History Main / PreexistingEncounters

* Early games in the ''Franchise/{{Lunar}}'' series use random encounters (with the occasional set encounter), while the remakes display the enemies as monsters, making battles potentially avoidable.

** The same is true for ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}''. All enemy encounters are present in the world proper, helping to lend to the game's grand sense of scale. The player can choose to fight any of them at will (Or not. The first time you go through any given area, there will be enemies a good four or five times your level scattered about). While most enemies will mind their own business otherwise, other enemies will initiate the battle on their own; some will do so if they see you, some if they ''hear'' you, and still others if you use an Ether-based move in their vicinity. Likewise, even enemies that wouldn't pick a fight with you ordinarily ''might'' do so if they stumble upon you in the middle of a fight with another one of their species. Also as an anti-frustration measure, even aggressive enemies will stop triggering if you're ten levels or more higher than them, allowing you to freely explore certain areas with impunity after a while.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroes'' games, which were remade for PSP, have their "random" encounters wandering around the overworld. They'll home in on you at close range, but if you're careful, you can pretty much avoid them completely.

* ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaMk2'' does away with the random encounters from [[VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptunia the previous game]] and displays each enemy group on the map of the dungeon you're in. Every game in the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series since has used it.

* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'': In the third and fourth games, most foes appear on the map, and you initiate battles by interacting with them. The enemy encounters that don't appear on the map trigger when you step on specific tiles.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has a handful. The game carefully fails to distinguish them from the RandomEncounters, but you'll notice on replays that the {{Unique Enem|y}}ies are all encountered just once, in roughly the same area of the same screen every time. The first Froggit is also a special scripted encounter. The [[spoiler:Amalgamates in the True Lab]] don't pretend to be random encounters, but do disguise themselves. [[spoiler:As water, or a fridge, or your speech bubbles... or a save point.]]

** ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' has the enemies shown on the overworld, who move towards you quickly to initiate the encounter. If you're fast enough, you can avoid them, but most of the time, you won't. [[RespawningEnemies They also respawn]] if you leave and re-enter the room after defeating them.

*** In ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndEevee'', all wild Pokémon encounters are preexisting encounters - wild Pokémon pop out of tall grass (and anywhere in caves) and roam around the map, prompting an encounter only if you run into them. This makes traversing caves [[AntiFrustrationFeatures much]], ''[[AntiFrustrationFeatures much]]'' [[AntiFrustrationFeatures less tedious]] than in previous games.

** ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi Mario & Luigi]]'' games have this as well. If an enemy hits the second character, they get the First Strike.
** ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' has the Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., Fire Bros. and Sledge Bros. randomly wandering around the world maps. Mario is transported to a battle screen if they run into him, but can sometimes avoid them.

* ''[[VideoGame/GuardiansCrusade Guardian's Crusade]]'' uses this, with enemy encounters represented as white ghost/tadpole-like things on the map. In addition, the ghost's appearance and behaviour denoted the kind of battle it would be - an easy battle with a weak enemy would be represent by a small, blue-eyed ghost that ran away from you, whereas a stronger enemy would be larger, have red eyes and actively come after you. The in-between ghosts had green eyes and just sort of wandered around.

* ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaMk2'' does away with the random encounters from [[VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptunia the previous game]] and displays each enemy group on the map of the dungeon you're in.

** Let's start with the granddaddy, DungeonsAndDragons, and its spin-off ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}''. As fantasy games with many site-based adventures, there is usually a certain amount of predictability in the encounters. Players often have numerous spells and powers that allow them to see ahead and detect, avoid, or otherwise bypass enemies and perform a DungeonBypass. The exact methods vary by edition, but mundane stealth, invisibility, spells that allow clairvoyance and similar powers, gathering rumors away from the dungeon and putting clues together, teleportation, magic that reshapes dungeon walls, illusions, spells that create walls and barriers, and more are all available so you don't have to encounter every single enemy or trap between you and your objective.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Grandia}}'' series, not only are the enemies visible, but how you make contact with them effects whether you get first strike or not.

*** In ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndEevee'', all wild Pokémon encounters are preexisting encounters - wild Pokémon pop out of tall grass (and anywhere in caves) and roam around the map, prompting an encounter only if you run into them. This makes traversing caves [[AntiFrustrationFeatures much]], ''[[AntiFrustrationFeatures much]]'' [[AntiFrustrationFeatures less tedious than before]].

* As stated above, trainers in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games are entirely avoidable, while legendary Pokémon (except for the free roaming kinds) appear as sprites on the screen that the player has to walk up to to initiate the fight, and most can be ignored completely. ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'' also completely ditches the random encounter system for wild Pokémon in favor of this.

* Numerous trainers in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games are entirely avoidable, and legendary Pokémon (except for the free roaming kinds) appear as sprites on the screen that the player has to walk up to to initiate the fight, and most can be ignored completely. However, starting with ''Ruby'' and ''Sapphire'', if the Pokémon on the box is legendary, the one pictured almost always ''must'' be encountered (the only exception so far is ''Emerald'', the UpdatedRerelease of that pair of games, since the mascot, Rayquaza, only needs to be approached instead of fought; a battle with it can optionally be done later). The only games not to have a legendary Pokémon on the box since then are ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'', which have the same mascots as the original ''Red'' and ''Green'', though when ''Gold'' and ''Silver'', the first games in the series to have legendary mascots, were remade as ''[=HeartGold=]'' and ''[=SoulSilver=]'', the remakes changed it so the mascots had to be encountered before the player could go for the Pokémon League.

** In many other games, awarding XP for combat simply isn't done. Thus, the party has an incentive to skip mooks and other obstacles with almost no upside for taking more risk than they have to. This is doubled in games where loot from combat just isn't a thing. For example, in AllFleshMustBeEaten, which is based on many ways to do a zombie apocalypse, and where zombies aren't likely to have anything on them you want, avoiding enemies is probably the smart option in ''most'' scenarios. Likewise, in 'Franchise/TheWorldOfDarkness'' or UnknownArmies, which are both UrbanFantasy, fighting is usually very dangerous, very likely to bring unwelcome attention from law enforcement, and your real enemy's minions are likely to have nothing on them you couldn't get much more easily somewhere else, so unless destroying those minions is an objective, using your powers to just make it past them is a good idea.

** In many other games, awarding XP for combat simply isn't done. Thus, the party has an incentive to skip mooks and other obstacles with almost no upside for taking more risk than they have to. This is doubled in games where loot from combat just isn't a thing. For example, in AllFleshMustBeEaten, which is based on many ways to do a zombie apocalypse, and where zombies aren't likely to have anything on them you want, avoiding enemies is probably the smart option in ''most'' scenarios. Likewise, in the WorldOfDarkness or UnknownArmies, which are both UrbanFantasy, fighting is usually very dangerous, very likely to bring unwelcome attention from law enforcement, and your real enemy's minions are likely to have nothing on them you couldn't get much more easily somewhere else, so unless destroying those minions is an objective, using your powers to just make it past them is a good idea.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' has four predetermined battles; the Golem at the gates of Cantlin, the Green Dragon guarding Princess Gwaelin's cell in the tunnel to Rimuldar, the Axe Knight guarding Erdrick's Armor in the ruins of Hauksness, and the Dragonlord himself.

* Unlike ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', the ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' game series is composed entirely of non-random encounters.

* The ''VideoGame/LegendOfHeroes'' games, which were remade for PSP, have their "random" encounters wandering around the overworld. They'll home in on you at close range, but if you're careful, you can pretty much avoid them completely.

** Also, very small enemies-- such as ants and slugs-- who are actually quite tough will be squashed underfoot unless another enemy attacks you while you're immobilized.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', Shadows walk the map as blobs - black blobs are normal, red blobs are EliteMooks, and gold blobs are MetalSlime. Hitting them with your weapon starts the fight. Hit it in the back and you get a surprise round; get hit first and ''they'' get the first move. If you level up enough, they ''run from you'' - and if you happen to fight them anyway, the enemies will suffer from the Distress status effect.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'', enemies now have dungeon specific forms, like knights, security guards and police officers, who wander the maps. Battle starts when you attack them or they attack you. However, in keeping with the game's PhantomThief themes, you now sneak up and BackStab enemies to get an advantage in battle, instead of just hitting them.

* The ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' games have enemies visible onscreen as shadowy shapes similar to Persona 3's blobs. These can be frozen and used as steps.

* For the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series, ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'', and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' feature this kind of encounters.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', once you reach a certain karma (in the former) or faction infamy (in the latter) level, you will have hit squads sent after you. When you enter their spawning areas, they will always find you, although you can sometimes get off a few shots at them from a distance before they attack (though this counts as unprovoked attacking and thus will hurt your reputation even ''worse'').

* All of the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 ''Franchise/{{Atelier}}'' games (''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'', ''[[VideoGame/AtelierTotoriTheAdventurerOfArland Totori]]'', ''[[VideoGame/AtelierMeruruTheApprenticeOfArland Meruru]]'', ''[[VideoGame/AtelierAyeshaTheAlchemistOfDusk Ayesha]]'', ''[[VideoGame/AtelierEschaAndLogyAlchemistsOfTheDuskSky Escha & Logy]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierShallieAlchemistsOfTheDuskSea Shallie]]'') have enemy groups shown walking around on the dungeon map. Most are skippable, but there are also some that guard the exits to each level, and have to be defeated to proceed.

* ''Franchise/DragonQuest''

* Later games in the ''Franchise/TalesSeries''.

* For the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series, ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' feature this kind of encounters.

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* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' has some, which is different for the series. However, similar to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', one enemy on the screen represents a party, or a single monster. This makes hunting those elusive {{Metal Slime}}s a ''lot'' easier, at least until the Tower of Nod where the ''King'' metal slimes hide in groups. However, on the downside, they ''chase you'', which certainly doesn't make it any easier to avoid them. (And later on, you run into enemies who block your way)

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'', in addition to its normal random encounters, also has some monsters for the Monster Arena visible on the world map. While they give chase if you are near by, they can usually be seen for some distance off, and can be avoided. This is changed for the 3DS remake, where ''all'' encounters are visible this way.

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* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has a handful. The game carefully fails to distinguish them from the RandomEncounters, but you'll notice on replays that the {{Unique Enem|y}}ies are all encountered just once, in roughly the same area of the same screen every time. The [[spoiler:Amalgamates in the True Lab]] don't pretend to be random encounters, but do disguise themselves. [[spoiler:As water, or a fridge, or your speech bubbles... or a save point.]]

* In ''VideoGame/ChildOfLight'', standard mooks only trigger battle mode when you approach them. If one approaches you from behind, you will be Ambushed and they will attack first, if you do the same to them, you get a Surprise Attack.

* Early games in the ''Franichise/{{Lunar}}'' series use random encounters (with the occasional set encounter), while the remakes display the enemies as monsters, making battles potentially avoidable.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'', in addition to its normal random encounters, also has some monsters for the Monster Arena visible on the world map. While they give chase if you are near by, they can usually be seen for some distance off, and can be avoided.