Go find a game called Okage: Shadow King (PS2). It's probably in the $1 bin at your local Gamestop. It is definitely my favorite RPG of all time. It's a fun, cool, cute, stylish story about a boy whose shadow gets taken over by an Evil King, who then forces him to take over the world. For a good part of the story it your basic fantasy fare, and even has a Princess to fall in love with, but it's got a hell of a twist that you won't see coming at all. The game contains a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor, both at itself and RPGs and general, which gives it an easy going and enjoyable feeling most of the time.
The player character, Ari, has a customizable personality similar to that of Persona games - you'll have three different responses to chose from when conversing with characters, ranging from upbeat and happy, to sarcastic and depressive, or even make him a cliched Heroic Mime. Some responses have a point, others mean very little, but all allow immersion on a deeper level.
The game also has some sidequests for you to do, including attempting to join a world wide organization of riddle enthusiasts, a straightforward-yet-ridiculous trading quest, and a Compatibility system with other party characters. Okage also boasts one of the most amazing soundtracks of any game I've ever heard, and is definitely one you'll want to get for yourself.
However, the game is by no means perfect. My chief complaint is the combat system. Turn order is similar to Final Fantasy VII's ATB Gauge, strengths and weakness follow a rock-paper-scissors elemental formula, you'll accumulate tons of useful items that you'll never want to actually use - it's all stuff you've done before if you've played any RPG ever. On that point, very little is innovated by it. It also makes the painful mistake of "If lead character dies at any point, game over" which I feel is one of the worst things an RPG can do. By no means is it BAD, and grinding isn't inhibited by it (if you want to - you probably won't need to), but it doesn't bring much unique to the table.
If you can get past the combat being a bit dull, you're looking at a solid RPG that will give you hours upon hours of play time.
