The Last Poster Wins [v31]

**Neo Emolga** · 07-10-2022, 04:54 PM

Yeah, in RPGs, I almost never run from battles unless there's no hope of winning (on the verge of death and need to escape to avoid a game over) or the battle is extremely dangerous up front, and those types of battles usually don't happen with common encounters and you usually can't run from boss battles. But I know that if you run from too many battles because you're feeling lazy, the monsters are annoying, or you'd rather progress through the storyline sooner, eventually you end up paying for it by being too under-leveled and suddenly the boss wallops you like it's nobody's business, forcing you to have to go back to grind anyway. :P

But yeah, as a good example of battles where it's probably a good idea to always run away, running away from any Tonberry encounter in a Final Fantasy game is usually what I do if I can, because I know how badly those guys can MESS YOU UP regardless of what version you're playing and what level your party is at. And if you can't run from the encounter entirely (Final Fantasy Tactics Advance/A2, for example), good lord, keep your distance at all times at all costs other than getting close to those guys. And usually the risk/reward for taking these guys down is not worth it.

**Chakramaster** · 07-11-2022, 11:26 AM

I used to run a lot when I was younger and just wanted to get place to place asap for story. Now I learned and know how to fight and keep exp going as much as I can to keep things enjoyable and less frustrating.

Oh man don't get me started on those Tonberry in Final Fantasy games. Though they are fun in FF14. xD

**Neo Emolga** · 07-12-2022, 10:50 PM

I think the other case where I ran from some battles by default was in Earthbound, where there are various enemies that self-destruct when you defeat them and they do massive damage to you. In those cases, yeah, just run and grind on some other guys. There's plenty of other options.

And yeah, running from MMO battles always seems to be a mixed bag. In some of them, like WoW, monsters and such stop chasing you if you get far away enough from their original location, but in some of the older MMOs like Everquest, they are relentless and chase you incessantly unless you go into another zone and leave the area entirely or... you die. :P

Yeah, I don't have very fond memories of Everquest. That game was really stressful and very anti-newbie with its punishments for dying (besides losing massive EXP, you could easily lose all your gear if you died in a spot where you couldn't recover your corpse) and it's many high risk and low reward situations. And it was my first and least favorite MMO out of everything I've ever played. Caused me to almost never pick up another MMO after that first bad experience. :P

**Voltaire Magneton** · 07-14-2022, 01:49 AM

The idea of running away and bringing along a monster to somewhere near a rest area sounds interesting, but I guess that's what despawning is for lol

**Chakramaster** · 07-14-2022, 02:14 PM

Most safe areas I know in MMOs have security NPC to kill any monster to protect from someone randomly bringing mobs into safe zones and killing other players. Would be funny to see, but it's for safety xD

**Neo Emolga** · 07-14-2022, 11:58 PM

I saw it a few times in Everquest. It was one of those early MMOs, so the devs probably didn't play test it enough to find that out.

I got killed a few times hanging in safe areas. In one example, some hooligan had a bunch of griffons chase him out of the zone, and when he disappeared, they attacked the nearest innocent targets, included me. The more I think about that game, the more I realize just how awful it really was. And people think Elden Ring is a tough game...

**Chakramaster** · 07-16-2022, 12:52 AM

Originally Posted by Neo Emolga

I saw it a few times in Everquest. It was one of those early MMOs, so the devs probably didn't play test it enough to find that out.

I got killed a few times hanging in safe areas. In one example, some hooligan had a bunch of griffons chase him out of the zone, and when he disappeared, they attacked the nearest innocent targets, included me. The more I think about that game, the more I realize just how awful it really was. And people think Elden Ring is a tough game...

Oh no I remember it with my first real MMO Rising Force Online (RFOnline). Heck you had to level each individual stat as you progressed. Starting from lower level mobs. So to use a higher level shield as a tank class. You needed your shield/defense level at a certain level. So often times you'd be in high level areas seeing someone holding onto all the mobs for a monster others want to farm. If you tried killing one of those in that area. That person might go near you and let the entire mob hitting them AoE you dead in an instant. xD

**Neo Emolga** · 07-17-2022, 12:15 AM

Originally Posted by Chakramaster

Oh no I remember it with my first real MMO Rising Force Online (RFOnline). Heck you had to level each individual stat as you progressed. Starting from lower level mobs. So to use a higher level shield as a tank class. You needed your shield/defense level at a certain level. So often times you'd be in high level areas seeing someone holding onto all the mobs for a monster others want to farm. If you tried killing one of those in that area. That person might go near you and let the entire mob hitting them AoE you dead in an instant. xD

Ugh, that sounds bloody awful.

What also made Everquest horrendous was the severe EXP loss you suffered for dying, and it could even make you lose levels. Hours (days even) worth of grinding could be lost from something stupid that wasn't your fault or was just a freak accident. When you died, you had to go to the location where you died with nothing equipped at all (unless you had backup equipment in your character's bank), which mean you could easily be killed again and lose even more EXP. Then, if you managed to get to your corpse, you had to loot each individual item you had in your inventory and had equipped. All one at a time. Given the fact this is the spot where you died, it could still be a very dangerous area, which meant that while you were looting your corpse, you could get attacked and killed again. And in Everquest, they didn't give you any indication as to where your corpse was on the map, so if you got lost and died, good luck trying to get to your corpse again. You would probably need help. And if you didn't get to your corpse in time, absolutely everything you had on you would be gone.

On top of ALL THAT, where you respawned upon death depended on where your binding location was. If you died on the other side of the world and didn't get someone to bind you to a new location (only certain caster classes could do this), you could have to cross over multiple continents to get to even just the zone where you died. So instead of enjoying the game, you could spend hours just making the long trip back to where you died in hopes that you could reclaim all your lost stuff.

I think I only played up to level 19 and I decided to quit. As far as MMOs go, that's a pretty early resignation, but I just couldn't stand it any longer and I knew the game was only going to get harder and more stressful. Never had any regrets about that either.