Having only played FFTA and FE (all of them in the west) FE by a country mile. (or whatever expression you wish to choose)
FFTA was a total peice of crap. So slow, so boring, so confusing. I don't like games where I have to have a players guide just to figure out how to do anything, let alone find the super hard secrets. If FFT is anything like FFTA, then FE all the way, however I've heard that FFT is a lot better than FFTA.
As a note, My first SRPG was Radiant Dawn and I played it no Normal. The only thing I had to be told was to not use my super powerful characters off the start. Or had I played on easy I would have beat the game anyways.