Where you could just post some spontaneous idea or query or observation that occurred but didn't need an entire thread.
Kind of an ongoing meandering conversation. Might be fun
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You mentioned Fallout 1&2 which would have been my closest recommendation to some of the classic Bioware and Black Isle games you listed, but did you never play New Vegas? It probably deserves a listing among all the other top titles there and is worth catching if you missed it.
I'm not much of a Nintendo guy so I never completed any of the earlier Zeldas, although I enjoyed Wind Waker quite a bit. Probably my favourite of the series and still looks great when played through Dolphin, although opinions vary on the amount of sailing you're required to do, particularly in late game treasure hunts.
Coming to JRPGs fresh, as an adult, it's hard to know what to recommend, considering their kid-friendly focus and the strong sense of sentimentality I mentioned. But if you go in with a bit more tolerance for corniness and an appetite for more hopeful themes (which I've been driven towards sometimes by pointlessly nihilistic popular media), you might find a payoff. Tales of Berseria and Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana are the two I said I enjoyed in recent years, although they both have their strengths and drawbacks. Great character roster for Berseria marred by mashy combat, simple dungeons and a dodgy ending - or for Ys 8, a combination of solid, fun hack and slash gameplay, vibrant atmosphere and likeable chars, which are all just a bit over-simplistic once the play-time starts to drag out. Neither game looks particularly great either, but I think Japan's lack of focus on graphics is the flipside of the coin to the western industry's tendency to bloat game budgets pointlessly, dragging out release cycles forever. Also if you're anything like me these games are unplayable with the English dub, original language only.
If you're going retro you can't really go wrong with an older Final Fantasy, I suppose - I'd recommend FF7 or FF9. Or if you want to try a more modern JRPG with a retro feel I'd say look for The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero when it finally gets an official western release in a couple of months. It's part of the same universe and uses characters from Trails in the Sky, and technically you would be playing them out of order - however Trails in the Sky just felt like way too much of a padded out series so it's hard to recommend as a showcase. IMO there's no problem playing them out of order, just you get a few cameos from previous main characters.
Trails From Zero in contrast was very likeable for me because you start out as rookie cops in an disrespected police force, with everybody giving you the stink-eye, which was a nice twist on the usual 'chosen one' formula where everybody kisses your arse. If you want to play before release, look to the high seas version and the Geofront fan patch (the porters partnered with these patchers in order to bring about the upcoming Steam version).
New Vegas should have been on the list, I just forgot to add it.
I'll have to check Tales of Berseria and YS 8 and trails from zero. On FF, I'll give those a try but from what I know of the series, it is overrated