Why are random battles compulsory?

[hypothetical fact]

Whenever I play a JRPG I face random battles; no matter what I try when I want to get from point A to point B I can not avoid them. Am I the only person that finds this infuriating? When you are weak and need to get to safety you can have your salvation ripped from you a few steps from town forcing a reload.
While on the other side of the coin if you can slaughter everything with ease random battles feel like a car stalling; you just want to run to the enxt town but are interupted every 10 seconds by another dragonfly turning a minute walk into a five minute trek in redundancy.

Am I just bad at finding them or have all jrpg game developers decided that all gamers enjoy stop-start gameplay? Why can't I find a jrpg where I can turn random battles off when I am walking through previously explored areas?

 

[Break]

The Tales of Etc. series has enemies wandering around the map. Eternal Sonata did that too, as did other games I now forget.

But yeah, it's a fairly outdated system. You can't avoid battling when you don't want to, and you can't find a fight when you need to grind. Golden Sun and Skies of Arcadia suffered badly from high encounter rates.

 

[Aardvark]

Most of the random encounters for an area have very little variation, so you're usually able to beat them quickly with the same sequence of selections. If you're taking notice of them instead of powering through and forgetting, you're doing something wrong.

One thing I never got with JRPGs in general was the status ailment thing. Specifically, player use of them. Random encounters are usually over faster if you just cause damage and bosses are immune to the things. Even when an enemy uses one, they rarely turn the tide or even slow the slaughter.

I think the only game that I ever used them in was Penny Arcade: Otrspod episode 1, against the final boss, so I could get the killed boss without healing items and beat game without dying achievements in one hit.

 

[meatloaf231]

Yeah, a lot of the best RPGs have either enemies visible on screen, making them avoidable, or they drop the battle screen altogether and go for open-world combat. Chrono Trigger, Tales series, .Hack//, etc.

 

[Avatar Roku]

I hated them in Pokemon, but at least then you could go "Oh, tall grass, I'll steer clear."

 

[PrinnyGod]

Well, i'm improperly raise in games, because my first games where random encounters. Now when it isn't random encounter i'm still panicking and making sure my people are in tip top shape and ready to trounce the next battle.. but they are all planned...

I'm getting better though... i think?

 

[-Seraph-]

I have never had a big problem with them. Only time they piss me off are those instances where EVERY step was a battle. the dungeons in FF dawn of souls had a walk way of death where evy step you took was a battle, grr....

 

[Mstrswrd]

Usually, though not always, these games feature some kind of suitably priced item that will temporarily ward away all weak monsters (weak being dependent on you place in the game. If you've grinded to hell and back, most enemies will be weak, but only basic ones will be blocked). Even the tales games, which show you the enemy, have a "Holy bottle," which covers the party in an aura that drives away weak enemies.

 

[Blind0bserver]

JPRGs have random encounters because walking down a dirt road from one town to another without being accosted by a horde of inhuman and unnatural monsters is just too convenient.

 

[Graustein]

Well, the Mother games, Chrono Trigger and Mario RPGs don't (well, Mother 1 does and I haven't played all the Mario RPGs, but of those I have played, they don't) have random battles. They're hardly compulsary, and to be honest I never minded them anyway.

 

[The Iron Ninja]

You know, if you don't like random battles you could just play western RPGs.

Complaining about random battles in JRPGs is like complaining about how easy it is to die in Operation Flashpoint when you could be playing Halo.

 

[Calamity]

Tales of Legendia is the only game random battles have pissed me off. Though now that I think of it that entire game was a massive step back for the series.

 

[Axolotl]

You know, if you don't like random battles you could just play western RPGs.

Most western RPG's have random encounters, we have Gygax to thank for that.

 

[Dommyboy]

You know, if you don't like random battles you could just play western RPGs.

Most western RPG's have random encounters, we have Gygax to thank for that.

You could go to a further extent and mention the random spawning of enemies in games like Oblivion. They would count as random encounters.

 

[The Iron Ninja]

You know, if you don't like random battles you could just play western RPGs.

Most western RPG's have random encounters, we have Gygax to thank for that.

By Western RPGs I meant Western RPG video games.

You could go to a further extent and mention the random spawning of enemies in games like Oblivion. They would count as random encounters.

Not really, they're random monsters, but the encounter isn't something that comes out of nowhere.

 

[Neosage]

Does pokemon count as a JRPG?

 

[Aardvark]

There's always the flee option, too.

 

[Neosage]

Does pokemon count as a JRPG?

Yes, Mother Fucking Zubats.

Don't get me started on the confuse raying, leech lifeing bastards!

 

[Doctor Panda]

You know, previously I used to say "i hate it but i really don't know what else to do" but you know, i totally do now. You can:

a) do like some western RPGs where you have a sandboxy world that you can find *something* appropriate to your experience level with only a small number of areas with random encounters (eg, fallout)
b) set the encounter rate at low, make the enemies hard and allow quests to provide most of the experience
c) have a wandering monster thing like in FFXII, only you could expect to only *just* be able to kill monsters in areas which you've gotten up to, and set experience gains to high so you quickly change in ability in a new area. This opens up much more opportunity for tactical and challenging game play, and wandering around areas that you've completed doesn't become a chore because you can ignore/massacre the monsters.

at the very, very least if you're going to have random battles, have the enemies 'run away' if you're too high a level for them to provide a meaningful challenge, with the option of 'giving chase' - with MINIMAL interruption of exploring.

nothing annoys me more than going into a random battle and spending more time in the loading and winning screen than the battle itself - which happens a LOT in certain RPGs.

 

[Sewblon]

The started out as a means to lengthen gameplay and became outdated by the 21st century. Xenosaga has no random encounters, you start fighting when you touch an enemy on the map.