Lazy gamers, and those darn optional battles

by Saiyajin Jas 

Mskills is worried because of the current trend of "optional battles," the RPGs he or she so loves will become more "difficult" for the average gamer. I am assuming, then, what he or she was trying to say, was that the difficulty level in RPGs is shifting from the random battle gameplay aspect, to the "getting frustrated because one cannot beat the bosses because they skipped all the battles" aspect.

I, myself dislike random battles. I am currently creating an RPG of my own, and I have decided that all the battles will be from enemies you can see on the screen and it is up to the player to choose whether to fight or not. One of the reasons I chose to plan my game this way is because of how I feel, but more importantly than that, because of a poll on RPGamer. I am aware that the poll is not scientific, but it does give insight into the minds of gamers. Although the poll is no longer online, I remember there were 5 questions asking what kind of battles gamers liked the most. One choice was random battles, three choices had to do with enemies you could see on the screen, and the last choice was no random battles. Approximately only 33% of people voted for random battles. The other 67% was distributed among the remaining four. This flies right in the face of mskills arguement. It seems that 2/3rds of the the RPG gamers out there prefer anything else over random battles!

Mskills also believes that because the battles are optional, gamers will not take the time to fight them, and thus will not be prepared for bosses, which will cause additional frustration. I believe that nothing is further from the truth. Being the owner of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, I have come to love the aspect of non-random battles. I fought when I wanted to, but when I wanted to advance the plot, I was able to do so without getting frustrated by random battles getting in my way. I do not recall ever having a problem with the bosses. Speaking of frustration, I remember playing Final Fantasy 6 and becoming quite frustrated with some areas because I was trying to solve puzzles (Cyan's soul, Floating Continent, Tower of Kefka, to name a few) and being forced to fight when I was trying to remember where to go, what I had done, and what to do next. This is not to say that random battles are "bad" in any way. I believe that Final Fantasy 7 had an excellent balance between going through dungeons and fighting battles. Truly though, not having random battles can enhance the gaming experience, because one is not concentrating on frustrating battles, but the storyline, which is intended to be focused upon. It is in error to think, mskills, that because battles are not "forced down gamers' throats," they are going to be lazy and not fight them. If they choose not to fight, that is their problem, not yours. I, for one, applaude the use of non-random battles.

In reality, the games truly are changing. It is now possible to combine exceptional storylines, with wonderful graphics, and excellent gameplay. In years past, this was not as possible, so game designers had to accentuate something to keep your interest, namely gameplay and random battles. Now, we no longer have to use this ploy and such battles are falling out of favor for storyline and graphics. I think it is refreshing to see that new ideas are being explored, instead of playing ANOTHER game with random battles.