "That's actually hot garbage."


Then maybe they'll set up some incredibly specific edge-case scenario to show how "powerful" said supposed unique/epic/legendary/whatever item is.

Otherwise, well it's not like they'll actually think about the stats or anything anyway, so honestly items or stats rarely ever really matter. (Unless it's something like Zhan Long or Virtual World: The Legendary Thief, where you get bored to death by pages of damage numbers... )


So at the end of the day it doesn't really matter, but it still annoys me a lot more than it should when I see these stupid underpowered items that are being passed of as amazing.

 

Or the weapon type is forced / edgy. Like a scythe or chakrams, and author knows nothing about how to write a combat scene with that weapon. At least Martial World author knows his limitations and gives everyone a spear, lol.

 

tfw, you rolled a SSR/UR from gacha but it sucks.

 

Oh yeah, don't let me get started on the whole thing with combat scenes...

 

Give some examples dude. I don't remember any legendary items in litRPG's that are bad.

 

What's the worst said weapon you've seen?

 

*insert joke about your dick here*

 

I usually see this problem when they just give the weapon high stats and no unique effect like in overgeared. The extra hands are what the legendary equipment should be. Also in the strongest system the brick is a excellent example of how a legendary weapon should function. It is simple yet very effective and doesnt get outdated. You can scale the effects and destroy it when needed. Another problem that pops up is when you are not sure how to even use it like controlling 9 versions of yourself which would require a lot of micromanagement.

 

The legendary brick from The Strongest System is OP tho

 

Did you read Girl Who Ate Death God? MC wield scythe and it's awesome. Highly recommend.

 

the Dao of Brick is OP in any story it appears in

 

He's talking about the author, not the scythe...

 

Not the best of examples (since it's actually a pair of set items in this case), but the one which sparked this thread was a pair of gloves Shenyan recently in The Ultimate Evolution.

They're a set, so to get the full effect you need both of them (they're legit trash without the set), and even as a set they're not as amazing as they're made out to be.

They cost 500% as much as a regular item to repair, and on top of that you need to charge them up as well. Despite that their regular stats weren't that good either. Especially not when the author tried to play it off as if their performance was comparable to even higher rarity equipment.

The best part is of course that they come with the ability to throw someone. (Only if you have the set btw) Paraphrasing an example, "you could totally pick someone up and thrown them down a cliff!".

"They would totally make a certain Awakener's power go up by 30%."


So first of all, besides the huge demerits and the stats being only decent, all you're really getting is a somewhat useful but gimmicky bonus ability. (They had other abilities as well, but they weren't really all that much.)

But using the gloves means that you're NOT using a weapon, they're gloves, but not only do they take up the gloves slot but they also prevent the use of a shield and a weapon.


It's then mentioned that you need to learn a specific proficiency/mastery skill to a specific level and then you can actually use another weapon at the same time, but obviously you won't actually be using the gloves as weapons then...

So no matter how you cut it, their only use is for the niche moments where you lose your weapon, or when you want to use the utility ability like throwing someone. And for that you need to learn a specific skill to a certain level, pay enormous costs to simply use and repair the items, and their stats are at most just on the same level as other similar ranked equipment...

The hands in Overgeared are amazing, but to be honest they even go a bit too far in the opposite direction. They're crazy OP.

Of course, they also truly live up to that "legendary" grade. But in game-speak they would be more like "Mythic" or something even beyond that. (Which they are, aren't they? I think I remember the material used being something beyond Legendary actually.)

 

Legendary Guardian is awful with items. Author grew incredibly lazy toward the end with the item grades and stuff. Rather than make items and monsters properly differentiated with grades (Celestial for example) and levels, he just had the two scale parallel to one another. Every 40 levels or so, the proper 'grade' of the item would go up. There was no variance in this and only the quality of players would change if one had the level spectrum's proper item 'grade' for its level or have a grade lower.

Usually items would have level and grade different. Like a level 20 item can be bronze or silver or gold and stuff. Instead, author made it so level 1-20 is bronze, 21-60 is silver, 61-100 is gold or whatever. I forgot and didn't give a crap about this system by the time they reached level 100. It's incredibly lazy and for some reason the MC always gets items that are 'somehow' still in the proper level/grade but still 100x better than everyone else's.

 

Wow, that truly defeats the entire point of item rarity and item grades.

 

not quite "items" but the rewards Weed gets for quests in LMS.

Spoiler

His quests are always several times longer and harder than others and then the reward in the end is utter garbage or maybe mediocre. Meanwhile everyone else in the game gets OP gear from easy quests

(not sure if that counts as a spoiler but i put it in one just in case)

 

Ehh, i thought he says he didn't like scythes as weapon in general.

 

They're growth type class specific items. I don't think they're legendary yet. Probably unique.

I think the quest rewards in LMS are often, in large part, the boss drops.

 

I was reading a original novel “Transmigration Upgrade Specialist” on qidian, author introduced the flying sword (ch 49-50) as something that is extremely rare and then upgrades it and mass produces it, however max speed is 60 km/hour (about 38 miles per hour) and it can’t be used as a weapon. Cause a sharp blade going 38 miles an hour isn’t deadly or anything. Ah and before he gets it the plans only allow 40 km/hour flight speed (about 25 miles per hour) for a thing to by so hyped up and only amount to 38 miles per hour is quite the let down.

 

In all fairness though, in may MMOs, equipment that is rated as Legandary or Epic at the earlier levels has no special effects, just a few extra stat points. It's not until later in games that you stat getting additional effects on Rare and up gear. And even then they are minor effects that aren't as relevant as the player would like, they just seem relevant because it might be the only piece of gear you have with an additional effect.

But in the same vein, let's be realistic about gaming. If the authors actually gamed to any significant degree, the MC would have a lot of gear with high rating but shit effects and sometimes stats for them personally. The kind of gear you utilize because it's been so long since an upgrade you need the extra Attack Power or Armor Rating more than a few points this way or that to a stat. Like some weird randomly generated piece of Light Armor with an Epic Rating, has +Int +Str and a bleed effect for a mage.