How do you guys feel about Random Encounter in old jrpgs.

[shadowcat]

I grew up with it as the norm, so I don't mind it at all. It is a little irritating when you are trying to do a puzzle and enemies keep interrupting that, but that is a minor issue IMO.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

I had a slight problem with it until I played Mother. That's when I realized how bad it could be if they so desired

 

[χKai]

I like when the screen transitions in a cool-looking way

 

[Your_Homie_Gale]

I actually like old school encounters but it is because I am used to it. I understand that RPGs now don't need them, but nothing really beats going through an abandoned prison, dungeon, cathedral, or some other spooky place only to get ambushed by something you could not see. It brings some type of immersion knowing that you are not alone in these places and to always be kept on high alert. Plus I like being surprised when going through these places. Can it get annoying? Definitely when the encounter rate is high like in Persona 1 PSP, but as long as the gameplay is addicting enough or if the battles don't take too long then it is fine for me.

 

[MajesticSiN]

I like them.

 

[RockinACup]

I think they're "fine", I guess? In terms of how they had to do things at the time for stuff like that in games of that genre I can understand that, but man do some of those titles just don't know when to let up on them in some parts.

I still get flashbacks to the dreaded Tower of Babel from Final Fantasy IV.....

The chimeras man...

too...many...chimeras....

 

[Sinmenon]

It really depends on the game.

Some games, like Final Fantasy, I see it as enemies in the wild ambushing you. I think it is like a "translation" of when you are playing tabletop RPGs and the party is traveling from one place to another and the dungeon master rolls the dice for the random events: could be a peaceful encounter, or it could be a fight.
It can be a good way to keep the player paying attention and break the monotony.

There are games with horror elements, like Laplace no Ma and Sweet Home, or even harder games, where the random encounters add to the fear element. Do I have enough resources? Am I strong enough? Will this encounter be the last? It can enhance the mood in fun ways.

But there are also those games. Those games that every two steps you are thrown into a random battle. The games with unreasonable encounter rate that only exist to increase the length of a game. Unless the game is really good, it can go hug a cactus.

 

[Michael Frank]

As various people previously said, random encounters and their overall quality depend of the game you play, curretly i'm on SMT1 on the SNES, and Tactic Ogre: The Knights of Lodis for the GBA, in SMT1 i kind of like them because they help me grind and get macca and demons to fuse, so it's a good thing, in tactics ogre (a strategy/tactis game) sometimes it can be a little tedious if i don't really want to fight and just advance the story, but i'm still glad they are there because that makes me level up my party faster or make me want to lv up some underdogs that haven't leveled up yet.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

Depends on the game in question. I generally don't mind it, as long as the encounter rate isn't too unreasonable and the battles themselves aren't too long winded.

 

[downloadingshit]

I can deal with them, but they become annoying in cases like FF2 where it's every other step. Something that really pisses me off in old ones are dungeons where its nothing but an extremely long and narrow corridor that you can tell is only stretched as long just to have a random encounter floor

 

[Badseed]

As long as its not every two steps I'm ok with it. ( I'm looking at you Sword of Vermilion)

 

[JackNoir413]

im actually a fan of random encounters. i think they can be balanced with items to avoid encounters with weak enemies. obviously some games overdo it but as part of a game's design they're pretty good imo.

 

[Lokgamer]

I've commented on this thread before, however, I want to reaffirm what I said again... I hate random encounters!!!

 

[Lilianon]

I don't mind them that much, depending on the game of course, but growing up I'm mostly annoyed at slow/long attack animations. I can bear with them but having like the summon that last 20 seconds and you have to see the animation everytime pisses me off

 

[ColonelKurtz]

I don't mind them per se, but I do find high encounter rate often ends up with me becoming overleveled and then the combat just gets boring with all the OHKOs.

Big fan of games/hacks that either scale enemies to your level, or allow you to turn off random encounters so I can still perserve some challenge at end game.

Shout out to FF8 and the FF6 romhack Brave New World.

 

[Noon]

It’s not the only way to do this, but I kinda liked how they kept the areas quiet and more artsy looking, sometimes enemy symbols walking around randomly can kinda look a little derpy, not always but sometimes.

 

[LightningLegs]

IIf you play the original versions of Dragon Quest 2-3-4 or Final Fantasy (1), within a dungeon every single random encounter matters, every player decision matters and a single wrong decision can be costly. There is also the luck factor, even if you're always making the right calls there is no guarantee that something won't go terribly wrong and that keeps things interesting. Playing Dragon Quest 2 can feel like playing a high stakes poker game with the odds staked in your favour (compared to poker), and that keeps things satisfying because you know that once in a while something went your way that could very gone the other way. Random encounters are supposed to wear the player down little by little and the player should have to make the right decisions and use his ressources well in order to make the most out of his progress through the dungeon, which he may not clear on the first attempt. All this, after proper pre-dungeon preparations.

Absolutely correct. Early Dragon Quest games in particular do random encounters very well IMO; the limited inventory space, limited spell points, generally dangerous (if you're not overleveled) monsters, and lack of any get-out-of-jail-free cards to escape a dungeon or revive a dead party member until much later in the game makes dungeon diving an actual challenge and battle of attrition.

There's nothing quite like getting caught with your pants down at the bottom floor of a dungeon with a random encounter- your party half-dead- and having to weigh the risk of fleeing the battle. You might get lucky and be successful, or you might fail and the monsters will get a free turn and possibly finish off your already battered party.

That is the kind of stuff that just doesn't happen without random encounters because you can just sprint and dodge around every enemy on the field. If every combat encounter is voluntary the game essentially just boils down to grinding. DQXI and SMTV were both a bit disappointing for me for this reason.

Many have said it in this thread already but it really comes down to how frequent and challenging the battles are. If you're being thrown into combat every 5 steps and the enemies are completely trivial the game's just wasting your time. I think SMT Nocturne had the best balance, random encounters always brought a sense of risk, you could even get ambushed by several waves of additional enemies after the initial fight- but combat is quick and snappy. You could finish 2-3 random encounters in Nocturne in the time you might fight 1 in another JRPG.

 

[NekketsuFighter]

I don't mind random encounters, but I appreciate when some games gives us the tools to reduce or eliminate those encounters, like Final Fantasy VIII did with the Diablos summon.

 

[Audrissa]

I don't really mind them - especially since they're being mostly phased out with exception of games that deliberately play on nostalgia like Octopath Traveler. They were a result of technological limitations of the time and I can enjoy the games for what they are. Except for Final Fantasy 2 on PSP. Random encounters every two steps, what the hell

 

[Isegrim]

I've been weaned by it since I first played Wizardry on my Apple 2. It's an old evil but used to it after countless games.

Recently though, I find it's the perfect game to play while listening to news and commentary videos on youtube and Rumble in another window. Just pause the video when you reach a milestone but those hours of getting from point A to point B is mostly watching videos. The game keeps me from getting distracted while watching but still progressing without getting too bored.

 

[Sfjeov]

Don't like random encounters but I really don't like having to dodge your enemies (i.e. chrono trigger) even more tbh. Having to dodge feels bs and makes grinding more tedious imo.

 

[Bluewyne]

The random encounter mechanic is what got me into JRPGs as a kid. I loved taking on hordes of enemies, grinding my way up until I could effectively one-shot them. My imagination was much better then, I felt so heroic clearing out enemy after enemy. And I didn't have an enormous backlog of games haunting me, telling me to get through the game quicker.

Nowadays, my patience has run a bit thin. A good JRPG will have an encounter rate that is so reasonable that I never even think about it. If the encounter rate is noticeably high, it does turn me off from the game and more likely to play only in bursts.

I'm not a huge fan of visible encounter systems where you have to sneak up on enemies or hit them at the right time to get an advantage. I just want to battle and grind numbers, which is really what JRPGs are about at their core. Yeah random encounters are better. There, I said it.

When enemies are visible, I feel more likely to avoid battles all together.

 

[Tezca]

It depends on the encounter rate. Sometimes I enjoy it. That feeling of grinding so much you stomp all over the formerly tough enemies is great, as mentioned above.

But then I think to the horrors...those "every two steps is a massive battle" mechanics and...well...yeah.

>SMT 2 PTSD

 

[Varyag]

I think the only "random battle" systems I've ever enjoyed in JRPGs are Pokemon and Tales of/Persona/Atelier way of visible enemies in the overworld. Pokemon puts specific spots where you go intentionally chase wild encounters to capture new Pokemon or grind up levels on your own, and in the case of the other games, the enemies being visible roaming in the area gives you the option to confront or evade them, depending on the situation (with sometimes granting you advantages if you intentionally initiate or sneak up on them!)

it also very strongly depends on how much the game expects you to grind, and how many enemies are there per area. Tales of Berseria was tuned just enough that if you cleared every enemy in your first pass of the area you should be set up in levels. No need to keep going back, or still fight them again when you backtrack. Atelier Sophie or Ryza, the enemies were more a source of alchemy materials instead of XP, and you could sprint through the area avoiding most of them when you're just there to grab rocks or something.

Compared to the classic Final Fantasy random encounters everywhere thing, where eventually each encounter turns into a minutes long battle where the enemies are strong enough to risk killing you every time, that gets old fast. It's why I never finished FFX

 

[Tronky.it]

I don't mind them that much, depending on the game of course, but growing up I'm mostly annoyed at slow/long attack animations. I can bear with them but having like the summon that last 20 seconds and you have to see the animation everytime pisses me off

And then... THERE IS FINAL FANTASY WITH HIS DAMNED PRE-BATTLE VORTEX EFFECTS!!!
(thanks Memoria for FF9 Steam Version, at least you let me get rid of them...)