Playing Pool Of Radiance got me learning the ins and outs of 2nd edition AD&D and I came to the realization today that I prefer games with a magic points or mana system. Probably because I grew up with JRPGs which exclusively deal with MP over spell slots. Don’t get me wrong, D&D is great, but it’s such a pain when you get into battle and you realize you forgot to memorize Detect Magic and now you have a bunch of potential good loot.
I’m confused, the example doesn’t really have to do with spell slots versus spell points. Maybe I’m misunderstanding though. The example has to deal with prepared spells and possibly casting rituals of unprepared spells (using 5r terminology because that’s what I know).
There are no rituals in 2e, so if you didn’t prepare something, you didn’t have it until your next long rest. IIRC you also were much more restricted in the number of spells (and spell slots) you had access to.