i know it`s strange,becouse lots of people have mentioned chrono trigger so it`s very popular but i cant explain why i havnt.
Chrono trigger has time travel, multiple endings, alterable history, and a story spanning nearly the entire history of their planet. Add in very expressive sprite sets for the characters, and a fantastic soundtrack by Mitsuda.
It's been recently re-released for the DS so the game is pretty easy to get. I also think it is available on psn
Story wise, Dragon Quest V is the absolute top. Very archaic turn based fighting though. Battle wise, Grandia I is the best. The idea of criticals(which can cancel enemy attacks), and taking range into consideration works incrediably well. The best all-round RPG for me is Chrono Trigger. Team attacks make battle fun, the story is great, the music is brilliant and the newgame+ and multiple endings make it fun to replay. It is seriously bizarre that RPG's nowadays get so much wrong at a basic level when just looking at how some of the above play would instantly get them an 80%+ game with any serious effort. The only ones I can think of recently that really do things right are Radiant Historia and Xenoblade(haven't played Last Story yet though, looking forward to giving it a go this weekend!) Also shoutout to The World Ends With You for simultaneous being like no other RPG, making full use of every DS feature and being absolutely fantastic.
Favorite? Probably the Pools of Radiance trilogy. After me and my friends played through it once, I hacked the disk that held the Beholder room. Imagine their surprise. 14 Beholders? How about 40.
A million times, this! Chrono Trigger is probably the single best RPG of its generation, and easily in the top 10 console RPGs of all time. (Its sequel, Chrono Cross, is also excellent [in my opinion], though people do argue about that.)
ZOh and a awesome game that never got that much credit because of the console it mainly was out on: Skies of Arcadia. AWESOME.
I`v looked up on chrono trigger and it does look really good. @superdeluxe/i`l look up Skies of Arcadia