Yes ..... that's what he's saying.
Pulling it back to the OP now, are we hitting lower than usual? Doesn't matter.
Does it cost me more energy than usual? Does matter.
A hit to within 1HP is still a two hit kill. Its only a problem with mobs whose HP falls between your min/max hit range. That's the bit where we suspect Gree of fixing the numbers (two hits) or "hooray this new weapon rocks" (one hit). Next level, we have to two-hit the lot of them and accept that this is what's required. When that level comes depends on all those gems you've forked out to get that new weapon. Will it be 10/40 next time instead of 9/40? Fingers crossed that mountain was worth it.