Just to be clear, I don't mind random battles in general. Just when they happen every three steps. Most games only have random battles every five to ten steps, but there are a few out there where it gets to be insane. 

I'm currently playing Suikoden 2, and it does have that flaw! But it makes up for it with quick battle animations, where most characters attack simultaneously. So, instead of having to watch as each of your 6 characters does an attack one after the next, you just watch as entire rows attack at once. 

Oh, and no spoilers (I'm only about 11 hours in), but so far Suikoden 2's story is nuts! ACTUAL CONSEQUENCES FOR WAR!

I like the games that at least let the reserves auto take over if the team is ko'ed and even better when party heal includes reserves so I can then bring them back if I want.

Plot raisins are plots of land were you grow your Raison D'etre, so your rpgs have a reason for their existence and don't endure an existential crisis.

I since figured it out, but yes, of course the main character's town was destroyed so that he has a reason to leave it. Also he was framed for destroying it and banished for good measure so that he can't return when it's rebuilt. Uh oh! A major misunderstanding that allows for the plot to happen in the first place is about to be resolved! Someone better get amnesia quick so that the story can continue for several more hours! Alright that's it, I'm out of ideas for how to make the player care about this, better kill a beloved character out of nowhere in a cutscene just to piss them off so they'll give a shit about what's going on.

For real though, how does Google turn up nothing on this? I swear I've heard it before this thread, and it does make sense, I just didn't figure it out right away. Plot reasons, but said stupidly because the reasons are stupid so plot raisins.

The more convenient and quick it is to switch the reserves out the better, and yes, being able to bring a healer from reserves to revive the now reserved KO'd character to full health before bringing them out again is the best. If I were designing an RPG, I'd make some sort of understanding that everyone is fighting, but the battle focuses on the characters in the active party. I'd make experience shared among all characters active and inactive on these grounds, and only characters that started and ended the battle in KO state get no experience, characters that are KO'd for a portion get reduced experience except for bosses where everyone gets full experience, and bosses would always have some full party revive mechanic with a save before them (and skippable cutscenes). I might make a system where you can have multiple teams, with the understanding that the other team is fighting another group of monsters or something, and you can decide which team to focus on for the battle, and call for help from a member of another team if you need. I don't know what the solution is, but in any game where the party grows beyond what the developer is willing to design battles for, the developer needs to come up with something to prevent the reserve characters from being underleveled and irrelevant to the player's experience of the game.

About Octopath: Yeah, you're right on that one. But beating just one storyline didn't really feel like finishing the game to me, maybe that's why I didn't go down that, uhh... path.

Bolded: I agree here. I'm not against sexualization of women (or man) at all but it's just too damn distracting at times and done for no reason. It just feels wrong in some games. I don't play an RPG to feel sexual stuff lol. Unless, of course, it fits the story. For example the female character outfits in Xenoblade 2 were just silly for the most part. 

Those are all reminiscent of old days, possibly due to the small team and capacity of the system. But yes nowadays I would rather have all battles interesting while also not needing to grind.

I'll add some of my personal gripes:

1. Many games have an unsatisfying experience curve. In Area A, you get 50 XP per mob, but in Area B, you get 1000 XP per mob. Regardless of how much grinding you do, you'll pretty much always be in the same spot.

2. Economy: I like when my gold is valuable in games, but it seems as though many developers think it's okay to shower the player with gold. It's even worse when it follows a similar curve as in my previous example.

3. Missables: Accidentally entering a loading zone which triggers a cutscene that progresses the story in a way that prevents me from going back can be frustrating, but it's even worse when there are items that can no longer be obtained as a result.

4. OP Pre-order Bonuses: The game would be more enjoyable if I didn't get a really nice looking weapon with stats that trivialize the early game just as a bonus for pre-ordering.

5. Difficulty: My ideal JRPG would start out with a medium amount of difficulty, but as the game progresses, would become hard, with a final boss that's very hard. Part of the reason I love this genre is because I have the ability to grind and train my characters if it gets too hard. When it's easy without doing any of that, it's kind of a turn off.

Mostly the sexualization of girls. and random encounters

Running around with a party of 10 and only 3 are allowed to go into battle at the same time.

Just give me epic battles with my full team!!!!