Damn, if only there was a solution to the problem of areas and enemies being too close together! :P
Is there? This late in development, where would the resources come from to redesign offending areas?
Originally Posted by neprostoman
What harm? It can quickly turn into unique experience. In my recent solo playthrough the crypt bandits followed me to the Lae'zel cage and she even had special dialogue about releasing her mid-fight.
The harm would come from repetitivity. For all its flaws, the current system ensures you can defeat the goblins without killing them all. Including more characters in combat might trigger a chain reaction where attacking Spike creates a massive battle with every enemy in the temple every time.
A fix for this might be to include NPCs in initiative order but keep them neutral if they’re unaware of the party’s misdeeds. (Neutral characters would share initiative, like how the environment gets a turn in non-combat turn based mode). This would let combat bubbles be bigger without always merging closeby encounters.
Edit: this is precisely OP’s solution, so +1 to them. Grouping neutrals’ initiative should speed combat up, though, perhaps with help from a version of swarm AI.
