Ok, so just bumped into both what I like and hat e about JRPGS. I turned off encounters to make navigation bearable knowing full well I wasn't going to level up as much or gain as much money (gil). I was ok with that, because there were unavoidable encounters such as monsters blocking doors or hiding in chests. Not to mention the chests can contain a great amount of money. Also, the boss battles were fairly straight forward and simple.... until Tiamet.
My party is sporting pretty neat gear, diamond armor and weaponry, the dragon lord unlocked our full potential, I'm like level 27 (should be higher if I had been doing random encounters), and so far I've been walking through any fight. This MOFO absolutely wiped the floor with me the first two rounds. It throws everything and the kitchen sink at me, thunder, ice, fire, poison, etc. I had an oh shit moment realizing I was very likely under powered and might have soft locked myself. I decided to go down one floor, turn on encounters and grind until leveling up. I level up aaaand.... it was sad. my life only went up 5 more points, my strength 1 point, and so on. And now I was low on mana and health and would have to use ether and potions and might not have enough for the battle.
I reboot my save, suck it up face it one last time. I look at my team, look at the spells available and tweak my strategy every so slightly. I had to revive my Ninja and Black Mage once using Phoenix and then healed everyone with Healara. I sped up the Knight's and Ninja's attacks and would use heal spells on the whole party whether needed or not. And with that I defeated it.
It's this scenario that made me fall in love with RPGs. Outmaneuvering your opponent. I am missing a few chests in the sunken temple, the dragon caves and the air temple. I will use this opportunity to turn on encounters and level up, because I have a feeling the worst is yet to come.
I also Like that I recognize musical themes and levels that games like Sea of Stars and Octopath Traveler pay homage to. It's weird to feel nostalgia while playing the source material lol.