The remake of FF7 is pretty easy on newcomers, especially with understanding the story. I would caution about 16, though. It’s not hard; it’s just a different style of game play that’s not as forgiving.
Final Fantasy X is pretty good and linear too; it’s voice acted and modern but still turn based, so it’s not action heavy.
All of the games are pretty separate, though. There’s similar characters but they’re not really connecting nor is the story.
If you’re going to do the remake, I’d say try to keep away from the OG game or spoilers since it will make it so much better.
FF 8 and FF 9 are great too but a bit more complex, so it might be better off waiting on those until you get through another one first.