The Best RPGs on PS1

Breath of Fire IV

• Release Date — April 27, 2000
• Developer — Capcom Development Studio 3
• Publisher — Capcom
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)

Capcom’s fourth entry in the Breath of Fire series would arrive on the PS1 late in the console’s life, narrowly avoiding a release on the PS2 in favor of arriving on 5th-gen hardware. Like other games in the franchise, Breath of Fire IV follows the adventures of a young warrior named Ryu with the ability to transform into a dragon and follows closely in the footsteps of its predecessor, Breath of Fire III. But that’s not to say that Breath of Fire IV doesn’t introduce plenty of new ideas of its own, because it definitely does.

In addition to the return of the “Master” system from Breath of Fire III where players can track down different Masters for their party members to apprentice under (improving their skills in the process), Breath of Fire IV introduces the new “Combo” system where players can stack multiples of the same kind of attack in subsequent turns to increase their effectiveness. Add in Breath of Fire IV‘s excellent visuals and soundtrack and you have a rock-solid RPG that amounts to genre comfort food.

Lunar: Silver Star Story

• Release Date — May 28, 1998
• Developer — Game Arts
• Publisher — Kadokawa Shoten (JP), Working Designs (NA)
• Review Aggregate Score — 78% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)

When it was originally released in 1992 on the Sega CD, Lunar: The Silver Star was a technical marvel thanks to its fully animated cutscenes and voice acting. These leaps in presentation helped to elevate what was otherwise a fairly rote and by-the-numbers JRPG, much like they had for several role-playing games on NEC’s PC Engine CD. By the time Lunar finally made its way to the PlayStation, though, the novelty of animated cutscenes and voice acting had greatly worn off thanks to the technological advancements made possible by the PS1.

So, rather than reinvent the wheel, Game Arts went back and added additional content, new cutscenes, an improved script, and remasters of those impressive anime cutscenes to make Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete the most polished version of an already beloved RPG. The result? Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is a fun, if not simple, RPG that punches well above its weight thanks to some stellar presentation and a compelling narrative.

Wild Arms

• Release Date — December 20, 1996
• Developer — Media Vision
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Review Aggregate Score — 79% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)

Roughly a month before players would get the PS1’s first “killer app” RPG in the form of Final Fantasy VII, PlayStation owners got their hands on the almost equally as anticipated Wild Arms. While it’s not the first RPG on the PlayStation, Wild Arms is one of the first RPGs to use 3D character models in its battle sequences, which were incredibly impressive for the time. Beyond its early adoption of 3D visuals, though, Wild Arms is a unique RPG that’s worth playing for a litany of other reasons.

The game’s Wild West setting is one that works so well for a role-playing game that it’s a wonder it hasn’t been utilized more, and the use of Zelda-style puzzles and equipment-dependent traversal adds a nice layer to dungeon exploration beyond navigating corridors and battling in random encounters. Wild Arms was a great RPG that still managed to be successful despite being overshadowed by the gargantuan success of Final Fantasy VII, and that in itself is a major accomplishment.

The Legend of Dragoon

• Release Date — December 2, 1999
• Developer — Sony Computer Entertainment Japan
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Review Aggregate Score — 74% (Mixed or Average)
• User Score — 86% (Generally Favorable)

Despite it being somewhat unfavorably compared to Square’s Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII upon release, there’s a lot to love about The Legend of Dragoon that has only helped to endear it to a devoted cult following of fans over the years. The game’s lengthy and highly-publicized development positioned The Legend of Dragoon as Sony’s first-party answer to Final Fantasy. While it doesn’t quite reach the same level of quality as its contemporaries in the Square PS1 catalog, The Legend of Dragoon is a very enjoyable and brisk RPG experience that deserves to be played by any fan of the genre.

One of the game’s many high points is its combat, which makes battles more engaging through the use of perfectly-timed real-time button commands to execute special moves a la Super Mario RPG, and its unique visuals and excellent soundtrack go a long way toward bringing the game’s surprisingly great story to life.

Parasite Eve

• Release Date — March 29, 1998
• Developer — Square
• Publisher — Square
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)

Outside RPGs, few other genres had the lion’s share of the limelight in the PS1 era quite like survival horror, which, after the release of Resident Evil, became incredibly fertile ground for developers hoping to follow in Capcom’s footsteps. Seeing plenty of potential in the idea for a survival horror and RPG hybrid, Square optioned the rights to a popular Japanese horror novel to produce a video game adaptation, and thus Parasite Eve was born.

In practice, Parasite Eve is a unique experience as both an RPG and a survival horror game. Combat uses a blend of real-time tactics and positioning with traditional turn-based commands and abilities, and players can level up both their hero and their firearms, which is something survival horror games wouldn’t introduce in earnest until many years later with Resident Evil 4. Ahead of its time, bursting with atmosphere, and a one-of-a-kind experience on the PS1, there’s really nothing like Parasite Eve before or since its release.

Star Ocean: The Second Story

• Release Date — July 30, 1998
• Developer — tri-Ace
• Publisher — Enix
• Review Aggregate Score — 80% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)

After developing the first game in Bandai Namco’s Tales of series, several of the key members of Tales of Phantasia‘s Wolf Team left to form tri-Ace, who would then go on to develop the first Star Ocean game for the Super Famicom. The first Star Ocean was one of the more surprising late-era RPGs on the Super Famicom, but its sequel is leaps and bounds ahead of it by just about every conceivable metric. Telling a tale split between two protagonists, Claude and Rena, Star Ocean: The Second Story is a grand sci-fi fantasy tale that improves the combat, progression, story, and mechanics of the first Star Ocean to deliver one of the PS1’s best RPGs.

While the game does still share many similarities with the Tales of series (specifically, its real-time combat), Star Ocean: The Second Story introduces important innovations like the “Private Action” system that helps build relationships between characters, unlocking bonuses in combat for party members who are tightly bonded.

Valkyrie Profile

• Release Date — December 22, 1999
• Developer — tri-Ace
• Publisher — Enix
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 86% (Generally Favorable)

Speaking of tri-Ace, the Star Ocean developer’s indisputable best game for the PS1 is 1999’s Valkyrie Profile, an exciting action RPG with some of the most hauntingly beautiful music and visuals to accompany its best-in-class narrative. Like the Star Ocean games, combat in Valkyrie Profile takes place in real-time. Only instead of controlling one character with four face buttons, players have each of their four party members assigned to a single button on the PlayStation controller, which opens up plenty of opportunity for experimentation when it comes to chaining and sequencing attacks. Valkyrie Profile‘s gameplay is nothing to scoff at, but the true star of the show is the game’s narrative, which — provided players know the steps to achieve it — provides one of the most satisfying emotional payoffs in the game’s “true” ending.

Grandia

• Release Date — June 24, 1999
• Developer — Game Arts
• Publisher — Entertainment Software Publishing (JP), Sony Computer Entertainment (NA)
• Review Aggregate Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 77% (Generally Favorable)

Though most Grandia fans are more likely to remember the game’s original release courtesy of the Sega Saturn, the PlayStation port is still one of the best RPGs on the console and a commendable localization of a game that deserved a broader audience in the West than the Saturn could achieve.

One of the things that sets Grandia apart from some of the other best RPGs on the PS1 is its unique narrative, which puts the player in control of a band of heroes who discover they’ve been fed falsehoods about their world’s history, with a forgotten lost civilization at the center of the adventure. Grandia also takes a unique approach to combat, with a turn indicator taking precedence as the main focal point in battles for players to strategize and plan their actions in accordance with what the enemy plans to do. More players should experience Grandia, and thanks to the Grandia HD Remaster, they now can.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

• Release Date — June 29, 2000
• Developer — Atlus
• Publisher — Atlus
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 76% (Generally Favorable)

Given the Persona series’ more recent widespread acclaim and popularity in the West, it can be easy to overlook that the series has long been incredibly popular in its native Japan, with the originating Shin Megami Tensei games dating back to the Famicom. After not getting the first part of the Persona 2 saga, Innocent Sin, in the West, Atlus would end up localizing its direct sequel Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and it’s an important milestone in the growth of the Persona series.

An improvement over both the original Persona and Persona 2: Innocent Sin in terms of its localization and gameplay, respectively, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment would end up being many Western players’ first experience with Atlus’ excellent social sim/RPG series, priming Persona 3 for major success upon its release in 2006. It might be a little bit barebones compared to later entries, but there are still a lot of important foundational elements present in this excellent PS1 Persona title.

Final Fantasy VIII

• Release Date — February 11, 1999
• Developer — Square
• Publisher — Square
• Review Aggregate Score — 90% (Universal Acclaim)
• User Score — 86% (Generally Favorable)

Long considered the “black sheep” of the PS1 trilogy of Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy VIII is a phenomenal game that deserves a second look from a lot of players. Though it was incredibly successful both critically and commercially upon release, many players now look back unfavorably on FFVIII thanks to its somewhat complex and confusing gameplay systems, many of which were introduced specifically for Final Fantasy VIII and then never iterated upon again.

In truth, though, Final Fantasy VIII‘s core mechanics are what makes it stand out as one of the more unique and exciting games in the series, especially once players begin to fully understand the Junction system and use the Triple Triad card game to ruthlessly exploit it. Following the crowd-pleasing mainstream success of Final Fantasy VII was always going to be a tough job, but Square managed to deliver a boldly original and mechanically deep RPG that, for many fans, is among the best in the Final Fantasy series.

Suikoden II

• Release Date — December 17, 1998
• Developer — Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
• Publisher — Konami
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)

The first Suikoden ended up being one of the first great RPGs on the PS1, so it should come as no surprise that its sequel only improves upon its predecessor to become one of the greatest games on the console. Taking place just 3 years after the events of the first Suikoden, players once again take up the mantle of a freedom fighter leading a large army against an oppressive empire, this time led by the outrageously villainous Luca Blight, one of the greatest antagonists in any game, RPG or otherwise.

Along with its excellent new story, Suikoden II also makes some worthwhile improvements to the gameplay, including an overhaul of the original’s cumbersome inventory system, and a whole new host of Stars of Destiny to recruit that give you seemingly endless combinations of party members to experiment with. Tying together its excellent narrative and gameplay are some timeless 2D visuals and one of the best soundtracks in gaming, cementing Suikoden II as a legendary PS1 RPG.

Vagrant Story

• Release Date — February 10, 2000
• Developer — Square Product Development Division 4
• Publisher — Square
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)
• User Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)

Yasumi Matsuno’s Vagrant Story was the developer’s follow-up to the timeless PS1 classic Final Fantasy Tactics, and it’s both a distinct departure and an evolution of many of the ideas and elements from his previous work on both FFT and Tactics Ogre. While it’s ostensibly a dungeon crawler, Vagrant Story delivers layers upon layers of systems and mechanics that, at first, can be a bit overwhelming. Once you begin to come to grips with its gameplay, though, few RPGs offer up the kind of nuanced strategy and combat that Vagrant Story does, and it offers up a surprising amount of customization and player agency in how you build out Ashley Riot.

Aside from its excellent gameplay, though, Vagrant Story is a landmark PS1 title thanks to its compelling and mature narrative and top-notch presentation. The game’s visuals utilize a muted color palette and highly detailed character and enemy models to bring the world of Ivalice to life, and its story is surprisingly grounded despite featuring the typical swords and sorcery you’d expect to find in a fantasy game. Vagrant Story is another of Square’s more unique titles on the PS1, and it’s one that is desperately in need of a remaster, remake, or even just a port to modern consoles and PC.

Final Fantasy IX

• Release Date — July 7, 2000
• Developer — Square
• Publisher — Square
• Review Aggregate Score — 94% (Universal Acclaim)
• User Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)

For the PS1’s third and final Final Fantasy game, Square would enlist the help of series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi as lead producer, his first time directly working on a game in the series since serving as Final Fantasy V‘s director. Together with the game’s return to a high fantasy setting and embracing of the series’ past, Final Fantasy IX feels like a homecoming in every sense of the word, bringing together some of Square’s best developers to deliver a fitting swansong to the series’ PS1 era and a love letter to longtime fans who had grown up with the series since its infancy. Accordingly, Final Fantasy IX knocks it out of the park on all fronts — presentation, narrative, and gameplay — and it holds a place as many fans’ favorite game in the series for good reason.

Final Fantasy Tactics

• Release Date — June 20, 1997
• Developer — Square
• Publisher — Square, Sony Computer Entertainment
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 88% (Generally Favorable)

Arriving on the PS1 hot on the heels of Final Fantasy VII‘s success, Final Fantasy Tactics would end up being many RPG fans’ first experience with the TRPG/SRPG subgenre, aided in part by the game’s use of the Final Fantasy name and license. Underneath that surface-level connection to the Final Fantasy series, though, Final Fantasy Tactics is really more of a spiritual successor to Tactics Ogre, continuing many of that game’s best ideas in a brand-new story penned by series creator and Tactics Ogre director Yasumi Matsuno.

Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the best games on the PS1 and one of its best RPGs, and it boils down to a few key criteria. One, the game’s visual aesthetic (which mixes iconic 2D character sprites over 3D backgrounds) has allowed the game to age much more gracefully than many of its competitors. Two, Final Fantasy Tactics‘ story is an all-timer that delves into some truly dark and intriguing territory all while establishing the “Ivalice Alliance” continuity of the Final Fantasy shared universe. Third and finally, Final Fantasy Tactics‘ gameplay is a perfect introduction to the TRPG genre that quickly acclimates players to the genre’s conventions while guiding them along a suitably satisfying power curve, aided by the game’s 20 different classes (“Jobs”) and near-perfect balance. Now if only we could get a remaster on PC and modern consoles.

Xenogears

• Release Date — February 11, 1998
• Developer — Square Product Development Division 3
• Publisher — Square
• Review Aggregate Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)
• User Score — 91% (Universal Acclaim)

One of my personal favorite games of all time and a title that, when I first played it, helped to broaden my understanding of the world around me in significant and profound ways, Xenogears is one of the most important titles to release on the PS1. While it began its life as the original version of Final Fantasy VII, the game’s esoteric themes and challenging narrative prompted Square to give creators Tetsuya Takahashi and Kaori Tanaka (now known by her pen name, Soraya Saga) their own team to fully develop it as a separate project. Thus, Xenogears was born, allowing the husband and wife duo to shape the game as they saw fit outside the bounds and expectations of the Final Fantasy license.

Unfortunately, the game’s long development and competition for resources with other Square titles would result in Xenogears being released in an unfinished state (with much of the planned content for the second disc being rushed or scrapped). However, even in its incomplete state, Xenogears delivers one of the most compelling RPG experiences ever, not just on the PS1. The game’s blend of turn-based combat and real-time, fighting game-style button combos during both on-foot and in-mech encounters makes its combat system more engaging than many other contemporaries, and the game’s story is one of the most complex and profound narratives in any game, exploring concepts related to Jungian psychology, Gnosticism, and artificial intelligence. Still one of a kind more than a quarter century later, Xenogears is truly one of the best games ever made.

Final Fantasy VII

• Release Date — January 31, 1997
• Developer — Square
• Publisher — Square, Sony Computer Entertainment
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)
• User Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)

For the Final Fantasy series’ first foray into 3D, and the series’ PlayStation debut after years of loyalty to Nintendo hardware, Square would pull out all the stops, ultimately delivering one of the most pivotal video games ever released. Final Fantasy VII is radically different from the other games in the series that precedes it, trading the franchise’s typical high fantasy settings and plot for a decidedly more dystopian future world with a narrative centering around corporate greed and the struggle to understand one’s place in a rapidly changing world. It’s a grown-up approach to the series that matched the growing fan base, ultimately helping them connect to its characters and relate to the game’s surprisingly nuanced addressing of mental health issues and self-acceptance.

Beyond its timeless and legendary cast of characters and narrative, though, Final Fantasy VII is also just a great game with some of the best systems and mechanics of any RPG. The new Materia system is a great evolution of the Magicite and Espers that allowed for unprecedented customization in Final Fantasy VI, which ultimately made Final Fantasy VII one of the most approachable games in the series and a great starting point for players new to RPGs. And thanks to its place as a PS1 exclusive, Final Fantasy VII would end up being one of the driving forces behind the PlayStation’s early success, helping to cement Sony as the undisputed victor of the 5th console generation.