1994 - Final Fantasy III, i mean, VI
Straight fuckin' bangers in the early 90s. This is the first jRPG I have actual memories of playing. I have a dim sense of having played Dragon Warrior on the NES, but this one sticks with me. I remember it vividly. The cover, the opening, basically going through Narshe is like coming home. I can't even tell you how when I hopped onto the magitek armor in ffxiv and heard Terra's theme it made me lose my mind.
This was sort of the definitive Final Fantasy title, at least on the Super Nintendo (granted only one other title made it the US in the 90s and to avoid confusing Westerners, it was called FFII just as this was FFIII buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut). It's an iconic game and when you play the game, the reasons why become apparent. The systems are all neatly laid out and once you get to having Espers, it's clear that the job system is pretty much gone; it's still prevalent in unique actions and base stats (I think?), but every character can learn about every spell and each character can have one Esper equipped and they affect stat growth, which I have been really enjoying. If I had to say there's one thing that I wish we'd gotten more of, it's uniqueness in character play-styles. But, fans of the game have that covered, see Brave New World version.
If you're in the discord or Auldnoir, you'll know Barquq and I are currently playing through it (again, technically). I've definitely gotten the farthest that I've gotten in many years and I'm having a blast. I was really afraid that some QoL stuff from more recent games would make this one age poorly, but as I think Barquq has said, there's a reason that old Square games have staying power--they were really the peak of their respective periods. The only thing I'll say is that the I abuse the fast-forward function on Retroarh, until the cutscenes hit, then we just let it ride. It makes combat and grinding just so much smoother and more enjoyable for me. I dunno, it's hard to write about this game in the sense that I don't have many memories of playing it (my aforementioned friend Frank and I probably did the Nintendo Power thing here), but I still have an incredible fondness for it. I think Terra is a really compelling protagonist, Kefka is actually an incredible villain and I think Uematsu was really going hard with the soundtrack. Check it out for yourself, if you want. The Ted Woolsey uncensored version is pretty solid, overall. Or if you're a freak, try Brave New World do not try Brave New World.