While the SNES era of RPGs was phenomenal, there’s a lot to be said for the PlayStation era as well. It was home to many games that today are still billed as all-time classics and must be played and appreciated.
However, some of these great games are just overshadowed by the console’s other titans. For every Final Fantasy game, there was a Wild Arms title. Before every game like Xenogears and Star Ocean, there was a game like Alundra. It’s home to many of the best RPGs of all time, but here are some that have been overlooked and deserve another chance.
The PlayStation era of RPGs is one of the greatest of all time
Some RPGs have nearly made it to this list, but have been repeatedly remade, or will be remade in the near future. One such game is Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. It was ported to several systems and has a remake this year.
Another game that has been remade at least once was Star Ocean: The Second Story, which didn’t have the same impact as its predecessor. The PlayStation Portable remake was an incredible experience, and while it hasn’t been ported to the PS4/PS5, it could happen sometime in the future.
RPGs to revisit
- Wild ARMs
- Vandal Hearts
- Legend of Legaia
- The Legend of Dragoon
- Suikoden
5) Wild ARMs
Final Fantasy wasn’t the only RPG series to make a huge impact on the PlayStation. Wild ARMs had a trilogy of games on the platform and the first two were excellent. The Wild West theme and music were a huge change in the game’s pace, which also felt like a fantasy title.
The game revolves around a group of characters who encounter an ancient and violent technology known as ARMs. The game has a great focus on the environment.
Their world, Filgaia, has been destroyed in the past by technology and natural causes. Many of the threats faced by the heroes are also technological in nature. It’s a classic franchise and it deserves more love than it gets.
4) Vandal Hearts
Vandal Hearts is a wonderful little RPG that really shows what the PlayStation can do in terms of 3D environments. The battlefields are beautiful isometric scenes with lovely sprites of 2D characters. It has a combat system similar to Fire Emblem, in which it uses a rock-paper-scissors system to determine a class’s strengths and weaknesses.
It contains an epic tale of a world torn by war, with government conspiracy and civil unrest. It is a story that many can relate to because they are not satisfied with the ruling powers and the various decisions they make.
Vandal Hearts in particular stands out as the first 32-bit RPG to be released. It is also one of North America’s first major tactical RPGs.
3) Legend of Legaia
Legend of Legaia is fondly remembered by many role-playing fans, but it was not critically well received at the time. It was a bit of a silly story, but it delivered on all fronts. Excellent music? To check. Gripping story? To check. It also had a memorable combat system.
The “Tactical Arts System” was a great combo system that felt very much like a martial artist. Players would choose specific attack orders to create combos and perform devastating special attacks. It was a challenging system because players also had to hit the right area with the right attacks to be really effective.
It was a beautiful game and it is one of the best RPGs that many remember to this day. Maybe it’s time to go back and play it again.
2) The Legend of Dragoon
Not everyone might agree that The Legend of Dragoon really is that underrated. Fans love the classic RPG, but it has yet to be created or get a richly deserving sequel. There are rumors that Bluepoint will offer a remake, but unfortunately there is nothing concrete.
Unfortunately, it hurt a lot to be released late in the console’s life. However, the beautiful visuals and fun active combat system were great. Plus, the Dragoon transformations were awe-inspiring at the time. The story was compelling and attracted fans all over the world.
1) Suikoden
Suikoden, the classic PlayStation-era RPG inspired by one of the Chinese classics (Water Margin), is without a doubt one of the best RPGs on the entire platform. The story of the 108 heroes facing a corrupt government is beautiful, ambitious and challenging. It also has 107 characters that the protagonist can recruit for his team.
Admittedly, not all of these characters were playable, and there were only six people who could join the fight at the same time as the protagonist. This offered a lot of replayability and options for how the player would approach the game.
While the series has had several remakes, few match the impact the original game had. It wasn’t about saving the world, it was about dealing with corrupt government officials and politicians. While not every recruitable character wasn’t fully fleshed out, that’s more indicative of hardware limitations than anything else.
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There is hope that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, a spiritual successor to the franchise, will be a huge success and shine a light on this franchise. However, time will tell.
PlayStation just had so many great role-playing games, and this is just one writer’s opinion of which games on the platform are underrated and deserve a repeat in 2022.
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