I was wondering what preferences people had in this regard? Some of the aspects I with respect to each of the types I could think of:
- Random encounters (Whilst traversing the map a random encounter may trigger upon movement - eg. Wizardry and most of it's clones) - Keeps the player experience unique, adds a greater level of uncertainty than the other two approaches when traversing the dungeon and can keep backtracking interesting but is criticised for being too mechanical, not realistic (particularly with respect to the map traversal element) and just "too random" and not repeatable enough?; or
- Fixed encounters (Encounters only trigger at certain spots or on certain actions eg. Paper Sorcerer) - Greater certainty over when battles are going to occur and potentially easier strategically on the player (which may be seen as a good or bad thing), can allow the attention to be drawn to non-battle activities between encounters. However, the uniqueness of the experience of each player is reduced however and it is easier to create munchkin guides. Also (depending on whether the fixed encounter regenerate) limits the opportunities to grind up experience (again this may be a good or bad thing) or
- Roaming encounters (Where there are enemies roaming in the map that can be potentially avoided eg. Bards Tale 4, Tales of the Forsaken Land) - Can represent a halfway balance between both of the above, whilst having the most "real" interactions within the dungeon. Can still provide a certain amount of randomness (eg. provision of loot and enemy types). Arguably adds a certain "action" skill element in the avoidance of combat if they move in real time (alternatively you could have them move one square for each you move like FOEs in Etrian Odyssey), also creates a much greater level of certainty over the traversal of a dungeon compared to random encounters, making backtracking arguably more tedious affairs.