I can whole heartedly suggest the early Suikoden series - Suikoden I and Suikoden II for the PS1 BUt they're kinda rare to find... I'm lucky I found mine when I did. Those games going for $100+ on ebay o_O;
Otherwise, Suikoden V on the PS2 was pretty awesome, too - it sorta headed back towards it's I & II roots, in the sense of story telling, but with pretty 3D graphics
All three of the aformentioned SUikdoens kinda start off slow, doing the daily tasks to set the character's life style, but once the shit hits the fan for the main character... the shit really hits the fan. Lots of story twists and turns and character building.
Tales of the Abyss on the PS2 was awesome too... the battle system was a bit like a fighter, but not 100% the same (have to accommodate 3 dimensional running space and menu buttons for healing items) - kinda like the before mentioned Star Ocean on the PS2