Wild ARMs, Suikoden 1+2, Vandal Hearts. BoF 4. Good Lord the PSX was stacked.

The PS1 was THE revolutionary era for JRPG's. There are just SO MANY absolute timeless ones on the system!

Tales of Eternia is the first jrpg I properly played til the end credit as a child, a non english speaking child. It got a special place in my heart.

Digimon world,legend of legaia,suikoden 2,wild arms 2,valkyrie profile

No Wild Arms... 🥺 That was the game who made me fall in love with (J)RPGs back in late 1996. While everybody was gushing all over Final Fantasy VII in early '97, I was playing Wild Arms like a madlad and not understanding much because I was a kid and English is not my first language lol.

The Legend of Dragoon is so good! I’d love a remake of this one. Great video!

I've played XenoGears many times. That game just has so many memorable and nostalgic moments. Remake when though??

Breath of Fire 4 just being the thumbnail is enough for me. This game isn't talked about enough.

Stand tall and shake the heavens! Even with it's unfinished/rushed second disc, I still say Xenogears is the greatest RPG of all time nearly 30 years later. The story and combat was just the best.

Megaman legends is one of my favorites on the ps1, but it's not your typical jrpg. As it doesn't have normal exp gaining and leveling up, it does have pretty much everything else, and it came close to being the first megaman came I ever beaten. Star Ocean 2 is also one of my favorites, but we all know why it's awesome. I'm still discovering ps1 rpgs I've missed out on

One of my most formative gaming experiences was when I was about 8 years old, my cousin came to visit and brought his ps1 along with a copy of Parasite Eve. The opening scene at the opera was something that has stuck with me my entire life. It wasn't until many years later that I got to play the game in full, but I've been obsessed with it ever since I first saw it.

I do wish the Lunar games would get some love for current systems.

Final Fantasy IX is another one of my favorites along with FFT, Kegend of Dragoon, and Grandia. PS1 was also my first time playing FF1, 2, and 4-6, as well as Chrono Trigger. I would love to see a PS2 list. Curious how many align with mine.

Thanks for this! As a younger gamer looking to go back and play many more older games, this list makes a great starting point.

The song that is playing during the Legend of Dragoon section is one of my favorite songs ever in a game. I actually listen to it still sometimes. It's hypnotic!

Fantastic choice with BOF3. One of my favorites & by far the best in the series! You can completely break the game by strategically using the Master system, specially Fahl 😁

So this might be a little of a stretch but, I didn’t grow up with RPG’s as a kid but what I did grew up with was Mega Man. And playing Mega Man Legends and Legends 2 as a kid was the closest thing to an RPG I played back then. The RPG elements and the JRPG type of story 2 had will always hold a special place for me, and it’s probably the catalyst for me falling in love with JRPG games in general. And those games still hold up to this day! Some of the most charming games you’ll ever play

Glad you gave Breath of Fire 3 a spot. That game is such a classic and wonderful adventure.

Vanguard bandits! Such a charming game. I loved that game so much I did many playthroughs to see other story paths. Great game

Xenogears is my favorite RPG of all time

Tales of Destiny was my first ps1 game. I got it for my birthday. I kept sneaking out of my own party to play it in the other room.

Let's see... FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX, FFT, Lunar, Lunar II, Suikoden, Suikoden II, Chrono Cross, Dragon Quest VII. Wow, I ran out of spots quick.

I love Breath of Fire 3, wish it would get an HD remaster or at least a direct port to PS4/5, Switch, X-Box, etc.

This is the era where making these lists actually becomes difficult but you can't go wrong with any of these. My list would probably find a way to include Valkyrie Profile and Final Fantasy IX but I'm not sure what Id even think to remove because they are all gems!

Final Fantasy 9, Breath of Fire 4, Chrono Cross, Grandia, Wild Arms 2, Legend of Legaia, Grandstream Saga, Legend of Dragoon, Threads of Fate, Front Mission 3.

*Xenogears* - When I saw you transitioning into Xenogears, I had the *exact same thoughts* as you did. Remaster with the disc 2 content worked out as it was originally intended to be before they hit the time crunch. I saw the official story that was eventually told, and I'm honestly just glad that we got disc 2 at all - we almost didn't. But putting this tragic tale to rights would be so epic! My own version of this list would include: *SaGa Frontier* - not the first SaGa game released in the US, but the first to do so under the SaGa brand. The 7 different stories(even if Lute's was cut short because SF also suffered a time crunch) were neat and varied, and the 4 types of characters were interestingly different, and the way you were encouraged to go full physical or full magical(plus the opposing schools of magic, which oddly worked for me). It was just neat, especially once I got used to how the mechanics worked - it did have a bit of a learning curve for me. *Wild Arms* - I would say that Alter Code F is better. More of everything that made the first one good. But this holds a special place in my heart for the way it incorporated some more western(as in spaghetti) elements, so didn't look or feel like your typical fantasy jRPG. But with the gameplay being largely familiar(those combat sprites tho - lol). And it's one of the first games I ever played that included puzzles of the sort it has(the other being Lufia 2 on the SNES). It made exploring its environments a lot of fun. 2 improved on the gamplay, but I think 1 had the better story, so that's why I chose it.

So great to see Vagrant Story on here! Such an amazing and unique game! And Square, we need a remake or good remaster!! Vagrant Story is a work of art and should be accessible for all to enjoy and experience!

One of my absolute favourite PS1 games is Legend of Legaia, but I also loved Digimon World 1, and though I never finished it Guardian's Crusade has a fond place in my heart.

The PS1, Sega Saturn and N64 era for me has been the best generation ever and the end of golden era of gaiming. So many great RPG, so much innovation, memorable characters... 30 years laters and everything is going downhill. There are a lot of JRPG from PS1 that I havent played yet and some from this list that I totally forget. Awesome video!

I would add Legend of Legaia on that list and Alundra

Grandia was nostalgic at release already. That story was soooo sweeeet.

Completely agree with Xenogears being in that #1 spot!👍

i still love Valkyrie Profile, so many rich characters linked together in a great Norse mythology setting.

Amazing list Alex. Nice work! And any praise for Xenogears gets a thumbs up from me. Only games I would add are Parasite Eve and Valkyrie Profile

Suikoden 2 and Wild Arms are my top 1 PS1 games. Oh and Legend of Legaia also, I'm a shame that most people know about Legend of Dragoon and not Legend of Legaia.

Thousand arms! Saiyuki Journey West! Wild Arms! Threads of Fate!

Xenogears, Lunar 1&2, Suikoden 1&2, Vagrant Story, Beyond the Beyond, Wild Arms, Alundra, Legend of Legaia , Vandal Hearts, Koudelka, I could go on forever. I own all of these and more! PS1/2 will never be topped. Time and cost to make games are much different now. Glad I got to live during this time but I still do enjoy new games of today there’s actually a lot of good games still I think people just like to complain

Fantastic choices man! You knocked it out the park!

I'd definitely add Wild Arms 1/2, Valkyrie Profile, Parasite Eve, Alundra, Legend of Legaia, Kartia, and Azure Dreams to the list. Way too many good games.

Props for including the masterpiece that is FFT over the more popular FF9. FFT has an unabashedly harsh storyline. It was my Game of Thrones before I knew GoT existed. I think Front Mission 3 deserved a spot on your list. Like Tactics, it’s a strategy RPG with a serious and dark storyline. While it has a lot of customization, it’s not as robust of a system as FFT, but it makes up for that with Mech on Mech combat. Who doesn’t love that?

When I think about the PS1 I'm always drawn back to the first game I ever played on it, Digimon World, I remember having a blast playing it as a kid, but I don't dare to play it again today at the risk of ruining my nostalgic memories lol. I also recently started playing Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure on the Windows version, and my younger self should have played it back on the PS1, such a fun little game.

Dude great video and great list.

So many gems on the ps1 to choose from that any pick is the right pick lol. What a time to be alive. I miss it

Vandal Hearts! Suikoden! The first two Persona games were there, and while I'd hardly call them the best, they're probably of interest to a lot of people now. I had Persona 1 when it came out and I think it was one of my biggest regrets of any game I'd purchased. I think I got it used at least.

Needs Legend of Legaia!!! Most underrated JRPG EVER

Absolute classics. I've never played vagrant story, but I played all the other ones and they're the tops.

great list! PS1 had so many great JRPGs that I feel like you could do a top 20 and still feel like you’re leaving things off ☺️ also I’m looking forward to David Vinc’s reaction to Legend of Dragoon being so high 😜

I'm kind of shocked we haven't gotten any Breath of Fire remakes/remasters yet.

Great list, Alex!

Grandia and xenogears to me were the best games ever. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good games, but these two are the best in my heart.

Absolutely loved all those you mentioned. Feeling to play all now.

Breath of fire 3 is one of the greatest games of all time

Loved this

I've just recently started the Suikoden franchise, and after finishing the first game, I can safely say that's a must-have PS1 RPG. The way it juggles over 100 recruitable characters while making most of them interesting (and many of them optional party members) is really impressive. On top of that, a high-stakes story where deaths on both sides of the war are inevitable, and some excellent character designs evocative of 90's anime and manga. The overall game moves at a brisk pace, too, and I like how I can unlock fast-travel options early on to make coming and going from the homebase less tedious than it otherwise would be (something Suikoden II held out on for way too long). I'm halfway through Suikoden II, and despite the aforementioned gripe with the Blinking Mirror, it really is a bigger and better sequel. Better visuals (environments, enemy sprites, animation), an ambitious and gripping story with some fantastic villains, and more gameplay variety and attention to detail in its world. It makes me wonder just how Konami was able to pack so much content into one game back in the day.

Great choices love Grandia, Tale of Eternia and Breath of Fire III.

not a jrpg but one of my favorites ps1 rpgs is koudelka such a great game and i would love for a koudelka and shadow hearts remake

There are so many titles from that era they could bring back with even just remasters that would sell at this point it makes my head spin. The PS1 had a long list of JRPG bangers and the ones not shared with todays audience are being done a disservice. Amazing video Alex!

It's hard to just take 10, the PSX had so many classics that I was lucky to experience through YARRRR! as a jobless teenager of a lower middle-class family 😅 I'm pretty sure Suikoden 1 & 2 are mentioned in every other comment, so I'll try to go off the beaten ground a bit. First would be Front Mission 3, a mech-based tactical RPG and the first one in the series we got in the West. The game had two scenarios, you could browse an in-game internet and sometimes find secret websites with more background info on the game, special training stages and secret online shops. I remember being mind-blown when I first played it. It's highly underrated in my opinion. Another Square game is Parasite Eve, combining an ATB system and real-time movement to the survival horror elements of a game like Resident Evil. You play as a New York City cop, dealing with gruesome monstruosities and mutants, getting into random encounters, managing your stock of medicines and bullets to stop Eve from eradicating everything during the winter holidays. The sequels moved away from its more RPG origins, but it's pretty unique and has some serious gory moments. Finally, I have to mention SaGa Frontier. Truth be told, first time I played it, I didn't understand it, and because of that, I didn't particularly care for it. We didn't get Final Fantasy 2 yet and I never played any of the Final Fantasy Legend games at that point, so Frontier came out of the left field and destroyed my expectations in a bad way. I've since fallen into the SaGa rabbit hole, as hostile as it can be, and think it's probably one of the easiest games in the series to get into. Definitely worth a try if you crave something different, especially with the Remastered version (though I think Romancing 3 is still a superior game) Honorable mention to Final Fantasy 5. Yes, it's a SuFami game, but the Anthology version was the first time I got to play the game with a complete (though questionable) translation. Through Origins, Anthology and Chronicles, Square got us five out of six early FFs and Chrono Trigger, which included two previously unreleased titles in the West, meaning the PSX had 8 mainline Final Fantasy games by the end of its life, kinda crazy to think about!

Grandia 1 will always be my favourite game ever, the combat was alot of fun and the having meals together fleshing out the game and how everyone was doing at the point in time. Obvious it was linear, but i liked the fact that the cast of characters even had conversations with most NPCs which not many rpgs do. I also see linear as a good thing, sometime cuts the fat, to m pointless overly inflated open world games nowadays. Anyways good list, all great games.

Xenogears deserves the full 6 part game series

BOF3 for me left an indelible mark in my heart. I always play it from time to time.

ff7, fft, xenogears, wild arms, bof3 and 4, lunar 1 and 2, suikoden 1 and 2, chrono cross

Said list. Also toss in Breath of Fire 4 (personally prefer this one over 3 but both are great). Parasite Eve 1 AND 2 (usually gets a bad wrap but I played it for the first time recently and though not as good as the first it was still fun). Lastly, one of my favorite RPGs of all time and has gotten re-released not long ago on newer platforms... Saga Frontier. Bonus: When you get or if you get to the PS2 then Shadow Hearts 1 and 2. 3 was ok but not anywhere near as good as the first 2. If you have to play only one then 2 (Covenant) is generally considered the best. Bonus bonus: The Last Story on the Wii

LEGEND OF DRAGOON ❤️ I have hope for a remake or sequel, i Lost count of the number of Times i finish this game

great games that I hope to get to sometime especially xeno gear!

Someone finally shows Dragoon some love I could cry right now 😭

i think every ps1 game had it's own charm about them but on ps1 my fav,s were ff7,8,9 to name a few💛🙏

How appropriate I've been curating my own list of ps1 games to finally play, and most of these are on there. The rest have been added to my infinite backlog now lol

Legend of Legaia belongs in the list

Great minds think alike. Good list all my favourites in one top 10

Amazing picks

Xenogears was probably my first JRPG game that I ever played

Your list was top tier!

Oooo I could tell just from the thumbnail this would be a great list! The PSone is my favorite console, and just looking over this list, it's easy to see why! A few more I want to shout out are Legend of Legaia (which desperately needs a rerelease), Wild ARMs, Brave Fencer Musashi, the Megaman Legends games... You could probably make a few more top tens and not name all the greats xD

I love so many of the games listed in this video. Back then, all I had to judge whether to buy a game was by the box art or if it was a sequel to an old SNES RPG. Even though it's cool that games today get such a deep dive before they're released, I kind of miss that risk/reward of just picking a game and seeing if it was for me. My list would be: FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX, Chrono Cross, Legend of Mana, Xenogears, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Legend of Dragoon, Valkyrie Profile and Breath of Fire IV.

The PS1 Jrpgs are so charming and nostalgic, plus most of them had amazing soundtracks.

why do i feel like im at church and im loving it

For me, Breath Of Fire 4 is all time my personal Fav. First, because its the first JRPG i've played. The art, the colour, hand drawn pixel model, and music, specially the main theme is somehow so spiritual, and the mature dark story within its colourfull world. I've played almost every single English language JRPG, but to be honest, even thou its biased, BoF4 is my fav PS1 JRPG.

Breath of Fire 4 - it's a much more polished experience than Breath of Fire 3. And the art style has the most beautiful pixel art in any game ever made Dragon Quest 7 - the time travel mechanic is just as good as Chrono Trigger, if not better. Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment - it's not even up for debate, these are the best Persona games And some honorable mentions: Suikoden 1 and Suikoden 2 Popolocrois Alundra Linda³ Again Moon: Remix RPG Adventure Mega Man Legends 1 and Mega Man Legends 2 Parasite Eve Saga Frontier 2 Legend of Mana Koudelka Threads of Fate Valkyrie Profile

Amazing list! I would add Suikoden 2, Valkyrie Profile and Brigandine

I'm so glad Xenogears is on this list!

Good list and brings so much nostalgia. Would love to see the classics in current consoles (or next gen) again. Doesn't have to remake. I'm fine with HD at least. Thats my way of getting these whether digital or physical classics legally and cheaper.

I enjoyed Breath of Fire IV more than III and still consider its sprite work to be God tier. I wish capcom would bring back the series.

JRPGs truly shine on PS1 era because back then for better or worse, the hardware limitations forced game developers to create appealing characters, engaging stories and unique gameplay mechanics to make the game interesting enough to sell and these in turn make those games timeless and memorable. Maybe it's just me but nowadays we have the luxury of amazing graphics and features in modern games that sometimes it doesn't feel like a ROLE-PLAYING game in PS1 era sense. I got too excited watching flashy movements and can't immerse myself in the character or story. By the time I finished the game all I remember was just how cool it looked and how fun it was, then new games came out with better graphic etc. and I forgot all about it. Tales of Eternia, The Legend of Dragoon and Final Fantasy VIII are my top favorites. I would include Final Fantasy Tactics as well, but I have only played the PSP version.

That is a list! My man knows his rpgs. Would add Chrono Cross but man that list is freakiing solid.

A 2D HD Remake for Breath of Fire III would be incredible!

A list of 10 is never enough for PS1 JRPG.

One of my favorite jrpg was thousand arms

I sure hope Final Fantasy Tactics is on the list. Few games have hooked me like that one did my first time through!

FF8 (>FF7 fight me), Chrono Cross, Legend of Legia, Valkyrie Profile, Front Mission 3, Alundra, Legend of Mana, FF9(>FF7), Suikoden 2, Thousand Arms.

Props to you for being able to narrow down a list. I'm always good for the first 4-5 for this gen.....but then i gant narrow it down to 10. I iust love too many 😂. That said did YT place an ad after every title for anyone else or just me? Good lord YT 😂

All would make amazing remakes!!

Ahh yes! My childhood! Tales of Destiny II or Eternia is one of my most replayed game, ever! I remember playing it from start to finish almost every summer vacation from grade school until high school! Sometimes my brother and/or my cousin joins in co-op, and those were the best days of my childhood!

Xenogears!

I would settle for an HD-2D remaster of Xenogears. It doesnt even need a completed second disk. Its already the greatest RPG ever made, just having it back with some QOL would be plenty.

Thanks for the credits! Awesome list. I should probably do longplays for some of 'em someday 😁

Alundra Jade Cocoon Guardians Crusade They are also must plays.

Breath of Fire III was and still is pretty great. Maybe too easy as a game but it easily beats out IV for me which is pretty damn dry in the narrative dept. IV doesn't have a bad story, just takes forever for something to happen in that one.

Hey great call on legend of dragoon. It literally never gets recognition

Vagrant story!!!