Torment enemy scaling (minor spoilers)

[Thalen]

I had assumed, when playing on Torment, that all the enemies would hit harder and be more accurate, and frequently have more APs (and therefore be able to go twice when it's their turn.

 

What I wasn't expecting was the enemies that have 10 APs (or a way to haste themselves) AND also seem to move at least twice (and possibly some three times, though none of the ones I've tested have thus far) for each time my main character moves. And no, none of my characters are stunned or dazed or anything like that when this happens.

 

What I mean is, I am seeing the following:

 

Enemies all go, with 10 APs, so each one gets off a spell and an attack (for example).

My main character goes.

Enemies all go, another spell and an attack.

My other characters go.

And then the whole sequence repeats itself.

 

At this point, with enemies that aren't widely spread out (so I can just get one or two of them at once) and that have magical area attacks, it's pretty rare that at least one of my characters isn't already unconscious, before they've gotten a single turn. I understand that torment is supposed to be difficult, but I'm kind of surprised at this: it feels like it breaks the rules of the game. It feels contrived. 'Oh, didn't we mention? There's an extra space in the turn sequence, called 'bad guys go again for no apparent reason!'.'

 

It also means that, in Torment, some avenues of training are enormously more important than others.

 

Is that just how Torment is supposed to feel?

[Randomizer]

Torment is a bit different from earlier games. I don't think the health multiplies as much as in earlier games, but there are more scripted actions for monsters in certain fights. The scripts for named monsters, those bosses and mini-bosses, have extra abilities that aren't there on notmal difficulty. So some monsters go at the start and end of each round.

 

Jeff wanted to make the fights more interesting than just multiply everything.

[Jerakeen]

Actually that happens on normal in certain fights, too, though I can't remember which ones at the moment.

[Thalen]

It also happens in Torment with regular monsters, not just bosses or mini-bosses. For example, the spiders guarding the trapdoor in the lower-right-hand corner of the 'mage tower' map. Three normal-looking widowspawn (I believe) that move twice per round. What with the widowspawn area effect attacks, that's surprisingly nasty.

[A less presumptuous name.]

I believe that those same creatures attack twice on all difficulties. I recall them double-hitting me on casual.