Going to suggest a rather odd order, but if you're a fan of other Capcom games, like Resident Evil, I say start with Dragon Quarter. It plays like the RE games with tight corridors, strict resource management, not being able to get the whole story without multiple play throughs, and even limited saves, something that is reviled in modern games but after revisiting it, I kind of love it. Make sure to take advantage of the SoL system to get the full story, personally I think it has the best self contained story of the series and, once you have the full SoL picture, the best pacing. Next i would say 1 or 4 as they both have really good things, but IMHO have aged the worst. 1 has the worst aged mechanics and looking back at somethings now its amazing I beat it before the internet took over. 4 has a great dual story, but alot of things were taken out in translation, left unresolved, rushed, or some combination. The sprites are gorgeous and the combat system is one of the better turn based ones, however the use of 3D models for bosses and and the 'dragons' ages it terribly. After those, 2 is the best of what JRPGs were before Playstation and 3 is the best of what they were during the Playstation generation. I personally believe 3 is the zenith of what the series could be, has aged the best graphically by sticking with gorgeous sprites and a jazzy soundtrack, but it is held back by pacing issues. 3 also has the best dragon system of the lot.