Larian Banner: Baldur's Gate Patch 9
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#789842 07/09/21 02:22 PM
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Say what you want, I've been playing Kingmaker, and one of the first things I noticed is that BG3 is severely lacking in this area. Staged Encounters are fine, but when ever encounter is staged it takes away from one of the most fundamental elements of D&D; Random Encounters.

Why are Random Encounters vital to D&D?

Element of surprise and just plain random fun. One of the things that has always set D&D apart from other RPGs is Dungeon Exploration. As you open a door, Random Encounter! Some Random Monsters just spring up and attack you. Each room you enter, you never know what you're going to get. Shoot! The entire Munchkin Game simulates D&D more than BG3 right now. It is built on the premise of kicking a door down in a dungeon and encountering some randomly generated creature. Some rooms my be weak monsters and some may utterly destroy you unless you throw that door shut and run.

When I play Solasta or Kingmaker, and I'm traveling along and suddenly a popup jumps at me stating Random Encounter, it creates variety and the unexpected. Not everything is staged and set in stone. As you're moving through a dark wood, suddenly, out of nowhere, some random monster just pops out at you. Is that monster a part of the overall story. No. You might encounter some random mishap that causes you no end of trouble. Trying to sleep a full night? Nope! Interrupted by monsters in the wild. Why is that fun? Because you might be hurting and need a full night's rest, and if some random monster interrupts it, suddenly you are on edge thinking you might not survive the night. AND, it makes inns and rest zones where you have to pay to sleep so much more important.

But that's not all, Random Encounters make the game more fun when you play it a second or third time. It is much more fun when you have no idea even on the 10th playthrough when you might encounter a monster or two.

So, let's say you're roaming around the area where you meet Scratch. Suddenly, three giant spiders jump out at you. You didn't expect it because it was a Random Encounter. The next time you play the game, you don't get a Random Encounter at that part. Third time, you get jumped by goblins down by the river where there is a sparkling pod. Fourth time, you get jumped by a band of bandits near the edge of Blighted Village. All Random Encounters where enemies just pop up on you out of nowhere.

That would be so much more fun than every single time I replay the game I face the same exact encounters every time.

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No time for random encounters when TIME stands still. calendars are non-existent, and camping is an excuse for night. In Larian's worlds everything is a static stage piece to move the story along...sadly.
It makes complete sense to add a few interesting short random encounters to flesh this world out, make it more alive and keep you on your toes instead of having a boring checklist of A to Z encounters for X area for EVERY PLAYTHROUGH.

I would actually add to this, make these short encounters NON-turn base to increase the games dreadfully slow combat pace. Bigger encounters / story stuff <turn base> ; short chaotic/atmospheric encounters <realtime with pause>.
Having the OPTION to choose whichever would be amazing but its a BIG NG from Larian. The game needs to be artificially 300h+ long wink And its just too difficult for such a small and poor studio to be creative with these sort of mechanics "sigh". More importantly we absolutely need more cinematics and love scenes.

Last edited by mr_planescapist; 07/09/21 02:48 PM.
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No no no. Please. Do not turn this thread into another Day/Night cycle thread or a RTWP thread. Please please please.

This thread is about Random Encounters only. Besides, I love Turn Based and would hate RTWP. Also, I love Day/Night and weather and have expressed that numerous times on the Day/Night thread. I have also expressed my distaste for RTWP on that thread as well.

The point is, Random Encounters create more excitement for multiple playthroughs so you aren't playing the same staged encounters over and over again. Staged encounters is fine for first playthroughs. It's also good for story encounters like the Githyanki Patrol and such. However, we need some living, breathing Random Encounters in this static world.

Yes, we need some other things to make it feel more alive, but Random Encounters would truly add a lot of additional flavor to the game and it would make the game feel more like BG1 and 2.

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He is right tho ...
Randon Encounters dont seem to have place in this game. :-/


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Random encounter are necessary as mr_planescapist said to make the world alive.

Everything is too static in BG3. No time, no night, no one moving, no one coming/leaving, ... This world is all but alive.

There are way too much random encounter in WoTR IMO but too much is better for immersion than nothing.

They assume separated instance for (mini) camps, which is already really really bad and Immersion breaking... they could eventually add instance for random encounters when we fast travel... It would be an awfull solution like it is for camps but it would still be better than nothing.

Last edited by Maximuuus; 07/09/21 09:38 PM.

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Originally Posted by Maximuuus
Random encounter are necessary as mr_planescapist said to make the world alive.

Everything is too static in BG3. No time, no night, no one moving, no one coming/leaving, ... This world is all but alive.

There are way too much random encounter in WoTR IMO but too much is better for immersion than nothing.

They assume separated instance for (mini) camps, which is already really really bad and Immersion breaking... they could eventually add instance for random encounters when we fast travel... It would be an awfull solution like it is for camps but it would still be better than nothing.
But not for the sake of it.
Pathfinder WotR has them and by and large they are a waste of my time. Easy opponents that cause me nothing but time in a loading screen. Yes, the odd interesting character etc... but it is only tolerable because with RtwP it's quickly dealt with. It's usually harsher when you are camping as you are often tired and without heals, then it can be nasty.

I appreciate it is more in keeping with BG as a series to have travel and random encounters, but with the migration to TB combat, I would only add in random encounters sparingly. That does not mean you could not have areas that on different playthroughs have interesting encounters within the same area. Not the best example, but Diablo 3 had quite a few encounters that sometimes appeared in specific areas on different playthroughs. Most of them were tedious, but it did add that element of randomness.

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Generic random encounters would be horrible in a game like this. BG3 has a very small number of encounters, but in exchange they are generally unique and take a long time. This design is incompatible with random generic trash.

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I love random encounters, but this game is meant to be a scripted experience from beginning to end, so no random enemies for this game. I don't like it, but that's how it is.

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I agree that too many random encounters is tedious and not fun. I am suggesting more of a sporadic random encounter. Shoot! Even in tabletop, I don't spam random encounters. Their supposed to be for flavor, not a filler.

So, you still have all the encounters you do now, but have like periodic rolls made every couple of minutes of gameplay. Game does the roll without you knowing. Roll d100 or something. On a 1-10, random encounter. So like 10% chance every 5 minutes or something.

Ah I don't know. I just thought that random encounters, when done sporadically, makes the game more surprising; not so... expected.

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Originally Posted by polliwagwhirl
Generic random encounters would be horrible in a game like this. BG3 has a very small number of encounters, but in exchange they are generally unique and take a long time. This design is incompatible with random generic trash.
Agreed. This game will take million hours for me to play through as it is and random trash would make it even longer. And any leveling curve should not rely any exp from random encounters.

So configurable no exp random encounters would be ok for me.


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The more I think about it, the more I believe random encounters won't fit into the overall design of the game. The Larian style of map layouts and turn-based combat balance hinges almost entirely on pre-battle planning, and random encounters are completely anathema to that design.

If there are any random encounters at all, I'd think it would only happen in a very controlled environment, with actual narrative justification for it. Maybe some places in the Underdark could have small roving bands of enemies that occasionally respawn or change. Or after clearing certain milestones in the story, maybe you've wronged a particular faction, and there's a chance those beholden to them will seek out and launch an attack on your camp while you rest. Or you're harboring someone that another group has deadly intentions towards. Though I imagine there would be a limit, and again, they would all happen for mostly narrative reasons (the camp ambushes could be very specific in that once you trigger a certain encounter, it can't be repeated again). The concept would be similar to Shadowheart seeking you out if you didn't recruit her, or Halsin attacking you at the camp on the evil route, just taken to the extreme.

It would actually be an interesting way to indirectly breathe life into the overall narrative and world building, in a way few other games have ever toyed with.

Last edited by Saito Hikari; 08/09/21 08:34 AM.
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random encounters in act 1 may not be there but in act 2 and 3 there is potential, i don't know if random encounters would necessarily be the best however there is an encounter towards the end of EA that does take you by suprise if you're not ready


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