Coming soon to a debate near you!

Good afternoon ladies and gentleman. Before I begin, I'd like you to picture that you're playing an RPG (perhaps FINAL FANTASY), that you've just defeated an extremely difficult boss, are low on HP and MP and are now returning to a "save point" so that you may save your progress. Indeed, this "save point" is well within your sites and you are about to access it . . . BUT THEN SUDDENLY, the screen goes all haywire, you hear this annoying "battle theme" which you've heard hundreds (if not, then thousands) of times before and you see some equally annoying monsters. Noting your low HP and MP, you try to flee the battle, but for someone reason, you're either too slow to flee or the monsters are too fast. After having tried to flee and taken damage in the process of attempting to flee, you decide to fight back against the monsters, only to have your party annihilated due to your low health, at the same time, undoing the progress against the extremely difficult boss you just defeated. You then think to yourself "If only I could have seen this monsters without having to engage them in battle." This, my fair audience, highlights the problem with random encounters. It's because of situations like these that I strongly affirm the resolution which states Resolved: RPG games (Final Fantasy being an example) should quit incorporating "random encounters" into their systems." I shall do so with 3 contentions. Contetion #1: "Random Encounters have already served their purpose." In the older RPG games, random encounters were indeed a nuisance, however, it was because graphics that the idea of abandoning them seemed nonsensical. By this, I mean that animators were allowed far more detail when using the random encounter system. Compare this image: http://blog.pricegrabber.co.uk... To this image: http://www.coolrom.com...(2).gif Immediately, you notice that the difference is detail. During battle, the monsters and your party are well detailed, whereas when you're simply traveling, the amount of detail is insignificant. Now, this may have been a legitimate reason to favor random encounters back in the old days, but gaming has evolved. Now, the detail in the battle scenes can be equated to the detail in the non battle scenes. My evidence for this claim is the rpg known as Final Fantasy XII. An RPG which did not rely on on random encounters might I add. Thus, with the newer, more powerful gameplay machines, the addition of random encounters should be completely out of the question. Contention #2: Random encounters limit the players freedom in RPGS. This contention is indeed a no brainer. As implied in my opening story, you had no choice but to face the random monsters. You couldn't simply circumvent these monsters (with a little strategy mind you) and you certainly couldn't choose when to fight them (with the exception of a rare item). You fought this battle when the computer told you to. This removes plenty of potential from the game as who likes being controlled? Who likes playing a game in a highly linear fashion. There's a reason the "Grand Theft Auto" games are as popular as they are and that is because of the overall CHOICE you have in the game. It would be far better if players were able to choose which battles they wanted to face in RPG games as restrictions are detrimental to the gameplay's potential (a statement which I shall elaborate on if my opponent request). Contention #3. Finally (and most obviously, as hinted by the above story), random encounters can really make a game tedious due to the sheer repetition. This actually ties into the above point concerning freedom. When you are randomlly forced to fight "random Malaboro #10" 50 times over, something is indeed wrong with the gameplay. This a reason as to why choice/freedom is necessary as doing the same over and over again just makes the game highly repetitive (a point which I may need to elaborate on). Thus, it is quite clear that these three contentions serve to show how the addition of random encounters into modern RPGs is more trouble than its worth. And that'll do it for now. I now await my opponent's rebuttal.