| rocketpig said: Re-spawning enemies is no different than random encounters and at least they give me the chance to avoid enemies when I'm in a hurry to get some place. I cannot stress how much I hate random encounters. It was one of the main reasons I disliked Lost Odyssey and preferred Blue Dragon. |
And yet again, JRPGs had already experimented with getting rid of random encounters years ago with games like Chrono Trigger, Mario RPG, Xenogears and even some NES RPGs like Crystalis. The only reason they persisted is because of graphical limitations (mostly because its easier to have random encounters and not have to program enemies on the screen). But also because the most popular JRPGs (namely Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy) still utilized Random Encounters. And even then, the latest Dragon Quest titles have moved away from random encounters following Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker. Dragon Quest IX has all enemies on the screen, much like Xenogears and Chrono Trigger. Which I may add, the creators of Dragon Quest worked on Chrono Trigger.
This aside, Random Encounters are not really that bad. They make the game much faster than you realize. And, especially in certain games like Dragon Quest and Pokemon, can actually be utilized to both level more effectively and avoid fights more often. People often label Dragon Quest as a 'grindfest' when in all actuality, it probably has the most options out of any JRPG out there to allow you to skip battles. From items to spells to abilities to secondary weapon/armor effects to just plain running away (which surprisingly, some RPGs don't let you do). I know there's been plenty of times when I was playing a Final Fantasy or 'insert WRPG' that I'd like to skip battles and I wasn't able to. But in Dragon Quest, I have a whole host of items and spells that let me, including the ultimate spell. 'Zoom'
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