Breath of Fire II is one of my favorite RPGs but I'd recommend the GBA version instead. They added a dash feature, doubled the EXP, and tripled the gold -- which may sound like it would take all challenge out of the game, but actually puts it on par with most RPGs from that era and makes for a much better balanced game (also, the dash feature is a must!)
Other RPGs I'd recommend (very different from the mainstream, I know):
Terranigma Illusion of Gaia Seiken Densetsu 3 Dragon Quest V Dragon Quest VI Lufia II
Lufia II is probably my favorite out of the bunch. It was my first traditional fantasy RPG and features Zelda-style dungeons with turn-based battles but no random encounters so you can just take your time in solving the puzzles without getting constantly interupted. Terranigma and Illusion of Gaia are basically Zelda games with a leveling system, while Seiken Densetsu 3 is an action RPG that's all about the battle system (a big step up from Secret of Mana IMO), and the Dragon Quest games are highly traditional bare-bones turn-based RPGs (DQ5 also has a monster collection element to it, though, and DQ6 has a dark world/light world kind of mechanic and a job system).
It should be noted, however, that most of these games should probably be played for their gameplay and not their storyline (just in case you couldn't tell from all the action RPGs and puzzle dungeons). If you prefer story then everyone else's recommendations will probably suit your needs better.
Haha You've come a long way still. I'm trying to do my own RPG marathon After a beat a few other games on gametap, I'm going to finally beat Phantasy Star and all of the other games in its series.
"*facepalm* Star Ocean, that's right I was supposed to play that too. *runs to it*"
A lot of people forget that series got it's start on the SNES. The only way to play it (in English) is to play it patched, which means you would have to use a rom. Although I do remember somewhere reading about how you can put it together with a cartridge, although I imagine it would be quite complicated. There's a PSP port as well. There's also a GBA port of Phantasia and a Playstation port that was never released over here.
Anyway, I really liked Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, FFIII/VI, Secret of Mana, and Seiken Densetsu 3 (I think is how it's spelled in the ROM translation). That last one is a little...uh...shady to get here in the US. Never played Earthbound so idk about that.
Just check my profile. If we can count spin offs (action RPG, startegy RPG), then...
Fire Emblem 3-5 (especially 4) Dragon Quests Final Fantasies Lufia 2 (the first was unbelievably average) Terranigma Breath of Fire II (the first one wasn't that good) Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, blah blah blah
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