I'd try the Etrian Odyssey series. It's pretty lackluster in character development if I recall. As crash said, FF5 is a def must. Bravely Default is fairly story heavy, I found that Dragon Quest 8 is more grindy and has less character development (some of the scenes are completely optional for character dev.)

The DQ series uses weapon (skill) trees so you can actually customize your characters as you choose. The GBC ones that were released are probably more up your alley for FF3.

Hey all! Just wanted to say I've been watching the old Mega Man blocks and Mega Man X blocks on AGDQ and man, it's made me wanna start speedrunning.

Currently starting with Mega Man X. If anyone has any suggestions on where to look for strats, stuff like that please share it! The community seems super stellar here. Can't wait to upload some stuff for you guys to make fun of! :)