Chrono Trigger.

FFVIII has some fairly obvious plot holes or seems like crap was thrown together half assed-ly.

FFIX is cool.

Breath of Fire 3 iis one of the few RPGs that NEVER becomes a quest to save the world and even when you beat the game...you still didn't really save the world. It is good but is more of an RPG than any FF game in that there is a lot to the battle system outside of stats and battle. It semi-forces you to do more outside of the battle system from finding masters to fishing for goods.

Chrono Trigger is short, easy, fun and has one of the most unique RPG battle systems ever...even to this very day. The story isn't super serious and has fun while telling a great tale of time travel. This is the one to go with. Side quests are option at the end but each side quest is more about one of the specific characters in the story and adds to their own character depth other than the simple "lets find more powerful weapons". Along with new game plus to just have a nice 4 hour run through the game, Chrono Trigger has it all.