Monday, 26 October 2009
-
Constant Fighting Got You Down?
I've been playing Dragon Warrior IV on the NES recently, and I've got to tell you, it's a fairly great game! With several different story lines set across four chapters (which, I assume, converge in the fifth chapter), the play style changes just enough to keep me going without feeling stagnant. My only gripe thus far is with the random encounter rate.
Trying to get anywhere at all on the overworld map is such a hassle! Every three steps or so there's another random encounter with enemies. Granted, the fighting is well done enough to keep it interesting, and the cast of characters you come up against is varied in fighting styles and looks enough to keep it from getting stagnant.
But holy cow! Do I need to fight seventy battles walking from a castle to a cave where I'm just going to get my butt kicked anyway?
Contrast that with games like Chrono Trigger, where the enemies are visible as you play and there are no random encounters.
You always know what you are getting yourself into, and if you feel like bypassing the fights (as glorious as they are), you are able to. That kind of play always feels balanced to me, whereas games with random encounters often seem to drag on, especially when the encounter rate is as high as it is in Dragon Warrior IV.
What do you all think about this? Do you prefer the random encounters or games where your enemies are clearly visible?
-
recommend
- recs 1
-
share
-
email
- sent 1
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to HardestLevel's HardestLevel Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in HardestLevel's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
About the Author
-
- From: Viewtiful_Justin
- Name: Viewtiful_Justin
- About Me: Hey, all! I'm just your average die-hard Nintendo fan! I've been gaming since I was 5 and have seen everything from the NES through the Wii. I think I still prefer SNES over almost anything else, but there's cool new stuff coming out all the time. Talk to me about it! And if you're interested, visit viewtiful-justin.xanga.com to learn more...
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 19 Views: 0 10414 Comments: 0 301 View all posts by Viewtiful_Justin
Comments (20)
That's the plot structure of most of these types of games. In RPGs, you can only earn points and advance in levels from fighting.
Agreed. Random fights are annoying as hell.
Back when I had my gameboy, I was never really able to play for long periods of time. So I kept having to try to remember where in the game I was fromwhen I played last. I'd be trying to get somewhere important, and end up fighting so much that I forgot where I was supposed to be going.
Hate it. Now I mostly just stick to FPS.
Random encounters are used as a crutch in a lot of games. Games, after all, are just a large collection of choices that the player must make. Why not let the player choose when to fight and when to run?
This is something that is so suggestive, its unbelievable. On my part, I never cared or let random battles bother me at all, its way better having to run from one place, all the way to another far place, with no events happening at all. It's just one of those things that you say, "I wish we could replace it but...I don't know how"
On the other half, random battles are needed in order to "grind" in games...I don't have a problem with grinding..I've never done it except in pokemon, to me grinding is pretty much saying "I need to make the next fight easier for myself". I Digress.
One notable game that took a twist to this, is Final Fantasy XII (Which I deeply loved). There was no longer a random battle system, instead..all the fiends are clearly visible, and in some way can be avoided. Genius system I callz itz.
Another genius game that just recently came out, 30-minute hero. An RPG that game, that gets rid of the slowness of the game, and makes you have to achieve a mission, in 30 seconds, with random battles being as sort as 1/2 second long. Utterly too much fun, quick, and easy to pick up.
Earthbound did it right, you can see the enemies, and if u were high enough level, htye would run from you, if u did fight them the fight would end instantly and say "you won". No wasting time. Try out secret of mana, another great rpg.
Depending on how well the game is designed overall I don't mind playing either encounter scenario... though seeing enemies gives you a chance to fight another day if you wish. For the most part the visible enemies can lessen the stress.
I didn't mind random encounters on the NES and SNES, but random encounters in the Playstation era and onward made me want to punch some TV's. Do you really need to show me the entire location of the battle every single time??? Someone should make a parody of random encounters where an entire episode of MTV Cribs shows before you have any control of your party.
I like both. Personally, I think it'd be great if most of the time it was like in CT, but occasionally a random encounter would come up as an ambush so that you weren't prepared. That way there'd be no warnings, no nothing. It'd shake things up a little.
@Parsimony@xanga - True story. No "is" implies an "ought", though.
@SpazzyFantastic@xanga - That's funny, because in FPS games, all you do is fight, although it's MUCH less drawn out. Two bullets, they're down.
@TrojanWade@xanga - Agreed.
@Icecold4u@xanga - That sounds fun. Where do I find it?
@Cheesetoast - AGREED! Wholeheartedly. I won't ever stop telling people how much I love that game. I don't know why I didn't think to use it as an example.
@sir_spamalot@xanga - True, especially if you're at death's door and just want to get back to a town to sleep it off or save...
@Iobot@xanga - Ha! That would be hysterical! Chrono Cross got a little overboard in that respect. By the end I basically got up, made myself a meal, and came back to fight. It was crazy.
@canicus@xanga - I actually really like that idea. I wonder why we haven't seen more of that.
@Viewtiful_Justin@xanga - Pretty much, yeah. It's nice though, at least there's usually a map, or some way to check on your objective. Since some people have memories of goldfish (me), it's nice to be able to check up on where you're supposed to be headed.
Not only that, but I'm not a huge fan of the fighting style in most RPGs. It seems stupid to me now, having to hit them, wait, get hit, wait, hit them, wait... You know what I mean? The whole time I'm sitting here thinking, "this is NOT how people really fight, eff this." I'm a 'charge and leave a body on the ground behind me' kind of fighter. So yeah, obviously FPS is my MO.
^_^
@SpazzyFantastic@xanga - Ever played the Tales games? Tales of Symphonia, etc? They've got real time fighting that's pretty intense. I actually prefer the turn-based stuff because it's FAR less stressful to try to keep track of everything that's going on.
@Viewtiful_Justin - Humm... negatory. I haven't even heard of it actually. What console is it for?
@SpazzyFantastic@xanga - Tales of Symphonia is on the Gamecube, but there are other games across all platforms and one is slated for Wii next year-ish.
@Viewtiful_Justin@xanga - Sorry, It's "Half-Minute Man", but the cover on it says "30-minute Man", deliciously fun 8-pit pixel game for PSP.
http://psp.ign.com/articles/103/1033556p1.html
It depends entirely on how often the random encounters occur. I thought Suikoden IV was unplayable because of this, which was too bad because I really enjoy this series. You couldn't take four steps without fighting a group of monsters, it got really annoying.
Yay! Chrono Trigger! I love its unique battle system!
I don't mind random encounters, but I hate it when the rate is high. Suikoden Tierkreis was a stressful game, excluding the recruiting of all 108 Stars --- the encounter rate was pretty high; maybe not as high as Dragon Warrior IV, but it still pissed me off. Very frustrating! It's what's going to keep me from ever playing it again.
I enjoy random encounters just fine. I do not enjoy oh look I just moved half an inch encounters. Enchanted Arms is my poster game for that. Literally every three steps there was an encounter... with a very few exceptions where just as I said "Oh look! The game is brok..." or "Hey! I'm actually getting some whe..." the encounter started. I rate this phenomenon as +10 to frustrating.
@himynameisgusandiscarepeople@xanga - YES!
Hi, is there anyone know what kind of shoes is MBTs? I noticed more and more people wearing MBT shoes nowadays when standing and walking. It is very special shoes, you can search online, and you can get more benefits from them. And I still found many online stores sale MBT Shoes, and I still know one site which sell MBT shoes discount, you can buy cheap MBT shoes there, MBT sale on the site. You can get free shipping on all orders. No matter standing and walking, when you wearing MBT shoes, you will know why more and more people bought MBT shoes, any question or concerns please contact us via email.
You say you like Hollister?,abercrombie milano,abercrombie italia,abercrombie london,abercrombie london,Abercrombie uk,abercrombie clothing,abercrombie fitch clothing,I say I love everything about Abercrombie and fitch.abercrombie outlet,abercrombie fitch outlet,abercrombie and fitch outlet,abercrombie online,abercrombie fitch online,abercrombie and fitch online,abercrombie Jeans,abercrombie polo,abercrombie women ,abercrombie men ,abercrombie store,abercrombie shop,Hollister uk,Hollister clothing,
アバクロ 銀座店,アバクロ 銀座,アバクロ 通販,アバクロ 激安,アバクロ アウトレット,アバクロ 新作,アバクロ 店舗,アバクロ セール,アバクロ ショップ,アバクロ 買取,アバクロンビー&フィッチ,アバクロ 日本,アバクロ Tシャツ,アバクロ ポロシャツ,アバクロ ジーンズ,アバクロ シャツ,アバクロ バッグ,アバクロ メンズ,アバクロ レディース