JRPGs and Random Encounters

[Vexicrypt]

So lately I've been playing Persona 2: Innocent Sin and it got me thinking about my weird relationships with JRPGs again. I consider myself a fan even though I struggle to finish 90% of them. Even when I get pretty deep into the story very rarely I stuck till the end credits. And playing Persona 2 helped me realize why. Random encounters. Usually older JRPGs don't have enemies visible on the map so you can't really avoid combat and for a long time I thought this was my problem. But thinking about it again I realized that its actualy not the randomness of it -- its encounter rate. Sometimes you can't even take 2 steps without getting teleported into a battle arena, which causes frustration while exploring confusingly designed dungeons. The worst thing about it is that I forget where I was going before the encounter, so when it ends, I'm being left confused and annoyed. Some games try to help you a bit with items or spells that reduce encounter rate or scare off low level enemies, but I don't like that approach because it feels lazy, as if it was made just to mess with you. I also kinda hate using consumables in general, which is a problem for another time. One of my favorite games Parasite Eve, for example, balanced random encounters very well: their frequency lets you explore for longer periods of time between them and their rates go down a significant % after each battle on every particular spot. I know that JRPGs are known for their grind, which is a genre staple at this point, but wouldn't it be better if they had lower encounter rates and balanced character progression based on that? It would give players more time to explore without being gragged into combat every 2 seconds and still be engaging enough to keep them hooked on power leveling and such. I would surely finish more JRPGs if they were desined that way. You'd probably suggest playing something more modern, and sometimes I do, but I really like the vibes of older JRPGs and when I play them I encounter this very same problem every time. I don't really mind not finishing games since I get my enjoyment out of them, it just sucks because sometimes I really like the story and characters but the gameplay itself forces me to quit.

Anyway, how about you? Do you have this problem or you accepted it and do the grind with some video/stream/podcast on the background?

 

[Elwiwi]

Random encounters are relics from the past that they should stay there

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I used to think I liked the idea...

... Then I played Magic School Lunar! on Saturn and I wanted to kill myself and many others afterwards XD

 

[Zeo]

I liked those JRPGs that had some kind of signal that a random battle was about to happen. Like in The Legend of the Dragoon where there is an "arrow" that changes color and once is in red then you know its coming

Other than that i dont mind, unless the devs decided it was fun for you to have an encounter every single step for no reason

 

[qw90700]

That's why hacks that reduces encounter rates and cheats that allows you to enable and disable them are very important to me. My preference is JRPGs is to eliminate that BS completely and instead replace it with making combat tied to enemies that actually exist in the map so you can have a choice to avoid it or attack. I never liked random encounters and never will.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

Yeah it can get quite ridiculous at times

 

[qw90700]

Yeah it can get quite ridiculous at times

View attachment 112440

I'm usually ok with it but I cross the line when the game throws an environmental puzzle on you to solve that indicates figuring out what to do, how to push objects, finding an object, even chasing a NPC around but *boom* random encounter in 3 seconds... usual Breath of Fire 4 moment lolol. However some games have easy and fast combat so it's ok in BoF 4 and Black Sigil (I'm almost ok for it though) but in some other games it's hardly ok for me lol.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

I'm usually ok with it but I cross the line when the game throws an environmental puzzle on you to solve that indicates figuring out what to do, how to push objects, finding an object, even chasing a NPC around but *boom* random encounter in 3 seconds... usual Breath of Fire 4 moment lolol. However some games have easy and fast combat so it's ok in BoF 4 and Black Sigil (I'm almost ok for it though) but in some other games it's hardly ok for me lol.

The worse one to do it is Mother on NES

 

[freebie#47]

Nothing wrong with the random encounter system...for 16 bit or older. I know the psx games had huge arse long loading times and a couple games took minutes just for the battle to start. Earthbound is the first rpg I know that let you skip random battles(yes I know 7th saga did it first, but not so good imo)

 

[TruxtonTatsujin]

I like random encounters. It weeds out the weak.

 

[LastValsion]

I don't mind so much as long as it isn't overbearing to deal with and that there is some warning beforehand. Some games both older and newer just have way too high encounter rates and it feels like you're walking through a minefield.

 

[bjork]

I don't mind it since I kinda grew up with that being the way that it was. I'm glad when a game doesn't have it, but I won't put it down if they do. An encounter-based thing I do hate, but have only encountered in older computer RPGs, is when a random encounter has way more enemies than the members of your party. If I have five members and we have to fight 15 guys, ok. But when it says, "You face Kobold x 36, Mad Alcoholic x 12, and Wraith x 3!" that's when I get annoyed. Not even because of the challenge, but because of how long each battle takes. Though, if you could see 36 Kobolds, at least you could avoid them, maybe.

 

[Eridler]

I like it. It can be annoying sometimes. (I'm currently playing Cyber Knight on SNES, and it's annoying there)
But that's part of the genre's rules. You either accept the rules of the game, or you go play something else. It's like Soulslike. After you die, all enemies will resurrect. You may not like it, you may get angry, but enemies won't stop resurrecting; those are just the rules of the game, and they won't change.

 

[Anim8rDude Anim8rDude]

I love random encounters! Not knowing which enemies you might end up fighting & the possibility of getting blindsided (or getting a totally BS enemy formation or something) keeps things interesting & makes the player to adapt to a bit more situations.
I also find that it forces you to find the most reliable & efficient strategies possible. Like I'm not saying default to using "the longest unskippable cutscene" spells, but maybe something faster & better! Atlus games wouldn't be the same without random encounters!
That's what I think anyway

 

[qw90700]

I like it. It can be annoying sometimes. (I'm currently playing Cyber Knight on SNES, and it's annoying there)
But that's part of the genre's rules. You either accept the rules of the game, or you go play something else. It's like Soulslike. After you die, all enemies will resurrect. You may not like it, you may get angry, but enemies won't stop resurrecting; those are just the rules of the game, and they won't change.

When I like the game but not its rules I bend the rules to my liking!!!

lolol

 

[hazys]

The players who complain the most about random encounters aren't playing the game right, in my experience. They hoard consumables until the final boss, they don't strategize or engage with the combat system, and if they lose they assume they have to grind more. Any decent JRPG can be cleared with zero grinding, if you use the tools the game gives you.

 

[Sneedolphus]

Random encounters themselves aren't an issue, it's the combat length that's the problem which is why SMT games like Nocturne and IV tend to keep the attention of people that are relatively new to the genre even for their 100+ hr long runtimes.
Same goes for Persona 3,4,5 even though the encounters aren't random per se, there are parts of the games where you are more or less forced to go through multiple battles but there is no issue since they fly by.
Another example would be the Dragon Quest series which lets you speed up the combat itself substantially through the settings of the games making the random battles fly by.
Final Fantasy games are good with that as well except for some borderline cases like 9 which had really slow loading times on real hardware.
I have dropped games that I liked their graphics, music and setting before due to slow combat alone, for example Breath Of Fire III.

 

[qw90700]

The players who complain the most about random encounters aren't playing the game right, in my experience. They hoard consumables until the final boss, they don't strategize or engage with the combat system, and if they lose they assume they have to grind more. Any decent JRPG can be cleared with zero grinding, if you use the tools the game gives you.

Yes this is a valid point for "decent" JRPGs that are not dying simulator and a piece of cake for new gamers especially little kids lolol.

 

[Vexicrypt]

The players who complain the most about random encounters aren't playing the game right, in my experience. They hoard consumables until the final boss, they don't strategize or engage with the combat system, and if they lose they assume they have to grind more. Any decent JRPG can be cleared with zero grinding, if you use the tools the game gives you.

Thats the thing, for me its not about losing (its hard to actually die in some JRPGs anyway) neither I mind the gring in general. Like I said, its about the encounter rate, which can get annoying if set too high. Random encounters themselves are fine, I even gave a good example of how they should be done in my opinion.

 

[qw90700]

Thats the thing, for me its not about losing (its hard to actually die in some JRPGs anyway) neither I mind the gring in general. Like I said, its about the encounter rate, which can get annoying if set too high. Random encounters themselves are fine, I even gave a good example of how they should be done in my opinion.

Yep. If the game is easy and every battle takes like 10 seconds it's still annoying as hell when some games forces a random encounter BS every 5 steps lol.

 

[NOTthatHARD]

I don't think anyone actually likes random encounters, we just tolerate them.