/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.4835819]

I always wanted to get into rpgs, but I just can't stand the random battles system. Are there some rpg that is not so heavily combat based and more focused on story?

[Anonymous No.4835823]

>>4835819
>more focused on story?
Just read books or something, these aren't for you

[Anonymous No.4835828]

Not retro, but Bravely Default lets you turn off random encounters if you wish. You'll have to grind your way up again at some point of course, but its an option.

Perhaps you should try Action RPGs instead. Crystalis or Secret of Mana are good choices to break you into that subgenre.

[Anonymous No.4835831]

I mean, >>4835823 is not even being a dick when telling you to read a book. Why go for video games to get story if you don't care about the gameplay element? Really, what exactly is it you want, OP?
If it's stories on the level of JRPGs, watch anime. For anything above that, try books.
If it's just "random" aspect of random encounters that annoys you, try action RPGs? Otherwise, there are RPGs like Earthbound which avoid them.

[Anonymous No.4835834]

>>4835831
Exactly

[Anonymous No.4835835]

try earthbound or mystic ark

[Anonymous No.4835841]

>random battles system
It's generally meant to be here as a way to make sure that any destination you go to, you're supposed to take a certain resource tax for every encounter you handle, and how you choose to handle those encounters is fairly vital to your progression. Blowing too many resources on a trivial encounter might hamper your chance of reaching your next save point and such. You can often just run away from encounters and not spend much time on them at all.

Whether a game has great story or not is irrelevant as to whether you'll get many random battles. Earthbound and Fallout 1/2 have good narratives and narrative-oriented systems, but sitll will throw you some random encounters from time to time.

>Fallout
just get Speech and run away from random encounters. Solve your issues through thieving and diplomacy. Fallout can technically be beaten without participating in combat.
>Planescape: Torment
game encourages you to max out Wisdom and even though it has the standard party-based AD&D structure it is still a game most well known for its massive narrative backing
>Might & Magic 3-4-5
these games are hack'n'slashes with a crazy, pulp story, but there are no random encounters. monsters in dungeons are finite, and on the overworld, you can simply find the monster generators (like the hut where goblins live or a wagon where bandits dwell) and burn it to the ground, so that you aren't bothered by that particular monster type again.
>Chrono Trigger
has very few random battles and the story structure is a classic. you can go to the final boss any time you wish in theory.
>Ultima 7
combat system is simple like a tank chassis, and it passes by quickly. With time you can assemble an artifact that erases anyone you wish. Focus on the story is evident. You could also try Ultima 4/5/6, but 1) if you're completely new, you might find these archaic and 2) they are still a bit more oldschool and feature more "random" encounters. U7 is ok as standalone.

[Anonymous No.4835845]

All the Xeno games, from Xenogears, to Saga, to Blade. They all have a pretty similar formula of playing for about 90 minutes followed by watching a half hour of cutscenes.

[Anonymous No.4835880]

>>4835819
Just use cheats.

Like for final fantasy 6 or 8, use the cheat to give you the item to prevent random encounters. Or just use gameshark/game genie.

Use cheats to get high level so you can run through bosses as well.

[Anonymous No.4835883]

>>4835880
>Use cheats to get high

[Anonymous No.4835886]

>>4835819
>I always wanted to get into rpgs
Just remembered, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was specifically designed as an entry-level RPG.
There are no random battles, either, but from what I know the story is very bare bones and complete shite.
So maybe a starting point to get into RPGs, but not really "focused on story".

[Anonymous No.4835891]

>>4835835
oh yeah, also super mario rpg

[Anonymous No.4835893]

>>4835819
Try nethack. It's essentially 1-player no save-point D&D, and it's pretty fantastic. Downside is, unlike real D&D, there isn't much in the way of stories, but the mechanics are top notch.

[Anonymous No.4837408]

>>4835819
"For the frog, the bell tolls"
If you don't mind gameboy, the rom translation of this is great. Platforming but little to no battles and focused on story

[Anonymous No.4837417]

>>4835819
>but I just can't stand the random battles system.
You can't stand randomly started battles or battles against random opponents?
Try Albion. Enemies are fixed and you can normally see them in advance.
It's also fairly easy and has a decent plot to keep you hooked so it's well suited for beginners.

[Anonymous No.4837424]

I'm the same way
The only jrpgs i like are:

Grandia series
Lunar series
Lufia series
Shining Force series

Other than that wrpgs are your best bet

[Anonymous No.4837442]

>>4835819
You should go have a coffee with Jennifer Hepler

[Anonymous No.4838675]

It's just a problem with the genre.
You're either slogging through story and dialog, or slogging through combat.
Maybe if JRPGs adopted the boss rush format, they would be more fun.

It's extremely hard to find a JRPG that nails both combat and story pacing; most retro RPGs are plagued by load times and animations making everything take way longer than needed.

[Anonymous No.4838735]

>>4835880
>Use cheats to get high

[Anonymous No.4839381]

>>4835819
It is easier to get into when you are a kid with enough time to waste and not enough experience with videogames.

I argued in the past that jrpgs, in contrast to dungeon crawlers, added so many elements outside of combat that it is only normal that you would seek specifically those aspects, and I'm sure that if someone came with a good replacement jrpgs would barely feature them (some videogames made the transition from turn based games to action rpgs)

Trying to answer your question though:
- FF1/2 remakes (Down of Souls) are very easy. FF1 is your average adventure tale, but I personally like it that way. FF2 probably has the best story of any FF in my opinion, but I don't like the excess of comic relief and over the top characters that saturates the genre
- FF3 (Nes) has short dungeons and a low random encounter rate, It surprised me for a nes game. Storywise shares a lot of similarities with FF1
- FF6 is just easy, battles should not take too much thought.
- Chrono Triggers has the advantage of not having random encounters, these are predefined and melds perfectly with the scenery. They are also more flashy.
- Romancing Saga allows you to avoid you any battle. Except for specific places where this is very difficult, you can enjoy an Open World TM and concentrate just in the bosses.

Your best bet is probably to hack every game to make you overpowered.