My favorite RPGs are as follows
1.) Final Fantasy III - No, not VI from the SNES era, the REAL III...I have played through it on DreamCast and on PC via emulators. Final Fantasy III is the best Final Fantasy to make use of the "class/job" system. It doesn't go over-the-top like V and is just Absolute fun. First Final Fantasy to feature a summoner, first FF to feature classes changeable whenever. Also, the multiple-airship concept was awesome. Definitely made FULL USE of EVERYTHING that the NES had to offer. Was at least 2 or 3 times larger than Final Fantasy 1.
2.) Phantasy Star IV - Awesome game. The first RPG to feature battle animations for the enemies and one of the first (if not the first) to feature combo attacks between party members. Great story and definitely a worthwhile purchase for anyone that still has a working Sega Genesis.
3.) Chrono Trigger - Awesome plot and loved the combo attacks. One of the best 16-bit RPGs. The cast was also crazy-cool.
4.) Final Fantasy VII - Reintroduced me to RPG's after only playing Final Fantasy 1 and Phantasy Star IV for the whole 8- and 16-bit eras. First RPG to feature cutting-edge cinema sequences. Awesome cast of characters and the best villain ever.
5.) Final Fantasy - Deserves a mention for being the first RPG I ever played. For the limitations of the NES, it did everything that I could have wanted and then some. ABSOLUTE CLASSIC! Some of the best music in a video game even to this day, there are just some classic tunes in that game.
6.) Chrono Cross - I will run into a bunch of disagreement over this one, but I loved it. Great game and I loved the cast of characters. Cool plot, too.
7.) Final Fantasy X - Awesome game. Kick-ass graphics, one of the best plot-lines ever, and one of the coolest characters in Auron. Tidus kicked ass as well. Cool battle system.
8.) Xenosaga Episode 1 - Awesome graphics, cool plot, fun battle system. What more can you ask for? A little too slow-paced for me in parts, but still very fun.
9.) Star Ocean III: Till the End of Time - A little bit too buggy for me (for example not being able to hit enemies when they are knocked over). I just never got around to completing it. I liked it, though. If they clean up the battle system by the SLIGHTEST BIT for a fourth installment, it could be one of the best RPG's ever.
10.) Final Fantasy VI - I loved this game when I played it. I hope it eventually gets a 3D facelift. It deserves it. One of the best plotlines in an RPG to this day. Also, a classic FF battle system, a great selection of summons, a cool cast of heroes, and an insane mad-clown villain. Again, what more could you ask for? (3D graphics, that's about it...)
Honorable Mentions: Lunar: The Silver Star, Kingdom Hearts, Shining Force series, Vagrant Story, Legend of Dragoon, and Grandia II...they just weren't QUITE good enough to make my list....
So, there you have it. My list of the "Ten Best RPG's ever!"