Barefoot_Monkey: I'm not familiar with either of those. Of all the JRPGs I've played the one I'd recommend the most is Chrono Trigger (I'd be surprised if you haven't played it yet, but if not then definitely go for it), followed by the Breath of Fire series (I'm pretty sure you're familiar with it, as I recall you speaking about it in the past), followed by Terranigma.
To be honest, I am not really in the mood for those games. I actually have played Chrono Trigger and Breath of Fire 1 and 2.
In any case:
Chrono Trigger is mostly well designed; however, it has a mandatory button mashing segment that I dread on every replay. If I do decide to replay this game at some point, I may need to use an emulator's turbo controller to get past that part. It's a shame how one obnoxious mandatory part can ruin a game for me (I could also cite Zelda: Ocarina of Time as another offender here). Also, the game has more cut scenes than I really feel like dealing with (not as much as FF6, though maybe comparable to Lennus 2). Also, only 3 party members.
Breath of Fire: When I played BoF1, it felt that Dragon Warrior 4 basically did everything better than BoF1 did (except for the forced AI control in DW4, but I have come to actually enjoy it). BoF2 didn't seem that interesting either, and it also does obnoxious things to your party, like taking away your healer for a while, and at one point forcing you to solo with a character that you could easily have never used. BoF3 and later are too modern, and BoF: Dragon Quarter is not what I am looking for in an RPG.
Terranigma: I don't classify this game as an RPG at all; when I am looking for a game to play, I don't even consider this sort of game. Also, this game (and Illusion of Gaia) are too cutscene heavy; if I were to play a game from this series, I would prefer SoulBlazer, which is much lighter in terms of cutscenes.
Anyway, since you're not familiar with either of the games I listed, here are a few notes about them:
Lennus II: The Japan-only sequel to Paladin's Quest. These two games are notable in that they are set in an alien fantasy world (basically a fantasy world with no humans and where the wildlife is very different from that of Earth), spells use HP (and healing is done with refillable medicine bottles), and you can hire mercenaries to fill out your party (in fact, in Lennus II, you pretty much need some to survive the early game, as the early encounters were not balanced for a solo character). One oddity of Lennus II is that, not too far into the game, you reach a city (and I do mean a city, not just a town) where the shops sell lots of stuff, including the best buyable items in the game (though those items aren't cheap). Lennus II is late SFC, while Paladin's Quest is early SNES.
Phantasy Star 3: The third game in the Phantasy Star series, and generally considered the black sheep of the series. Notable for the technique distribution shop (where you can choose which healing technique to favor, for example) and the generation system (at 2 points in the game, you get your pick of one or two wives, and who you choose affects the next part of the game). Two significant complaints about this game are the slow walking speed and the large amounts of mandatory backtracking. This game is originally for the Sega Genesis; other versions are likely emulated versions of varying quality.
