Suikoden. Most on the 'Dex and other places would recommend 2, but from a sheer storyfag perspective 3 smashes it to bits. Seeing the story from 3 different perspectives, watching Hugo and Chris grow, and Geddoe be a perma-badass was far more satisfying than anything 2 throws your way, except for maybe the little sister emotions derived from the plight of Pilika. From a gameplay perspective, I also find 3 much better, even though the combat system could feel a bit sluggish compared to the others at time. It had, imo, the series' best rendition of strategic combat as well. You may want to try playing Suikoden I first, if not in complete order, as it'll give you a bit of backstory and understanding when the villain reveal comes in 3. 4 is skippable, imo. 5 starts off excellent with 2 noble families plotting against the royal family (you), but fizzles out once the intrigue is gone.
Radiant Historia is a good place to go from Chrono Trigger if you like the Time Travel aspect. Unfortunately, I found the combat to get a bit rote, and boring after 15 - 20 hours or so, but maybe you'll think of it differently. And honestly, if you enjoyed Chrono trigger, just play Chrono Cross too. For some reason, it's really underappreciated and rather unloved. It did have some development woes which messed with the game a bit (i.e. Guile was supposed to be revealed as Magus, but it never happened). It's definitely flawed, and I would say the biggest flaw is you just get too many damn characters who either suck, or are all very samey, with very few who stand out from the rest. You get like 40 of the bastards but every endgame group is basically Serge + Glenn + whoever.
Lost Odyssey. It's a one and done from Sakaguchi, but goddamnit was it well written.
Tactics Ogre of course. My avatar says it all.