I think Chrono Cross's battle system was not random too.
"Fortunately, I found the BG and IWD games and liked the way the fights were managed differenly and in a much better way, making the while situations look more realistic. Especially in BG2, where you had to provoke yourself the fights or where yu just got into them just by chance (being at the wrong place, at the wrong time). After playing those CRPGs, I really wonder if I will ever be able to play again a JRPG without getting bored within the first hour of gaming time. I really hope that FF XII will show some progress compared to the other games."
Congtrats! You found the right way.