As a very experienced CRPG player, I agree with the OP that the "normal" difficulty is harder than most CRPGs. According to eRe4s3r's post, this was also the consensus of the beta testers, but it was too late to make significant changes.
Part of the difficulty is the "bootstrap" issue. If you are a level 1 character in a dungeon of all level 10 monsters, there is no way to win. You need some mechanism to provide foes close in level to the player at the beginning of the game for the player to gain experience and some levels so he can survive in the (virtual) real world. One example is the catacombs under Aleroth at the beginning of Divine Divinity. Most CRPGs have something similar, like the low level monsters near Seyda Neen in Morrowind or the valley of dragon flies in Might & Magic 7(?). The tutorial dungeon does provide guidance in general game play, but doesn't have the monsters to serve as a bootstrap.
I believe there are ways that this could be improved, and hopefully will, in future patches. For example, the dungeon under the abandoned General Store could be expanded greatly in terms of battle opportunities for low level characters to gain experience.
It seems to me that the current difficulty level is unfortunate as there are so many excellent things about Original Sin. The flexibility of casting a pool of water then casting an electric spell to electrify it or a fire spell to make a steam cloud is reminiscent of the original Dues Ex--very challenging to implement, but a lot of fun to play.
Thing is, the challenge isn't directly level based. It is strongly tactical in nature. My friend and I got to town at level 2 and went through the west gate to the Orcs (level 6). It was rough, but we were able to take down some of them at level 2 with just the two of us (no henchmen or companions).
The point is, all getting closer to the mobs levels does is allow you to use more common tactics of today's games (ie rush in and start swinging.
The solution is not to allow people to grind to over take levels making it easy for them to beat an encounter. The solution is to teach them how to be better at making tactical decisions, to think about what they have, what they can do, and how they can best use their environment to their advantage.
That is what a tactical game like this needs, not a grind to overpower the content.
What I think would be ideal is to have a tutorial outside of the game where it is a small dungeon with multiple encounters that require different approaches and spell/skill use to demonstrate the capabilities of play. By having it outside of the game, you can give them all the spells and abilities you want to really show the combinations. You can showcase many aspects of play without being concerned about how it interrupts the game.
Now there was a time when I would say... What a waste. They shouldn't have to make a trainer dungeon like that. I would have said, if they want to learn to play a cRPG, go learn on the many intro/starter cRPGs out there to get used to how these games are played. Problem is, those games don't exist anymore, so... it may warrant a tutorial starter outside of the game.
