DreamCast rpg - but you START play with an airship.
The game is very much geared against random encounters (until the SquareSoft? obligatory 'explore the world if you like' bit)
It is also very stingy with save points. Some areas happily give you two bits of story plot and four boss fights between saves.
Airship combat is, frankly, awesome. Half of all boss fights are airship combat. Roughly a third of the game time is boss fights.
Fantastic two CD game. Coming soon to GameCube. Except by the time it gets there that system may have died too. Someone port it to XBox quick and hope the curse lasts.
Plot? Um. Lets see if I can remember. You are a sky pirate. Intro line: "We rob from the rich and keep for ourselves" You rescue the not-an-esper-honest female second lead. The empire kidnaps her, you get her back, the empire kidnaps her etc. etc. Eventually, you prevent the whole planet from being destroyed, by collecting all of the coloured crystals.
Combat system is unimaginative, but pretty. The fighting continues while you wait for your next turn or select from the menus - but only 'real' actions do damage. Which is pretty nice.
Although I say it is geared against random encounters, there are many many of them early on.
The magic system is cute. There are five elements, and you can switch a characters element during their turn. Elements do damage in a fairly incomprehensible Yellow >> Green <> Blue type system. Characters get more XP in the colour they had selected at the end of the battle. Enough XP and they gain a spell in that colour. Silver is resurrection and healing, and that's all you need to know. You also have technique points, which you gain each turn and lose when used. They're sorta like movement points - they work far better for the airship than they do for individual characters.
It has every final fantasy cliche - some of which are identifiable as to which games they have been stolen from. There is a scene where you are running along a train and must jump off before you are caught. There is a scene where a major antagonist reaches deep inside himself to find the evil power he needs. And, of course, there are the five coloured crystals. (Although a cliche is broken here!) Oh, and the female antagonist falls in love with the hero and lets him get away.
Forty to sixty hours of gameplay (depending on whether you insist on finding every secret, or just get on with the plot)