I understand your point, but I like discussing in-depth strategies. You've left me the opportunity, so I can't resist. 

Powder Imps often only last for one or two attacks, but that just means you should be resummoning them each turn. Fortify is functioning at a reduced strength when used with Powder Imps, but something like Slay can be used at full strength. So the latter would be a better choice in that situation. Fortify is best when used in a party without a Musketeer.

Out of curiosity, what difficulty setting are you playing on? Those strategies are fine for normal, but I can't imagine them working very well in hard mode.

Thanks for the tips.

I'm playing on normal  I'm playing for the story mostly, even though the combat is kickass.

Maybe your characters' abilities proc more often than mine do, but I've never found Fire Imps to be worth more than 1 or 2 blocked hits before it disappears, hence the need for backups and contingencies.

The point of the post wasn't to point out that I am the best strategist in the world and rock at TSE2 - although those strategies generally work for me. It's to provide an illustrative example of how to use the combat system.

[character skill chains]

Honestly, I really like the battles. It takes some forethought: think of your team as a sports team. You have plays that you set up beforehand that you use, rather than improvising on the fly (honestly, were a group of warriors to really set forth to go on an adventure involving lots of fighting, they would train together rather than fighting on their own merits - it makes a lot of sense to me).

To do this, you set up two things, character skill chains and party skill chains. These are a series of actions taken by either an individual character in the case of character skill chains or the entire party in the case of party skill chains.

Character Skill Chains
Character skill chains are pretty useful for automating simple things. One of the ones I use most frequently is against enemies with chi. Chi absorbs physical damage but doesn't absorb magical damage, so I set up a character skill chain for Denever that goes:
Charge
Swordfaith (target selected)
Repeat

With this selected, he will charge up and then use swordfaith on the targeted enemy until I change tactics or he drops dead.

These character skill chains are very useful for combat actions that only one character needs to take. I use them for bosses a lot. I usually set up a skill chain to deliver a burst of specific damage types, such as piercing, concussive, magical or ethereal. They can also be used defensively, for example, the following character skill chain for Ionae:
Fire Imps
Smokescreen
Repeat

With this active, Ionae alternates between throwing down fire imps (which are an HP soak for the party) and using smokescreen, which increases the party's dodge. If I'm in a tight spot and am taking more non-targeted damage than I like, I can just activate this on her to give myself some breathing room.

The best part of this is that even though only three chains are shown below the character in combat, by right-clicking on them, you can select new ones. So even though there are only three slots, I have access to all 20-odd skill chains that are set up.

Party Skill Chains
Party skill chains exist when you need the entire party to coordinate on something. I use these for random encounters a lot, to automate some of the fighting. It's amusing, but my team is less coordinated against bosses - possibly because bosses require much more puzzle-solving than regular fights. In a party skill chain, you set up three parallel sets of actions, one for each member. Normally they perform them all simultaneously - you can use "pause" to control the flow but I haven't found that you need do to this.

In general, you'll end up setting up one of two types of party chains. One I refer to as a burst chain and is focused on maximizing your offense or defense for one to three rounds. The other I refer to as a rolling chain and is focused on keeping up a constant barrage of attacks and a constant stream of defensive skills.

See this burst chain:

Code:

Denever: Charge             Hack          Repeat
Ionae:   Empowder (self)    Aimed shot    Repeat
PyanPau: Sprite Summon      Strike        Repeat

It helps to look at it this way: in round one, every member of the party buffs themselves. In round two, every member of the party unleashes a kind of "alpha strike" which delivers enhanced piercing damage, concussive damage and magical damage. A relatively simple party chain like this can often wipe out one or even two monsters in an encounter and then, when it rolls around again, win the fight - after only four rounds.

On the other hand, if you think your enemies won't just lay down, examine this rolling chain:

Code:

Denever: Charge        Hack               Battlecry      Repeat
Ionae:   Lucky Shot    Fire Imps          Poison Shot    Repeat
PyanPau: Aurora        Bless (Denever)    Heal           Repeat

In this one, some damage is being done in every round. In Round 1, Ionae hits everyone for magickal damage. In Round two, Denever delivers a charged up Hack. In Round 3, Ionae gifts the opposition with poison shot.

Also, in every round, the party's defense is augmented. In Round 1, PyanPau uses Aurora, which shields the party from magical damage. In Round two, Ionae uses Fire Imps, which shield the party from non-targeted damage. In Round three, Denever uses Battlecry (after being blessed by PyanPau) to increase the party's defense against any damage they do take.

Your party also has three slots for party skill chains on the battle screen. These are to the right of the individual members' three skill chain areas. Just like with the individual characters, you can right-click on the slots to place a new skill chain there. You can employ up to 20 different skill chains.

Conclusion
The Spirit Engine 2 requires some tactical thinking because your team fights as a team. It's tricky at first - but if anyone could easily command a team then sports coaches wouldn't be paid so much money. Ultimately it's really rewarding - the combat system is fluid and dynamic and rewards the effort you put into it. It is rarely arbitrary and just plain good-lookin'.

I hope this overly lengthy and completely unwarranted explanation of the combat system turns people on to The Spirit Engine 2 - it's a really great game. So far I'm loving the graphics, the music and the story - I skim through most wordy stories but TSE2 (and Aquaria) are some of the few whose prose are well-written such that I actually enjoy reading them. If you invest in TSE2, TSE2 invests in you.

P.S. Derek when is my Aquaria 2 coming out

edit: for clarity

If you push 'q' you create a bouncing platform in front of yourself.

Good catch!  I knew I was going to leave in some debug code one of these days.  I'm re-uploading the rar, so consider yourself lucky if you got one of the "special" builds.

It's the easy mode I've always wanted

If you push 'q' you create a bouncing platform in front of yourself.