I'm almost in agreement with BoC on this one, but I have to throw Final Fantasy Tactics into the melee for best rpg ever. It's actually a strategy rpg, but it has all the important rpg elements. The story is fantatic, dark, and if you do the side quests and collect all the treasures and find the hidden locations, their descriptions truly flesh out the kind of world Ivalice really is. Xenogears, beats FFT in magnitude though, without ever sucking at any point. If Xenogears is one, FFT has to be a very close second. It's certainly the best FF game, by far.