Really enjoying phantasy star iv but the insane encounter rate is really interrupting all the exploration, the only minor positive is that the menus are fast and you can escape most of the time easily, but I still find myself having to use save state scumming to get through dungeons and explore every path which turns them into tedium.Any other games like PSIV in terms of RPG systems or setting (sci-fi) but with reduced or no encounter rate?
Wow how did Richard Stallman get on that Genesis game
>>3561999> no red t-shirt> no thinkpadit's just not RMS
PSIV's encounter rate is not high at all. The base rate is 1/32 per step, which is pretty typical (it's the same as most FF1 dungeons for example) but you're also given 9 encounter-free steps to start with, so effectively encounters are only every 41 steps on average.Don't be a zoomer. Gaming is about the journey, not the destination.
>>3562084Squareshit is not a good basis for comparison. No one that likes that garbage knows what they're talking about.
>>3562084What's the worst encounter rate jRPGs? Skies of Arcadia and 7th Saga are what come to my mind.
>>3562111You can move for a full minute and 30 seconds before getting an encounter in Skies of Arcadia. (legends anyways) Part of the reason that FF encounter rates feel so high is because most steps are meaningless or the encounters themselves aren't very interesting. Xenosaga is a lot worse than Skies due to having a numerically higher encounter rate, worse maps, and even slower combat. Mother 1 is among the worst, early SMT games are also pretty obnoxious. To contrast in the West, some areas in Pool of Radiance have an encounter chance of every 1 in 21 steps, but you would never percieve it this way because the maps are so dense each step is meaningful.
>>3562119>legends anywaysYeah, I'm talking about the OG Dreamcast version, IIRC they toned it down for the GC, which I haven't played. Xenosaga, I've blocked from my mind completely.
>>3562126I can't imagine why anyone would play the DC version. The only people who had a DC in America mostly owned it to play Marvel, excluding a cluster of weirdos that want to fuck nights or whatever. I have to wonder if there is a trend of people emulating the wrong version or scraping the barrel for games to play on a DC they retroactively bought. PS4 combat is meant to be macro'd anyways.
>>3562134People had Dreamcasts, lol, two of my friends owned one. Although I actually played it by borrowing the system and game from a friend who had got it from his uncle who worked as a wrestler in Japan.
>>3562111The "go fast" button greatly increases the encounter rate, to the point there's a high chance you will enter a battle just by attempting to move.You can enter battles back to back without moving a single inch.But I guess this doesn't count since you can just move at normal speed to avoid this nonsense.
>>3562140Oh god, yes, I remember this. Super Saiya Densetsu, I also played the NES games. Never liked card based battles.
>>3562111I don't know, but Breath of Fire is certainly among the top contenders. I quit BoF4 because of that and got laughed at for it because it's got the lowest among them or some such. I'm not touching any of them ever again, fuck that noise.
>>3562134The Gamecube port has bad graphics and the soundtrack sounds worse due to compressing two discs.I'd prefer the dreamcast and endure the encounter rates.
>>3562261>The Gamecube port has bad graphicsNo it doesn't, it actually has improved graphics. The bait is getting worse here everyday.
>>3561995>insaneYou're just unlucky, the random number generator on old hardware is pretty whack. One randomizer reduces random battles by "halving" the chance but in practice it's more like it cuts it down to a 30th.Protip, set up a macro to use wat, tsu, and foi. This wipes most earlygame encounters.>tediumOP, if you played Phantasy Star 2, you would not make it to the end of the first dungeon. 4 is like greased lightning and the dungeons are far more straightforward.>any other games like PSIV in terms of RPG or settingStar Ocean 3
>>3562111Metal Max 3 on DS is not that bad overall but they seemed to have been in such a rush that a few areas accidentally got bugged to have an encounter in every single step even with the "repel" type effect in use.SMT 1/2/if... get a special mention because you can get multiple encounters in a row AND an encounter after a single step, meaning you can fight like 5 encounters in a row, take one step, and fight another 5 encounters in a row. The maps are also pointlessly big ant nest mazes. However, those games also do have a repel effect that 100% stops all encounters - but it's not really that accessible if you don't know how to get it and it's got a weird name you wouldn't associate with repel, so you will definitely get hazed for at least one game playing blind.
>>3562111>7th Saga/Mystic Ark>Able to see enemy encounters on a type of radar so you can actively avoid them, however enemies will move even if you don't.I do not know if that is better or worse than just random encounters.
>>3562429Some SaGa games do this too, complete with enemy aggro and sometimes punishing you for getting into an encounter while running. I like it, because you can dodge if you're clever and overall there's fewer encounters than what FFL1 & 2 had, but it took a bit to get used to.
>>3562429It's worse, it gives the illusion that you can get away, but instead you see exactly how you are being swarmed. Best visible encounter SNES game is Lufia 2, because it's limited to dungeons.
I liked PS1 a lot, but every time I've tried to play PS2 I've gotten bored. Should I skip to 3 or are there any patches that make PS2 less of a slog to play?
>>3563083I'm gonna save you some time and tell you to skip to 4.
>>3563083>>3563086play IV with the relocalization patch
>>3562663I will never ever take a saga tard seriously
>>3563083If I remember correctly there is a fanpatch type thing for PS2 which makes your character not forced to leisurely stroll everywhere he goes, which makes the backtracking slightly more tolerable.
The better scifi/fantasy. Phantasy Star or the Xeno series?
>>3563271Love them both, depends on what you're looking for. Xeno series is heavier on the sci-fi elements, Phantasy Star is more fantasy with robots, laser swords, and space travel. Phantasy Star 2 is the most technologically advanced setting in the series. There's some really cool sci-fi elements though, like Motavia being turned into a green planet and then the climate systems failing by the time of 4 so it's reverting back to desert.
>>3563296Remake 1-4 as a single narrative.
>>3562111Sailing in Suikoden IV.
