Topic: Good JRPGs with no/few random encounters?

I'm not a big fan of random encounters, but some are ok. Also if you can avoid them, like with the grass in Pokemon, or use an item or spell to reduce them helps as well. I have a PS2, PS3, and a PS5, but can play PS1 and PS4 on the PS2 and PS5 respectively, so basically any PS console games. I do also have a PSP and Vita, but I'm not looking for handheld games right now. US region only as well please.

Examples of games I've liked like this
Chrono Trigger
Pokemon Series
Tales of Symphonia
Mario & Luigi / Paper Mario Series

Examples of too many randoms
Final Fantasy 3-5, 7, 10 (haven't played much of the others other than 15, but that one is different)
I did overall like FF7, and 4 and 10 are looking good so far as well, I just think that their randoms are a bit much (unless there was a way to reduce the randoms that I missed).

Persona 5?

Trails of Cold Steel 1-4 and Tales of Vesperia come to mind.

I really wanted to be able to play this game, but unfortunately I was too disturbed by the events leading up to the first(?) boss to continue playing the game. Sold my steelbook with my PS4.

I've played a bit of Persona 3 FES on PS2 though, just haven't gotten far. Is that worth picking up again?

I've demoed one of the ToCS games, but I don't remember much of it. Is it like Trails in the Sky? I have that one for my PSP, but haven't gotten too far. Also, I couldn't get into Vesperia, but I might try it again at some point. Some of the Tails Of games seem fun.

I should mention that I'm more looking for a turn based game instead of action, but I'll give action JRPGs a look too.

Also, I don't mind some random encounters. Like if I could have turned down any of the FF's encounter rate, that would have been fine too.

@HeavyMetalWario64DS Yeah, both Trails in the Sky and Trails of Cold Steel are part of the same overarching story so to speak. Sky comes first but I started with Cold Steel since it was easily available to me on Vita (it's also on PS3 and PS4) and it was a phenomenal experience. I didn't feel like I missed out on much by playing the first two Cold Steel titles, but you'll need to have played the previous games for the best experience with Cold Steel 3 and 4.

I'd say it's worth starting out with Cold Steel because it's more visually appealing (3D models instead of sprites like in Sky), it has voice acting and is in general more ambitious. For a series that has so many entries, I think it's important with good first impressions in order to entice you to play the rest of the games. That's why I wouldn't recommend starting out with Sky (unless you have the motivation) because you might drop it due to lack of interest, which I'm assuming might have happened already since you said that you hadn't gotten far in it. The reason being that these games have a lot of world-building and that might not be immediately appealing to newcomers. But I think once you overcome that hurdle, you will be hooked. And the best way of doing that is by playing the more appealing story arc first, which in my opinion is Cold Steel.

And yeah, Trails of Cold Steel is a turn-based JRPG with tactical elements (i.e. you can position yourself differently in the battle area in order to perform different attacks).

So if you've got a Switch I'd suggest Fire Emblem Three Houses. It's a tactical RPG but you can tone down the difficulty if you don't like permadeath 'n' stuff. It's very anime. And it doesn't have any random encounters, it has set battles.

Similarly, I would perhaps try Valkyria Chronicles Remastered. It's - again - a bit different to a standard turn based JRPG. It's set during a weird anime World War II in a fantasy world, and when it's your turn you move a character in third person and then do your attacks/heals etc. But it also has no random encounters, it just has set battles throughout the story.

If you want a more traditional turn based JRPG then can I persuade you to try Persona 5. It's a legit 10/10 JRPG and while it does have random encounters, it also has some very forgiving difficulty settings so you can breeze through them. It's also got a wonderful style, characters, music, etc.

Same applies to Persona 4 Golden on Vita.

The remasters of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy IX all have random encounters as you know, but they also have built in boosters so you can do stuff like stop random encounters when you're sick of them, give all your characters their limit break attacks so you can wipe out enemies instantly etc. It's essentially some optional tweaks that if all put in place constitute what's basically God mode so you can enjoy the story without fear of death. If you like challenging boss battles but not random battles, you can turn these tweaks on and off at will, so you can blast through the exploration unhindered and then go back to normal settings for a boss battle.

As others have said, Trails of Cold Steel I-IV is a good bet - a sort of Persona-lite. There's plenty of random encounters in these games but you can also drop the difficulty to them borderline irrelevant if that's your issue.

@HeavyMetalWario64DS
Yokai Watch games on 3DS.

The first palace/boss in Persona 5 is probably the most disturbing from a moralistic point of view. And I don’t think it’s spoiling anything since I think the trophy titles reveal this but I’ll spoiler tag just in case — each of the palaces is based around a villain that embodies one of the “seven deadly sins” like in Dante’s Inferno (lust, wrath, vanity, gluttony, etc.) and the portrayal of “lust” being a predator like that was pretty disturbing. The following areas and enemies are less unsettling in general. The game does continue to tackle very adult problems, though

Persona 3 and 4 are both great too, and the turn based nature of battle will appeal to you, but there is still a darkness thematically to the world and it’s enemies. The random encounters can usually be avoided to an extent, by watching the map and running past or escaping them, but there is still some issue there with enemies dotted throughout the dungeons.

@johncalmc @Th3solution Both of you have used the term "random encounters" to describe the enemies in the games and I don't think that's what the original poster was asking about. He was asking about games where you don't walk around and suddenly getting into battle like in the older Final Fantasy games. That doesn't happen in either Trails of Cold Steel or Persona 3-5 as you can see the enemies in the overworld and therefore choose to avoid them, i.e. there are no "random encounters". Just wanted to clarify that.

Resonance of Fate. I tend to avoid turn based games like the plague but I fell hard for this one. The battle system is gun based, pistols and SMG's mainly but you have grenades too. It does have some random encounters but you can leave them at any time. It's on PS3 and was remastered for PS4.

@LtSarge Yeah, that’s kinda what I meant about watching the map and then running away or around an enemy. It’s been a long time since I played P3 that I can’t remember for sure that game’s battle situation, but in P4 I usually could run through a dungeon and time my passage through hallways so as to avoid an encounter, but some hallways were just too tight to avoid every one, if memory serves. But yeah, you see the enemy, so it’s not as random as the FF7 overworld where you’re just walking along and the game randomly cuts to a battle. I don’t remember of any RPGs that do that anymore.

From last year, I believe neither Tales of Arise or Scarlet Nexus have random encounters. Both are pretty good (if I had to choose one, I’d go with ToA).
I don’t think Final Fantasy 7 Remake has them either?

edit: I didn't notice this was in the retro section and now I feel stupid

I've looked over these suggestions a bit and came up with a list of some games that I'd be wanting to play. I'm currently finishing up Pokemon Shining Pearl, and was looking for something to play when I'm done. I realized that I was wanting something a bit more retro (or at least feels like it) and turn based. Here's what I've come up with from my collection that I might be in the mood for.

Chrono Cross - PS1 Classic on PS3
Lunar Silver Star Story - PS1
Dragon Quest 11 - PS4 (only non retro on the list)

These next ones look really fun, but do have random encounters, and I don't know how frequent or if you can lower/avoid them. Would like some advice

Wild Arms 1-3 - PS1 & PS2
Final Fantasy 6 - GBA on Gameboy Player (my friend said that there's a ton of encounters, but I've also been told you can reduce them)
Dragon Quest 8 - PS2
Dragon Quest 7 - PS1 (This I heard was really slow, though, and had lots of randoms so I'm not wanting to play this as much)
Suikoden - PS1 classic on PS3

Which ones out of these are best, and how bad art the randoms in the ones that have them?

@HeavyMetalWario64DS You might be better waiting for Chrono Cross as it’s getting a proper remaster soon. Suikoden’s fantastic though, same as Final Fantasy VI.

Dragon Quest XI S (it's a little less pretty than the original version, but comes with a 2D mode, a buttload on QoL improvements, and a significant amount of new content) and Shin Megami Tensei V both come to mind as high-end modern JRPGs with turn-based combat and no random encounters. The latter is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, though.

@nessisonett Oh, how your post did not age well at all.... And it wasn't even that old.

As for Dragon Quest XI, even though I still really need to play it as I continue to leave it unplayed for no good reason, that seems to be a great recommendation based on reviews alone. It's really long, so you might not want to play it right after another really long game, but it's supposed to be fantastic.

@HeavyMetalWario64DS Hey, I've played the first Suikoden and the story is fantastic, though you might be turned off by the game's encounter rate and small inventory space as it aligns with the older FFs' limitations and difficulty. They're not hard per say but given your preference probably wouldn't be a fan of the encounter rate despite the option to leave anytime. I can't speak for the sequels though in case they improved or changed things.

Threads of Fate is a pretty fun JRPG, it's more action based but there's no random encounters outside cinematic reasons.

@HeavyMetalWario64DS If you want to give Final Fantasy 3-5 a chance again, I suggest the Pixal Remaster version. You can toggle random encounters off and on plus adjust the XP and gold rate.

Another game that comes to mind is Secret of Mana on PS4 along with Trials of Mana.