WK, I'm looking over your original post and I completely missed Phantasy Star (in my defense, I see the word Wii and my brain automatically shuts down).

Definitely play Phantasy Star. Excellent game. As far as early JRPGs go, I'll take PS1 over both FF1 and DW1 (which is actually just anyway). And like was said a few posts ago, don't look at maps and don't look up answers. Make sure you have a notebook and pencil with you.