I actually rage quit DS1 pretty early on when I played it.

Decided to play a nature mage. So, to complete my party, I need a combat mage, right:
* First town, no combat mage available. (Is a nature mage there, so if I were playing a combat mage, I'd have the skills covered.)
* Play for a while, reach another town...
* Only to find that the town is *destroyed*, so no combat mage there either.

It's at that point I rage quit the game.

(I also felt the Uber Level mechanic undermined the whole idea behind the leveling system.)

I believe so.

Then, you develop into a particular class build, based on what type of weapon or spell you give the character. (It's similar to how character development in SaGa games work, except without the RNG. Or you could compare it to Elder Scrolls (excluding Arena).)

One catch, however, is the uber level mechanic; if you raise some stats, it becomes harder to raise others. This means that multiclass setups, except perhaps one that uses both types of magic, are not really viable.

The Witcher 3 Complete:
+ Too much to mention
- The controls (esp. movement) and camera are a bit "yanky" - especially in small environments (dungeons, sewers, and such).
I'm 200 hours in / a little over halfway finished (I think).

I'm playing a lot more side-quests than I expected to. I finished The Witcher 1 and 2 many years ago; but this one was waiting 10 years in my backlog because it's a lot bigger than it's predecessors.

Currently Playing List on PC:
-> DOOM (2016) - GOG
-> The Sinking City: Remastered (Deluxe Edition) - GOG.
-> The Thaumaturge: Deluxe Edition - Steam.
-> Deus Ex 1: GOTY Edition - Steam.
-> Dead Island 2 - Epic Store.

Currently Playing List On PlayStation 4 -> Ghost of Tsushima: DC.

Recently Finished Lists:
-> 2025 List of Games = https://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2025/post5
-> 2024 List of Games = https://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2024/post15

Older Currently Playing List -> MysterD's previous list.

LATEST UPDATE = 05-16-2025.

You would have run into a Combat Mage eventually. And the recruitable party members are usually around the level you are when you first enter an area, so they are not going to be behind or something.

You don't really need to engage with uber level in single player at all. Just know that multiclassing is a bad idea in the Campaign. If you multiclass too early, you will fall behind on gear requirements, most notably from shops, and the character will be way behind the power curve. That's also a reason to consider running a party that does not have 8 actual characters. Because the XP splits too much and the party will be a couple levels behind compared to for example a 6 member party. Which is why I always go 6 + 2 mules.

When I was running the multiplayer map though (all 3 difficulties), I eventually multiclassed my fighter a bit. As I was going solo, I needed the support of the various CM and NM buff spells (Regeneration, Triple Strike etc.) Also, some Intelligence to equip spell books with attribute bonuses and actually having some mana to cast the buffs.