I agree. The story is "shut off your brain" material but the gameplay is excellent.

Paper Mario was quite a surprise for me. I wasn't sure about it at first, but it turned out to be one of the best games I played that year.

I'm total opposite on FF-X2.

I picked it up for $10 and I couldn't get into. The story is near non-existent, and the story has to be compelling to keep me interest in an rpg. On top of that I didn't like the combat. It was too fast paced for me, making it tough to have any depth or strategy. I'm not a big fan of job systems either, I don't like to do too much managing of my characters development.

I guess I'm the dead opposite of Pixy when it comes to RPGs. I play primarily for the story most of the time, and like the battles to be slower paced and centered on strategy of using the right attacks, defensive spells etc, rather than a fast paced game with a lot of combat and little story.

I second your nomination for Pikmin. Good fun. Also was really surprised by another early GC title - Luigi's Mansion. Playing Lego Star Wars and Luigi's Mansion proves that I'm not afraid to tackle the difficult kiddie games!

For me the two games that really stand out are Eternal Darkness and Final Fantasy Tactics. I started out playing Eternal Darkness thinking this would be a good game to spend a few hours playing, but I fell in love with the game. For FFT i fell in love both with the story of the game and the battle system of the game with the job classes just sealed the deal.