21st September 2005, 5:52 PM
You see, I actually debated this with ABF some time ago, but was forced to acknowledge the reality that any problems would be player created, in the same way that running from every battle would be if it was random based.
My only conclusion is giving the option to skip the battles is a nice freedom to give, excepting the game's forced battles, which are at least designed.
Random battles in and of themselves have never really annoyed me (except in some rare instances), but I can say this. They lead to other random elements. For example, what I do get annoyed with is things like having to seek OUT a random encounter, because it's random. I've ranted about randomness as a "feature" in gameplay before, even though I never actually mentioned random battles, I did mention something like a rare encounter pokemon you end up spending hours to find. Sure there's the rush of success, but when you realize that success was only due to patience and nothing in means of skill, and when you realize that if you screwed up, there was no telling when you would get another chance, that feeling is all too fleeting, giving way to the thought of "bad game design".
In general, I will say that every single instance of a random element such as that would be far more fun if it was instead a designed puzzle. For example, instead of a rare random encounter, hide the creature in some part of the field that takes a long series of events to get to. There could easily be challenge in doing this, but the knowledge that your success will PROMISE you a prize, as opposed to a more "eh, maaayyybe" gameplay mechanic, is something a lot better. I always prefer my skill to earn me my prize than just luck.
To put this in FFX terms, I would find it a lot more fun to actually know where I can find the various monsters in the game when capturing them all for that creepy zookeeper. This is a totally seperate issue though, and I'm pretty sure on this we can all agree. Running around HOPING your next encounter will be the monster you want is just boring. Running around actually SEARCHING, using your own intellect to perhaps unlock that monster, that's satisfying.
My only conclusion is giving the option to skip the battles is a nice freedom to give, excepting the game's forced battles, which are at least designed.
Random battles in and of themselves have never really annoyed me (except in some rare instances), but I can say this. They lead to other random elements. For example, what I do get annoyed with is things like having to seek OUT a random encounter, because it's random. I've ranted about randomness as a "feature" in gameplay before, even though I never actually mentioned random battles, I did mention something like a rare encounter pokemon you end up spending hours to find. Sure there's the rush of success, but when you realize that success was only due to patience and nothing in means of skill, and when you realize that if you screwed up, there was no telling when you would get another chance, that feeling is all too fleeting, giving way to the thought of "bad game design".
In general, I will say that every single instance of a random element such as that would be far more fun if it was instead a designed puzzle. For example, instead of a rare random encounter, hide the creature in some part of the field that takes a long series of events to get to. There could easily be challenge in doing this, but the knowledge that your success will PROMISE you a prize, as opposed to a more "eh, maaayyybe" gameplay mechanic, is something a lot better. I always prefer my skill to earn me my prize than just luck.
To put this in FFX terms, I would find it a lot more fun to actually know where I can find the various monsters in the game when capturing them all for that creepy zookeeper. This is a totally seperate issue though, and I'm pretty sure on this we can all agree. Running around HOPING your next encounter will be the monster you want is just boring. Running around actually SEARCHING, using your own intellect to perhaps unlock that monster, that's satisfying.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)