Hiver, one post I keep seeing repeatedly crop up here, on the Steam Forums, elsewhere, is that they can't figure out how to leave Cyseal without getting killed. They're frustrated. I did not present some kind of absurd hypothetical, it is not ludicrous to claim that people will get frustrated - some already are.

How many MORE people will get even more frustrated and pissed off at the game if the level of combat encounters is hidden? How many reviewers will get frustrated?

I think that the combat encounters are challenging right now at the appropriate level. I don't think that adding guesswork and encouraging save scumming will improve the combat experience.

Yes, adding the functionality to Perception would improve Perception's appeal, but I think one of the larger obstacles to Perception's appeal is this: you have your primary attributes which are required for your equipment. You have CON which increases your health and AP, and SPD which increases your movement and turn AP, and those are often more appealing than Perception. Because the only guaranteed primary attributes come once every other level, there's pressure to spend them in the key stats first.

I believe that giving players the information about the level of the enemies up front gives them the information to make an educated decision about whether they can handle the encounter or not. I think that is better than having them guess each time.