While I haven't played a ton of RPGs, this one holds out as easily one of the all-time best for its story, gameplay, music and more. Its characters and world are very charming and the combat grind is never necessary.
My love for this game comes with a very long and personal story that I'm not going to fill your time with, just know that this game was designed with a special soul to it that a lot of modern games are sorely lacking.
One truth you'll notice is that this game is a masterclass in taking the simplest, most one-dimensional stories, protagonists, etc and fleshing them into much more and making you care about them.
- Take combat as an example, enemies are always based off the environment around them and the subtle differences between every type of enemy matter, its easy to be drawn to attention the way enemies who look "squishy" ARE squishy even if they're tough or dangerous in other ways. (like those DAMN NINJAS)
The sound design is fantastic, most people make a huge deal about the music (and rightly so) but I think the overall sound design is expertly and thoughtfully crafted. Each weapon type has its own sound effect and each spell is distinct, You could blindfold someone who's played this through and start having them guess what spell or weapon is being used and well - there's no mistaking Firebird, or Confusion, or the axe vs the frying pan.
Sorry, I didn't mean for this to turn into a review lol - but my point stands that this game has a very special style to it that I've never seen anyone replicate and I would hate to lose it to history