I agree, OP. Combat is awful in this game and we need difficulty settings to help either ease combat or else bypass combat. And using exploding barrels is an absolute nonstarter for me. That is a ridiculous gimmick that I will never ever use, even while expecting that the game will allow me to "win" encounters reasonably without ever using those gimmicks. So what those difficulty settings and other gameplay option settings will be is a major issue for me on which I am still awaiting information.
