Well, I would have to say that I enjoy battling monsters. Ofcourse I am a level up junky. I can sit there for hours for now damn reason but to level up, and that's it. So yes, I do have to say that I enjoy Random Battles most of the time. Sometimes it can get on my nerves, but all in all I enjoy random encounters.

Scary? No. Just alot of spair time.

and what about the cases like Chrono Cross? where you get to see the monsters but also forced to battle about 80% of them? And most of the battles are boring?

Yeah, I was just thinking about how sad it is that I probably won't ever get to play a game that was quite like FFXII again because Square insists on more or less giving each Final Fantasy its own battle system.  12 was paced right; everything I hear about 13 is that it will be "fast paced" which I'll probably find irritating.  I hated the ATB system that reigned throughout the majority of the series because I found it arbitrary and not exactly as "exhilarating" as it was advertised.  10's system was okay, but honestly, it did make playing a chore--I felt obligated to use everyone in every battle because you /could/ without exp/member lessening.
 
Nevertheless, I agree, 12 spoiled me.  I fell in love with that game which was quite unexpected.

Breath of fire 3 for instance has too many damn random battles.
 
I don't mind the random battles when they're lessened and fun, like in Legend of Legaia. Any game where you actually have to think a bit is good, or such as Earthbound when you can kill the enemy automatically if you're strong enough. Definitely one of my favorite "systems"

Quote from SHODAN on 06/18/08 at 02:31:03:

 
I shouldn't have cheated in Legaia... bah.

I agree with that, but really, not much you can do about that without enemy scaling I'd think, no?

Quote from Sir_Asura on 06/18/08 at 03:14:45:

 
Tales of the Abyss gets major kudos for not having that. The enemies are visible on the map, so they can be avoided (for the most part, since they spawn at random places and times, and they sometimes spawn right next to you, and then you have to battle and face the long loading times on the world map sgdjnbvdnbnbgftnbftgbn).
 
Quote:

 
Hello Digital Devil Saga.

Codes? An item we get when playing the game again after completing it?

I used to hate random battles, Persona (P1) is the first game in which I don't mind them much, and that's because, I enjoy the negotiation system in that game and it breaks me away from the monotonous backgrounds, but in general I prefer to see enemies and be able to out-run them.
 
What P3 tried with being able to surprise the enemy, I think is a good idea but badly implemented because of the camera perspective, and timing/range of the weapons, but then in general, I dislike P3 (but I still play it and can have fun despite this).  
 
Really, I think they only exist because they're easy to program... putting enemies on-screen is much more work, even if they spawn randomly as in ToA or whatever that was mentioned earlier in this thread. Opting out of battles and being able to alter encounter rates should be a part of every RPG, so you can adjust the battle/story balance to your liking.
 
 

I actually really like random battles.  I almost never run from them.  
I also tend to run around for hours to level up for the sake of leveling up, and the spell I use most in Nocturne is... riberama.  Hahaha...

Battles either Random, or by touching on Screen enemies mainly serve as a means to grind, or to Level your characters, if there were too few of these people would complain about it taking forever to level a character.  
 
But there should be a nice balance of Battles, and unique things to get out of battles, besides exp.  
 
I recall the fights in Persona being rather humorous due to the fact that you could talk your way out of a fight, or really piss off the opponets. Sometimes they'd give you items b4 leaving.  
 
In other games you get compontents for crafting, or you get to capture monsters to work on your team, the most fun skill I recall is the Invite skill from FFT where you could get they enemy to defect and join your side, then after the battle you could boot them.  
 
Only times I get upset over too many battles, is when the battles just take forever to get through, like in Stella Dues, and note I grinded in that game to the max Lv, it took forever. Or the battles in FFX-2, where you spend a good 5-10 mins barely surviving an overpowered beast, only to get rewarded with crap gil and exp.  
 

I feel that Random Battles let you take in your surroundings and scenery, instead of having to worry about avoiding them. But you wont know what you're up againtst until you enter one.  
 
Wandering Encounters are good because you can usually avoid them if you need to, but you have to constantly pay attn to the enemies or you'll get pulled into battle.  
 
Each type has its pros and cons.  
 
I'm ok with either, so long as the battles dont take 30mins to  an hour.