On combat
In the play videos it was shown that a player could fire for example a fireball at an NPC, which would then start combat mode. Hopefully this same feature is going to be available to NPCs and monsters too. Some ideas:
The local merchants ask you to collect debts from some guy. What they forget to tell you is that they have asked a few other people to collect the same debt and none have been seen since. You could ask around to learn the truth, but because you're not very smart, you just go to guy directly. So you question him and maybe threaten him and so on and he says that OK, he's going to get the money because he doesn't want any trouble. So the conversation ends, but instead what he does is throw a Bomb of Paralyzation at you and kill you.
It should also be possible for enemies to escape combat if you don't know where they are. For example:
You're strolling through the woods when all of a sudden your best-buddy companion Richard the Noble Knight hits you with his sword, starting combat mode. He won't give up, forcing you to kill him. Combat ends. So you're wondering what happened, when your character all of a sudden starts walking by himself into the mouth of the Controlling Brain. Since you were exploring the woods by yourself and your companion is now dead, there won't be combat mode and you cannot bring Scarlet in time to save you from this fate.
So...
1. Allow NPCs and monsters to get a first shot at you before starting combat mode. Even if it's only through scripting it would open some possibilities.
2. Allow bad things to happen outside of combat mode if there is no real combat happening. Like your character gets paralyzed by a trap but no one is attacking you, or your character get mind-controlled.
