MAKING AN RPG WITH VERY FEW "SAFE" AREAS

So, the game I'm working on now takes place in a modern city that has been overrun with strange beings. This setup means that most of the game takes place on maps where you can encounter enemies.

This isn't to say that there are no safe spaces. There will still be places to heal and stock up on resources occasionally, as well as limited heal spots in dangerous areas. But there aren't any tradional RPG big safe spaces like towns where you can wander around free of worry about monster encounters.

Any advice on how to make a game like this without tiring the player out from encounters? Maybe have the encounters generally happen not as often so the player can explore without getting bogged down in fights?

Thanks! :D

EDIT: One idea I had that I'm going to try to implement that might help: I thought of after you fight a certain amount of enemies in each area, the frequency of encounters will drop dramatically. There will always be some monsters in the area, but that way players who want to explore can get some relief, maybe.

author=Sated
I don't have any problems with a lack of safe areas. If all you have are save rooms (think Resident Evil) with nice, calming music, then that should provide more than enough respite. These areas don't necessarily need to be save-points if you're using a save-anywhere approach, they could be the areas were you stock-up on supplies as you mentioned. Perhaps little vending machine kiosks or something like that (these are pretty popular in parts of Europe; literally tiny shops that only contain vending machines).

Good point. I think if I put some of those occasionally, then it will greatly alleviate the problem. Thanks!

author=Pizza
You could always allow the player to set up or activate beacons/markers/fires/insert macguffin here that stops encounters in the area surrounding them. That would add a little extra gameplay to the level design as well.

Oooh, I really like this! Like if you had powder that when used on an altar or torch in an area, makes that area safe? That adds more items to find to get the powder itself, and gives the player more choices, especially if there are less powder items than torch/alter areas. Wow, cool! :DDDD

author=Craze
I like Sated and Pizza's ideas. Is this the EMOTIONAL ELEMENTS game? If each zone had a sort of trial to lessen the impact/amount of each type, that could be pretty cool. I don't remember the exact concepts you were using, but maybe you fight a miniboss to scare off WRATH monsters while you can endure a maze or long puzzle to ward off DETERMINATION monsters. ...or something.

Yeah, it's the same game! ^_^ The elements are Terror, Rage and Sorrow. That's a really cool idea! I'll have to think about how to implement something like this, because it sounds fun!

author=Craze
As for the overall idea, I'm all for it. Towns are good for some games, but they're just a tool -- they're not a necessity. As long as you have, like Sated said, some sort of respite, you're good. A lot of people knock FFXIII for not having towns, but what they're really saying (imo) is that there's almost no time to just cool off except for, what, Nautilus? For only part of it, even.

Yeah, I want the game to be a little on the tense side, too, so I think having fewer safe areas is really the way to go ^_^ Just want to make sure I'm not scaring off too many players with it.

On the other hand, I enjoy that sort of setup, so maybe I'm just giving myself too little credit? If I like it and I can pull it off well, I'm sure there'll be other people who like a game like that.

Oooh, I need to replay Parasite Eve 1 and finally play PE2 (which I never got to back in the day). Thanks for the advice :DDDD