Why are random encounters STILL used?

[Skyblade]

I'm not a big fan of random battles either, particularly tedious ones in games where battle isn't particularly exciting.

The Pokemon handheld RPGs strike a good balance though. If you don't want to fight random battles, don't walk in the grass. 'Course there are some areas where you have to walk through grass or a cave, or a particular trainer that blocks your way and you have to fight them, but in general you can walk for long stretches without worrying about a random battle.

You can also by repel to ward off enemy encounters, why don't many games have that, that would be useful if you have a critical-state party, back to topic though. I'm okay with random encounters just as not if they're too frequent. FFIV had that problem would one call Crono Trigeer's random encounter too?

No, Chrono Trigger had set battles. The occasional rare powerful enemy, yes, but the battles were set once you entered an area.

I've liked most of the battle styles I've played. Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, or random encounters. Different games, different styles, all fun. I probably like random battles the most though. Makes grinding easier.

[Cruise Control]

I don't mind random encounters, but they tend to get mind-numbingly boring. In a lot of RPGs, I got fed up and held A. Regardless of wether it was a mage or not, just to get through the battle. I think an idea would be changing the style. Instead of making random battles cannon fodder to power you up to kill a boss, why not make random battles challenging. Make each random encounter require a strategy, so its more in depth.

My other peeve with them is when the majority of the game is spent fighting random battles. An example: FF4. In Scott's FF4 challenge, you don't fight any random battles. When you don't fight a single one, FF4's length is cut to about 5.5-6 hours. As opposed to a 10-20 hour game. Random battles should not be a means to increase your games longevity.

[MJN SEIFER]

Because there cool?

[Remedy]

I'm ok with Random Encounter Battle System !
as long as the game play is GR8.

[MJN SEIFER]

Well said.

[sockmonkey]

I don't mind them as long as they aren't excessive. Breath Of Fire overdid it so much it killed the rythmn of the game.
CT was nice in that once you cleared an area you could look around freely.
What I think would be a good change is for your level to affect your encounters. Say that as you advance lower-level enemies start avoiding you. The higher you go the stronger the level of the foes that avoid you. This would be nice because we wouldn't have to bother stopping to fight enemies whose XP and GP are no longer significant enough to be worth fighting when we need to pass through low-level areas from the beginning of the game on our way to somewhere else.
This already exists in some form in various games in that lower enemies will try and run from battle with you when you're at a high level.
If done in moderation it could improve gameplay.