@Master Chen: As I said, I needed to breeze through the game so I can see/check all of the text boxes in game & going through countless un-necessary random battles only slows that down.
Also, with RPGs I'm actually more in it for the story, so mindless level grinding is well... mindless in my opinion.
Call it cheating or cutting corners or simply me being weak, but let me quote my favorite Youtube Let's Player:
[quote=SSoHPKC]When you try to hinder the gamer's progress with mindless & useless obstacles, you're just "artificially" lengthening your game's lifespan & some people do not enjoy that.[/quote]
That's why Earthbound was so innovative back then when it was launched. When you get strong enough enemies actually run away from you. Also, you can cancel battles by pressing buttons when a monster approaches & you're strong enough to face it/them in battle & still gain experience points.
Too bad not many RPG makers followed Earthbound's example