CV77 wrote:The auxiliary skills come to mind.
I mean nobody can ever get anywhere near Iron Body (Athletics), Armor Master (Armors), Ninja Master (Dodge), Master Assassin (Assassination), Archmage (Spellcraft) and Staff Master (Staff Defense) simply because you'd have to put 0 points in your weapons/magic skill trees in which case you'd never leave the first level alive.
Or am I missing something?
It's not a matter of missing something, but a matter of perception of what the game itself is.
What Grimrock really is :
The spell system, gear, skill trees, level range, etc is all created with future campaigns - player created or dev expansions - in mind. Legend of Grimrock is just the beginning of the adventure in a game system created specifically for extensibility and replayability far beyond the dozen or so levels released. This is why you have a campaign selection option at the beginning of a game with only one campaign.
Had players been able to max out two or more skill trees, it would have reduced what can be gained in later content.
Had there been more than a couple dozen spells, it would have greatly reduced the options available for user-created spells.
Had players been able to get to 50 in the current dungeon, there would be no room for leveling in later dungeons.
when looked at as a base kit designed specifically for a much longer term functionality, Legend of Grimrock is actually brilliantly designed, with an incredible amount of foresight on the part of the developers.
.