Fnord
SasqWatch
The problem with a good amount of CRPGs though (in particular older ones) is that the whole "having to get more powerful" bit is holding back an otherwise amazing game. I would have been totally absorbed by the game, if it were not for the fact that it forced me to grind.So you want to skip part of a game because you played other games with a similar progression. Why play it at all then if you find it to be that tedious. Invest your money in more innovative titles.
Your desire to skip monotony based on a prior pedigree of monotony does nothing to address the elephant in the room… If a title is truly absorbing, you won't want to skip anything. This should all be common sense.
Beating one game like that, sure, it is doable, but after a handful, it gets tedious and predictable. Here I find that many of the mid 90's and later games managed to do a good job though, they integrate the "growing in power" into the main storyline progression in a way that makes it feel far less like grind. Compare BG and how grindy it feels with say Bard's Tale.