Pokemon had a pretty interesting take on random battles. When you're in the overworld, random battles only take place in the tall grass. But they also usually have a path with no tall grass for much of the journey. Sometimes they throw in a small patch of tall grass in the path, but it's just one battle and you're relatively prepared for it when you see it coming. If you're lucky, sometimes you won't even get into a battle in that small patch.

Of course, sometimes there are trainers who line the paths, and their Pokemon are usually stronger than the wild Pokemon. So in order to get past, you can either go right ahead and fight them, or risk a couple of random battles by sneaking around them in the tall grass (unless they turn around and spot you...then you'll likely have to do both).

When you go into areas such as caves, you know you'll be having random battles, so you are kind of prepared for it. And Pokemon also has several methods of preventing random battles from happening, as well as the ability to run from a fight.

But yeah, as far as the 'traditional' RPGs go, I don't like the unavoidable random battles with the boring combat system. I do quite like the Shin Megami Tensei's style though. They do have random battles, but the combat system is such that you can blow through enemies quite quickly (and get pretty decently rewarded for doing so).

I'd like for all games to have some kind of 'save now' system, rather than the arbitrary save points that many have (not just RPGs). Even if it's a 'suspend' option where you can only load that particular save once, I'd really like to have that.