Starting out as low-level guys with crap gear and powers is how all games do it, really.
D:OS is getting compared to Ultima 7 now and then (the trailer included), and that game - and most of the rest of the single player series - handled gear quite differently than is typical of today's games. A sword was a sword, full stop. You didn't start with a level 1 sword and then upgrade to a level 2 sword with better stats, etc, etc. Though there was a little bit of gear improvement (a magic sword or a fire sword or whatnot was slightly stronger better than a nonmagical one), character power increased mostly through character stats.
This also meant that if you did find something like a fire sword or juggernaut hammer early on - quite possible, especially if you knew where to look - it was actually a meaningful acquisition, as opposed to "okay, but I'll be replacing it in a couple of levels..."
