I must admit, I am a goblin [on loot and games I played in 2025]
In 2025 I played a few RPGs, and I have just realised I am one of those people obsessed with loot. Maybe I always have been...
I replayed Diablo 2 with a hammerpala and it was such a joy grinding out runewords and finding magic items with paladin skills, and seeing my damage double as I got a new fancy sceptre or shield.
Then I tried Pillars of Eternity because I heard a lot of good about it. It was fun first, I really liked the art style and the story, but then I noticed your items barely made any difference, and it is not really worth caring about the loot at all (I played on easy, which is the difficulty recommended by the game for beginners).
You can find a slightly better bow, and then your damage goes from 10 to 11 or whatever. But it is never really that exciting. After ten hours or so I just stopped caring and then stopped playing.
Maybe Pillars' design philosophy fits into some old school RPG tradition I am not aware of and some people are screaming at the screen right now. Hey, I believe it is a good game, I am just not motivated enough to continue playing it. You can keep all 823 copper shields.
Loot in Pillars is like those photos by the British popo where people can turn in their kitchen knives lol.
And yes yes, D2 is an action RPG, fair enough. But what about Baldur's Gate 3 then? That one is a story driven RPG as well, and yet it keeps feeding you cool equipment. You can literally snatch the flaming sword of a devil in the first 20 minutes and then run around with it. Don't tell me anyone wanting anything better than the Normal Bow of Sucking Ass is a dirty casual!
I also played Titan Quest in 2025, and to be honest, it was a let down too. It had some OK loot, but couldn't not replicate the vibe of Diablo 2. I want interesting attributes, like skills or "cannot be frozen", and not some "+1 fire damage" level dull stuff. I made it to the first boss, then never played again.
I even tried Path of Exile to scratch that D2 itch, but I have found the whole skill gems system super confusing, never really get to see how really the loot situation was. (Sounds like a me issue.)
Then I tried Diablo 4 (because I already played D3 through a couple years ago) but let's not even talk about it...
The loot in Diablo 2 was just somehow truly special. For example the satisfying PING sound effects of gems. I spent literally hours organising my inventory and chest and enjoying the different sound effects the items make.
Hot take: interacting with your loot is the real gameplay in D2 and all the killing and running around is just the filler.
Stalker 2 had some decent loot, sad that the story was so confusing. After 40 hours I just got tired of having to go in another irradiated castle for some arcane reasons. But the difference between a crappy gun and the good one was heaven and earth.
Hogwarts Legacy on the other hand had one of the worst type of loot system. You are constantly bombarded with new items with meaningless numbers attached to them. Yaaay gloves with 1722 defence instead of 1699! WHO? CARES? My wife apparently, she 100%'d it.
Maybe it was not the loot, but the friends we made along the way.