(I will bold the game names so you can skip down and read what i say about the ones you're interested in, or you can read it all)

Though not counted as a true RPG, but more of an adventure game, the one that got me into RPGs was Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, on the Super Nintendo. From there i became interested in this top-down view maze/puzzle/adventure/magic/monsters genre, and went on to Final Fantasy 3(6), and Secret of Mana and so on. This is a rambling i gave on a Tales of Symphonia board (i just got Tales of Vesperia, and was feeling nostalgic about ToS), about pretty much all the RPG video games i've played and enjoyed.

Tales of Symphonia so far to me has the battle system that all RPGs should replace their random-encounter, turn-based battle systems with. Except for systems like Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage (N64 - laughable graphics, friggin' excellent gaming experience), and Arc The Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (PS2) - those are awesome, too.

I just got Vesperia, so i don't have many moves yet, but it builds on the ToS system - so far i just haven't enjoyed it as much because i don't have a multiple quick stab Arte yet, and i enjoyed fighting with Lloyd's double swords, but i hope with enough new artes, i'll like Vesperia's system even more.

For classic games, Final Fantasy 3 (as released in N. Amer., it's #6 originally) remains to me the greatest FF game ever, played originally on the SNES. The characters and plot, and friggin' Kefka make it work playing!!! It's the only game to this day to make me cry during the story.

Secret of Mana and Illusion of Gaia are also 100% worth a playthrough (also SNES). Illusion of Gaia has a story that just sorta chills you to the bone, in a good way. Dragon Quest 8 on the PS2 is just ingenious, for a random-encounter, turn-based battle RPG - the story, the characters, all fun, and enchanting.

Baten Kaitos (i haven't played the prequel, Origins, yet) is also very awesome. The beautiful music, the lushly coloured backgrounds, the plot actually surprised me, the card-battle system is easy to learn and really fulfilling and fun. The character movement is clunky and a bit annoying, and the voice acting is enough to want to scratch your ears out (oh, Xehla - you should never, ever speak...), but you can turn it off luckily, and the story and the characters themselves and the music and the backgrounds are well worth a playthrough.

I tried getting into Star Ocean (one that's on the PS2, can't remember the subtitle - you're a blue-haired boy in it), and it really was an excellent, quality game - stunning graphics and awesome story, and real-time battle like the Tales series - but also very odd (ie, you have to learn how to use items in battle before you can use them - like you have to use up an action slot to do it, and the game world will run out of healing supplies, forcing you to use the inventing system, which was too complicated for me to figure out, and buying anything you invent is way too expensive for the little money you ever get - and i'm just not interested in synthesizing or inventing items and weapons - i just want to be able to use what i can find or buy, i don't need item customization - it's annoying and should only be a side-feature, and not required to complete the game).

Xenosaga also is a fun, awesome story, and seemed like a great fun game, slightly different - but i'm just at the stage where i can't tolerate RPGs that still use the random-encounter, turn-based battle system.
I don't like the jarring interruption every 2 steps, and then (in the new 3D era) waiting half a minute until everyone finishes doing their own little poses while the game loads the battle screen before i can start the fighting, every single time, JUST to fight the same 3 enemies in that area over and over again.
I've just had enough of that type of battle system and have no patience for it anymore. So i just couldn't stand playing Xenosaga anymore either. Same as the case with FFX (plus FFX also just felt limited - linear - each forest or dungeon, etc. felt guided, with a limited amount of area to walk in, losing the freedom feeling of FF3/6, or Dragon Quest 8 where you actually get to walk on the grass on the side of the path if you want, or walk over a big game-world map that has no boundaries - No amount of Lulu's jiggling, nor replaying Yuna's dance at Kilika Dock could keep me playing FFX with all it's limited feel and maybe 2 or 3 interesting characters), as well as Lost Odyssey, even though i really enjoyed the beginning of the story and the awesome graphics.

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is the complete opposite of FFX in that it almost gives you TOO much freedom, but it still feels 100% better to play, since you can go ANYWHERE and do ANYTHING at any time you want, pretty much. You probably wouldn't get sucked emotionally into the story as much, though.

But this is why Tales of Symphonia shines - it has practically everything good about all the other RPGs combined in a successful way. It has a brilliant (if not the best ever) battle system, though you still have to change screens to fight like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, you get to actually run around and swing your sword/axe/whatever and battle the enemies yourself, like in Secret of Mana, and Illusion of Gaia - no more boring choosing words from lists of words and then waiting for your character to finish the animation of the word you told it to do; you get a full, (mostly) free world map that you use to walk and travel to the other locations, like Dragon Quest 8 and almost like Oblivion, and you can SEE representations of the enemies you will encounter, eliminating the horribly frustrating random battles; it has an epic (if cliche), ever-twisting story that delves into the psyche's of the main characters AND the enemies, why they are doing what they're doing, etc. in a way that makes you even a little sympathetic to the badguys, trying to figure out who are the REAL bad guys, and who are just doing bad things for a good purpose.
The only thing truly missing is the sex appeal.
Yes, Sheena jiggles, too - but most of the clothing is quite asexual (which is a good thing for the kid characters, but not for Raine or Sheena) and even the bathing suits are lame. Not that sex appeal is all that important, it just felt ... missing is all.

Anyway, i am hoping to have the same experience with Tales of Vesperia, with perhaps a bit more sex appeal, haha.
Sorry for the long post. Again, Tales of Symphonia and Secret of Mana have the best RPG battle systems ever put in games. In fact while playing ToS, i was constantly reminded of SoM, as they share many themes (the elementals, especially), and both just ... feel good to play, you know?

Sorry for the long post, i just felt like expressing my RPG history, hopefully it'll help in some way - either way it was fun to delve back into that nostalgia.