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I would like to see more differentiation between greater and lesser soulbound specimens: some are legendary or even divine artifacts, while some are merely items that have inherited a few of their past owners' quirks. Since they'll be present in Deadfire from the start, the same restrictions need not apply. In part, these problems are related to the fact that soulbound items were introduced via the White March and Deadfire Pack add-ons, which comes with some constraints in terms where and how we get them in the interest of ensuring that they're accessible to players regardless of how far they've already gone in the game. That said, none of these things amount to a case against the idea of soulbound items in general or the soulbound item system itself, but rather how they're handled/introduced throughout the game. They don't all necessarily have to attract special dialogue from NPCs (and a number of them probably shouldn't, given how obscure they are), but tying their enchantments to scripted interactions where appropriate may be an interesting way to give them a bit more life throughout the game. I also agree that soulbound items are too cut off from the world in general after you acquire them, with the exception of Abydon's Hammer, given its use in dealing with the Eyeless.
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For example, getting Ydwen's Redeemer from what is essentially one random bandit encounter among many seems "off" to me, I barely noticed when Gyrd Haewanes Stenes ended up in my inventor at the end of a fairly insignificant opener quest for the conflict with Lord Gathbin over Caed Nua, and I actually had to look up Nightshroud in the wiki to recall where I got it. The Unlabored Blade finding its way to you as an afterthought at the end of a fairly simple sidequest is actually narratively appropriate for it, but I still have mixed feelings about it overall. That said, I do agree that too many soulbound items end up being plopped into your stash rather trivially. A similar case could be made even for purchasing soulbound items, if the seller is important enough and the price is high enough (but I don't think the former standard is met in Pillars 1 for the soulbound items that you can purchase in the game and access to them should probably be gated via special stock access requirements). I wouldn't consider killing a monster/enemy to be "special circumstances" in games like this, but even so it is fairly appropriate for soulbound items to be gained from certain "boss" fights, as in the case of the Dragon's Maw Shield or Steadfast (if you don't resolve things with Adaryc peacefully). The Hammer of Abydon is the most prominent example, given its importance to the White March 2 storyline, but there are others to which this applies to varying degrees: the Grey Sleeper has a specific location and scripted interaction tied to its acquisition, while the Stormcaller has to be assembled through parts uncovered via exploration. There are also multiple cases in which soulbound items are acquired under special circumstances, contrary to Ninjamestari's claim. Pillars 1 already established that a) souls can linger within objects/places and/or b) soul energy can change how objects/environments function - soulbound items are just examples of either phenomenon. In terms of their place in the setting, soulbound items don't really need a unique explanation for their existence as a category of items (which is what I assume Ninjamestari meant by "no real story", since, individually, they all have stories about their origins which are gradually unlocked alongside their enchantments).
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