I've played the Demo and i enjoyed the new battle system. The way it is set up Random battles would be totally out of place.

You could be thrust into battle in the middle of a town! It makes the whole thing exciting. Not like other RPGS where you see the monsters on the field, run into them *whooshy sound and visual effects* battle starts. Instead: Your walking along, theres and enemy, you can avoid it, or run right up and kill 'em before they know what hit 'em! The only whooshy-ness in the Demo was when the boss battle start, and only to show where the boss monster is. You can still run from it too! (If its giving you an incredibly hard time.)