Random encounter

Random Encounters, also known as Random Battles, are battles that occur when traveling to place to place on foot, and until recently, have been a recurring tradition in the Final Fantasy series. As indicated, random encounters can occur at any time when walking on the Overworld or in a dungeon.

The enemies a player can meet varies both on where they are in the game and the terrain they are on. For example, the forest may contain enemies not found in the plains. Some enemies have a very low encounter rate and thus are almost impossible to find.

There are several ways to prevent random encounters. The player could reduce or eliminate random encounters entirely by traveling on an airship or chocobo, equipping an equipment e.g. Molulu's Charm in Final Fantasy VI, or learning an ability e.g. GF Diablos's Enc-None ability in Final Fantasy VIII. Some games also have methods to raise the frequency of random encounters, which is useful for Level Grinding.

In the very early games of the series, whenever the player character takes a step, there is a small chance that a random encounter will initiate. With this method, there is a possibility that the player can encounter an enemy with each consectutive step. Conversely, the player can traverse an entire dungeon floor without encountering a single enemy. This was corrected in later games by using an algorithm that chooses a random number between two set integers after an enemy party is fought. This number is the number of steps the player character can make before encountering the next enemy party.

Final Fantasy
After each battle the game generates a random number between 50 and 255. For each step taken the value counts down. When the number hits 0 a random battle begins.


 * On the worldmap on foot each step decrements the value by 6
 * Inside of a dungeon each step decrements the value by 5
 * On the worldmap while sailing on a ship each "step" decrements the value by 2
 * On damage floor, while riding the airship, while in a seaport, or inside a town, the value doesn't decrement (no random battles occur)

There are certain map squares where battles always occur. These are the fixed encounters and fighting a fixed encounter does not reset the value. The number resets whenever it hits zero and a random battle occurs, or when a game is started or reloaded. The number is not reset by entering a town.

Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy V again determines the rate of random encounters with the "random battle counter" by setting a random number between n and 255. Each step subtracts n from the Random Battle Counter and when the counter reaches zero, a random battle happens and a new value for the random battle counter is set. Each area has four possible battles (enemy formations) that may happen and the game rolls a randomly generated number between 0 and 255 to see which of the battles is drawn up. There are two commonly occurring battles (90/256), one slightly rarer battle (60/256) and one rare battle (16/256) in each area. In some areas the player can fight only one kind of monster, which means that all four possible battles are exactly the same, so it makes no difference which of the identical battles the game draws up.

The Advance version adds some new jobs to the roster, and the new job Oracle learns the ability Read Ahead that lowers the chance of random encounters. Another new job, the Gladiator, learns the Lure skill that makes random encounters more frequent. Neither ability stacks, so it is pointless having multiple copies of the abilities equipped at the same time on different party members.

The game has a glitch that allows the player to avoid random encounters altogether.

Final Fantasy VI
The game keeps a counter that increases each time a step is taken. Each step on the worldmap adds 192 to the counter; walking in caves and other areas outside of worldmap where monsters can be encountered adds 112. Each step, a random number between 0 and 255 is generated; if the number is less than [counter / 256] a random battle occurs. After each battle the counter is reset to 0. If the party member in lead has the Charm Bangle equipped the number added is cut in half. If Mog equips the Moogle Charm the counter is not increased and no random encounters occur.

The game has a glitch that allows the player to avoid random encounters altogether, even without any special accessories equipped, due to the counter resetting by entering the menu.

A notable location of random encounters is the Dinosaur Forest north of Veldt.

Final Fantasy VII
The game is divided into areas and different areas have different encounter rates. The worldmap is also divided into areas and the player can see which area they are currently in from the menu. Each area can support up to six normal battles and four special formation battles (Back Attack, Side Attack and Pincer Attack). In addition, worldmap areas can support a further four chocobo battles.

While moving on the field, a variable called the "Field Danger Counter" is incremented every so often. The higher the danger counter, the more likely a random battle is to occur. Some areas increase the danger counter at a larger rate than others. The difference is marked by a stat known as the area's encounter value. The danger counter is incremented every time a battle check occurs, which happens roughly three times per second when moving. Walking increases the danger counter by [1024 / Encounter Value] per battle check and running increases it by [4096 / Encounter Value]. Running is four times faster than walking, but while running the number of times the battle check is called is lower over the same distance, so one may find to have less encounters.

A random battle will initiate if, during a battle check, a random number generated between 0 and 255 is less than [Danger Counter * Enemy Lure Value / 256]. The Enemy Lure Value is a fraction between 2/16ths to 32/16ths, but is only altered through the Enemy Lure and Enemy Away Materia. The default value when neither is equipped is 16/16ths or 100%.

The Field Danger Counter is reset after each random battle and carries over from screen to screen.

The worldmap has its own danger counter. The counter is incremented by [Enemy Lure Value * 16384 / Encounter Value] per battle check. The Enemy Lure Value is doubled if greater than 16/16ths, making enemy luring count for twice as much as it does on the field. Battle checks occur less often on the worldmap, but the higher increase of the danger counter makes up for this. Again, a random battle begins if, during a battle check, a randomly generated number between 0 and 255 is less than [Danger Counter / 256].

Unlike the Field Danger Counter, the Worldmap Danger Counter resets whenever the player leaves or enters the worldmap, which includes entering any town or dungeon or submerging while in the submarine.

As soon as a random battle is going to occur, the following things are considered in order:
 * Mystery Ninja/Chocobo Battles
 * Pre-emptive Chance
 * Special Formations
 * Normal Battles

On the worldmap the game first performs the Mystery Ninja check. If the player is in a forest there is a chance to face the Mystery Ninja as long as Yuffie hasn't been recruited. If the battle isn't a Mystery Ninja battle, the game next checks for chocobos; if the player is on a chocobo track and has the Chocobo Lure Materia equipped, there is a chance to get a chocobo battle.

The chance of a pre-emptive battle is worked out next. There is a base chance of 16/256 of getting a pre-emptive battle, but a mastered Pre-emptive Materia boosts this up to 64/256. The maximum is 85/256, roughly a 1/3 chance.

If the area has any special formation battles (Back Attack, Side Attack or Pincer Attack), the chance of getting them is calculated first (after the Mystery Ninja and chocobo battles) and the game will go through all possible special formation battles for the area in the following order:

The game first checks for Back Attacks, where the enemy party gets the first turn, then for the Side Attack, where the enemy is in the middle and the player characters on the sides, and the final possible special formation battle is a Pincer Attack where the player characters are surrounded by enemies. The game rolls a random number between 0 and 63 to determine if a special formation battle occurs and which of the special battles it is.

If neither a special formation battle nor a chocobo battle happens then the normal battles are checked out of the possible normal battle formations, with one exception: If the player gets the exact same battle formation twice in a row the game will reroll once for a new normal battle. If it's still the same battle no further rerolls are done.

The way encounters are decided on the worldmap is slightly different. Instead of a single random value being used for all types of special attack formations, they are checked individually. This means the chance of not getting a special formation on the worldmap is not the sum of the chances, but instead the three chances of not getting a Back Attack, not getting a Side Attack and not getting a Pincer Attack multiplied together.

Random encounters occur generally all around the worldmap, except in the Sleeping Forest or on the bridges in Wutai. Random encounters don't happen if the player is riding a chocobo, submarine, Tiny Bronco or Highwind, but still occur while riding on the buggy.

Final Fantasy VIII
Random encounters happen while on the worldmap and on the field and dungeons.

While on the worldmap every step the player takes the game performs a check to decide whether a battle starts or not. There is a variable which increases each time the check is performed. If the variable + LocationMod is greater than a number randomly generated between 0 and 255, a battle starts.

LocationMod
 * 12 player is in a forest
 * 128 player is on Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell
 * 2 anywhere else

Diablos's Enc-Half reduces the encounter rate to a quarter (despite its name), and Enc-None prevents all random encounters.

The encounters with the UFO? may look like a random encounter, but are in fact fixed. Therefore it is possible to trigger the encounters with the UFO even with Enc-None equipped.

Generally the random encounters in forests are harder than the ones on the field, such as on the Balamb island T-Rexaur is only encountered in the forest near Fire Cavern and Ruby Dragon is only encountered in the forests of Centra region. In Ultimecia Castle the player can encounter most enemies fought throughout the game as random encounters. In Centra Ruins fighting Tonberries as random encounters is required in order to fight Tonberry King. In the Esthar region the enemies fought on the worldmap change during the game: on the first visit the player fights Mesmerizes and Malboros, but after the Lunar Cry they have been replaced by Imps, Toramas and Behemoths. Some enemies are only encountered extremely rarely, such as the Chimera on the Dingo Desert.

While on the worldmap the player can avoid random encounters entirely by walking on a road/railway track, taking a train, car, the mobile Garden or airship, or riding a chocobo.

Final Fantasy IX
Unlike most previous games, the player is given no ability or accessory to affect the rate random encounters occur. Many players wishing to attempt the Excalibur II challenge try to find ways to reduce the frequency of random encounters, and unfortunately resetting the game when an unwanted encounter happens seems to be the best method. The chance to get into a random encounter is reset every time one enters a new screen, so whether or not one gets an encounter on one screen doesn't affect whether or not one will get one in the next screen.

The game has a few special type of random encounter, namely the encounters with the Friendly Enemies and the encounters with the Ragtime Mouse. These battles have a different battle music, and only occur under specific conditions. Friendly Enemies are fought in certain areas only, and their appearance may be tied to whether or not the player has encountered the previous Friendly Enemies in the quest. Ragtime Mouse only occurs in forests, and has a limited number of appearances per game disc, so the player can't just battle around in forests and finish the quest on the first disc.

Random encounters are avoided when riding Choco, a boat or airship.

Final Fantasy X
Random encounter rate varies only little between areas and appears fairly constant throughout the game, unlike in most previous games where certain areas have noticeably more random encounters than others. Some enemies encountered randomly appear very rarely, a feature of great annoyance to many players as the Monster Arena quest requires the player to capture 10 of each enemy. It appears some enemies have a chance of being encountered in very specific parts of the area, and that the game resets the encounter order and frequency when a save is reloaded, letting the player battle some slightly different enemies if they try to reload their game.

Random encounters can be avoided altogether with the No Encounters armor ability. It is especially useful when trying to dodge 200 lightning bolts on the Thunder Plains.

Final Fantasy X-2
Random encounters can be made more frequent with the Lure Bracer and be eliminated altogether with the Charm Bangle, although the Charm Bangle does not work in Via Infinito. The enemy groups possible to encounter depends on which chapter the player is in. Like in its predecessor some enemies only appear extremely rarely, making it difficult for players who want to Oversoul each enemy to complete Shinra's Bestiary.

Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy Tactics has something akin to random encounters, even though it does not have dungeons. When the player travels over the worldmap they pass over the "dots" on the map that signify battlefields. Traveling over those locations gives a chance of a encountering a group of enemies in that location's battlefield.