Nathan Anderson GuestSpotter

Now Playing: Xenogears, Suikoden III, Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising, NCAA Football 2004

Random Encounters Aren't That Bad (and Chrono Trigger Sucks)

The statement I'm about to make is sure to get me flamed by the RPG elite, akin to telling the otaku that Akira was "OK."

I don't mind random encounters.

Let me get one thing straight: I don't prefer random encounters. To tell you the truth, I don't care either way. I'm just tired of seeing message boards light up when it's revealed that the next Final Fantasy/Golden Sun/Suikoden-whatever "still" includes random encounters. Reviewers roll their eyes and act like this mechanic should have gone the way of the four-letter character name.

The most common charge is that random battles are "unrealistic." To this I counter that the RPG experience is inherently unrealistic. I'm not just talking about the swords-and-sorcery or science fiction settings either. When was the last time you put on your clothes with a menu system or used a floating hand to pick your target? The truth of the matter is, controlling multiple characters is unrealistic, as is the fact that, with a few exceptions (FFVIII, Xenogears), your party doesn't follow you around onscreen. When Cloud talks, we all know that there's not really a little blue box above his head. It's simply a representation. Similarly, when Tidus is attacked, I don't assume that fiends materialized out of thin air. The battle music and screen transitions are representations for what's "really" going on in my imagination. The fact that a sprite didn't collide with mine doesn't pull me out of the action. Finally, to all of the advocates for "realism" in RPGs, note this: In Xenosaga, a single gnosis attacks me in the field. In the battle screen, there could be anywhere between one and five enemies on the screen. Where did the other four come from?

A more valid argument is that random battles "pad" gameplay. I'm not going to argue with this, but I am going to say that RPGs need that padding. When you break down any Final Fantasy, you get about four components: exploration, minigames, plot, and battles. Advocates for eliminating much of the "battle" component would like to think that programmers would fill 30-plus hours of game time with something else. Exploration wouldn't work. Running from empty screen to empty screen, no matter how beautifully rendered, is going to get old real fast. Minigames won't cut it either. Blitzball was a blast, but after blowing a few hours I was eager to return to that whole saving-the-world thing. Those card games aren't really that fun, are they? Plot is unquestionably the meat of these games, and my favorite part of any game. However, story development is inherently noninteractive. Without the battle component, without the interaction, you might as well be reading a book or watching a movie (although Advent Children does look cool).

With battles cut out, there isn't really anything to fill the gameplay void. While I hate excessive leveling-up as much as the next guy, I'd rather do that than spend $60 on a 10-hour game (which is all that most RPGs would be without random encounters "padding" them). Furthermore, all battles not directly related to plot, whether you can see the enemy on the screen or not, could be accused of padding. Chrono is beset by all manner of goblins and mutants who don't care about Magus or Lavos.

The final point is the one that I'm most likely to concede, that it's simply annoying to be assaulted by all manner of enemies when you simply want to make it to the next town, save the game, and turn it off. I'm not against avoidable encounters, but there are numerous ways to do this. Moogle charms/no encounter ability/riding a chocobo have always sped up gameplay. We've all played those games (FFIX) where the encounter rate is simply too high. Adjustable rates or ways to abbreviate battles, especially with radically weaker adversaries, would be one way to speed things up.

To conclude, I'm not against seeing your enemies on the screen. Xenosaga and Chrono Cross are great games, but so are Final Fantasy and Xenogears. Finally, for all of my RPG brethren (and sisteren) who are afraid to say it: Chrono Trigger sucks.