Yeah, that's one of the things that pisses me off about FFT, the whole "random encounters" thing. At least with Jeanne D'Arc it's completely optional...I played a few battles on the way to work today just to grab some equipment and level up Liane, who I'm basically using as a healer which has her a few levels behind everyone else.
I love the whole look of the game; the maps, the copious amounts (thus far) of cut scenes, the battle system, the whole rock-paper-scissors thing with I haven't really even started to work with, the little tutorials that show up whenever a new aspect of the game pops up, etc., etc.
I wonder how lengthy the game is.