I am heavily retro ATM. Just finished Welcome House (it's AI translated, but the translation's not too bad), and playing Okage: Shadow King. I knew of the game from magazines back in the day and sometimes confused it with Stretch Panic, but playing it right now I like the game's vibe.
These earlier PS2 JRPGs have a nice wholesomeness to them, you can feel they were a stepping stone between the more mid-tier PS1/Saturn JRPGs and some of the behemoths the PS2 would get just a few years after this game came out (or in the case of FF X, literal months after it came out).
From the little I've progressed in it so far, a shame there was never a follow-up/sequel.