A little side comment (guess should have made new post for this one.)
A trainer was written for the original version of W8, or was it the demo? In it you could kill enemies. Since this is possible in a trainer, shouldn't there be a console line to type in killall or whatever. Assuming a console line is possible, or am I asking too much? The reason I am on to this, I have painstakingly increased each party member's stats through lots and lots of encounters. Seems that the higher your stats, the more often enemies spawn. It get really aggravating and I set it to auto and just walk away till the fighting is over. I have all the time in the world, but hey fellow gamers, it's quite boring just fighting, fighting, fighting. Wish there was a GOD key!

Hi George,

One thing that you can try: Under "Options" you can toggle the monster speed and animation to be faster. This may speed things up a bit.

Also check your difficulty setting. There's no shame in putting it on easier mode (at least no shame for me).

You can also use spells like "Chameleon" or run to get past groups of enemies. It doesn't always work, but you can avoid fights this way.

Finally battles do go a little faster if you are in continuous mode and, to me, they are more fun. It does hurt if you are surprised or camped (you can get some damage before you think to pause). However mostly the continuous mode has been easier for me to take the extended battles.

I also sometimes will cheat a bit by saving, advancing a bit and then reloading if I get in a battle. It's a coward's way out, sure, but sometimes it's quicker than fighting a huge fight.

Dan