You know, I did try going stealthy to sneak up on a couple of enemies, specifically in Leldon's house, but they always somehow managed to detect me and Neeshka, despite our stealth skills being pretty high up. Or at least, I'd like to think they were high up, I dunno. They were 15 or so, I don't remember. Regardless, I never really bothered with Stealth Mode anyway, since we always charge headfirst into the fray instead of being given the choice to strategize properly, which is even more unneeded when almost all of the encounters are too easy for you to even bother strategizing for them.

And yeah, the game's clearly made for you to be a melee fighter, since every time a conversation is initiated, you're always at the front, and you're still at the front when the battle starts afterwards. If you're a pure spellcaster, ya ded. It's pretty boring to play a pure spellcaster, anyway; all you do then is throw spells around, and you've got so many spells to throw, most of which probably aren't needed anyway.

But anyway, the only way that would make sense is if the Perform skill would be needed in that encounter, which does make sense, but leads us to a different issue: why the frick can't we use the Perform skill unless we're a bard?! What, a Rogue can't play instruments? Can't be well-versed in theatricality? How dumb is that?!

No I'm not a Rogue, I'm mainly a Ranger, but still, you get the idea!

Edit: Actually wait, that still doesn't make sense, because the only thing we get out of being a Bard in this encounter is being able to recall the tune Cain played. Other than that, it's all the same, with any class being able to do it, since The Loaner is still a lute, so you'd still need to know how to play lutes to use it, so in other words, I shouldn't have to go through any of this if I already have a lute in the first place.