When designing the enemy’s and such, I wanted to make it so the player couldn’t just win by just hitting them with the basic attack over and over again.

This is implemented by smart enemy AI and the fact that grinding isn’t a thing you can do in the game. You can only be so strong at given point in the game.

Think of it like this, every enemy in this game will act like a boss fight that will require the player to learn and counter enemy patterns and skills.

For example, the enemy below does the following:
—Counters.
—Charges for a strong electrical attack.
—Unleashes said attack which can also paralyses you for some time.

The key to win this fight is to use you guard effectively and to pay attention to his charges.