Part of the reason why the PS1 found success was Sony’s willingness to publish a lot of third-party games. They even published JRPGs which quickly became a staple on their consoles. For example, on the PS1 there was Star Ocean: The Second Story which recently got a slick HD-2D remaster.

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Then there were games like Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy, which were both developed by Level-5, who quickly grew tight with the PlayStation brand. Those were all examples of action JRPGs though. Sony also published some non-action titles, like in the turn-based genre, and these are some of the best and most challenging of them.

6 Legend Of Legaia

GameFAQs Difficulty: 3/5

Legend of Legaia is kind of like a mix between Final Fantasy 6 and Tekken. It seems like the developers were inspired by the combo system Sabin had in Final Fantasy 6, because all characters in Legend of Legaia can input moves into the D-Pad to perform attacks. The combat is still turn-based, but the presentation looks like a fighting game of this era, again, like Tekken, which was huge on the PS1.

It’s generally an easy system to get used to and, eventually, players will unlock a gauntlet that can absorb moves from enemies akin to a Blue Mage in the Final Fantasy series. The difficult part is that a lot of the normal enemies hit hard and can take a lot of damage in return. Plus, the random encounters are extreme even for this generation. Grinding, of course, will help, so it’s not as impossible as some other RPGs on here, but it can still be challenging.

5 Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines

GameFAQs Difficulty: 3/5

Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines is a sequel to a game that was never released in the West. It’s called Ore no Shikabane wo Koete Yuke, and it vaguely follows the same gameplay patterns as this PS Vita exclusive. The cel-shaded visual style should be one of the first things that pops out to players, and the overall theme is designed around a fantastical samurai era. There is a darkness coming, and players are tasked with breeding the best kids imaginable to quell this evil.

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Kids can only live two years and then their traits will carry forward. It’s kind of a roguelike mixed with Oregon Trail, as there isn’t a set structure to follow. This is what makes this game harder than other turn-based RPGs. Final Fantasy 7 can be challenging at times, but at least players know their party members are permanent, whereas Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines players have to constantly think about maximizing their time.

4 Final Fantasy Tactics

GameFAQs Difficulty: 3/5

Final Fantasy Tactics was unlike anything fans had ever seen in the series before. It was the first tactical JRPG, and it was also one of the few in the genre that was released in the West. The concept of going into battle with the knowledge that party members could die permanently was wild.

The enemy AI was aggressive in battle, and not even leveling up could solve the problem because the random enemies leveled up alongside players. It was like a JRPG experience wherein the game became sentient to how it was supposed to be played. It was difficult without a doubt, but fans pushed on because the overall game was worth playing through.

3 Beyond The Beyond

GameFAQs Difficulty: 4/5

At long last, Nintendo Switch players got to play Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age on their device. They still can’t play the third and final game, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, but this is a good start until Nintendo gets on that and gets onto making a sequel. Those craving more Golden Sun may want to check out Beyond the Beyond on PS1, as it’s sort of like a prequel to what that series would become. It was made by Camelot, who is the same developer as Golden Sun.

Beyond the Beyond was an early game on PS1 that used minimalistic graphics in the overworld and more detailed graphics during battles. As cute and colorful as it was, this game was brutal from the start, with even tiny bats giving the hero, Finn, a hard time. It got a little easier once more party members joined, but players still couldn’t slack off on grinding as the boss battles could be truly unforgiving. As archaic and challenging as some things are about it, again, Camelot fans may want to unearth this lost treasure.

2 SaGa Frontier

GameFAQs Difficulty: 4/5

SaGa Frontier continues the legacy of the series by offering one of the most baffling JRPGs of its generation. Players can select one of the seven characters from the start, including Emelia and Red. Completing one scenario is just the beginning, as the true ending won’t unlock until everything is completed, which is a novel idea Square Enix has carried over with games like Octopath Traveler.

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The tricky thing about SaGa Frontier is that there is very little story or direction in many of these scenarios. Players can wander around for days not knowing what to do even though they were paying attention. It’s the hardest thing about the game. The battle system, which might be confusing to newcomers, at least isn’t as brutal. Overall, though, players may jump into this one and say “What were they thinking?”

1 Final Fantasy 11

GameFAQs Difficulty: 4/5

Not to be outdone, but Final Fantasy Tactics is not the only challenging game in the series that Sony published. Final Fantasy 11 is even harder, for a variety of reasons. It was the franchise’s first foray into MMOs, which is weird considering it was labeled as a numbered title.

This was in an era when getting online, especially with the PS2’s hookup, was not easy. If players weren’t used to MMOs, they may have gotten lost more than normal, plus the excessive grinding made the game feel like another job. It was much easier in multiplayer, but even fully stocked six-player parties could get trounced by bosses.

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