Enemy encounters?

[The Smurf]

so, which is it? i've done all random encounters (GC/Spirit Saga), a mix of both (KC/Seraphim) and all on-screen (SS2).

i first thought of the question when i started playing tales of legendia. this game has random encounters where tales of symphonia had on-screen.

what do you guys feel is better? personally, i like to see the enemies on-screen before fighting them, so i can avoid unnecessary battles.

general consensus?


-the smurf

[Neo Samurai]

I voted for both. Like you said, with on-screen battles, you can avoid the battle. But while random battles are, in fact, unexpected, the surprise adds to the fun factor. But that's just me.

[NASH7777]

ACBS, of course on-screen lol

[Rodak]

I voted Mix because it's what I do and therefore it must be the best way!

Peace.

[thetruecoolness]

I personally have gotten really tired of the random battle system and think maybe that's one thing the RPG genre can do without. I just find it really annoying when I'm trying to explore and area, especially without a map, and every 3-10 steps I get in a battle. This just gets a bit frusterating after while, and really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I'm pretty sure it was mainly done in older games due to lack of resources to display all the enemies on screen.

So I really like being able to choose my battles and explore as much as I want without being interupted by a battle every 5 steps. I'm usually way stronger than I need to be in most areas since I like to find everything in a game, and therefore get in tons of battles in a random battle system. So that's my opinion of random battles, I still prefer turned based battles to Hack and Slash though, since hack and slash just seems to be more repetative to me, and usually the AI for your teammates is unreliable, and sometime just retarded.

[DarkHorizons]

Gotta go with the mix as well..I think for boss battles you should see it on the screen. The point of random battles is to be able to level up correctly..you dont want to avoid half of the battles just to explore the map and find yourself geting mashed by a sub boss cause your level is too low.

[Doan the Nado]

Here's an idea... how about basing the frequency of random battles on the party's level. This could be viewed as realistic because enemies would not want to take on strong parties, but a weaker one would look like a great target. This would allow the designer to create an area whereby the player is expected to be at a certain level to fight the boss. In order to attain this level (and neither exceed it nor come short), the player would come across random battles which would gradually decrease in frequency as the levels rose, until at some point, there would be perhaps one battle per dungeon screen or per dungeon (when going back to a previously-beaten one).

I would vote for boss battles to be on-screen unless it makes sense in the story for them to be random. In many cases, the party is seeking out the boss or some treasure guarded by the boss, so it only makes sense to be looking for them and for the encounter to not be random. My philosophy with random battles is that the party is so intent on their task at hand that they don't pay attention to / notice some of the lesser enemies who are in their midst.

In my opinion, the idea of dynamic random battle frequencies would be a great compromise between those who like and don't like random battles, and it also solves many of the problems of leveling and of replaying areas and fighting weak opponents. I think I may try to create this on a small scale if I ever get the time.

[Rodak]

Or a simple bottle of Foul Smelling Schnootz Perfume to scare off the monsters, like in The Clean Underwear Quest.

Then the player can have random battles, or not, at will.

Either way random battles should be infrequent.

I mostly limit them to dungeons and small sections of big maps so the player can navigate (as The True Coolness said).

Peace.

[Dungeon Warden]

I still like the idea of having areas with random battles so the player can level up if they wish and have battles be infrequent otherwise. After playing DQVIII, I now see how a great game can be make with infrequent battles and easy leveling. If someone wants to run around leveling up it just spoils the fun of the game by making it too easy - although many enemies have special attacks that can do serious damage to even a high level party. I may use a similar method in my own game (assuming I ever get a chance to work on it again.

[Deleted]

I really like Doan's idea. I'm also a fan of Chrono Cross's system (basically, every boss gives a level-up to all members in and out of the party, and enemies give money/items). Or, you can do like I am and just abolish leveling-up, period. It surely will make balancing stats easier, as well as allow more enemies being repeated from dungeon to dungeon.

Basically, the important things is this: you must entertain the audience. It doesn't matter how: good plot, good mood, good characters, funny stuff, big boobs (hey, it works, people do pay for that stuff), etc. all work. If you have random encounters, make them infrequent. Or make the player feel like they're achieving something by fighting them (more than just money/exp/occasional item), like an ability learning system or something. If you have non-random encounters, expect people to skip a lot of them and make bosses easier (no leveling-up with battles in order to beat a boss). Just simply, entertain.

[The Smurf]

williamkirk said:

I'm also a fan of Chrono Cross's system (basically, every boss gives a level-up to all members in and out of the party, and enemies give money/items).

yeah, that's what i'm doing in both Seraphim and SS2, and i did that in Spirit Saga, too. that way i'm in complete control of the player's leveling and i don't have to worry about them being too strong or too weak.

this way, i can do almost all, if not all, on-screen enemies and not have to worry if the player doesn't fight because they'll always be the right level for the next boss.

but i still prefer on-screen enemies overall, mainly because random battles get v e r y annoying after awhile, especially when i'm trying to explore a place.


-the smurf

[doyleman]

yeah, that's what i'm doing in both Seraphim and SS2, and i did that in Spirit Saga, too. that way i'm in complete control of the player's leveling and i don't have to worry about them being too strong or too weak.

I have the enemies auto level up alongside the player. It may seem like a bad idea, but the way I have it set up makes it run perfectly good.