Thanks for your kind words.
The decision to make the combat deterministic was something we discussed and considered for a long time. Other options were a more non-deterministic, randomized system -- similar to the original IF game, actually -- or even more of a top-down shooter, player skill oriented approach. In the end, we decided to use deterministic approach to keep things in line with the narrative and exploration style of the game.
But yeah, a different approach would have been cool as well :)