I think it's just that at levels 20-35 there's been a huge reversal in those hopeless moments that lead to great stories
There is something fucked up about the power level curve in the game. I'm replaying the game while trying no to buy gear and just use what I find, so I played for a long while with upgraded basic gear (trusty sword, Chainmail shirt, some pants I bought from the military camp) and similar case with my pawn. Also I'm going alone with my pawn. At the beginning even a group of goblins was fucking scary and had to run away from minotaurs and trolls cause I dealt almost no damage even when my pawn used explosive arrows and enemies destroyed me in a few hits, for not talking about inflicting so much loss that in one occasion I was dying in a single hit. But each fight you could really appreciate the design of the monster and the combat shined due to having to play smarter, using the environment and all tools at my disposal. DD2's combat is truly fantastic.
But, without even buying new gear, just by leveling up, it soon went from hard to just right and now it is starting to become easy. Not quite so bad as a regular playthrough, but a far cry from when I started. It seems you gain too much power through leveling and monsters in Vermund just can't catch up. I won't exaggerate if I say that perhaps it would have been better if you didn't level up at all and all your power came from your equipment and vocation level. The economy of the game is harsh, buying and upgrading good gear requires a significant investment, if all your power came from gear, then those armors and weapons you find while exploring or receive from missions would suddenly be more valuable and feel more rewarding. The challenge of monster would be greater for longer and at least you could always equip low level gear to have a harder time.
I think, above all, the biggest flaw they should address in DD2 is the difficulty, it is really the main flaw of the game that brings down the experience. Even the low variety of monsters start being less of an issue when even a pack of wolf makes you shit your pants, or you notice how going up a hill slows you down even while sprinting and you consume more stamina, so now those two hobgoblins at the top throwing rocks are a fucking menace. Hell, due to being weaker this playthrough I have noticed even more stuff about the monsters. Trolls now can grab a party member, and instead of start munching on them, they will sometime keep fighting with one hand. If you run out of stamina when grabbed by a wolf, you cannot escape by yourself and it will kill you unless someone save you. If the same happens when a phantom possess you, you will loss shit ton of health and incur massive Loss. Minotaurs can chain their hits into a combo (which fucked me up sometimes as I don't know what triggers them going from single hits to chains of blows) and have an attack where they turn around, kick you and then start their charging attack. They really put a lot of care into the monsters.
If the damage monster did were higher, DD1's hard mode level of damage, I'll wager that game would actually be pretty fucking hard. Also, they should make it so if you die you had to start on the last inn you rested. It just makes sense with the loss and camping system, and now dying has very heavy consequences.