Actually I myself think that 3 was the last great FF game. FF 2 was great, 1 started it all and 2, 3 and 5 never came out in the US. You have to understand that 2 here was 4 in japan and 3 here was 6 in japan. 2 and 5 have since been rereleased but 5 suffers from horrible PSX load times. 3 was the last pure FF game. After that there were too many lame mini games that had too much of an impact on the game. Side quests and mini games are fine but they shouldnt give you uber items and they shouldnt be ridiculous/random.
Crono Trigger was great so was Crono Cross. Secret of Mana was great Im currently playing through Sword of Mana on GBA. FF Tactics was great and I recently finished off FFT Advance which was a great sequel, better in some ways, not as good in others. Oh and FF8 was great. Had the best story post 6(3) 9 was the biggest load of poop ever. Other good RPGs Zelda was always an adventure/action/rpg great games though. The Breath of Fire series isnt bad for RPGs and Golden Sun was good stuff.