Final Fantasy XII

In all honesty, the old SNES FF games are always going to be my favorites, although Secret of Mana might just be my all-time favorite of the SNES RPG's. Chrono Trigger's a close second. FFIII's my fave in the FF line.

Final Fantasy Tactics? Never played it but from the reviews it wasn't so much story or character-based as it was gameplay-based. For a Final Fantasy game, story and characters are the main attraction in my opinon.

In other words, it was like a non-traditional FF game.

It had a story (I won't get into the details - to avoid any spoilers) but it wasn't as deep as say, 7 or 8. The strategy aspect of the game was by far the game's strongest point, and alone is worth getting the game.

Turn-based battle systems aren't really my thing. Secret of Mana was more fun for me because the battles were real-time, and didn't switch screens between exploring and battle. Plus, the "sword-charging" aspect of it was fun.

I wish Seiken Densetsu 3 had been licensed in the U.S... man, that one's even better than SOM.

SOM was great. Never played that other one though. The great thing about turn-based games is that it's not as stressful to play as real-time battles, and you have time to think about what you'll do next.