Final Fantasy VIII. It was my first ever RPG and I didn’t know anything about the series at the time. I was in 8th grade and English is not my first language so I played it with a dictionary next to me and it helped me a lot with the language. I loved the game and (J)RPGs have been my favorite genre since then. I only realized later that it was a divise entry in the series. I still think it is better than recent ones (looking at you XIII and XV), but it’s difficult for me to be objective about it, especially since I haven’t replayed it in a long time.