I'm not a graphics whore so I can happily play a game with 2D sprites as long as it's good.
Man, it makes me sad whenever I see sprites spoken of like this. Not a problem with your stance so much as that there'll be people out there who'll play RPGs but fret over 2D sprites.
Anyways, my top recommendation is to look into a PSP when convenient, there are a lot of good recommendations there I'll make as secondary ones.
Strategy RPG - Shining Force is pretty great, but take a look at Final Fantasy Tactics and, if you can get a PSP, Tactics Ogre. It's not a big deal to play the PS1 version of FFT over the PSP version, it may have a weaker translation and be missing some of the extra additions but it runs faster without sound issues, and anyways the translation's mostly serviceable and those PSP extras aren't a big deal. Arc the Lad's worth looking into, moreso if you do take the PSP suggestion as you can just get them off the PSN for fairly cheap.
Action RPG - Ys games immediately jumped to mind for me, while most of the great ones are on PSP you can get Ys: The Ark of Napishtim for something like $10 used. Given that you've already played through Zelda you definitely should check out Okami, it tips a bit more into actually being an RPG and shouldn't be too expensive to get nowadays.
PS1 RPG - This actually doubles as a third suggestion for action RPG, but check out Vagrant Story. It doesn't take too long, the gameplay's great if you can get into it, and it has one of my more liked game stories. I also found the Wild Arms games fun, not really ones I'd suggest based on story though but maybe you'll find entertaining in that regard anyway, and Grandia's a lot of fun though the story kind of meanders during the latter half of the first disc. I have to repeat the PSP suggestion here though, beyond the PSN you can get a remake of Lunar: Silver Star Story, and while it's not an actual 32-bit RPG Trails in the Sky's evocative of the best of that period, namely Lunar and Grandia, and should satisfy your criteria anyway.
WRPG - Mass Effect if you don't mind it being shooter-y (especially the second game), and Oblivion's friendly to get into. The first suggestion that came to mind was the Witcher, and that
is going to be released on GoG on May 10th and will be half price, selling at $5. Actually, just about any Bioware/Black Isle RPG that's on GOG is worth checking out, I can't speak on most of the other titles there but Septerra Core may be interesting as a western attempt at making a JRPG.