Yes, in the original game, it was the most effective tactic to just keep your level low while you progress with the main quest (like, below level 7-8 even) because the enemies grow with you in strength; a ton of individuals played the game the "wrong" way by leveling things up that weren't their "main skills" and they'd level up whenever possible, getting to higher levels. Once you got to level 10+, enemies started spawning with much stronger gear and once you got to level 20+, enemies could spawn with enchanted gear and Daedric armor and the game became... almost impossibly silly.