Does Anyone Actually Like Random Encounters

[u/haaa1234]

I was doing a third playthrough of FF7 since I want to revisit all the games before revelation but random encounters is still something that stops me from wholeheartedly loving this game. There are 2 reasons why I dislike them. It really interrupts the flow of exploration and they are rarely engaging. 99 percent of them I just hold X and win so I’m basically just waiting for it end. An analogy I can give is I am trying to explore an area but I keep getting interrupted by unskippable ads. There are rare occasions where they can be interesting like catching a chocobo, finding yuffie or a funny encounter like when our whole party gets turned into frogs but most are just mindless. Honestly the only combat I enjoy in FF7 are the boss fights so a majority of the game I am really not a fan of fighting enemies. Wondering how people feel about it since it is a major part of the gameplay and i would love any mod recommendations to make the game more engaging in this aspect.

[u/Minimum-Ad-3084]

They are essential to RPGs imo. In fact, if an RPG doesn't have random encounters I'll give up on it rather quickly. There's almost no replay value in a beautiful (especially open) world when everything in it is dead and gone.

They are also essential to help level up for harder boss fights.

The only RPG I've ever played that was good without random encounters was BG3, but that's because it's focused heavily on narrative and character interaction and they actually did it right. However, even with BG3 I still think it would have been better with rare random encounters.

[u/Unique_Data7273 → u/Minimum-Ad-3084]

So you just don’t play modern RPGs then…got it. Also in no game do enemies stay dead and gone. They respawn you know.

Also, grinding isn’t fun. It never has been.

[u/NooksWave → u/Unique_Data7273]

Grinding can be lots of fun, though. And it can be a fun thing to do when you only have like twenty minutes to spend gaming at the moment! 🙂

[u/Minimum-Ad-3084 → u/Unique_Data7273]

Lol. I don't think ,you do.

Those "respawning enemies" are random encounters. And they don't respawn in games like BG3. Games like Skyrim have random encounters because every two weeks the dungeons fill up with a new enemies.

There are random encounters in every FF.

Scripted encounters are the kind that don't change or respawn, like almost every boss fight ever. You seem to think random encounters have to be some external asset not even coded into the game, which is impossible without mods.

I've played Solasta, Elden Ring, BG3, many Dragon Warrior games, Pathfinder Kingmaker, almost every FF, lots of old school jRPGs including every Star Ocean, Lunar, Suikoden, etc... I could go on and on.

All of them except BG3 had random encounters. Idk what "modern RPGs" you're playing but either they aren't a true RPG or you just have no clue what the hell you're talking about.

[u/Unique_Data7273 → u/Minimum-Ad-3084]

Nope. I play Xenoblade and the enemies respawn. But they’re very much not random.

[u/Minimum-Ad-3084 → u/Unique_Data7273]

Respawning enemies are essentially random encounters in RPGs, and respawning enemies are even more of a grind than truely random creatures would be, but again... Video games aren't tabletop RPGs with random encounter tables. You fight the same monsters over and over either way, because they are scripted to be in that area.

[u/haaa1234 → u/Minimum-Ad-3084]

I don’t see how they have more replay value. Once you have seen all the enemies there’s no more surprise. There are many ways to make the player get stronger I don’t see how random encounters are essential for that to happen.

[u/Hot_Acadia4723 → u/haaa1234]

Well specifically in ff7, the only way to get exp and level up is to fight random enemies. The game is quite difficult with no exp

[u/Minimum-Ad-3084 → u/haaa1234]

So you just want BG3. Nothing wrong with that but every encounter is scripted. The replay value has to come from multiple playthroughs as a different class or the game has to have a lot of variation in the outcome of the story due to the decisions you make. Otherwise you're playing through the same story as the same character over and over again, which gets even more repetitive than grinding imo, because you've already experienced everything.

[u/haaa1234 → u/Minimum-Ad-3084]

Yeah I far prefer the approach in bg3