For story and visuals,
Xenosaga 1 is a really solid choice along with
Final Fantasy X. In both of them you'll want to follow the story, and the game play will generally not get in your way.
In the RPG realm I'd also suggest the second installment of
Shadow Hearts,
Shadow Hearts: Covenant. While the first installment is also a good game,
Covenant has a great mix of visuals, plot and characters, with a witty script to boot. You don't need to have played the first game to enjoy this one.
Finally I'll suggest the original
Ratchet & Clank. Like
Shadow Hearts, it has a great script and characters and pretty good visuals for one of the first PS/2 games to be made. However it's a platform game with a lot of jumping and shooting rather than the more constrained approach of RPGs so "YMMV" as they say.