Because of how slow the turn based combat is, I actually thought while playing that NOT having random encounters was nice, if I was trying to get somewhere or was in the middle of exploring something specific.
I know they were a thing in BG1 though so they will probably make an appearance eventually. Won't mind either way, really.
Maybe a camp attack or two would work? Kind of like how Raphael sneaks up on us - but an actual random attack rather than a cutscene.
