BG3 wants so hard to be epic.
Even at low levels and the low level mechanics can't match that. I wish Larian could show some restraint and leave room for things to grow dynamically. Compare to BG1 where you go to Nashkel mines where you have a mundane iron crisis to investigate. Low level content for low level characters. You don't find some legendary forge in the Underdark after already encountering Mind Flayers, Devils, Hags, Spectators, Drow, Bulette, Minotaurs, Githyanki and Dragons. And that's why the Forge also feels disappointing. They could have saved it for level 7-8 with some really amazing weapons and armor for those levels. But I guess at level 7 we will be teleporting between planes and meeting gods, then.
I said this already somewhere else. It's storyline/game design 101. You need to start small, maybe give a glimpse of high level enemies in the prologue, but then hit on a small fisher village aka Nashkel mines and fight kobolds.
I get that Larian needs to grab attention and BG3 needs to sell. But that's what a prologue is for. Afterwards, you can take a step back, you don't need to continuously throw high level enemies and allies at players. A common hunter or peasant girl can also be interesting if written well (Compare to Minsc or Jaheira).
It's the same in all great games:
(1) In BG1 you start in the middle of the wilderness, investigating kobolds in Nashkel.
(2) In Civilization, you start with a single settler and build a civilization flying to the stars
(3) In 3d Shooters you start with a crappy pistol, encounter more and more dangerous enemies and get more and more powerful weapons
(4) In Command and Conquer/Starcraft, you start with basic units, encounter more dangerous enemies and get better units to tackle them
-> In all of these games, a part of the game is starting small and encountering more and more powerful enemies and weapons
