The first 4 Breath of Fire games are almost better than the first 13 FF games. I want to say Breath of Fire, but it's a tough call. RPGs used to be my favorite genre.
Nowadays EVERY GAME has "RPG elements" in it though, it seems. In fact, I hate that all FPS fans are SUDDENLY into RPGs now that they've added said "elements". It's like a game can't be awesome unless your shooting somebody every two seconds.