...I even remember an old interview with Silent Hill's dev team saying they intentionally made the monsters LESS lethal to keep players from dying as frequently, because, according to them, having the words "you died" tossed at you in the middle of a session breaks the immersion and reminds you that you're just playing a game. Their goal was to make monsters that looked more deadly than they actually were and work on a psychological way that, while not harmless, worked to freak you out and make you scared even if they weren't as big of a threat as their designs let on.
I mean, it's not really "fine" not to have a very handy feature other games have when that same decision has worked against the game from time to time. Is there any reason why NOT to include a pause feature when playing offline? There were times where I, absolutely, NEEDED that pause feature in the midst of a tough battle when life got in my way - an important phone call, a package delivery, a medical emergency, a family crisis. This wasn't just one or two times, and I'm sure it wasn't just me.
It may not be essential... but it damn sure would be appreciated.