I don't understand this concept of "fairness" in a player vs AI encounter in a single player rpg. The AI should have stacked mechanical advantages over the player in order to pose any challenge at all. As such I approach fights like Alice as a puzzle solving element of the game. I walk in, get wrecked the first time, then ask what are the rules? What tools do I have? How do the mechanics work? How can I use tools and mechanics in ways that help me solve the puzzle? It may take many attempts to understand what you need to do and why.
This iterative process also works for a blind Honour playthrough, you just have to be careful. It is clear long before Act 2 that this game has for lack of a better term "f*** you" encounters. An argument can be made that if you play blind Honour you should never initiate combat under-levelled without a means of escape i.e. initiating with 3 of 4 characters and joining combat with the 4th once you know its a fight that can be won. You don't get to blame the game when carelessness is the reason you lost.
It turns out after getting wrecked a few times, you can easily beat Alice at level 12 on Tactician where you move 1 character far in advance of the rest of the party, pre-emptively cast "Living on the Edge" on them and initiate combat (thus wasting Alice's first turn on a target that can't be killed). Then you teleport her away from her totems (so she can't heal), shred either physical or magic defence and CC chain. I suggest physical knockdown/chicken because you have plentiful sources of this type of CC for 1 point pre-requisites.
If done correctly with level 12 weapons and somewhat optimized builds, Alice will not get to attack at all beyond her first turn. It can be done with full hybrid parties and mixed magic/physical specialists too which are very sub optimal. This is a case where the puzzle seems impossible to solve at first but it becomes easy when you know how it works.
So really, this fight is "unfair" to Alice since the AI is a dumb automaton and you are a living, thinking person, capable of pre-empting combat and approaching it with contingencies so you can extricate yourself from fights you got into as a result of poor decision making. Below Honour difficulty you can also reload if you get it wrong.
Last edited by Hayte; 19/11/17 10:00 PM.
