I started by watching my brother play the PS1 titles (VII, VIII and IX). Also later on, X and bits of XII.
I've personally played I, III, IV, V, VI, VIII and IX. So I'm missing quite a few but I read quite extensively on them and watch videos etc.

The Xeno saga is a bit complicated. The creator, Takahashi Tetsuya, made Xenogears while he was in Square. It stands alone, but he also envisaged it as part of a larger story. Later on, he left Square to form his own studio and made the 3 Xenosaga games (due to the split, the games no longer have a direct connection to Xenogears). And more recently, his studio has made the Xenoblade games, 3 so far. I think the one you've heard good things about must be Xenoblade Chronicles, released in 2010.

And regarding Chrono Trigger, it does have a (rather divisive) sequel, Chrono Cross.

Yeah, there are three FFXIII games.

I haven't played it personally but I think Final Fantasy Type-0 is one of the closest of the spinoffs to being a mainline game, also directed by the same guy who did FFXV.

And I'd highly recommend Xenogears, even if it's not an FF game. It is by Square and was originally conceived as an FF title. It's probably one of the most thematically rich of these JRPGs.

Anyway, that's all a long time to go anyway. I'll be interested in reading all your playthroughs in the meantime.

Hello, I've really enjoyed reading your playthroughs.

Might I know which games you are going to play in the future? All the mainline games of course but there are a lot of spinoffs and I assume you aren't going to play all of them.