Every English PS1 RPG Beaten and ranked

More or less 20 years later, I finally did it, beat every single PS1 RPG released
in English! I was a bit late getting on the PS1 train but having Chrono Trigger
as my favorite game back then, Chrono Cross finally pushed me into getting
the console. My brother already had one and the Final Fantasy games so I
beat them first, followed by the eluding Chrono Cross and after that a friend
burned me copies of most Square games and another friend introduced me
to Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Tales of etc. The great games seemed endless
and they almost were, until now!

I will list and rank the entire library from best to worst, number 1 should
be very obvious and some of them might move a step up or down
depending on what day you ask but this should be a pretty final list:

#1 Xenogears
Xenogears shouldn’t need any further explanation,
the game that would shape the rest of my life and
finally dethrone Chrono Trigger as number one (until Saga).

#2 Final Fantasy Chronicles
A bit boring to have a poorly emulated collection as #2
but with both Chrono Trigger and FF4 in there it can’t be helped!

#3 Valkyrie Profile
Hidden behind complex systems and vague requirements the
true ending and its route makes it one of the very best games ever.

#4 Suikoden 2
The pinnacle of the series and can’t wait to see the upcoming
remaster! A tale of family, friendship, politics, war, creation and
of course an epic food cooking duel of life and death!

#5 Final Fantasy Anthology
Another boring entry but again, hard to deny both
Final Fantasy 5 and 6 in one package!

#6 Chrono Cross
Not the sequel I expected when buying the console
but it still blew me away and was the beginning of this
long journey.

#7 Tales of destiny 2
Eternia! It was love at first sight and sound with this,
filled to the brim with everything I love in RPGs!

#8 Star Ocean 2
Another magical game that truly defines the PS1

#9 Tales of destiny
The last third of the game is a bit too slow but until then
pixel perfection

#10 Final Fantasy IX
It is very close between VII and IX for me but the
way they tell the story by jumping between parties is
my favorite part about this one

#11 Final Fantasy VII
The classic of the classic! The first time I saw it around 1997
I didn’t even understand what I was looking at, it looked terrible
and I spent another 5 years only playing on my beloved SNES
instead, haha

#12 Wild Arms
The pixels, the puzzles, the music!

#13 Suikoden
A bit rough compared to 2 but still a great start to the
amazing world of Suikoden

#14 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
If not inventing, at least making the genre combination
much more popular. The soundtrack alone is enough to place it this high

#15 Final Fantasy Tactics
The best of it’s genre!

#16 Saga Frontier 2
I hate playing this but love the story, music and art style,
fake Gustave is one of my favorite characters and concepts!

#17 Legend of Mana
The remaster is a better way to enjoy this but such an
unique and cozy game, not even mentioning the Swedish
ending song and li’l cactus!

#18 Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
If you look up the definition of “JRPG” this is probably it,
just thinking about Lunar makes me happy!

#19 Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
If you look up the definition of “JRPG” this is probably it,
just thinking about Lunar makes me happy!

#20 Grandia
Few games have captured the feeling of adventure as
well as this, and the battles, wow!

#21 Arc the lad collection
I would rank them 3-2-1 internally but they all make up
a single great world and story!

#22 Threads of Fate
I have beaten this so many times! Not sure why
it speaks so much to me but it does.

#23 Breath of Fire IV
I really would love to replay this and see
how it holds up but in my mind it is #23, haha

#24 Breath of fire 3
Crossing that desert is one of my most
treasured experiences, odd but true

#25 Tactics Ogre
I actually played the PSP version so the list might be a lie!!

#26 The Legend of Dragoon
Not the Final Fantasy killer they hoped for but still great!

#27 Koudelka
Short but sweet!
Horror+RPG is still underused but there are a few great ones.

#28 Persona 2
To think I actually enjoyed this in the end after avoiding it
for so very long!

#29 Wild Arms 2
It is good but drags on far too long and the translation
gets worse by the hour too, haha

#30 Parasite Eve
Quite haunting and unique, the story is a lot more
silly playing as an adult but I still like it!

#31 Alundra
Amazing world but they should have cut some of the dungeons

#32 Front Mission 3
Just great all around!

#33 Vagrant Story
Another one I really want to revisit!
I would call it my first “Dark Souls” experience, hehe

#34 Vandal Hearts 2
Just a bit greater than the first

#35 Vandal hearts
Great strategy game!

#36 Final Fantasy Origins
Probably the best way to enjoy I and II to this day?
The music!

#37 King’s Field II
Another surprise that managed to climb quite high on the list

#38 Brave Fencer Musashi
The fully voiced NPCs still impress me!
Glory to the Sodapop empire!

#39 Final Fantasy VIII
Story, music and graphic is mostly great but the world
and the battles brings it down quite a bit for me.

#40 Dragon Warrior VII
This was beaten on 3DS so another lie on the list!

#41 Saiyuki: Journey West
A really nice overlooked game about a journey west!

#42 Saga frontier
Some of it great, some of it terrible, beat all 7 characters!

#43 Harvest moon
Not an RPG but I beat it and it is often mentioned among RPGs.
Great game if you have 100+ hours to spare

#44 Thousand Arms
Filled with humor that was probably best served before 2000, haha

#45 Blaze and blade
An odd co-op Action RPG that never got a US release but is available
in PAL territory

#46 Shadow Madness
This gets a lot of hate it seems but I found the dialog and characters fun
and some of the environments are quite nice! The combat balance is sadly
completely broken and probably part of the hate.

#47 Eternal Eyes
The first of many strategy RPGs on the console, it is nice!

#48 Beyond the Beyond
Another lowly rated game in general but once you get past the intro it’s
not that bad, very generic standard RPG but not bad.

#49 Shadow Tower
A little bit more linear version of Kings Field

#50 King’s Field
It is number II in Japan, first in English… the start of this is
a true challenge but once you get into it you can see all the
DNA that lives on in Dark Souls today

#51 Alundra 2
The shift to 3D took away a lot of the charm from the first game
but still a good puzzle RPG

#52 Legend of Legaia
I much prefer the second game but extra points for the Xenogears-like
battle system of course!

#53 Persona
Aside from boring dungeons the one big flaw is the RNG/lack of
savepoints, it can be hours between them, gah

#54 Technomage Return of Eternity
This is completely PAL exclusive, not available in the US or Japan!
Not a bad game either, quite ambitious too!

#55 Azure dreams
The town and dating parts makes it stand out from other dungeon
crawlers, quite fun!

#56 Legend of Kartia
I remember quite little of this to be honest

#57 Rhapsody
This ended up as the very last of the library, a short but charming end
and predecessor to Disgaea complete with voiced musical numbers and
strategy battles!

#58 Megaman Legends 2
This fixed a few problems from the first game at least!

#59 Megaman Legends
I like the style and charm but the dungeons were pretty boring
and not the easiest to control in the 3D environments

#60 Diablo
Having played II first I was surprised how good and playable this still is!

#61 Jade Cocoon
I beat it with my starter “pokemons” and a good friend can’t
believe how, haha.

#62 Digimon World 3
Best of the bunch and could almost be a good game if not for all the insane
amount of backtracking. You can’t believe the amount until you play it!!

#63 Warriors of Might and Magic
Short simple Action RPG

#64 Legacy of Kain Blood Omen
It was decent but not amazing as some people make it out to be.
Vae victis!

#65 Chocobos Dungeon 2
The FMVs in this are so charming! And the game is decent too,
especially when you manage to transform the final boss into a random easy
monster, hahaha.

#66 Torneko the Last Hope
Torneko! One of my favorite parts about Dragon Quest IV was managing his
shop so I love that he got his own game

#67 Vanguard Bandits
Another where my memory fails a bit, it was good but not
memorable apparently

#68 Granstream Saga
I wish this was better since some of the team is the remnants of
Quintet (Terranigma, Soulblazer etc.) But sadly it is just a mediocre
Action RPG with some puzzles

#69 Deception 3 Dark Delusion
The third polishes the systems from 2 even more.
I’m looking forward to playing Trapt on PS2 later!

#70 Deception 2 Kagero
The second simplifies the concept of killing people with traps a lot

#71 Tecmo’s Deception
The first was the most complex and maybe most RPG of them all

#72 Parasite Eve 2
More resident Evil than RPG maybe

#73 Gauntlet Legends
A lot more complex than you expect from a Gauntlet game,
it is a full 3D Action RPG and not just a simple hack and slash

#74 Guardian’s Crusade
Very standard RPG of the early PS1 days.

#75 Dragon Valor
Almost an “Arcade” feeling to this, pretty simple but fun!

#76 Shaolin
RPG+beat em up! Pretty cool

#77 Ehrgeiz
What an odd game, a dungeon crawler and a beat em up with
Cloud and Sephrioth thrown in to sell some copies, haha

#78 Hoshigami
So slooow

#79 Darkstone
The only RPG that actually uses the right analog stick
for camera movement!

#80 Crusaders of Might and Magic
Another simple Action RPG, probably more impressive if you
played it 25 years ago.

#81 Ogre Battle
Big disappointment! I thought it would be more like Tactics Ogre
but this is a RTS RPG, the only on the console too!

#82 Monkey Hero
Not more RPG than Zelda but oh well, some count that too!

#83 RPG Maker
The prebuilt game is more or less a 5 hour Dragon Quest clone,
made by Dragon Quest staff, haha

#84 Monsterseed
Nice graphic, not terrible but I have a hard time with
games where your characters die and you have to get
new ones.

#85 Brigandine
More boardgame than RPG and my god the first half of the
game was a struggle.

#86 Dragon Seeds
A rock-paper-scissor combat style and arena battles, barely RPG

#87 The Hunter
Now we are at the very bottom where I can safely say this is a
terrible game. You can play it with friends like a boardgame
but alone with NPCs you only get to play 25% of the time and
sit around waiting the rest. Very RNG heavy too.

#88 Digimon World
Sorry Digimon fans, I had to put these at the bottom.
A tamagotchi style game where you need to go to the toilet
and where your digimons turn to literal poop if you don’t beat the
game fast enough…

#89 Digimon World 2
Much better than the first game but the length still makes it my
least favorite on the console thanks to 97 hours of slowmotion
animations in random dungeons.

Well, that is it! A bit sad to move one after all these years but I will
of course return to the favorites and the fan translations are starting
to drop in too!

Finally let us thank this great machine that made it all possible,
my very first PS1 that I bought used and chipped from a random kid at $80.
I have played about 80% of the games on this specific console and it is
still going strong: