And the answer to that is to blame Larian for making so many classes and spells and companions sheer, weak traps, and making consumables and martial classes so comparatively strong.
This is by far my biggest complaint about Baldur's Gate 3. It is anti-fun to have martial classes + consumables overshadow classes and spells.
BG1 nor BG2 were not different in this aspect. In BG1 archery was more powerful than other playstyles, with many magical arrows available, including explosive arrows that acted like fireballs. And I'd say archery was even easier there: you could use one character as a lure while the rest of the party were taking shots, because enemies wouldn't switch targets. At the same time, some melee enemies (including the final boss) hit like trucks, making it difficult to keep melee characters alive. Same in BG2, only this time it was mages that were far more powerful than other classes.
Balance between classes was never part of the BG series. It's just that enemies were much dumber (for lack of better word) in the originals making combat easier.
