I love RPG's but...I hate random battles

[InfernalCheese]

I just finished playing Grandia II for DC and loved it. It introduced a whole new concept to me; good RPGs don't have to have evil little random battles. If you play allot of RPG titles you know what I’m talking about, whenever you take control of a character and begin to walk around you may be attacked.... this occurs in many titles such as FF7 and XenoGears but not in Grandia. In it you can see the enemy before an attack and dodge them if you wish. Now, I'm sure lotsa people like the " Random Battle At Any Time Even If You Are At A Pivotal Point In The Game System" but I find it irritating, and often has it made me quite a game in random battle induced irritation. So, what other games use a non-random system like Grandia, or maybe even a more tactile aproce to battle al la the Shining Force series?

[Drexel923]

Here's some RPG's for SNES that are similar:

Chrono Trigger
Secret of Mana
Secret of Evermore
Soul Blazer
Illusion of Gaia

Theres a bunch more I know I'm forgetting but any of those games are great IMO.

[SoulBlazer]

Great RPG's that have enemies you can see (and often times, avoid) are the two Lunar games for the PSX, Xenosaga for the PS2, and Planesca[e: Torment for the PC. All highly suggested. 8-)

[Kid Fenris]

Of the console RPGs that eschew random battles, I've found that Chrono Cross and Xenosaga do it best. Lufia II for the SNES is also an excellent RPG with a system for dodging combat. Granted, the Lunar remakes have enemies that one can see, but it's often too hard to avoid them.

Numerous PC RPGs allow players to see battles coming, and I've yet to come across an "action/RPG" (Secret of Mana, Zelda, etc.) that had random encounters.

If you're interested in the strategy/RPG genre (think Shining Force), try Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis, the Arc the Lad Collection, and the upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

[DDCecil]

Can't forget about Earthbound for SNES...

[Nature Boy]

I just finished FF7 yesterday and I'm with ya on the random battle thing. Nothing frustrated me more than just trying to get to the first of the final three battles than being forced to fight *constantly*. There didn't seem to be nearly as many random battles during the rest of the game. Maybe that was psychological though.

I'll tell ya, though, what ticked me off even more was waiting *two minutes* for Sephiroth's summon attacks. I'm not exagerating much either (I timed it at about a minute 50 seconds I think).

I'd love to see random battles go the way of the dinosaur though - in all RPGs.

[PDorr3]

To me random battles are not so bad. I mean sure they get annoying if you're trying to get somewhere, but they kinda force you to train your characters, and customize them and get them stronger. Because me personaly, will often run and try and avoid battles in games such as chrono cross, which is not good for me on my part.
Well thats just my opinions on RPG battle systems :D

[kainemaxwell]

Sometimes random battles aren't all too bad, especially if you're not in a hurrry to do or get somewhere and you're being attacked every other step somehow.

But yes, the aforementione dgames do have great systems for avoiding battles.

Doing so in the Lunar PSX remakes isn't that hard, just depends on the enemies speed and location (open or too enclosed area).

[hezeuschrist]

Some games just had a stupid number of random battles, some have just the right amount. Legend of Dragoon comes to mind, I couldn't play that game too deeply because of the battles and how GOD AWFUL SLOW they were.

While in Xenosaga you could see when you were about to get into a battle, it was nearly impossible to evade them.

[PDorr3]

Well believe it or not I realy never mind a random battle or any battle at that as long as there is good battle music LOL
And a game that comes to mind is golden sun on gba, best battle music in an rpg ever in my opinion, its just waay too catchy ;)

[Kid Fenris]

While in Xenosaga you could see when you were about to get into a battle, it was nearly impossible to evade them.

Really? I found it pretty easy to avoid battles most of the time. The stages were usually designed such that you could lead the enemy in one direction, and then sneak around another way. Don't forget those canisters of fire/electricity/whatever, which could be used to stop enemies in their tracks.

The Lunar titles, on the other hand, have enemies that are lightning-quick once they catch sight of you, and the dungeons provide few places to run. Still, it's nice that they removed all enemy encounters from the world map.

From what I remember, Tengai Makyo IV for the Saturn is another RPG that's free of random encounters, but the monsters are usually so thick in number that they're hard to avoid.

Anyway, I prefer visible enemies to random battles in RPGs, and I wouldn't mind if the genre discarded the latter concept entirely, even if some games with haphazard encounters (the Suikoden and Final Fantasy titles, for example) don't frustrate me that much.

[GrandAmChandler]

I don't know if these were mentioned or not, but Super Mario RPG and Fina Fantasy: Mystic Quest (if you call it an RPG) both have non-random battles.

I still like the random battle idea, there is just something about fighting common enemies and then magically getting attacked by some really cool enemy you haven't seen before. this is especially cool in the "Veldt" region of FF3 for SNES. I loved that feature. I could never collect all the creatures for Gau though, to this day I think it is impossible.. :roll:

[kainemaxwell]

Wha tif in some future console or computer rpg there was an option for random battles or those you could try to eascape from before a confrontation?

[Jorpho]

I also don't mind random battles too much. I have yet to encounter a game in which random battles are entirely meaningless, but nothing compares to Final Fantasy Legend II on the Game Boy. Battles actually meant something in that one.

Treasure Hunter G is a great SNES game that doesn't feature random battles. I think it was the last RPG Square published for the SNES; a translation patch is available. (Actually, aside from the awesome battle system and nice graphics, the rest of the game is kind of dull and linear, but the battle system makes up for it.)
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[devilman]

You could also see the battles coming in Evolution on the Dreamcast too.

Personally, I don't mind random battles so much - although they kinda annoyed me in the Phantasy Star games.

I've been playing FFX a lot lately and the annoying thing about the random battles in that was the encounter rate on some of the creatures. If you're trying to capture five of each creature, it's annoying when you're wandering around and one turns up once every 20 or so battles. Took me ages to capture 5 Machea in Omega Ruins. Tonberry doesn't turn up much either from what I've read of other people's comments.

Anyone else notice that the chance of a random battle seemed much higher on Mount Gagazet... took me an age to get through that first time.

I think random battles are ok as long as there is good variation in the battles that you can get involved in in one area. You don't want to get in a battle and fight the same types of creature over and over.

[Sotenga]

I hate random battles if I'm trying to complete a major dungeon. While collecting experience and money, the more fights, the better.

[InfernalCheese]

I just picked up .Hack Infection for PS2 and that should stifle my RPG cravings for awhile, so I'd better wait to pick up some of the mentioned titles but I'll keep an eye out for them. Oh, and thanks for all the replies. :-D

[XpOsUrE]

See I enjoy rpgs but the ones that have NO random battles at all are what I CAN PLAY, stuff like the zelda series are not all that great for hard core rpgers but I also can not stand that random battle nonsense zelda is a perfect example ( with the exception of zelda 2 ) that random battles are not needed in a rpg to make it great.