Giving Final Fantasy 12 another shot. Setting it to Wait mode has made the previously deal-breaking battle system palatable, and now that I've gotten past that annoyance, the rest of the game appears to be excellent - compelling story, excellent characters, TONS of stuff to do, and, of course, superb Squeenix production values.
In a Heroes of Might and Magic 3 phase rather than an Alpha Centauri/Civ phase.