I’m not that worried about battle length as long as they make sense in how it’s disrupted. Like at the goblin town and any divinity game, provoking a fight might cause the whole city to be against you. That a little bit silly.

The battle pace is somehow better than DOS2, where you are more under a strength contest rushing to overwhelm your foes with stunlock before they stunlock you. Maybe that fast forward option that many strategy games have will be enough?