I don’t think this is a bad thing if done properly.This. I think people are being too quick to assume that there's hardly going to be any magic. The impression I'm getting is that it's just going to take longer to obtain than in most typical fantasy RPGs.
If it scales up combat/mechanics in an interesting way it could be fun.
Closest example I can think of even though they didn’t hit it out of the park is Pathfinder: WOTR. One thing I really enjoyed about the game was the layering of mini-games as the game went on. Ie: regular battles, troop battles, kingdom management, etc.
If this game can “layer” it in the same way, it keeps the game fresh.