I agree with you about the chaos of combat. NWN2 is an excellent example. With all the smoke from spells, noise and confusion you find in many of the battles, I was never sure when the conflict was over, nevermind what was happening during it!! There was one game I played, which would let the game AI totally resolve the combat for you if you wished,; you lept straight to the end of the battle, but I can't remember which game it was!!