For me it has to be Grandia. This game feels like a pure dose of adventure, and to me it is a nostalgia pill I sometimes take for the trip. That it doesn't get more recognition in the modern day is beyond me.

To a lesser extent, Secret of Mana is also a game I like to redo every other year with different people, and that I know absolutely by heart (can't wait to experience that with my son someday).

Lastly I developed a love/hate relationship with the Trails series back in 2011, and the first game in this series in particular shifted my view on JRPGs forever. It is a bit too recent though to be "that game", but had it be published in the 90's it might have been

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. The battle system is still a bit messy in how it is implemented (like the way areas of effect always feel a bit random), but it suits me much better than the base system!

Runs like a charm on Steam deck, btw 😁

Been playing some Yakuza Like A Dragon. Good game, but I'm not sure I'll finish before Trails Reverie is out