I don't like random encounters because sometimes I just want to go to the next town. When you are back tracking and other things it becomes annoying.

That said, Chrono Trigger got it right. Enemies on the map, sometimes appear out of no where, enemy placement lead to different strategy due to area and line attacks, almost every encounter could be avoided and above all it was fast paced so as to not interrupt the flow too much (after battles stuff scrolled by lighting quick, no long battle transition, etc.).