Random Encounters

From Final Fantasy Wiki

Random Encounters, also known as Random Battles or Fights, are enemy encounters that occur when traveling to place to place on foot, and until recently, have been a recurring tradition in the Final Fantasy series. As indicated, random encounters can occur at any time when walking on the Overworld or in a dungeon.

The enemies a player can meet varies both on where they are in the game and the terrain they are on. For example, the forest may contain enemies not found in the plains, while another enemy may be found anyway. Some enemies have a very low encounter rate and thus are almost impossible to find. These usually leave rare items or fulfill some other important purpose. Other enemies are only found in a specific area and nowhere else, allowing the chance for players to never even realize they exist.

There are several ways to prevent random encounters. The player could reduce or eliminate random encounters entirely by traveling on an airship or chocobo, equipping an equipment e.g. Molulu's Charm in Final Fantasy VI, or learning an ability e.g. GF Diablos's Enc-None ability in Final Fantasy VIII.

Final Fantasy Tactics has something akin to random encounters, even though it does not have any dungeons. When the player travels over the World Map, they often pass over green areas. Traveling over those locations gives a chance of a encountering a group of enemies in that location's battlefield.