22nd September 2005, 12:03 PM
Quote:EM, I wasn't aware that this was getting old. Sorry about that.
It's not. :)
Quote: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.
This is probably why random battles still exist. It's easier. But at least some developers realize that things should change...
Quote: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?
It definitely would take more time to fit in a fully working puzzle instead of a random-chance encounter for some rare enemy or item or whatever... and not all developers want to do that. So some would just make a weak puzzle. So which is better, a challenging-but-really-annoying random-chance thing or a not-great puzzle... I'm not sure. Both would annoy me, I think. :) ... the answer of course is "make a good puzzle"... but even the good developers aren't perfect all the time. Even so, it's better to try.
Quote:Adventure games aren't simply straight digital stories because of the problem-solving element that's not really present in RPGs.
Uh... what RPGs do you play? The ones I play, for the most part, have puzzles in them as a major gameplay element... the main exception is MMORPGs, but those are almost a different genre.