Random Battles vs Visible Enemies in JRPG'S

[mute]

I quite like Randoms, when balanced with a good HP/MP management system. I don't think winding my way through dungeons avoiding battles with slow and dumb monsters is fun.

Entering a dungeon, not knowing where the next save point is, how many fights I'll have to get through to get there, or when my HP/MP will run out, that to me is a good feeling. A good stress. Putting enemies on the map, takes away that stress.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

Random Battles. RPGs have gotten too soft. Hit me with that random battle two bricks before I get to a town.

 

[DPB]

DQVII

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This was a terrible implementation of visible encounters, they took the same-sized levels from the original version, plonked a bunch of monsters down and gave you no room to manoeuvre so you have no choice but to fight nearly every enemy you see. And there aren't a fixed number of monsters either, they constantly respawn after battles, sometimes right in front of your character.

 

[+AshenMortality+]

I started playing Undertale. Then bam. Random battles...Ι stopped.

 

[wrowa]

Random and symbol encounters are different gameplay mechanics that are used to achieve different things. Visible encounters having become the standard is less due to them being inherently superior to random encounters and more due to random encounters feeling too abstract in a detailed 3D world. I could go on about this but, to be frank, this discussion happens hundred times a year and experience shows that most people will ignore any explanations anyway.

 

[Deleted member 4037]

Visible is way more preferable, random battles game be really annoying when done poorly

 

[Gotdatmoney]

Depends on the design of the game.

 

[Shinzen]

Random encounters done right can make the pacing of a dungeon much more interesting because of unavoidable fights that you need to prepare for. The best things to ask for when having random encounters are the ability to foresee the next one and the ability to reduce/increase the frequency.
If enemies are visible, then they should not be too easy to avoid because it removes a lot of the tension in exploration. I also like the Earthbound way of instantly defeating weaker enemies.

 

[Mirage]

Random battles can be good when resources matter, like longer dungeons or just dungeon crawler games. I also feel like I get a more consistent flow of exp in games with random battles, when they're visible I feel like there's more of an inclination to avoid them.

However I like both styles.

 

[chandoog]

Visible enemies all the way please. If I don't want to fight, I shouldn't have to suffer through random battles every 30 seconds.

 

[cowbanana]

I vastly prefer visible enemies. Random battles seem like something originally invented out of technical limitations.

 

[hiryu64]

Random encounters are a bullshit vestige of an age gone by. They work for a very select few games and genres, and I won't avoid a game because it has random encounters. But in general? Get that shit outta here.

Also I'm older now. I don't have the time or patience to put up with getting slapped by a Goddamned Bat every fifteen seconds.

 

[Zephyx]

Visible. With a way to do advantages and a way for enemies to do the same to me.

 

[giancarlo123x]

Visible. Just play the pokemon let's go games, they cant go back to random.

 

[Slamtastic]

Visible always.

 

[Myradeer]

Visible enemies 100%

 

[Betty]

Visible enemies is where i'd want every JRPG to go from now on.

 

[Apollo]

I can deal with and enjoy visible enemies, but I far prefer well tuned random encounters. With visible enemies I have trouble pacing myself- I get anxiety over whether or not to skip an encounter or begin one as I don't know how much EXP I should have at any given point. Do I need to kill every enemy? Or is it okay to skip when I don't feel like fighting? I just prefer random encounters to handle the pacing for me.

 

[molnizzle]

The surprise element is more exciting

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More annoying, that's for sure.

Random battles actively punish exploration, which usually works directly against how JRPG maps are designed. They have no redeeming qualities in my eyes.

 

['3y Kingdom]

Sometimes one is better, sometimes the other. Knowing when to use one or the other is a hallmark of good RPG design.

Dungeon crawlers like the Etriam series for me.

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Maybe, but dungeon crawlers are kind of the opposite of most RPGs, since visible encounters can be more nerve-wracking and exciting than the alternative due to the restricted field of view. A game where the sound design is good enough to let you hear the enemies creeping up on you before you see and encounter them is great.

I started playing Undertale. Then bam. Random battles...Ι stopped.

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I can understand this, but Undertale ends up using random encounters pretty cleverly at several points in various routes.

 

[saenima]

I don't even mind random battles too much unless they're just too frequent, but you can have so much more interesting mechanics with visible enemies. Blue Dragon is a great example, where you can kite enemies around and then press RT to bring up a circle where you choose what to fight from what's inside it. You can make certain enemies fight each other this way and you can also equip skills to affect how all of this works. It's almost a minigame in and of itself. But even much simpler examples like Persona work better than random encounters, as they give you more choice than no choice at all.

 

[Slamtastic]

Despite that I prefer visible, Pokemon is actually the one series that jumps to mind with a downside to them: harder to do a pure nuzlocke when you can cheat and choose what you want when they're all laid out in front of you.

 

[Jakenbakin]

I don't really mind either one. If visible encounters I hope they do something interesting with it... Look at Valkyrie Profile 2 and the way you can use the enemies for platforming, or The Last Remnant with how you can like corral enemies together. I don't really like visible encounters in like Tales of Symphonia or Baten Kaitos where they're often unavoidable though.

I don't know if there's a benefit to random, but... Video games are largely based around icon based interactions and teach you to fill in blanks of the design with your imagination anyway.

At the end of the day the only thing that really matters to me is what happens when you get INTO the battle, not how it was initiated. Never understood the rage around this.

 

[butzopower]

Darkest Dungeon is cool because some characters have higher scouting chances that allow you to know where the battles will be, but otherwise they sneak up on you.

 

[Evilisk]

I could go for either tbh. There are crappy games using both systems, though I'll admit I find games with crappy random encounters to be way more annoying, and I personally haven't played nearly as many games with actually good random encounter systems (though I did like how some of the Wild Arms games handled things).

If I really had to choose between the two, I'd definitely take visible encounters over random encounters. Even though there's some really annoying games like Tales of Symphonia and White Knight Chronicles with visible encounters, I'll easily take those over the stupidly high random encounter rates.

 

[Dreamboum]

It's much easier to fuck up visible enemies than it is fucking up random encounters. So many jrpgs with visible enemies makes the gameplay loop around zig-zagging enemies, having the scenery ruined by a swath of monsters.

I don't like having enemies at the top of my mind all the time. Having a delimited zones for battling and exploring makes it much better rather than dealing with basic AI that takes me out of the experience.

Not to mention most JRPGs makes enemies in the field looks like the biggest eyesore, who doesn't feel like they belong to the ecosystem, doesn't do anything other than roaming around. It's frankly shit

 

[L Thammy]

EarthBound's a pretty great game.

 

[UraMallas]

I didn't expect this to be so lopsided against random battles. Maybe it's because it's what I grew up with and younger people are more likely to be voting in this poll? Maybe I"m just weird.

I love random battles and usually groan a little when I see enemies out on the field.

It's much easier to fuck up visible enemies than it is fucking up random encounters. So many jrpgs with visible enemies makes the gameplay loop around zig-zagging enemies, having the scenery ruined by a swath of monsters.

I don't like having enemies at the top of my mind all the time. Having a delimited zones for battling and exploring makes it much better rather than dealing with basic AI that takes me out of the experience.

Not to mention most JRPGs makes enemies in the field looks like the biggest eyesore, who doesn't feel like they belong to the ecosystem, doesn't do anything other than roaming around. It's frankly shit

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Agree with everything you wrote. Well said.

 

[Velezcora]

I like visible as well but with them being visible, is that true representation of encounter chance when they were random?

If given the choice I'm going to skip all the mobs, this will lead to under leveling.

I think in dungeons there should be at least 3 random battles

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If you're skipping fights that's because the combat isn't engaging you. In which case the problem isn't the way encounters are presented.

 

[TheGhost]

It's much easier to fuck up visible enemies than it is fucking up random encounters. So many jrpgs with visible enemies makes the gameplay loop around zig-zagging enemies, having the scenery ruined by a swath of monsters.

I don't like having enemies at the top of my mind all the time. Having a delimited zones for battling and exploring makes it much better rather than dealing with basic AI that takes me out of the experience.

Not to mention most JRPGs makes enemies in the field looks like the biggest eyesore, who doesn't feel like they belong to the ecosystem, doesn't do anything other than roaming around. It's frankly shit

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Ahhh see I get this point too.
It's effective in say the new dragon quest when early on in the game you

Spoiler

come across the dragon in the prison dungeon. It gave me pause and made me circle back to save my game just in case

But then when out in the field it's littered with what I call little Pokemon that seem like their whole reason for being there is to comically run them over with your horse unless you hit a tougher enemy.

 

[TheGhost]

If you're skipping fights that's because the combat isn't engaging you. In which case the problem isn't the way encounters are presented.

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True but that can also be because it's early level fights that are never engaging anyway.

 

['3y Kingdom]

EarthBound's a pretty great game.

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Earthbound's (and Mother 3's) encounters run the full gamut from "visible" to "barely visible" to "wait, that thing is an enemy?"
So much fun, and a good deal of the time it's because you get "surprise encounters" anyway.

 

[StarPhlox]

I hate random battles and it was the worst part for me in Octopath Traveler. Really doubt I'll ever play a JRPG with random battles again at this point.

 

[Deleted member 2620]

I have no problems with random battles, but Etrian Odyssey has definitely perfected the presentation for them. Knowing one is coming up is an excellent middle ground between fully random and enemies on screen.

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Yeah, that's where I'm at. Then again, I can't think of another game where the "filler" battles are as engaging as in Etrian (not that I'm well-versed in the genre, admittedly), either. It does an awful lot right.

 

[Mona]

either one is fine to me for the most part

although, if you ever find yourself in an irksome moment, its basically always because of random

I don't mind random battles if its done like EO where you basically get a warning that a battle is about to happen.

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Legend of Dragoon also had a system like this

 

[Velezcora]

It's much easier to fuck up visible enemies than it is fucking up random encounters. So many jrpgs with visible enemies makes the gameplay loop around zig-zagging enemies, having the scenery ruined by a swath of monsters.

I don't like having enemies at the top of my mind all the time. Having a delimited zones for battling and exploring makes it much better rather than dealing with basic AI that takes me out of the experience.

Not to mention most JRPGs makes enemies in the field looks like the biggest eyesore, who doesn't feel like they belong to the ecosystem, doesn't do anything other than roaming around. It's frankly shit

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I'd argue that random encounters ruin exploration by constantly ripping me out of it. At least seeing them in the field means I can make the decision to go after them or try and avoid them.
Octopath Traveller is a great modern example of this. The world is gorgeous but the random encounters ruin it. I find myself getting engrossed in the world and then suddenly the screen flashes to black while it loads a fight. Player agency is taken away and I'm not fighting enemies because I enjoy it but because the game thinks I should. It's dumb.

 

[Intel_89]

As long as game performance doesn't take a hit I prefer visible mobs than random encounters, DQ9 had visible mobs but the framerate was appalling at times.

 

[Stef]

I can't stand random encounters anymore.

Visible foes all the way.

 

[DanteMenethil]

Attrition dungeons like Victory Road in Pokemon or any dungeons in old Dragon Quests game are much more interesting with random battles. Victory Road in Lets Go pretty much lost its purpose. Besides that I prefer visible, or at least turn it off or the monsters flee like in Earthbound when you outlevel an area.

 

[WestEgg]

Xenoblade would be hilariously unfair if you randomly got the level 99 mobs that populate even the starting areas without the chance to evade them.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

Visible mobs on land, random battles on water

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[Dreamboum]

Ahhh see I get this point too.
It's effective in say the new dragon quest when early on in the game you

Spoiler

come across the dragon in the prison dungeon. It gave me pause and made me circle back to save my game just in case

But then when out in the field it's littered with what I call little Pokemon that seem like their whole reason for being there is to comically run them over with your horse unless you hit a tougher enemy.

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I thought DQXI was decent at it because some monsters interacted with each other, like the bongo with the she-slimes in Hotto. You could count game series doing monster/monster interaction with two hands.

Visible encounters haven't matured yet, there's Xenoblade and FFXII doing it well, Valkyrie Profile series too because they can be used for platforming, then ???

 

[Ralemont]

I understand some of the pro-random battle arguments, but I've had otherwise good games ruined for me by high random encounter rates coupled with bad battle systems such as Final Fantasy VI, whereas I've never felt visible mobs actively soured my opinion on a game.

 

[smug chocobo]

Seems like more of you have a bone to pick with high encounter rates than the concept of random battles.

 

[TheGhost]

Seems like more of you have a bone to pick with high encounter rates than the concept of random battles.

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I would pick random battles if you can control the frequency.

 

[TJ_Electronica]

I don't mind either. It makes Octopath Traveler feel even more retro which I like but I like in Persona 5 or FFXV it works pretty will with visible enemies.

 

[KaCo]

Choose either because I enjoy both.

Although I don't really mind random battle at all but would vastly prefer visible enemies on the map.

 

[eXistor]

I honestly don't mind either way, if the encounter rate is sensible. I have zero problems with random encounters, but maybe it's becasue I grew up with them.

 

[Lumination]

Visible encounters is better when done right. I'd take an increased rate of random battles over poorly placed enemies with ruthless chasing routines that make traveling in a straight line more like dancing around obstacles every 5 seconds.

 

[Doggg]

Random battles are hard to go back to.