Pacing... I think this is because of the combination of two factors:
a) Offering quite a few perks for experienced / seasoned players / veterans in the beginning (fact: you can get well into level 2 on the Merryweather alone, getting 2 or 3 barrels of deathfog out of there and have enough money for a good basic setup afterwards - but you need to understand the mechanics well)
b) To me it seems like that, as in many other games, the initial encounters are designed to work in a certain way, because of the limited skillpoints / attribute points and equipment... none of the initial encounters is actually hard, not even designed to be hard, but as a matter of fact it looks as if they were designed to be "teaching", without having a "teacher"
On my first playthrough I had intense problems with the frogs, because I fought them at too low level and didn't know about the D:OS2 formula of "the deadliest weapon in your arsenal is your ability to move yourself and the enemy around".
---
Shouldn't be changed, if you ask me.
