What were you doing, building a 4-character party of rogues with boosted intelligence, loremaster, telekinisis and shield mastery, or what?
You're exaggerating. In D:OS1 there is one clear optimal party and it is nothing like other RPGs. A new player might reasonably start with a melee character and an archer and recruit the wizard NPC and rogue NPC thinking that it will be a balanced party.
Doing that in a game like, say, Baldur's Gate would be optimal. In D:OS1 it is a terrible party, especially for an inexperienced player, even if you (accidentally) manage to build the characters optimally. A new player can't know this in advance (without reading a party guide).
