I've beaten it a few times. Here you go...

1.) I got to the end boss without realizing it in ~40 hours, when it advertised 80 hours of gameplay. The problem was, I wasn't strong enough to beat him, and was missing some key elements. I had to restart.

2.) There ARE no random encounters, exactly. You see the monsters on screen when you move, and whatnot. Levelling your characters a little IS recommended, but it's not necessary to run around for 10+ hours levelling in every area. The combat system isn't nearly as cool as Xenogears' was, however.