It makes me so happy to see so much FFIX love. Undoubtedly, that game has the best of everything in the series.
I also LOVE XII. It gets hated on a lot, but when you really look at Vaan, his character isn't the worst (his VA is, but that's a different story), it has overall some of the most bad-ass heroes (Ashe, Balthier, Basch), and villains (Vayne and Cid), it's narrative is so well done (yay, political intrigue), and I loved the battle system. Different enough to be a real change, but still a FF feel to it. Great music, great atmosphere.
A lot of what I love about XII is also present in Tactics. God, that's a good game.