I love Final Fantasy; what else will I enjoy?

I've beaten FFXII and am in the midst of FFXIII and FFVII; I'm a big fan of the role-playing game genre where I am able to explore worlds at my own pace, big storylines and intricate player customization systems. What other role-playing games fit this kind of description that I might also enjoy?

From gaming fbrereto

• I can suggest you the Suikoden saga. My favourites episodes were the I and the II but they are for the PSX. They were great! With a lot of characters and an epic storyline! You can freely travel in the world map, you have to build your fortress, recruit many heroes (there are a total of 108) and you can customize your party with many runes and various equipment.

  From The Last Doctor

• Kingdom Hearts is a spin-off series worth checking out. It's developed by Square Enix too, but it doesn't follow the same turn-based combat approach. There's also quite a few characters from Final Fantasy appearing in them. There's a lot of disney stuff in it (it's actually one of the main themes), but the storyline stays mature and emotional. The game world is quite large (in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II at least, haven't played the others), and should keep you occupied for quite a long time.

  EndangeredMassa : I wouldn't really call it a spin-off series, but it is certainly an awesome series.
  From Akira Himaru

• Lost Odyssey on Xbox 360 was produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series. It has a fantastic storyline and is very similar to the FF series (particularly FF7/FF8). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Odyssey

  MadMAxJr : The soundtrack on this game is magnificent. There are some visuals in this game that are very impressive, notably how the intro seamlessly slides into your first combat. My only regret is it did not do the same during the train sequence.
  From barrylloyd

• You should give the Dragon Quest series a try!

  From Daenyth

• ps2 had quite a few good rpg games, I'd especially recommend Rogue Galaxy and Dragon Quest. If you don't mind playing action rpgs, try Dark Chronicle / Dark Cloud 2 - in my opinion one of the most enjoyable games on ps2.

  fbrereto : I have played and enjoyed Rogue Galaxy, too.
  From Shepherdess

• Chrono Trigger is a similar, highly-praised game, also made by Square (before they merged with Enix). Its sequel, Chrono Cross, is also pretty good, but it's not nearly as popular as Chrono Trigger.

  alexanderpas : +1 for mentioning Chrono Trigger, Great Game!

  Agos : +1. It's also worth mentioning that the art was designed (also) by Akira Toriyama. I personally think I've never played anything with better graphics.
  From Adam Rosenfield

• Depending on what elements you like, Golden Sun is a much simpler and handheld version of FF. I like GS more then FF. There is less grinding.

  alexanderpas : +1 for mentioning Golden Sun, Great Game!

  Daenyth : Personally GS grated on me. The dialog choices felt totally meaningless because in most of them the same thing happened no matter what you chose.

  acidzombie24 : Daenyth: Its a handheld. I dont think anyone expects multiple paths and a large game with lots of dialog in it. Although it is pretty big and i know many people do like it. I still prefer Golden Sun over FF which may surprise people but its really fun.
  From acidzombie24

• This answer it totally different than the others, but if you've never played fallout you're missing something.

  While fallout 3 is awesome in it's own right, if you can get your hands on the original version I think you'd find it's got a more similar feel to FFVII. The combat system is different, and the story line is really different, but what is the same is the fun.

  Fallout 3 and New Vegas are first person games, so that's a bit different, but you can go wherever, whenever, and the leveling up style allows you to really customize your character.

  fbrereto : Yes, I love the Fallout franchise, too - I don't understand the downvotes, BTW.
  From vidicon

• Old Squaresoft RPGs... in particular "Xenogears", Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve, Brave Fencer Musashi and of course Final Fantasy Tactics. Finally from TriAce you can search for Valkyrie Profile.

  From alFador

• Don't forget your 8-bit roots; Cave Story is still free and you can find the download (and a translation) with a bit of googling. Alternatively, it's also available on the Wii. I had far more fun than I thought I'd have playing through it the first time - and oddly enough, the second time through was even better.

  From Artless

• I love the FF saga too.

  In addition to what was said here, try The Last Remnant. I liked it very much.

  From Lordinario

• Skies of Arcadia is a fantastic RPG for dreamcast that was remade for gamecube. The combat system is unique and the skyship battles are phenomenal.

  From Daenyth

• The old Secret of Mana games - the original part was for the S-NES but there are also Legend of Mana for the PS and Sword of Mana for GBA.

  Last RPG I was really impressed of was Persona 4 (PS2) it has many aspects of a Dating-Sim but all in all I would recommend it to any Final Fantasy-Fan.

  Latency : Secret of Mana is fantastic and Persona 4 is great as well
  From eL13