Honor mode is not broken.
You can complete honor mode easily, without memorization, simply by applying those 3 generic advices through the whole game.
1°) Do every missions you find, to ramp up experience points and overlevel ennemies. If you know the game, you can do the opposite and skip almost everything and be severely underleveled, and perform what is called a speedrun.
2°) In combat, use cheap CCs and summons. When you have access to master skills, fights become cheesy: the "hardest" is the beginning.
3°) Outside of combat, have a dedicaced explorer character (high PER and/or high fire/poison resistance and/or a selection amongst the following scoundrel skills: light feet, invisibility, cloak and dagger) wander alone.
I beat honor mode in one try, and it wasn't difficult at all. Honor mode could be said to be broken for the opposite reasons mentionned: game's easy to be made trivial, especially starting lvl 12 (when you have access to some master skills). I agree there are some deadly traps here and there (if there weren't, it would be plain that the Honor mode is easy), but nothing that can ruin your game if you follow the three simple tactics listed above.
