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The original PlayStation was home to a lot of fantastic games, both original standalone titles and franchise starters that created series which are still big today. Many of those games were RPGs, and many of those RPGs are renowned for their high difficulty.
Some of these games require a great strategic mind to fully master, while others require players to level up their characters properly in order to contend with an ensemble of hard bosses. Any nostalgic gamer should pick up these PS1 gems for a real challenge.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment Lives Up to Its Name
Persona 2: Innocent Sin is a landmark JRPG that helped further establish the popularity of the series compared to Shin Megami Tensei. Eternal Punishment continued the story of the original with many of the same characters returning, while also ramping up the difficulty significantly.
Compared to its predecessor, the turn-based combat, especially during the boss battles, requires more significant grinding and specific Persona fusion to truly master. One of the hardest bosses is the Metal Trio, with their high damage attacks and strong healing spells causing massive frustration.
Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth Has a Lot Going On
Tactical RPGs like Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth are built around commanding mercenaries on a grid-based battlefield to win a series of wars. While this setup is standard, Hoshigami piles on so many different systems that it can be hard to manage, which is what also led to reviews of the game being fairly mediocre.
Balancing the Ready-for-Action Points system, magic spells, character skills, and spiritual worship is a lot. Combined with permadeath and the incredibly long grind it takes to face the biggest enemies in the game, Hoshigami might not be for everyone.
Vagrant Story Must Be Fully Mastered to Be Beaten
A forgotten but critically acclaimed RPG from Square, Vagrant Story will test even the most familiar with the company’s games. While the gameplay is largely traditional, the challenge comes from mastering its many complex systems.
Real-time action combat, puzzle platforming sections, weapon customization, Chain Abilities, and Risk bar management are key to succeeding in Vagrant Story. It can feel like a lot, but everything comes together to make for a great game.
Digimon World Becomes a Full-Time Job
Digimon World might look like a simple pet simulation game, but it's much more complicated than that. Raising one's Digimon requires constant care, managing its health and stress levels so that it levels up properly.
In addition, exploring the land and engaging in battles can result in a premature Digimon death and force players to start over. Much like taking care of a real pet, Digimon World requires a lot of commitment.
Final Fantasy Tactics Showed a New Side to the RPG Series
Taking place in the same world as Vagrant Story and even sharing some of the same development team, Final Fantasy Tactics was the first to bring the series into an isometric battlefield. Because of this, the regular turn-based strategies of main titles needed to leave for a more tactical feel.
Many of the random encounters can devastate a player’s units very easily, especially in the early moments with low-level party members. Without proper management of the class and job system, Final Fantasy Tactics can overwhelm players.
Shadow Tower is Vintage FromSoftware
FromSoftware is known for their unforgiving games, and Shadow Tower is one of their earliest examples. This dungeon crawler forces players to contend with an onslaught of powerful enemies with limited resources. And due to the limited hardware of the time, many of the systems that make modern Soulslikes slightly easier aren't there.
With no proper leveling system and weapons that will degrade over time, every battle is a life or death situation. Later games from the developer still retain their edge, but Shadow Tower is in a level of difficulty all its own.
King’s Field Laid Several Foundations For Gaming
Bbefore Shadow Tower broke many gamers’ wills to play, FromSoftware's first game, King’s Field, was the original Soulslike trendsetter. Released only in Japan, this game was actually a launch title for the PlayStation.
There is no handholding whatsoever in King’s Field, as players explore dark dungeons with limited magic and stamina, and no clear direction. Much like Shadow Tower, it can feel very dated compared to later FromSoftware games due to the clunkier controls and outdated visuals, but that doesn’t make it any less challenging.
Alundra Can Quickly Become a Nightmare
Alundra revolves around a warrior who uses his ability to enter dreams in order to save a nightmare-plagued village. These dreams can offer up some nice level design, but also provide some real challenges.
Precise platforming skills are necessary for completing each level, as are expert puzzle-solving skills. Add in some tough boss battles, and Alunda can be a real test of patience at times.
Beyond the Beyond Can Feel Beyond Frustrating
Beyond the Beyond takes a lot of inspiration for the great JRPGs that came before it. Unfortunately, it didn’t result in a great product, and instead became a product that was both too hard and too derivative to recommend.
Many of the random encounters are needlessly difficult and far too frequent, made even worse by the high levels of grinding needed to get to the point of fighting them. Beyond the Beyond has been largely forgotten about, and for good reason.
SaGa Frontier Was Many Games in One
Much of the difficulty of SaGa Frontier comes from the fact that players can play as seven different protagonists and explore the world in any direction they choose. This lack of hand holding is both the game’s best and worst quality.
Depending on the character and levels, enemy encounters and dungeon exploration can be a real drag, and the difficulty can scale between playthroughs depending on how many battles the player goes through in different scenarios. SaGa Frontier can feel very overwhelming if the player is unfamiliar with its unique structure, but that's what makes it fun.
