Super Mario RPG, rather than just listing it, might as well support my choice!
To me it had the best pacing of any RPG ever, when I played there was not 1 second where had to grind out a few levels. The graphics were amazing. Every single location was unique and there were tons of little mini games to get you from place to place (the midas river one was pretty good).
-no random battles (you could actually see the monsters on screen)
-memorable characters (who could forget mario's way of telling people about an event)
-fantastic music
-great towns (In games like Final Fantasy all the towns were similar and never felt unique, not to mention nothing to do in them)
- fun sidequests (the minecart ride = AWESOME)
-innovative battle system
-memorable bosses
I can just keep going and going, what a great game. I still think it's one of the best (and most fun) RPGs out there.