Final Fantasy- the series that loses nothing over time.
I love old school, but most people agree that random battles get really old, really fast. Come on, how many times were you trying to get somewhere and hoping like hell that nothing attacked you, just because it would be an annoying interruption?
FFVII is my favorite game of all time and I have absolutely nothing against it, but even in it I remember being really bored while training characters and really annoyed while traveling.
In XII, training it extremely fun. I stayed in 1 area for about 5 hours just training because cutting down monsters is awesome, especially when they go flying from a critical hit.
The difficulty is much harder that recent ones, harking back to 7 in that you can't expect to rush through and do well.
The story reminds me a lot of FF Tactics with all the politics and manipulation, even somewhat of Star Wars episode 3. Just in how the political aspects are, don't worry about the acting.
The characters are all deep with interesting histories and unique personalities, so you really get attatched. And the cutscenes... basically take your breath away. Sounds cliche but it's not.
So if you have any fondness for RPGs get this game now, and if not, try it out anyway. It might bring you over.