Why did they stopped doing random encounters?

[victorvnv]

I remember playing games like Fallout 1/2, Wasteland, Icewind Dale etc, and one of the most fun aspect was navigating through the zones via world map. And every time you did so there were various chances of random evenets happening.

From being ambushed by various creatures, to meeting random vendors, to witnessing fights between other opposite factions where you could just watch them kill each other or join one side or just kill both sides, to even having some super rare special encounters where you get some special loot or meet some eastern eggs that would reference previous games, or modern culture characters or places.

That gave the worlds of these games a lot more complete feel as you would sometimes need several game days to get from point A to B and getting to some areas was extra dangerous due to stronger enemies lurking around.

They could have easily split the game acts into zones of a world map and with unlimited amount of randomly generated events , people who enjoy the combat system would have had unlimited opportunities to try new strategies, spells, test stuff on random opponents etc.

I think Liarin should try to add a world map with random events if they do an expansion or another similar game

[Izlude]

Simple answer because rpgs used to be amazing. Now we are lucky if they have even a fraction of the content of a game made before 2002

[Sistalis]

It's the way this style of game works, it's nothing to do with being a lesser RPG just a different style. Mass Effect 2/3 didn't have radom encounters (as I recall).

I find it refreshing in a way, in BG1 &2 I would spam the sleep button , kill all the randoms then I'd be uber powerful and even just sent in my magic users into the fray as fighters, sometimes shooting a spell.

Bg3 makes me think, my levels are on par or lower than my enemies, I really use speels and tactics way more than in the previous 2 games.

[victorvnv]

Originally posted by Philogosten:

Simple answer because rpgs used to be amazing. Now we are lucky if they have even a fraction of the content of a game made before 2002

Yea it’s crazy to think so but as great as BG3 is, the old fallout 2 world just feels so much bigger with a world map and like 10 cities to visit even if some of these towns were rather small.

But each of them had something to do and you had to go back and forth for quests but doing so would mean you have no idea what waits you on the road. You could get ambushed by much stronger or better armed robbers but if you pulled it off you get rewarded with all their weapons plus experience.

And it made the entire world feel alot more unpredictable and dangerous. I really miss these random encounters

[ShadowDark3]

Random encounters are rather difficult to design around. Either you design progression to be dependant on a certain number of random encounters, or you design for random encounters to be irrelevant.

In the first case, you end up with a game where you end up having to grind for experience at some point or another. In the second case, you have encounters that serve no purpose other than to waste time.

As time goes on, game design improves. Random encounters are gradually becoming obsolete as developers create more refined experiences. A game as lengthy as Baldur's Gate doesn't need the bloat of random encounters. It is already populated by far more encounters than you need to reach the level cap.

[victorvnv]

Originally posted by Sistalis:

It's the way this style of game works, it's nothing to do with being a lesser RPG just a different style. Mass Effect 2/3 didn't have radom encounters (as I recall).

I find it refreshing in a way, in BG1 &2 I would spam the sleep button , kill all the randoms then I'd be uber powerful and even just sent in my magic users into the fray as fighters, sometimes shooting a spell.

Bg3 makes me think, my levels are on par or lower than my enemies, I really use speels and tactics way more than in the previous 2 games.

Honestly they could have easily encorporated random encounters through the sleep button, plus with you needing resources to sleep it would make it even more fun as you can’t just spam “long rest”

Like if you killed Minthara , your party could be labeled an enemy of the absolute and every time you sleep there would be a roll that gives a chance for some absolute elite bounty hunters to ambush your camp.


Or if you defied Bhaal as the Dark urge you could have assassins possibly trying to kill you in your sleep, or some random merchants with unique inventory could join the camp for a night and offer to trade etc.

Would have made using Long rest alot more fun overall and would also incentivize you to keep all your party well armed even if you don’t use them

[Beef Hammer]

Because random encounters are just like procedural generated content, same old boring ♥♥♥♥ over and over.

[Izlude]

Originally posted by victorvnv:

Originally posted by Sistalis:

It's the way this style of game works, it's nothing to do with being a lesser RPG just a different style. Mass Effect 2/3 didn't have radom encounters (as I recall).

I find it refreshing in a way, in BG1 &2 I would spam the sleep button , kill all the randoms then I'd be uber powerful and even just sent in my magic users into the fray as fighters, sometimes shooting a spell.

Bg3 makes me think, my levels are on par or lower than my enemies, I really use speels and tactics way more than in the previous 2 games.

Honestly they could have easily encorporated random encounters through the sleep button, plus with you needing resources to sleep it would make it even more fun as you can’t just spam “long rest”

Like if you killed Minthara , your party could be labeled an enemy of the absolute and every time you sleep there would be a roll that gives a chance for some absolute elite bounty hunters to ambush your camp.


Or if you defied Bhaal as the Dark urge you could have assassins possibly trying to kill you in your sleep, or some random merchants with unique inventory could join the camp for a night and offer to trade etc.

Would have made using Long rest alot more fun overall and would also incentivize you to keep all your party well armed even if you don’t use them

I also got to point out Mass Effect 3 did include repeatable battles in a dlc because it was heavily requested.

[mirta000]

Different people enjoy different things.

I like to meticulously complete the world so to speak. I feel less stress if when I clear out a cave I know that it won't populate again.

Both designs still thrive and exist. You'll see more random encounters in either grind-heavy games, or souls likes (as always mowing down through the enemies to reach the boss is part of the challenge). And of course the old games still exist too.

[PK_Thunder]

If you're willing to struggle through a mostly lacking plot and porn tier voice acting, I recommend Solasta. It has random encounters and is a fairly faithful adaptation of 5e rules into a videogame. I'd argue they handle reactions better, although itemization is dependent on the crafting system so you may or may not enjoy that.

[mirta000]

Originally posted by Philogosten:

I also got to point out Mass Effect 3 did include repeatable battles in a dlc because it was heavily requested.

I'm pretty sure that's because the "good" ending depends on you grinding multiplayer to prolong the game's life and no-one wanted to be forced to grind multiplayer over and over again.

[Izlude]

Originally posted by mirta000:

Originally posted by Philogosten:

I also got to point out Mass Effect 3 did include repeatable battles in a dlc because it was heavily requested.

I'm pretty sure that's because the "good" ending depends on you grinding multiplayer to prolong the game's life and no-one wanted to be forced to grind multiplayer over and over again.

Errr no. that not at all accurate. The dlc has nothing to do with the multiplayer mode. The repeatable battles in the dlc dont earn galactic points or anything its just for you to take your 2 favorite team mates then fight a ton of enemies.

[Aristocles]

Originally posted by PK_Thunder:

If you're willing to struggle through a mostly lacking plot and porn tier voice acting, I recommend Solasta. It has random encounters and is a fairly faithful adaptation of 5e rules into a videogame. I'd argue they handle reactions better, although itemization is dependent on the crafting system so you may or may not enjoy that.

Solasta is extremely faithful to 5e rules, almost adapting them point for point. Yes, the humans and anything close to human in that game look like crap, so I usually play a Dragonborn there. Those look good. And they have feet which look very Dragon-like, not human feet with claws and a scale texture applied over them. Voice acting is something of a joke there. Barely phoned in. Hardly any emotion.

[Gordon FEETman]

Its because the game is LITERALLY dnd. the actions you take have consequences, and things that die, die forever. There is a level cap that you are intended to reach before the end and the game is heavily designed around the choices and interactions you make. Random encounters wouldnt help the design, only confuse it.

[victorvnv]

Originally posted by mirta000:

Originally posted by Philogosten:

I also got to point out Mass Effect 3 did include repeatable battles in a dlc because it was heavily requested.

I'm pretty sure that's because the "good" ending depends on you grinding multiplayer to prolong the game's life and no-one wanted to be forced to grind multiplayer over and over again.

Well it doesn’t have to be an endless grind.

Like every time you chose to long rest they can roll a dice and if it’s say a critical success you get some say a special merchant who has powerful items but only trades with soul coins for example .

And if it rolls a 1 you get some dangerous hostile encounter that would depend on the zone you long rest. Like if you are in act 1 you can get ambushed by a group of big ogres . If you are in the underdark you could get attacked by some duegar bandits or some special monster that is typical for the underdark , etc.

Doesn’t have to be an endless grind , just enough to keep you on the edge when you long rest which for most players isn’t too often and offer some suprising situations

Just an idea

[mirta000]

Originally posted by victorvnv:

Originally posted by mirta000:

I'm pretty sure that's because the "good" ending depends on you grinding multiplayer to prolong the game's life and no-one wanted to be forced to grind multiplayer over and over again.

Well it doesn’t have to be an endless grind.

Like every time you chose to long rest they can roll a dice and if it’s say a critical success you get some say a special merchant who has powerful items but only trades with soul coins for example .

And if it rolls a 1 you get some dangerous hostile encounter that would depend on the zone you long rest. Like if you are in act 1 you can get ambushed by a group of big ogres . If you are in the underdark you could get attacked by some duegar bandits or some special monster that is typical for the underdark , etc.

Doesn’t have to be an endless grind , just enough to keep you on the edge when you long rest which for most players isn’t too often and offer some suprising situations

Just an idea

It sounds like you may want to play some roguelikes.