21st September 2005, 8:38 PM
EM, I wasn't aware that this was getting old. Sorry about that.
Actually, I've found this to be a very interesting conversation. We've all aired our positions on this, or to put it more aptly, our personal opinions on random battles.
The only real debate is, even if you don't mind random battles at all, would you agree that it may be best if it was possible for them to make them not so random. Is there as positive aspect that warrents them remaining? I can think of one, developer time. Developers spend more and more time on games, and if the majority of players don't have a problem with random battles, and it saves a lot of time on level design, then they will keep it in. It's enough for them to warrent it remaining.
However, given infinite resources and time, would you prefer the game to have random battles, or fully designed encounter monsters cleverly placed walking about in certain paths on the field?
You know, FFX spoiled you. Looking for tonberry may have been tough, but check this out. Try looking for pink puffs in FFIV. At least there, there's an item that instantly nets you the rarest encounter in any field.
But really, the main thing that got me angry at random hunts for monsters was the Veldt in FFVI, and I love that game. I basically spent weeks on end just trying to find all of Gau's rages. Problem is, with so very many monsters, the odds were stacked against me to an all too high degree. I had a few on my list that would just never show up. Fortunatly, someone cracked the algorythm, showing the random encounters weren't so random, and using their algorythm I managed to easily net the last few rages in about an hour.
Had there been a complicated minigame on the veldt where I actually had to stalk the monsters and they all hung out in specific places (or could be lured out in a definite way), even if it STILL took weeks, it would be weeks of fun, not utter boredom.
FF6 is one of my favorite games, but I'm not blind to the idea of improvements. That would be an area that would improve the game. It's the only part of the game where I actually got mad at the random encounters system actually, but still, it's things like that, where you actually have a goal in mind in which success or failure is entirely out of your control (which makes for a fine book or movie, but not a good game), where I get annoyed. Random elements tend to annoy me when they deprive me of challenge rather than present it.
Your thoughts?
Actually, I've found this to be a very interesting conversation. We've all aired our positions on this, or to put it more aptly, our personal opinions on random battles.
The only real debate is, even if you don't mind random battles at all, would you agree that it may be best if it was possible for them to make them not so random. Is there as positive aspect that warrents them remaining? I can think of one, developer time. Developers spend more and more time on games, and if the majority of players don't have a problem with random battles, and it saves a lot of time on level design, then they will keep it in. It's enough for them to warrent it remaining.
However, given infinite resources and time, would you prefer the game to have random battles, or fully designed encounter monsters cleverly placed walking about in certain paths on the field?
You know, FFX spoiled you. Looking for tonberry may have been tough, but check this out. Try looking for pink puffs in FFIV. At least there, there's an item that instantly nets you the rarest encounter in any field.
But really, the main thing that got me angry at random hunts for monsters was the Veldt in FFVI, and I love that game. I basically spent weeks on end just trying to find all of Gau's rages. Problem is, with so very many monsters, the odds were stacked against me to an all too high degree. I had a few on my list that would just never show up. Fortunatly, someone cracked the algorythm, showing the random encounters weren't so random, and using their algorythm I managed to easily net the last few rages in about an hour.
Had there been a complicated minigame on the veldt where I actually had to stalk the monsters and they all hung out in specific places (or could be lured out in a definite way), even if it STILL took weeks, it would be weeks of fun, not utter boredom.
FF6 is one of my favorite games, but I'm not blind to the idea of improvements. That would be an area that would improve the game. It's the only part of the game where I actually got mad at the random encounters system actually, but still, it's things like that, where you actually have a goal in mind in which success or failure is entirely out of your control (which makes for a fine book or movie, but not a good game), where I get annoyed. Random elements tend to annoy me when they deprive me of challenge rather than present it.
Your thoughts?
"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)