Random battles in RPGs are completely fine.

I never understood how this was somehow a dealbreaker for RPG players. Sure, high encounter rates can be a little annoying, but the way people speak about random battles is wild.

You have to enter combat somehow, and most games nowadays just throw some enemies in the game world that you often can’t escape. Choosing not to fight them results in an underleveled party that can’t beat the boss.

Why is it that people complained about this so hard when the alternatives don’t even fundamentally change the experience?

I like random battles in early RPGs. That feeling of dungeon preparation, bracing for a potential jump scare of an enemy just increases the tension of whether or not I’m gonna survive. You could have rare, dangerous enemies show up without giving it away. It was great.