I mean, I think it was Niara that already made the point few pages back, but just to reiterate:
Even assuming the worst case scenario, that particular circumstance when several prompts COULD happen in rapid succession is arguably also the one when I’d be the most willing to assume direct control of what’s going on rather than relying on automation.
Here's another Solasta example (this time with Counterspell):
Round 1: Enemies swarm my druid. I send my paladin and barbarian to help her, and my sorcerer doesn't use spells but attacks with two magic daggers because these seem like baby bad guys. Suddenly, I discover there's a wizard amidst the enemies towards the back of the room when the wizard casts Shatter spell and hits not only his own guys but my druid, paladin and barbarian. Dang! He was beyond Counterspell range. No popups.
Rounds 2-3: I made sure to get my mage closer to the enemy mage and launched Fire Bolt at him to avoid using spells. The rest of my party continued to focus on the minions. Enemy mage cast spells but I failed the Arcana roll and didn't know what was being cast. 2 Reaction Popups, 1 each turn asking if I wanted to Counterspell the unknown spell. Heck yes! I'm a level 10 mage at this point, and I'm nearing the end of the game. I have enough spell slots. I can handle countering and this guy might be tough. Who know what else is coming after this fight? I can't let him weaken my team too much. So, two popups and two yeses. Again, Niara was correct. It was 1 popup per round, but I wanted it because I didn't know what the spell was that he was casting, and I wasn't sure at all if I wanted to counter it.
Round 4: I didn't counter the spell this time after taking out all the other enemies and my party was able to spread out a bit. He cast fly. So, a 3rd popup, I still failed Arcana and didn't know what he was casting (bad luck because she has good Arcana), and although he could have maybe fireballed me or something, I decided to risk it. I was glad I didn't counter it because it was just fly.
So, in the end, the prompts were not just a good thing. They were essential to how the combat turned out. BUT... I was thinking about presets for Counterspell. They could still work, but not if you implement the failed Arcana roll system. If you don't know the spell that is being cast, there is literally no way to preset Counterspell. They'd have to negate the roll altogether and allow your characters to simply know what the spell is that the enemy is casting. IMO, not a big deal. Then you'd have to make sure you have a set spell list that triggers Counterspell.
I am again on the fence and sliding back and forth between presets and prompts, and I still think a blending is going to be the best solution after the Counterspell fight. Larian LIKES magic and spellcasters. In Solasta, they don't typically have a bunch of spellcasters in a single fight - like maybe 1 per fight. But I'm thinking about the goblin camp fight with 30 goblins and the grove fight with 30 goblins and the duergar fight with over a dozen duergar. How many of them cast spells of some kind? It could get VERY prompt heavy. Even 1 mage and 1 cleric is likely 2 prompts per round just for Counterspell. Add Uncanny Dodge any time the rogue is hit and Shield (this happened with my paladin in a few fights - Shield reaction popups and I often said No because he's a tank already. Didn't want to waste a spell slot. So any time he was actually hit I got a prompt for Shield), and Bard reactions... yeah. It could get pretty bogged down depending on the party, the enemies you're fighting, and what reaction spells etc. that you've picked.
