Random enemy placement encourages adaptation

[Golem]

I wanted to challenge this notion. There's this idea floating around that random enemy placement encourages players to adapt and meet every situation uniquely. I haven't found this to be the case.

Because the player is rarely forced to move forward, foreknowledge is irrelevant anyway. You can almost always see a situation before you walk into it (almost because of those off-screen lasers in Sky Temple).

Enemy placement only has so many variables to iterate through. First, there are a limited number of platform chunks in each stage. Even then, within the chunk sets, there are many that are functionally similar when it comes to facing enemies. For instance, there are several different kinds of platforms that move along a track in Sky Temple, but beyond moving vertically and moving horizontally, they offer little variation in facing an enemy. A sentinel's placement along the track won't matter--you'll still face it while balancing on a moving platform.

Part of this is due to homing enemy behavior, as well, which ignores any platforms.

Second, there are a limited number of enemies in each level. Enemies may be paired with one another to overlay attacks, but this can't provide infinite variation. If you put two enemies next to each other, it won't play differently if you move one of them to the right one tile. This is in part because 20XX does not encourage tight zoning. I have never memorized the exact distance to stand from a catapult. That is to say: I don't play on a level that appreciates granular differences in spacing, and I don't think 20XX is going for that anyway.

There are elements that vary enemy encounters more than random placement. Random pickups, for instance, change how high you can jump or what movement mechanics you have. You may be able to jump over an enemy you usually can't. Weapon swaps and boss weapons both change your tactical options greatly, and the wide array of them makes many playthroughs distinct.

20XX could be stricter on its enemy placement and still provide very different playthroughs while simultaneously ironing out awkward enemy setups.