If the plate is a +1, it is magical. Ankheg plate was also considered magical, even if it wasn't described as such. As for what magic items work with each other, that was described either in the Player's Handbook or the Dungeon Master Guide, which was assumed to be essential knowledge for anyone playing a D&D (video) game.

In 3rd edition they did change the magical bonuses to be different, and you could only get the best one from each category (armor, protection, racial etc), with a few exceptions (dodge I think? maybe a few more).

Figures it needs to be included in a separate guide. I guess I will just keep testing which items go together, when I find yet another magical ring or necklace.

I just feel those restrictions make it even harder to comprehend what would be the preferable combination of items to wear. So should I remove that plate just so that I can wear this ring, when there are other attributes there besides just AC (like saving throws etc.)? Maybe that is where it comes too much of a micromanagement for me, a bit like the inventory tetris in Diablo 2 (I prefer the Infinity Engine way where each item usually takes a slot, except for projectiles and gems).

IWD has gem pouches, scroll cases and potion... boxes? just for that sort of thing, can't remember if the BG games did though, IIRC I had a bag of holding in BG2 once...

If not money, then what restriction would you put in its place? Having to hunt down or search for food? Requiring nighttime rest stops (for more than just healing and/or mana recovery)? Taking in-game bathroom breaks?

Resource management is part of what defines a role-playing game. Without it, it's pretty much just an FPS, where in this case the "S" stands for swordsman or spellcaster.

Besides, I like being broke at the beginning. It gives me an added early motivation when I'm grinding out XP: I'm not just leveling up, I'm working to afford that shiny new mace on display in the weapon shop window.

BG2 had scroll cases, gem bags, bags of holding. And I think a magical quiver that gave you endless amount of normal arrows.

Hmm I wonder if you get them in BG1 if you use one of these 'BG1 with BG2 engine' patches/hacks then...

I think yes, at least scroll cases & gem bags. I played BGTutu which is BG1 in BG2 engine.

Loot! I want to find equipment, potions, scrolls and so on in loot or from NPCs by doing quests. It makes me feel like I've earned the item (Or something else that makes my characters life easier.) instead of having to buy it.
Sometimes it feels like the designers is lazy with quests/loot so they just make the item/whatever buyable instead.
Less buying and more loot and rewards! :P

I dislike some of the repetitive quests. "You must kill X monster" "You have to go to X to get X". It gets old quickly. I like varied quests, or at least don't repeat them five times. Don't make me kill five monsters in a row before I get to go explore and find an item.

If BG1 had them it wasn't until you get to BG City. I was just replaying BG1 using one of the mods (tutu or BGT) and NO scroll cases or gem bags. Maybe, I'll use shadowkeeper and see if I can add it to my inventory.

Too much f'ing loot. Seriously Skyrim has too much magical items, pieces of armor, and the like lying around that finding a new item is just another thing and not an epic experience like crafting a brand new sword after farming for hours on end for the materials to craft it.

I don't know if this counts as something small, but I really dislike it if the battles are too repetitive, frequent, or (worse yet) BOTH.

There are only 2 things that bother me about RPG's:

(1) If they are good, I immediately want to buy another one to repeat the experience.

(2) If they are bad, I immediately want to buy another one to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

Well, to be fair Skyrim NEEDS to have too much f'ing loot. One-handed weapons character can either use light or heavy armor (or none to increase spellcasting abilities), block or one of the schools of magic, focus on daggers, maces, swords. And that was just an example, there's so many combinations. So, to find an item he in particular will find useful, he has to find
a) A piece of clothing fitting his character build
b) A weapon fitting his character build
c) Potentially spell books fitting the spells he's using
d) Potentially a better shield

In average, I find a single item I actually consider uselful per five or so dungeons, all the other stuff is just rubbish I can sell and don't actually need. At any given time, I'm actively using about 10 items or so, so to replace my entire gear, I have to raid dozens of dungeons or fulfill a good amount of quests. If there was even less loot, well - I'd need to scour half the continent to find a useful item, which is just not all that much fun. Crafting helps of course, then again not every character needs to decide to go the crafting route.