I made it to exactly the same part when I rented the game way back when, right after the mansion heist attempt, then quit. going to try to get back to it, at least to finish building the skeleton man whose skull I brought to his grandmother. there is no cheat to bypass random battles entirely is the thing, but I made it so I level up every fight. it’s still a slog.
saga frontier 2 is another one I always wanted to go back to that I never felt like I had the time to really get into then cause I could only rent it.