I would suggest to stay away from the older FF's (1-6) if you want to play a FF with less bombardment of random encounters. Also while 10 may be linear, it works so amazingly well BECAUSE it is linear. It's probably the best FF to get introduced to in the series because it's simple and efficient. The story is very decent as well. The only trouble you might have with this game is the characters; besides Auron of course.
This will only take a moment of your time. *steals your watch*







