Y u hate me, RNG?

2012-11-29T16:05:00-08:00

I recently finished acquiring all of the ship parts in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Getting the Power, Courage, and Wisdom Gems was no big deal. Look around, try new things, and you'll find them. Ship parts? They're randomly acquired. You get them from shops (whose stock changes every day), treasure maps (which can be scummed to get the same type of part), treasure chests, and minigames. The problem is that it's controlled by the RNG. There are 64 parts to collect, but thanks to our friend Mr. Statistics and Probability, you will likely acquire over 200 ship parts before you get all 64 unique ship parts.

This design idea is ridiculous. I realize I'm picking on an old game, but I still see it in many other games. Even Zelda: Skyward Sword is guilty of this with its random drops from enemies. When will game developers and designers stop relying on random elements to add artificial difficulty or length to a game? Give gamers well-defined means of getting specific things. Continuing my Phantom Hourglass story, imagine if you had to look far and wide for the 64 ship parts. Each one would be new to your collection, so it wouldn't get (that) old, and the life upgrade on the ship is plenty reason to continue looking for parts. But no; ship parts got demoted to "random drop" status. Spirit Tracks committed this sin with treasure, which you redeem to Linebeck the Third in order to get your train parts. I can't tell you how many times I saved that freakin' Goron in the Ocean Realm, praying to get the 7 Mystic Jades I needed for the last of my train parts!

This goes far beyond just Zelda, though. RPGs (which Zelda is not) have been doing it since their inception. Kill a monster, and you might get lucky with a new item! Except that item will be outclassed in a dungeon or two...

Don't get me wrong; Zelda isn't the only offender. It's fairly light on RNG elements in the grand scheme of things. Other games with excessive RNG are below:

post-SotN Castlevania (items, souls, glyphs, subweapons (Portrait))
Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Pokémon, et al (item drops, weapon drops, Poké Ball captures, monster encounters, you name it!)
Zelda: Spirit Tracks (treasure)
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (ship parts)
Zelda: Skyward Sword (treasure)
Diablo series (loot odds)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (tripping, Smash Balls, Assist Trophies, Poké Balls, etc)
Animal Crossing (pick a mechanic, any mechanic!)
Fire Emblem (level up stat amounts; there's an entire gameplay style revolving around this!)
Golden Sun (encounters, drops, whether a Djinni will run from you, etc)

Note: If you really want me to go on, I can. But we'll be here all night...

Here's a better idea; follow in the vein of Metroid, Zelda, or Cave Story — where you have to find your power-ups — or use a system similar to Etrian Odyssey 3's: kill an enemy in a particular way, and you might get a specific, much better item. Except don't screw it up like Atlus did; give the item to the player either every time or only once. This will make players look for each secret kill item, and they might even appreciate the experience if the secret items are really good. That design idea rewards creative play! Random items and drops do not. All randomness does to a game is force the player to play for longer in order to reach their goals.

Can we please reserve randomness to something like AI, which could actually do with a smidge more randomness? I'd love to see more games (especially RPGs) that reward creativity in combat and exploration of the game world instead of forcing gamers to spend mindless hours waiting for the magic number on the roulette wheel.

Disclaimer: The games listed above are not necessarily bad, they just have mechanics that seriously hamper the experience if you're after 100% completion.

Z Space Blog - Rants

Y u hate me, RNG?