Level scaling and respawning are mechanics that every game can't benefit from. A hack'n'slash, a very open-world game like the ES series, just cry for respawning/level scaling. HnS is all about leveling and gearing, so you need monsters to gain XP and loot. An Elder Scroll game do not force the player into doing the game linearly, so you need level scaling to keep him entertained and [somehow] challenged.
Let's not fool ourselves : DOS1 was a very linear game, even if you COULD take shortcuts with the right character builds. Around me a lot of people complained that they weren't sure where to go when they reached the second map ( yeah, the forest, can't remember the name
), and ended up fighting ennemies 2, 3 if not 4 levels higher than themselves. I can attest to that : that's what happened to us too. We almost got the "cure" to the Deathknight problem before we were even sent to get it. Needless to say, the opposite is also true : content was trivial when we got on the right path again.
In the end I'd rather have a no-respawn, no-leveling scaling game, as I prefer to find areas that I can't do now. Gives a little motivation to prepare and come back later. It also help lower the risks of self-spoiling. Also, since DOS is a turn based game, it can be more tedious than an action-RPG : just imagine, you went to the far side of the map for nothing, as you got lost while questing, only to find out that you have to re-fight everyone on the way back because they respawned. That's a trait I always deeply disliked on the Final Fantasy games : big maps with combats every 5 cases that take forever to initialize, and then forever to win.
You could totally have respawn events though. Like the guy you had to kill summon his guards, and now you have a full alert castle to flee.
