With regards to new JRPGs that retain the classic flavour... you knew someone was gonna say it... you guys are totally overlooking Dragon Quest.

While Final Fantasy did very well for itself, particularly in the west, by reinventing the wheel with each new game, Dragon Quest has continued to hold steady, slowly evolving the series over time while maintaining traditional JRPG gameplay. Sure, they look dated and hokey compared to Final Fantasy's glossy productions, but the trade-off is that they also lack the bloated self-indulgences that have been hurting FF games for the past decade or so.