When this system is treated properly, the last blow, which leaves you with 0hp, is the one that's an actual wound. Everything before is just the exhausting struggle, which leads to be injured. And to return from 0hp you need some real healing or lucky d20 rolls with no modifiers.
Exactly. The problem is how this game presents what HP means. For casual gamers it will mean health, losing a lot of blood, etc. because that's what Larian shows. There are plenty of discussions online that ask this question both in and outside of context of D&D, but for me stamina and mental durability best describe HP. Miss is sometimes a hit defender spent no energy on. High level fighter cannot sustain 10 stabs. Not every hit means pointy stick touched their skin. Warhammer hitting armor will make it harder for them to breathe. There might be cuts, bruises or burns from magicks, but nothing that stops them from fighting at full capacity before they reach 0HP. Only the last hit has the potential to stop them or be lethal. This is when they are not able to defend properly anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn36Pb8z3yI - first minute, no direct hits, but does it mean no HP lost?
