i agree with a lot of the stuff you said regarding random encounters. they were usually a nuisance and not even worth battling. pandamonium was good because of the music, slightly more challenging random encounters and bosses and habing to survive all of those floors to get to the final boss. FF2 wasn't great gameplay wise and square didn't do too great a job on making it fun but the storyline and feel of the game makes me want to continue despite the annoying encounters. so FF2 is a good FF in my opinion. just a bit boring and a little bit simple storyline-wise compared to others. good luck witht the rest of the FFs.