In term of numbers.
Your party setup consist of, usually, 3 to 4 members. The enemy counters net you the similar amount from 1 to 3-4 enemies.
So, you ended up with 3v3 or 4v4. Why are they so afraid of doing 3v6 or even 3v9?
The baddies don't play fair. They certainly shouldn't care about outnumbering you.
If you actually run into large group of enemies once a while, you could actually make use of that useless "escape" command.