Let's take Final Fantasy as an example. Every FF game used Random Encounters up to Final Fantasy 10 I think? For some reason, there is some sense of danger and excitement when you get ambushed by "invisible monsters". Like, what monsters are going to show up now? Especially when you encounter rare enemies.
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is the random encounter system in jrpgs more enjoyable?
- Thread starter CentroXer
- Start date
Not sure if more enjoyable persay, sometimes I just want to run back to a town and if a game has a slower battle system, that say takes longer to load or has a lengthy introduction into battles, I tend to get pretty frustrated. Though some games put enemies on the map and make it hard for you to avoid them, so that isn't a good alternative either.
Essentially I want the option to halt encounters at certain points when I feel over-leveled or don't feel like fighting.
Essentially I want the option to halt encounters at certain points when I feel over-leveled or don't feel like fighting.
SerTapTap
Member
Depends how it's handled. I like how Pokemon does it, you can get around it, there's paths without monsters, you pretty much always know when being attacked is a possibility, and the encounter rate usually isn't too ridiculous. It's a system that can get frustrating extremely fast though, especially if enemies suddenly jump in difficulty. Once I got to the top half of mount Gagazet in FFX I just ran from all the encounters since they took so long and were so risky.
Phantasmal Repose
Member
I've never been a fan of random encounters. I much prefer having to attack enemies in order to get into a battle like in Persona 3 & 4 or the Mario RPG games.
IdreamofHIME
Member
Only in that you don't have to leave an area for enemies to respawn.
Hibiki Kurosawa
Member
I really don't mind either way.
weak sauce! in FF8 you can obtain an item (ENC-none) to turn them off. But you have to wear it.
John Kowalski
Banned
It's ok. I liked XIII-2's random battles that still allowed for prebattle bonuses, but in general i'm fine with random encounters because, well, they really aren't random at all. Most jrpg's i've played have a good equilibrium of combat and exploration. I also enjoy that it adds a lot of tension to those little moments when you know you'll walk enough to trigger an encounter but maybe, just maybe you'll manage to get away. Especially if they are dangerous encounters, which unfortunately is not always the case. I'm playing Bravely Default right now and the feeling of facing a new set of enemies and being completely wrecked for not knowing what to do is, crazy as it may sound, an amazing feeling.
I wish they would have turned that off inside dungeons, it makes the items and spells dedicated to leaving the dungeon as useless as can be. It's nice for the overworld (especially if you forgot to end the sidequest in the last city >_>), but for dungeons the 0% encounter rate is just not necessary.
I wish they would have turned that off inside dungeons, it makes the items and spells dedicated to leaving the dungeon as useless as can be. It's nice for the overworld (especially if you forgot to end the sidequest in the last city >_>), but for dungeons the 0% encounter rate is just not necessary.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I much prefer that. Bravely Default's options are cool, but I guess I just prefer having in-world justification for that kind of thing.
TheMoon
Member
Aarglefarg
Member
I prefer having some degree of agency in when there are battles. Sometimes I want to fight, sometimes I'm fine with fighting, other times I just want to get somewhere. If a game works with me on this then I'm less likely to become frustrated.
FF11,12,13,14 and apparently 15 all have enemies on the map.
Corran Horn
May the Schwartz be with you
I prefer random over the on screen enemies.
But Im a type of rpg'er who loves to grind levels/etc so that makes it alot easier.
But Im a type of rpg'er who loves to grind levels/etc so that makes it alot easier.
Robert at Zeboyd Games
Banned
Probably with random encounters in Bravely Default is that the battle system made them really trivial most of the time since you could just go for x4 turns on everybody and wipe the enemies out on turn 1. That's definitely a game that could have benefited from fewer, more important battles like most SRPGs, rather than just keeping random encounters but letting you pick the frequency.
Crimsonclaw111
Member
Random encounters blow and is one reason I almost never touch JRPGs.
I didn't like Bravely Default's encounter slider conceptually. It felt like the developers gave up balancing the game. Though at the same time, I'm playing Persona Q and the encounter rate is absurd but buying repels is annoying. I dunno what I want.
It was pretty annoying in DQIX when you had to juke around enemies in tight corridors. I'd rather just have random encounters + holy water even if I ended up fighting the same amount of enemies.
It was pretty annoying in DQIX when you had to juke around enemies in tight corridors. I'd rather just have random encounters + holy water even if I ended up fighting the same amount of enemies.
nickfrancis86
Member
I liked them, not so much any more. I think its something that was inherent in the old days of explorable world maps. Now we just have huge open worlds where you can, for the most part, walk seamlessly from town to town. There is definitely something nostalgic about random encounters though.
Have you ever played Evoland? That starts off as an 8 bit RPG and then as you progress you unlock certain things that became the norm in RPGs over time. I'm pretty sure random encounters was one of them. Others include, ATB, experience, graphical changes throughout the game. End up being a top down 3D RPG. The characters are heavily influenced by Final Fantasy and Zelda. The main character is called Clink!
Went a bit off topic there. Oh well. Woudl recommend Evoland though, short and fun. Not deep at all.
Have you ever played Evoland? That starts off as an 8 bit RPG and then as you progress you unlock certain things that became the norm in RPGs over time. I'm pretty sure random encounters was one of them. Others include, ATB, experience, graphical changes throughout the game. End up being a top down 3D RPG. The characters are heavily influenced by Final Fantasy and Zelda. The main character is called Clink!
Went a bit off topic there. Oh well. Woudl recommend Evoland though, short and fun. Not deep at all.
I hate em. Sometimes ya'know I just fucking want to walk somewhere without being harassed by the local monsters. They be all "You think you can just stroll through our hood?" and I'm all "I'm just passing through going to the next town guys. I don't want any trouble, let me just flee." and sometimes for no reason it's all "NOPE, YOU AIN'T FLEEING."
I also hate how startling it is sometimes. It's almost a jumpscare with a fricken scare cord in some games.
But that said Dragon Quest VIII is still one of my favorite games of all time.
I also hate how startling it is sometimes. It's almost a jumpscare with a fricken scare cord in some games.
But that said Dragon Quest VIII is still one of my favorite games of all time.
I was playing Final Fantasy X HD a few weeks ago and it was so frustrating having to battle every five steps when I'm trying to get somewhere. When I finally got an item with No Encounters ability I felt like popping open a bottle of champaign to celebrate. It was so refreshing being able to run around without battles every 10 seconds, felt like a completely different game.
bengraven
Member
Hated it.
I skipped it whenever I could - even breaking my Thousand Arms save because I removed random encounters. Maybe it was the heart stopping BOOM - TSSSSSSSSSS - slowly swirling camera...but mostly it was that I wanted to get to point B and had to deal with 20 minutes of random baseless bullshit before I could finally get somewhere. Also. it killed my immersion.
Other than an old FF for nostalgia sake, I will never play another random encounter game again.
I skipped it whenever I could - even breaking my Thousand Arms save because I removed random encounters. Maybe it was the heart stopping BOOM - TSSSSSSSSSS - slowly swirling camera...but mostly it was that I wanted to get to point B and had to deal with 20 minutes of random baseless bullshit before I could finally get somewhere. Also. it killed my immersion.
Other than an old FF for nostalgia sake, I will never play another random encounter game again.
For some reason i hate it more when i have to avoid enemies walking around, it's just annoying as fuck when you just want to rush and unlike random encounter can't simply buy repelent or whatever.
I really like how EO tells you when your close to get into a fight for example, on top of the visible FOE.
I really like how EO tells you when your close to get into a fight for example, on top of the visible FOE.
Hell no, that was an awful and antiquated way of handling battles. I'm glad it's damn near dead these days. Games like Lufia and Persona 2 had ridiculous encounter rates that just made simple traversal a chore.
If a game is going to have random encounters, it needs to have this. This was a godsend in BD, allowing me to tweak the encounter rate depending on my mood and willingness to deal with random battles.
If a game is going to have random encounters, it needs to have this. This was a godsend in BD, allowing me to tweak the encounter rate depending on my mood and willingness to deal with random battles.
The Praiseworthy
Member
I'm fine with it, it's all down to balanced encounter rates IMO.
I like the way Dragon Quest does it with low encounter rate on paths, then increasing on grass, forest and mountain. Also Pokemon, encounters in grass, can be reduced by walking, also repels to stop encounters.
Etrian Odyssey style is also good with an indicator of how close an encounter is, basically working like any old RPG system (steady probability increase as time passes tending to 1).
When the encounter rate is too high it is frustrating. I remember an area in FF6 (The Cultist's Tower) that pissed me off due to the encounter rate being too high. Thinking about it, Final Fantasy is the only series that pissed me off with bullshit encounter rates in places, maybe "Tales of" games, I don't play either series anymore (for mostly other reasons).
I like the way Dragon Quest does it with low encounter rate on paths, then increasing on grass, forest and mountain. Also Pokemon, encounters in grass, can be reduced by walking, also repels to stop encounters.
Etrian Odyssey style is also good with an indicator of how close an encounter is, basically working like any old RPG system (steady probability increase as time passes tending to 1).
When the encounter rate is too high it is frustrating. I remember an area in FF6 (The Cultist's Tower) that pissed me off due to the encounter rate being too high. Thinking about it, Final Fantasy is the only series that pissed me off with bullshit encounter rates in places, maybe "Tales of" games, I don't play either series anymore (for mostly other reasons).
