To give a little background, I've been playing RPGs ever since the first Dragon Warrior came out.
I never really got into the Wizardry/D&D type RPGs, as I mainly stuck to things like Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire (SNES), etc.. I'm basically an old school RPG fan.
Lately it seems like there's been this extreme lack of good RPGs. I have Final Fantasy X, and while it was an okay game, it wasn't anything to write home about. Definitely not something I'd recommend to someone who wants to experience a solid RPG. The game was way too linear and restrictive. No world map, no leveling, mediocre story ... generally it wasn't anything like a Final Fantasy game at all (FF8 was like this too). I'm honestly not even sure why they made a sequel to it.
I think one of the main things that irks me is they ditched the traditional system of leveling up with something that they claim is more efficient. I have yet to see how the sphere grid is more efficient than, say, Final Fantasy 7's system of traditional experience gaining & materia stat bonuses.
I've been eyeing Suikoden III, but I've never played the original series for PSX. Read some reviews that claim that it's probably one of the finest RPGs made in a LONG time, and that quite a claim.
The last two awesome RPGs I played were FF9 and Dragon Warrior 7. DW7 was so insanely huge, I loved it (although I never completely beat it yet). I heard Dragon Warrior 5 was to be re-released on the PS2, so that's something to look forward to.
Does anyone have any recommendations?