Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Beta About 3 design-flaws apparent in alpha

I don't have a problem with the idea of starting at a lower power level generally, nor the idea that the characters are relatively new to the trade (although the fact that someone undergoes a meteoric rise in skill/power in such a short time frame is also a bit odd - something that was again a bit different in U7 where stats generally started ~18 and didn't go higher than 30), but it isn't necessary to have a Diabloesque gear system in order to have character advancement or even to have a sense of improvement re: gear.

OTOH, in the case of D:OS, the characters not only don't start out more powerful than the enemies, but they don't even start out on par with other people who should be similarly skilled. Those legionnaire grunts you meet at the beginning of the game are already far stronger (and far better equipped) than the source hunters, which seems a bit odd given the way that the story presents them and the NPCs talk about them (there's even a comment about them having been given the best available stuff in their orders).

For that matter, it's not unheard of for the PCs to start out much more powerful than the opposition, but that usually means that some other factor is at play, such as stealther-style games where fighting sets your mission back even if you win easily. Not so applicable to D:OS, since it doesn't seem set up to allow avoidance in every situation.