I disagree with most of that assessment.
Tactics Ogre is the last SRPG to play in that sequence. Despite having the best plot of the three games, the story manages to be extremely dry because the characters are very poorly defined. The game also has issues with pacing rewards to the player since devleping character skills takes a really long time. Unless you are into hardcore SRPG mechanics you will probably fall asleep playing it. The PSP version of the game is fairly balanced in that it is difficult to make god-mode characters by the end of the game. The game also has the most content of any of the three.
FFT is the best overall game out of the three. Its story is somewhat silly (especially in comparison to TO), but it is at least interesting. Its job system is way more interesting than the systems in the other game, which makes it more rewarding to play, and since you can level up jobs relatively quickly and job skills play a larger role in combat, you can make more dynamic strategies for each map than you can with the other games. FFT also has better visuals and music than the other two games, although there are some slowdown issues with the PSP version. I also personally think that the timed abilities in FFT make its combat the most strategically interesting. The biggest weakness of the game is that the difficulty balance can be fairly uneven. There are a few battles in the game which are almost comically difficult for new players who don't know they are coming (including one near the beginning of the game). It's also possible to make the last portion of the game too easy by exploiting some of the advanced job classes if you know what you are doing.
Jeanne D'arc is just kind of bland. It does everything fairly competently, but doesn't do anything spectacularly. It doesn't really have a job system which takes away a lot of the fun of developing characters. I don't know if I'd call it "My First RPG" - it's true that the combat is less complex, with a lot of it relying on Rock/Paper/Scissors-type rules, but the game isn't necessarily all that easy. Easier than FFT or TO, yes, but no cake walk. For a first RPG, I'd recommend Disgaea. Complex as its systems get, I think it is friendlier to new players due to its basic job system, light-hearted themes, and option to adjust the game's difficulty to suit your own skill level.
Honestly, other than the volume of content, I struggle to see why people would prefer TO over FFT. Prior to the PSP remakes you could point to the hardcore difficulty of TO, but with the PSP versions I think FFT is now the more difficult game, not to mention being more fun.