@Felthry I've only played NieR: Automata which I greatly enjoyed, and the beginning of NieR. Especially the older games have some serious problems (predominantly framerate and to a lesser extent, pacing) but yeah I'd totally recommend it. Yoko Taro's approach to game design is one I enjoy a lot, I'm just not an RPG person :D
re: Best JRPG series?
@Felthry they technically exist in the same universe, but they're continuations of some joke ending
afaik the games are supposed to stand for themselves anyways