Fire Emblem

Grandia

Baten Kaitos

Valkyrie Profile

the grandia series brought one of the best turn-based battles in rpg too me

For me, I personally think three RPGs have done combat the best in their fields.

Dragon Quest has pretty much perfected 'Turn Based' combat. Utilizing a system that balances difficulty with function. Boss battles are a challenge because you need to utilize everything to defeat them. Not just spells and physical strength due to higher levels, but items and even a sense of 'skill' with the turn based system. And even the random encounters in the field can kill you if you don't equip the right gear and utilize the proper gameplay methods to defeat them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRbI2fIVh4U

Suikoden has been around since the early PSX days. Indeed, it was one of the first PSX RPGs on the scene. Its arguable to say its Rune system inspired Materia. However, its the basis of its Rune system, and its simplicity mixed with pure versatility, that makes it so great. The ability to take a Rune of any type and, based on the characters level, have those spells already available to use right after equipping it on that character. No excess leveling for additional spells, no unlocking new abilities, no combining with equipment to unlock hidden abilities...ready to go, spells. And it doesn't become an overpowered system, even when allowing characters to equip up to 3 runes (12 available spells). Add to this nearly every kind of Magic there is From Elemental, Summoning, Death and even Creation magic, the runes pretty much filled the full spectrum of the 'JRPG' standard of what magic should entail. And when your cast fills 108 characters all with unique play styles and you can use 6 of them in battle....that is one fully customizable RPG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ0aGdLmHn0&feature=related

Last but not least is Diablo, setting of a system of 'clones' in the RPG/Hack n Slash genre. And who could blame them, as this is one of the few games that makes 'grinding' actually fun. There's not a lot to say about this game, its more of an experience than a game to examine. As well as a game that combines multiple genres into one. But its also more of a game that successfully melds fantastic gameplay with good production values and artistic design. And when all three of those come together....you have magic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrVHr1AwbL4

I would like to add that I have a bias towards RPGs that follow three things however. RPGs that focus on Characters, gameplay and Item Collection over 'story' or graphics. Of course story and graphics are great. The game series I mentioned do not slouch on those things at all. But they do not focus on them.

I've always really liked the Paper Mario battle system, where you're actively participating in the battle, instead of just pressing some buttons and watching it all play out.

Both those battle systems were great, because you had to press more than one button during battle.  That's why I used Squall and Zell at all times in FFVIII.  And with Papaer Mario, I was using Bow and Watt the most.  It was just more fun.  (And in both those cases, those characters tended to be the strongest because of all the button spamming).

But I also just loved those games because of all the item collection and characters themselves.  But also, their game systems were just more interesting than the other games that came before.  FFVIII I feel is the pinnacle of the FF series because you can customize the characters.  I mean, who doesn't want to put sleep on their gunblade or Esuna on themselves to have resistances to spells?  And who doesn't want to use Badges to earn cool super moves like Triple Jump?

Vagrant Story

Fallout 3

^ Yes, Fallout's SPECIAL battle system! But not Fallout 3, the purely turn-based system from 1 & 2.

Shining Force I & II are one of the best strategy RPG's ever.

For turn based RPG's: Final Fantasy's ATB

Action RPG's: Kingdom Hearts II

Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Destiny remake. They are both really fast paced battle systems and they are really fun and colorful and combo heavy and they have a good variety of moves and characters to play with and try out.