I haven't seen this one discussed before.

Final Fantasy's ATB? The classic menu driven system of Dragon Warrior, Phantasy Star, and hundreds of others too numerous to mention. Or perhaps one of the more "outside the box" systems of Chrono Cross, Sudeki, or Shadow Hearts.

As for me... Grandia II.

There should be legislation put forth to make that the standard for RPG's. I can't even remember it's name off the top of my head, but it was the perfect mix of strategy and reflexes. There was a frantic sensibility about it that kept those scores of random battles from getting stale.