games with good encounter design

[tennishero]

chrono trigger
Chrono cross
Final fantasy 12
Shenmue
Fallout 3

Shin megami tensei series. Games are shit but some boss battles are suitably epic. However 99% of the game is bland shit generic cock suckin bullshit. Just like portal

 

[Hobo Elf]

IWD has good dungeon design

Uh...not really. Mostly because many dungeons were huge, had no shortcuts or way to auto-exit them, and you had to drag all the party members through completely empty corridors for 10 minutes. With godawful pathfinding IE engine had it pissed me off to no end.
Besides, they were still just generic "dungeons", that had no reason to exist in any imaginable reality. Good dungeon design makes SENSE, just being aesthetically pleasing is hardly enough to be considered good.

First dungeon was a burial place for the dead, second dungeon was a temple for a god that was guarded by Verbeeg, third dungeon was at first a series of caves, but then you found a temple for some Yuan-Ti goddess built at the very bottom, fourth dungeon was an elven fortress.. Might I go on?
And I can't recall going through empty corridors unless I was backtracking to areas I had cleared. The only time I would've ever encountered a whole 10 minutes of no enemies would be if I had gone all the way back to town and sell off the extra loot I didn't need and stock up in supplies or if you just wanted to leave the dungeon because you were done.
No shortcuts to cut travel time? No auto travel? The fuck do you want, son, Oblivion?? Just cast haste.

Everything you said was bullshit and lies.

 

[Leimrey]

Fallout 3

Open world and sandbox games with randomly wandering monsters are inherently inferior to games with "streamlined" gameworlds in the encounter design department. This is true mainly due to the fact that you can usually approach the encounter area from multiple directions, which makes tactical placement of enemies more difficult. Also, open world sandbox games rarely employ the technique, when the player character is placed into some specific location before the start of battle.

 

[Johannes]

Fallout 3

Open world and sandbox games with randomly wandering monsters are inherently inferior to games with "streamlined" gameworlds in the encounter design department. This is true mainly due to the fact that you can usually approach the encounter area from multiple directions, which makes tactical placement of enemies more difficult. Also, open world sandbox games rarely employ the technique, when the player character is placed into some specific location before the start of battle.

Battles vs random monsters in many roguelikes often offer infinitely more challenging fights than anything in many streamlined games with fixed encounters. Most importantly it forces you to think on the spot, instead of player just knowing what the next encounter will be and knowing exactly how to tackle it.

Also take JA2 for example, the soldiers aren't placed in fixed positions when you enter an area, it's wholly an open world where you can fight the most generic enemy squad in any given sector and it's still a fight that forces you to think and adapt.

 

[Leimrey]

Battles vs random monsters in many roguelikes often offer infinitely more challenging fights...

Due to overal greater difficulty of roguelikes (stronger monsters, scarce resources, etc). Yes, the randomness factor (like two very strong monsters spawning very close to eachother and attacking the player together, or a very difficult combination of randomly generated monsters) also influences the difficulty, but it is present in some "streamlined" gameworld games as well. More than that, the randomness factor is inconsistent and can work backwards as well, thus, I do not like it. It is always harder to tackle an encounter from a specific set position/situation than to have multiple possible approaches.

Most importantly it forces you to think on the spot

Which is irrelevant as preset encounters also force you to think on the spot if you're playing the game for the first time. True, it is more difficult to abuse the save/load function with randomly generated monsters/encounters, as the situation may be different once you reload (if your save was far enough and the encounter was not generated already) and require a somewhat different approach. The randomness factor is better in the "think on the spot" department mostly when replaying the game.

Also take JA2 for example, the soldiers aren't placed in fixed positions when you enter an area, it's wholly an open world where you can fight the most generic enemy squad in any given sector and it's still a fight that forces you to think and adapt.

A preset encounter will also force you to think and adapt if you're playing it for the first time. In fact, it will force you to adapt more as your starting possibilites are limited.

TL;DR: Randomness factor significantly increases replayability and somewhat adds to the "think on the spot" department. However, it is inconsistent.

 

[Jasede]

It really isn't an RPG but Godhand has the best encounter-design and enemy placement I've ever seen. Now I can't help but notice how bad it is in most other games. Placing the right enemies at the right locations can really make or break an experience.

 

[Berekän]

IWD has good dungeon design

Uh...not really. Mostly because many dungeons were huge, had no shortcuts or way to auto-exit them, and you had to drag all the party members through completely empty corridors for 10 minutes. With godawful pathfinding IE engine had it pissed me off to no end.

And I can't recall going through empty corridors unless I was backtracking to areas I had cleared. The only time I would've ever encountered a whole 10 minutes of no enemies would be if I had gone all the way back to town and sell off the extra loot I didn't need and stock up in supplies or if you just wanted to leave the dungeon because you were done.
No shortcuts to cut travel time? No auto travel? The fuck do you want, son, Oblivion?? Just cast haste.

Well, that's his point, the fact that you have to walk 10 minutes to get to town because there are no shortcuts, not that there are unexplored sections with just walking for 10 minutes.