On a relentless FF bender: after VII, where to next?

I can only read so much FF viewpoints, so I stopped after around post 25.
To add my reiterations:

FF IV: Excellent story, with genuine development between Cecil and Rydia throughout the whole game. Plus, even before VII:

Spoiler:

a powerful character dies near midway!

FF V: I love this game to death because I was so fixated on mastering every job class. Also, major points for Exdeath again

Spoiler:

being a tree and all, and SHOCKER: another main character dies! Which one? That's pointless, that teaches you not to powerlevel so early

FF VI: This is many people's favourite for good reason.
1) Kefka = truly insane + THE laugh + success
2) Many characters are in here, but they all have sufficient backstory and it's just neat seeing all these people come together to save the world
3) Soundtrack is pretty impressive on all counts, imho
4) etc. just play this NOW, and never look back

FF VIII: I liked FF VIII, and don't see why many people complain about it's junction system. It's not that hard! Towards the end, the story is rather slapped together. I mean how logical does this sound:

Spoiler:

time is compressed and a soceress from the future was controlling a sorceress in the present to try and kill you and then you go to her dimensionally warped castle to assassinate her while she waits for you so she can start chucking planets at you

It's true!
I liked the highly abusable limit breaks here though.

FF IX: Back to a light hearted feel. The best reason for complaint is the battle system lag. You input the command, but it literally comes out 10 seconds later. This isn't due to disc reading or anything, it's just the way the whole battle system seems to be. We have a beautiful character mix in here, and a likable main hero. People go nuts over Vivi, but Beatrix is also a compelling factor to play this.

Jam it back in, in the dark.