Agarest? You mean Agarest: Generations of Anime? :v
Yea, that game is pretty terrible and is just bunch of anime waifu tropes bundled togheder into a really terrible "tactical" rpg that looks like it was made for a mobile, and is padded as all hell. Its a game that tries to be disgaea and FFT while failing completely at both. Its also repetitive as all hell.
In regards to "jrpg" that isn't trying to be "anime", I recommend legend of mana for the PS1. The artstyle is very much japanese while also being different from ~regular~ anime style. Its also an action RPG with a fair bit of customization involved (you can't customize your character's appearance apart from sex, but you can eventualy make your own weapons, breed your own pets, make custom golems and even grow your own produce). Its also nonlinear (in a way) which is a rarity for JRPGs.
There's also the shin megami tensei games, which haves a different artstyle from persona, which is way more anime, and tends to be more focused on the plot and the gameplay itself rather than the characters. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is easily the best one in the series.
There's also the valkyrie profile series. Its intro is animated an really does look like an anime, but the plot is rather dark and has quite a serious tone, and the games are all pretty unique in regards to gameplay, at least in comparison to other jrpgs. You are a valkyrie trying to gather heroes for ragnarok, you have limited time to do so, and if you screw up you can easily end up failing to recruit a lot of people. The sequels get progressively more "anime" though, but are still good.