Your Top 5 PSOne JRPG's

1. Revelations: Persona
2. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
3. Xenogears
4. Parasite Eve
5. Star Ocean 2. Would be Legend of Mana if co-op wasn't borked.

For the record I haven't played the Breath of Fire games yet. Also Persona 2: EP is the better game I just have more of a personal attachment to the first one.
Glad someone finally mentioned Persona. It's a pretty flawed game but man it felt like something really different and special back then. I'd never played anything like it. I liked that style more than the high school life sim stuff in 3 onward.

Also gotta agree that 2EP was a better game, but I have a lot more nostalgia for the first one. It was so weird and so much darker and more mature than any other JRPG I'd played before.
 
Chrono Cross

The first game I played and beaten. Loved how colorful the prerendered backgrounds got despite not liking most of the characters designs. Battle system on the other hand is fantastic and different. It's understandable divisive but I loved it due to how unique it is. Plot and the main cast (Not the recruitable cast) are really memorable. Love reading through Kids interactions with Serge. Also the plot had lot of good twist and actually had some interesting connections to Chrono Trigger. Music wise is as great as Triggers Soundtrack. Chrono Cross is still an all time favorite despite the game issues. But Chrono Trigger is my GOAT still

Xenogears

Has a memorable cast of characters with an actual deep philosophical story. Great battle system that involves combos and being able to use mechs, is a fun twist. OST is phenomenal. Graphically, when it comes to Playstation 1 games I prefer Prerendered Backgrounds so the full 3D is usually not really my thing. Also there a couple of faults within the game since they included platforming and having random battle into the mix can be a throw your controller at the wall experience. Not to mention the camera during the platforming section can get frustrating. Despite those issues, don't miss out on this game since it's one of the best stories told in a videogame

Final Fantasy IX

Along with Chrono Cross, this is the second game I played and beat. Graphically, the prerendered backgrounds and characters looked great and they did a lot to the prerendered backgrounds to make sure they pushed the Playstation to it's limits. I loved that battle system and I maxed out every skill I got from all the weapons, armors and accessories. I grinded to Level 99 for all my characters. Most of all I did all the minigames and Chocobo Hot And Cold is my favorite Minigame in a Final Fantasy game. It has my favorite OST in the franchise. The story especially is one of my favorites. The cast I consider to be the best in the series. Overall a fantastic package all around

Final Fantasy Tactics


This was my first SRPG. I didn't get the story at times but I did enjoy it. The cast was pretty good too. Soundtrack is fantastic. But gameplay is where it's at for me. I loved maxing out all the available job classes. Also this game had some tough bosses

Breath of Fire IV

What really attracted me to this game was the graphics. The game is one of the best looking Playstation games out there. Really reminded me of celshading, with the characters having a painted on quality to them that it's hard to explain. The 3D backgrounds are really good and detailed too. The battle system had a fun mechanic with the Dragon Transformation System. Looking for all the Dragon forms you can find in the world was fun to do. Also the battle system was way ahead of it's time since it's the first one I think where you can swap in your party members you're not using during battle. Music is great. Story is very emotional and the cast are three dimensional with some interesting backstory. The villain had a really interesting story and I loved playing through his sections since knowing about his motivations made me understand him better. I can understand where he's coming from. I love Breath of Fire III but the constant minigames and them being a requirement to get through the main game put a damper on that game. But with Breath of Fire IV, there are minigames you encounter in the main story that if they are too tough, you can skip. So that was a massive improvement to me. Out of all the games in this franchise, the fourth game I consider the best. Wish Capcom would make a new one

Runner Ups

Legend of Mana


Gameplay is Action RPG. Had a lot of fun dodging enemies attacks and learning their patterns. Love the 2D backgrounds and the sprite work. I consider it one of the best 2D Graphics I seen. Music is really good too. I love the nonlinear storytelling going on. Putting these items on the map and placing them in certain areas can unlock different storylines. I loved just not using a guide and just experiencing the story itself. If I ever do a replay of the game, I'll be going for 100 Completion of the story

Suikoden II

I haven't played the first two Suikoden games until a couple years ago. Now that I played through both I can understand why people love Suikoden II. It's not my favorite in the franchise but it's up there. It has a story filled with politics and war. With a massive cast of characters that are memorable. And a villain who is pretty great. Graphics wise, not the greatest to me since it felt like I was playing a SNES game at times. Music was really good. I loved the minigames and recruiting every Star of Destiny. The battle system was fast and did it's job pretty well. Suikoden III is still my favorite

Star Ocean The Second Story


One of the hardest games I played and finished in this franchise. The battle system is extremely deep and using Item Creation is key to beating the game. Item Creation is lot of fun, especially when you start to get the hang of it and start making game breaking equipment. It's an action rpg. Graphics wise, the game uses sprites for their characters and prerendered backgrounds. Love the OST. All the minigames are fun and I especially loved stealing from NPCs to get powerful equipment. There's so much to do in this game that you have to play it multiple times due to their being party members that can't be recruited if you recruited someone else. Also there are two protagonists you can choose that do have differences in the storyline. There's so much stuff you can do in this game that it's insane. There's even 99 endings and I think the max level is 250. Sorry I'm gushing
 
1. Wild Arms (first good RPG on the system with great music, story, ambiance, I have the PS2 remake but never played iit and I regret that)
The PS2 remake is unfortunately devoid of all personality and is less fun to play than the original, however the good news for you is that it's super rare and you can sell that shit on eBay for $150.
 
mine changes with my mood but here's my current picks in no particular order.

Valkyrie Profile
Legend of Legaia
Xenogears
Parasite Eve
Breath or Fire 4
 
Top five, eh? No particular order for me because each of these had some wonderful settings and gameplay.

Chrono Cross
Jade Cocoon
Beyond the Beyond (the precursor to Golden Sun/Camelot's first RPG like this in the US)
Alundra 2
Threads of Fate

Honorable mentions that fit in this narrative for me, Breath of Fire 3, Xenogears, Arc the Lad Collection, Dragon Warrior VII, Legend of Dragoon, and of course the FF series on the console. Each JRPG felt uniquely fun to me on this console so it's hard to praise one over the others.
 
Task impossible to do, top20 would be somewhat manageable tho, basically there is more top quality mustave jrpgs on psx than topquality games whole current console gen of all genres.
Dont have to name names, we all know them.
 
Syphon Filter
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FFVII
FFVIII
FFIX
Legend of Dragoon
Parasite Eve

Granted these are the only jrpgs I beat on the system lol BUT I rank both VII and VIII as 9/10s so I suspect those two would still stay if I was to play Star Ocean, Xenogears, Breath of Fire, etc
 
Pretty easy top 5. Quoting myself on a lot of these from several years back.

1) Valkyrie Profile

There was a moment when I was playing Valkyrie Profile that I realized that all the planets had to have aligned to make this game. Maybe it was a happy accident, maybe it's true brilliance. Tri-ace has a penchant for experimenting on new IPs and they have a... spotty track record, but nearly everything in this game works.

As a representative of Odin, lord of the gods and Valhalla, you are set to task collecting worthy heroic souls from Midgard for Ragnarok and purifying the land of disruptive forces up to no good on it. The first thing this game does right is, after the tutorial stage, letting you do everything at your own pace. Want to go collect a soul now? Go ahead. Want to dungeon dive? Have at it. And it does all of these things well.

The very first vignette I read was told with a sad beauty and subtlety rarely found in the genre (often told to a wonderful track literally titled "Epic Poem to Sacred Death"), and I loved it. The dungeons and combat are on the opposite end of the tonal spectrum, with balls to the walls rock blaring as you dash and leap through levels and fight enemies in a turn-based but fast-paced timed button press-combination battle system (that I'm sure only tri-ace would come up with), and somehow the game suffers from no tonal whiplash.

Did I mention that this game is beautiful? It is. The character portrait work is absolutely without peer for any game I've ever played (2025 update: The newest remake of Star Ocean 2, the Second Story R, gives VP a run for its money but still is a little weaker), and the sprite work is no slouch either. Every image of the protagonist Lenneth is simple beauty in motion. Motoi Sakuraba, more commonly known for mixedly received Tales of games soundtrack contributions, operates fully in his element here and at the peak of his ability. Sakuraba generally does a couple things really well: Anything with an ominous undertone, and heart-thomping action, and he's a perfect match with what tri-ace produced here. I can think of a handful of a scant tracks that aren't great.

There are a few flaws to the game, or at least things that might turn some off. The game practically requires a strategy guide from the beginning to get the true ending although oddly I didn't mind using one even a bit here - Likely because of how the chapters in the game are divided up. One dungeon in hard mode of the final chapter has an obnoxious gimmick of expelling you back to the world map if you miss a platform or are knocked into the void by an exploding chest. The dubbing, although largely very good (particularly for Lenneth), is also performed by the same cast that acted in Slayers and the old Pokemon anime, which if you've seen those shows sometimes results in their performances here feeling a bit... disorienting. Finally I'd note that while the main story progression (just the short stories, in other words) are 10/10 material for me, the actual main plot and the conclusion of in particular is just 'good'. Feint criticism but I judge this game by the highest standards because it really is this damn fantastic so I feel obliged to mention everything I can.

2) Xenogears

The one and only. I think it's impossible to discuss Xenogears with anyone who's heard the name and doesn't know it's famous for its story. Xenogears is a massive undertaking (for the player and the developers), an ambitious title I often believe that for its scope we'll never quite see the likes of again. Yes, Xenogears is famous for its story. It's long, it's demanding. And it's good.

Other details are largely superfluous but worth mention. The combat is generally just serviceable but at least is visually interesting. Platforming in certain sections has bothered people but I think in general the amount of freedom in movement the games gives you in exploring is net positive. Disc 2's style is very contentious but without spoiling, after thinking on this for a while, I think the game is better for it. Also the Mitsuda soundtrack is really good although you'll probably notice is a little... limited. For the time, Xenogears has a very low track count, but almost all of them being great largely makes up for it. I also think people sell the cinematography short in this game - It really helps sell the story.

3) Grandia

In my mind, Game Arts as a company is most memorable for making light-hearted adventure games focused on telling coming of age stories where inevitably the hero must conquer some evil. And with some romance elements in there for good measure. Very basic stuff, but they are very, *very* good at it. Better than anyone else I'd argue, and this point may be contentious among Game Arts fans (I legit don't know - how many of you are out there?) but I think Grandia is where they peaked, where their form and technique they'd nurtured from developing Lunar for years had matured the most and technology allowed them to do as much as they wanted but before they either lost talent, technology left them behind, or costs became prohibitively expensive (Grandia II is their last good title imo).

Grandia is a title that earns its name, and I think the spirit of the game is best captured in its theme song, one of my favorites of all time: From excitement for the adventure ahead, to apprehension, to wonder, to somber appreciation, to sadness, to tears, to getting up and journeying on. Grandia wears its tone on its sleeve.

Plenty of others have talked about the game's really fun and cool combat system. Everything about that from its implementation to character skill development is really fantastic and not really replicated anywhere. ... Unfortunately it's also let down by the game being kinda easy. It's still a big draw for the game but generally light difficulty is a notable asterisk.

4) Final Fantasy VII

The one and only. A fantastic, exciting adventure through and through filled with twists and turns that's rightfully captured the hearts of millions. Some elements of the game, like the blocky character sprites, don't stand up well today but others like the matte painting artwork for backgrounds are timeless (as I explained in my Shadow Hearts LTTP recently) and the artists at Squaresoft don't disappoint. Combat is brisk and engaging, with goals of better limit break attacks and stronger gear (leveled materia) ahead of the player, and customization of said materia is neat too (even if a lot of the better stuff isn't available until late and the game doesn't incentivize much experimentation because of how easy the game is). Cast is a fun enough group. Uematsu delivers on the soundtrack when it counts. It's just a solid video game.

5) Breath of Fire III

Personal favorite of mine. This game is bright, colorful, and animated, and most of the game systems are adequate enough, with the twist of master-apprentice character customization that can create wildly different builds for the cast, but the real draw is its particular iteration of the series' staple dragon transformation for the main character. The dragon gene system lets you mix and match traits and forms to best fit whatever situation you're encountering, and between the steady drip feed of new genes and the allure of hidden, unique forms from specific combinations, the game keeps you excited for what's ahead and keeps the experience fresh... most of the time. Some genes are overwhelmingly powerful, but I think first-timers would need enough time to identify the most busted stuff that they're already far enough along for the bustedness to not negatively impact the experience too much.

As has been brought up before, this is Capcom's sprite work approaching its peak. In many ways, this game's a big step up from Breath of Fire II, and thought and detail put into the sprite work is probably the biggest improvement. Everything from the expressive idle animations to changes in Ryu's basic attack movement as you leave the prologue, it's clear Capcom put a lot of thought and work into making the character sprites as bright as the world they inhabit.
I read this post a few weeks ago and it intrigued me enough so I picked up a Portable Retro Emulation console just to play Valkyrie Profile, a game I missed at the time. While I played VP2, I never played the original.

This game has been incredible so far. While I'm only about halfway into the game, I can say it was way ahead of its time.

Better than Xenogears, FFIX or Chrono Cross? Probably not. An incredible game? So far, yes.

The music, gameplay, art direction and writing are all great, but the game lacks the exploration factor which I love in jRPGs and sometimes the dialogue is quite a bit garrulous.
 
I really haven't played many (still want to try Grandia), but I'd say...

5) Dragon Warrior VII
4) Final Fantasy VII
3) Suikoden II
2) Final Fantasy IX
1) Suikoden
 
I can only rank what I've actually played, and I played very little RPGs on the Playstation 1:

  1. Parasite Eve 2
  2. Mega Man Legends 1
  3. Parasite Eve 1
  4. Final Fantasy 7
  5. Tobal No 1 Quest Mode

I know 2-3 of these might be cheating, but technically they had RPG systems in them 🤷‍♂️

It's why I have such a pro-remaster opinion.
 
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I read this post a few weeks ago and it intrigued me enough so I picked up a Portable Retro Emulation console just to play Valkyrie Profile, a game I missed at the time. While I played VP2, I never played the original.

This game has been incredible so far. While I'm only about halfway into the game, I can say it was way ahead of its time.

Better than Xenogears, FFIX or Chrono Cross? Probably not. An incredible game? So far, yes.

The music, gameplay, art direction and writing are all great, but the game lacks the exploration factor which I love in jRPGs and sometimes the dialogue is quite a bit garrulous.

I want to say wordiness is a stylistic choice for framing einherjar vignettes all as classical tragedies. I think it's one of the game's assets. Fullness in the dialogue drives home these are the best choices the characters on this stage can make, flawed as they are, and the consistency in tone and style among the stories underscores how fucked everything in Midgard is.

Generally the weaker writing is the main plot stuff which doesn't stick to that style (some parts, yeah, but it's not consistent).
 
There are so many I haven't played, but my favorites:

1. Legend of Dragoon
2. Final Fantasy VII
3. Final Fantasy IX
4. Jade Cocoon
5. Front Mission 3

I liked FFVIII a lot at the time but looking back, I don't really enjoy it much at all. Lots of RPGs from that era I never played though, Xenogears and Vagrant Story most of all. Didn't play enough Chrono Cross or Parasite Eve to rank.

Loving all the Legend of Dragoon love in here, you guys have great taste.
 
To be honest the only rpgs I ever played back on ps1 when it was current gen was just ff7 but it wouldnt be in my top 5.

So far only RPGs I liked enough would be Fanta step a RPG that barely anyone knows of let alone played. Beautifully surreal and intriguing. Same for DoKi Oki as well, the ps1 has lots of games like that but unless it's published by square nobody wants to know.
 
Final Fantasy VII
Parasite Eve
Vagrant Story
Koudelka
Racing Lagoon

And I have to give a shout out to:
Volfoss

I really think its an undiscovered gem. A heavy metal Namco strat RPG with the most fucked up designs. Desperately needs a fan translation so it can find a wider audience.
 
Final Fantasy VII
Parasite Eve
Vagrant Story
Koudelka
Racing Lagoon

And I have to give a shout out to:
Volfoss

I really think its an undiscovered gem. A heavy metal Namco strat RPG with the most fucked up designs. Desperately needs a fan translation so it can find a wider audience.
Volfoss?

I never knew this one existed.
Time to do some research. 🥶
 
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