What do you think happens at a random encounter?

[KentaRawr!]

I've played the first 3 final fantasies before. Something I liked about them was that you could use your imagination for what happened when a random encounter occurred based on whether you or the enemy strikes first. You either snuck up on the enemy, the enemy snuck up on you, or you just saw one another and had to fight. But as the series progressed, it started to make less and less sense as to why things happen like they do. In Final Fantasy 10, how does it happen? With how in-depth the rest of the environment is, I can't wrap my head around what happens there! I was just running around and OHP! I'm in a battle all of a sudden!

So, what do you think happens? Are they invisible until they run into you? Or do the characters send them out of pokeballs whenever they want a warm-up? You decide!

[Elly]

or maybe like all hardware limitations you're just supposed to assume they're there all along and you can't interact with them unless they run up on you... it's like when you watch an FMV for a game and the streets are littered with people but when the FMV is over you barely see anyone, i always assumed they were still there but only the ones you interact with are the ones you the player sees...

[BG-57]

One reason I favor the visible enemy approach in FFMQ and FFXII. Not only can you see them coming on the map, but in many cases you can simply avoid them.

Since the game mechanics would seem that every tile of the map has a set % of triggering an encounter with a set roster of foes, I picture it acting like a tripwire or pressure plate that 'releases' the monsters. Absurd but descriptive.

[ReloadPsi]

I think some Goblins are just walking around minding their own business, nobody else around but themselves, and suddenly the screen blurs, swirls off and before they know it they're facing three people armed to the teeth with swords, armour and spells. They get their asses kicked, game over.

The player, disgruntled with how freakin' useless the Goblins are, swears never to play the game again.

[Mirage]

yeah, the real aggressors here are the player characters.

[Wolf Kanno]

This just makes me happy... (http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/03/29/episode-010-it-had-to-happen-sometime/)

[FFIX Choco Boy]

I thought that in FFX, since the monsters are made of pyreflies, they materialize in front of you while it loads the battle screen...

[qwertysaur]

The pop out of the ground.
Like daisies.

[Jessweeee♪]

I thought that in FFX, since the monsters are made of pyreflies, they materialize in front of you while it loads the battle screen...

That's how I always thought of it.