Random Encounters

[Wolf Kanno]

So I had this discussion with a friend about the merits and issues of utilizing a random encounter system as opposed to a more seamless system where enemies can be seen and engaged at the player's discretion. What are your thoughts EoFF, bastion of RPG players?

[Mirage]

I've never been in a game where I ever thought "yes, random encounter! wooo hooo!"

It's just a workaround for games that for whatever reason can't show enemies in the field. Either because they can't make it work with the level design, AIs having problems navigating the area, or something else.

Any Gamebryo game can tell you that you can dynamic encounters without having a jrpg-style battle screen or enemies popping out from nowhere.

[Ayen]

I hate them with a passion that burns in my soul and always will. I dislike how it interrupts the flow of gameplay, especially when you're in the middle of a puzzle, or navigating a dungeon. Pokemon was a little more tolerable because it was limited to tall grassy areas (excepts similar dungeon designs), and to this day Chrono Trigger is the only RPG I played to do random battles right. Since even Super Mario RPG took you to a separate screen. CT doesn't disrupt the flow at all and it's a lot smoother because of it.

[Vermachtnis]

Random encounters make mindless grinding easier, but other than that they're horrible.

[MJN SEIFER]

I thought I'd hate them at first, because I don't like things happening suddenly, and I was a lot worst when I was younger (for a time, I would play FFVII with the sound down, but I thankfully stopped doing that, because the music is awesome). I actually don't mind them for the most part, and find them to be part of what makes an RPG an RPG for me.

There are sometimes when they get annoying, I will admit; like when you're trying to workout what you're doing, and then a Random Encounter distracts you, or if the music in this particular place is really good (I really wish that Zozo in FFVI could have "Slam Shuffle" be the music throughout, including during the battles, because I love it, and I don't like the fact that the Random Encounters interrupt it).

Also, is it me, or does FFVI (and maybe the other games, I'll check) seem to punish you for going the wrong way with Random Encounters; It seemed every time I took a wrong turning, I'd get a Random Encounter the second I turned back...

[NeoCracker]

I like them, it's a different dynamic entirely from other games.

Games like Chrono Trigger or Persona 3 give you the chance to skirt around encounters, allowing you to use timing to dictate how often you want to fight assuming you're good enough. Random encounters, on the other hand, forces you to prepare for a level of uncertainty.

Different dynamics, and I enjoy them both.

[Mirage]

you can have unforseen encounters even if you don't have random battle screen transitions

[Del Murder]

Having the enemies on the screen can limit some of the backdrops, but that's less of an issue these days. What I don't like is when the enemies are always in a set location and there's no way to avoid them each time you run through that area. It gets tedious to have the same encounter over and over. I really like the system in games like Dragon Quest IX where the enemies are on screen but pop randomly.

[Pumpkin]

I'm fine either way

[Big D]

Random encounters can hurt the immerson or suspension of disbelief sometimes. Say, you're in a clearly empty cave or abandoned house, minding your own business, rummaging through a crate, then... surprise! You find yourself doing battle with a fifty-foot, fire-breathing turtle dragon god demon that you somehow overlooked on your way in. If these things are wandering around all over the place, you'd think our heroes might notice them from time to time.

[VeloZer0]

I actually like random encounters provided that the game's combat is designed well enough that fighting every battle requires some engagement. One thing that I find fighting on the main map does is really limit the area layout options. If you do all your battles on the field then you have to design every single area as a wide open space to facilitate combat and everything kind of feels similar in layout. The whole game becomes a series of wide hallways.

[Fynn]

I'm fine either way

Yes

[Wolf Kanno]

I generally don't mind random encounters. They don't really bother me, in fact I have more pet peeves with ways people have done on-screen encounters than random encounters. Like FFXIII's nasty habit of making narrow corridors filled with large enemy types, or Lunar: SSSC's bad habit of making enemies not only move twice as fast as your character, but they can also move in directions you normally can't. At least with a random encounter you know what to expect.

[Skyblade]

Random encounters can hurt the immerson or suspension of disbelief sometimes. Say, you're in a clearly empty cave or abandoned house, minding your own business, rummaging through a crate, then... surprise! You find yourself doing battle with a fifty-foot, fire-breathing turtle dragon god demon that you somehow overlooked on your way in. If these things are wandering around all over the place, you'd think our heroes might notice them from time to time.

If that was the case, I'd also get bugged about my characters being the size of a city on the FFVII world map. And yet, I absolutely love world maps in every RPG that has them. It's just a way to abstract aspects of the game, improve the focus and gameplay themes.

In FFXIII, I was constantly moving around thinking about the encounters. How to avoid the enemies while moving around the corridor.

In a game like FFVII, I just explore. The enemies attack when they want to attack, and I just fight them. I don't have to worry about specifically encountering or avoiding them, because the game handles that. I can focus on exploring the dungeon, looking for hidden spots with dropped Materia or other treasure. Instead of "oh, look, a huge enemy in front of a treasure chest".

Heck, in Pokemon, static encounters would be a hell of a lot more frustrating than random encounters. Which is saying something, given how annoying the random encounters can be in that game sometimes.

[Midgar Mist]

Im an old fashioned soul who loves turn based. Having said that, random encounters that occur at bad moments when u r trying to get something done is annoying. And I never understand why sometimes the encounter rate varies (without special items equipped I mean).

But then you have excellent old classics like Grandia, where you can see the monsters. The drawback to that one is that if u try to run sometimes they ambush you.