Personally, I always preferred SFII to the original, though both are excellent.

One of the things I absolutely love about this game that neither FFT nor Fire Emblem (the other tactical RPGs I've played) has is the ability to actually explore towns and talk to people outside of combat. The others just use menu systems, but this game lets you get a feel for the world, actually hunt down new characters and special items, and it was a great feature.

The music was also top notch. I still have the SF2 OST.