Random idea on battle situations..

[Akujin]

I was thinking about this when standing next to an aggressive monster, after I took out my weapons and was prepared to engage it..and before going in close, started to think "This is stupid, even as an aggressive monster, if its within range and I'm with weapon out, its just going to sit there and wait for me to wack it first". So the thought came, could Aggressive monsters be made to interact with player activity? Or, for instance, when standing in something like Ifrit..you can stand on one end of the arena with weapons out, buffs on, etc and he'll just stand there, waiting patiently for you to make the first move...what if he attacked us first, after a certain amount of time has elapsed, if you dont engage..THEY engage. Or, the random NM or aggressive monster in the field, if you take out your weapon, they respond to the action before an actual attack is made.

The other thought sort of going with this.. is something from 13/13-2. If conditions are met prior to beginning a battle, you can either go into a battle with a full party boost, or not. Say for instance.. the Crystal Tower. If certain levels have bosses or chests that are optional for the completion, you gain a boost like full party haste for instance. If other conditions arent met, say.. the main boss is something mechanically-organic. Along the Crystal Tower's path you fight different parts of it, if you can destroy the piece for a certain time elapses, it weakens the actual final encounter. If you dont defeat it within a certain time, you can still proceed to the end of that level, but when you get to the final encounter, that piece you didnt defeat is attached to the final, increasing its strength, or speed, or evasion, etc. Or, if the case may be, you dont defeat any of the pieces, the final encounter is everything..plus it engages YOU upon entry after a minute or so of entry.

Though, in that particular case, I would also suggest a higher level of rewards for taking on the final encounter at its absolute prime.

Anyways..just random ideas. Thoughts?

[Jynx]

For the most part a "Agressive monster just standing there" is so the party is prepared for battle before engaging a beast like Ifrit.

Other times it's because the monster is unaware of you. Although on the idea of monster reacting to player activity there is allready a (Huge) thread about it right here.