KAEMPFER'S PROFILE

I have never seen a good touch encounter system. I'm sure they exist in rarity, but I've seen one that wasn't just "hmm a monster I will simply side step all of them- ah perfect" or "hmm a monster WAIT HE IS COMING AT ME AT 4x HERO SPEED" *unavoidable battle that may as well have been random*.

Here is how, ideally, I think touch encounters should be handled. Lufia 2 style I-move-you-move monsters (which is doable, including monsters-based puzzles where monsters move in specific patterns based on YOUR movement i.e. mirror moves) that disappear until the dungeon is finished. It would be pretty interesting to see monsters disappear completely in a dungeon UNLESS the player used some sort of item (preferably purchasable). Any player who enjoyed the battles enough could use the item to level, whereas the vast majority of players could breath a sigh of relief. I've always liked rewards for completing areas, and touch encounters allow the good old "defeat all monsters and something special will happen" clause.

I really think that any game that uses touch encounters and then does NOTHING with them except have them directly replace random battles is silly. I have no problem with random battles, but touch encounters opens up a world of out-of-battle possibilities, and overlooking those possibilities is tantamount to the same kind of laziness that apparently spawned random battles in the first place (although I sincerely doubt it was laziness in those early days).

edit: alternatively, defeating all the encounters in an area could unlock a chest AND remove monsters from that map in the future, whereas leaving a few means they'll breed and be back before you know it. Hey why not monsters are frisky devils!

I will run from battles when they get too frequent or when they are pointlessly hard. One thing many game designers seem to overlook is that, unless you are fully healing the player after each battle, the enemies shouldn't be on EXACT PAR with the players. That is to say: they shouldn't be able to withstand the same number of hits or spam effects that last after battle, et cetera. One thing that annoys me a great deal is when poison is worthless for the player to use because it sucks in battle but then it lingers afterward, causing the player to have to waste MP/items healing it. It just makes the balance swing way to far toward the monster. I am pro challenging battles, but they should be decisive and short and the designer should realise that part of the challenge of random battles is the fact that they wear the player down, in addition to being difficult in themselves.

The best dungeons are ones where, as you approach the exit, you are short on items, low on HP, and out of MP. If anyone has ever said "THANK CHRIST" out loud when they see that exit onto the worldmap at the end of some dungeons, you'll know what I mean. The worst dungeons are ones where you suffer all of those symptoms I listed, but you're only halfway done the damn dungeon, meaning you're terribly underleveled. I always try to balance my game for about 1.2x difficulty based on how much experience someone running through the game will get. This, hopefully, keeps people from running from all but a few battles, although I have other incentives to keep people fighting (so for example the game is based on the assumption you'll be on level 12 where someone who is rushing through the game will only be on level 10).

It's very hard to balance a game well enough to ALWAYS have the encounters line up with the characters, so it's best to leave in the run option in case the player runs into unforeseen consequences.

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I don't think anyone really cares that you are leaving.

ouch.
damn there's some loving problems in these forums. :(

He joined, what, two days ago, made a bunch of horrible posts and is now saying he can't deal with it. Good riddance.

It's pretty obvious you don't have the vaguest idea how a forum works, so, uh, goodbye! I don't think anyone really cares that you are leaving.

I have not seen you make a post since I joined


Therefore I assume you're sick of my crap