10 Best PlayStation One RPGs Released in Europe
The Best RPGs on PlayStation One
Looking back, it’s pretty safe to say that as a fan of role playing games, the PlayStation One era was when they were at their peak.
Unfortunately, due to the fact that games just weren’t as popular as they are now, many of the best titles hailing from Japan weren’t localised for the Western market, and even those that were often didn’t see a release outside of America.
With consoles being region locked back then, European PlayStation One owners were left well and truly up shit creek unless they got their systems illegally modified to play pretty much anything and everything. Those that didn’t however, would still find that over the console’s lifetime, enough RPGs were localised to keep them entertained for years, with many said titles finding a place in their hearts and minds forevermore.
Here we have a list of 10 such games: RPGs for the PlayStation One that stood above all others to be the best of the best. Titles that we still remember fondly today, and probably will do until the day we die. So without further ado, we present to you GameSpew’s top 10 PlayStation One RPGs released in Europe. Enjoy!
Azure Dreams
A roguelike dungeon-crawler where your aim is to climb a tower full of monsters, Azure Dreams is a captivating PS1 RPG with a huge amount of depth.
Perhaps Azure Dreams’ biggest draw is the fact that you can find a huge number of monster eggs as you explore the tower. By taking them home, you can nurture them until they hatch, providing you with a familiar that can accompany you in your further adventures. Each familiar has its own stats and abilities, and by levelling them up in the tower and fusing them with other familiars, you can develop them to be formidable allies. You’ll need to do so too, as whilst the main character, Koh, loses any experience levels gained in the tower when he leaves, your familiars are not affected by such an affliction. That means progressing further up the tower relies heavily on your familiars’ strength and skills.
Factor in elements of relationship management and town development, and Azure Dreams is one hell of a time-consuming game that is wholly enjoyable.
Wild Arms
Even if Wild Arms wasn’t a good RPG, it would still be worth buying. Why? Simply for its great animated intro that is accompanied by an amazing musical track, of course.
Putting you in control of a rag-tag bunch of adventurers including a dream chaser called Rudy that is able to operate powerful weapons called Ancient Relic Machines (ARMs), you get embroiled in a journey that has you travelling the land of Filgaia. Your aim is to prevent an age-old threat from destroying the world. It’s a fairly generic and clichéd story, I know, but it’s engaging nonetheless.
Letting you adventure in a lovingly created 2D world – chatting to townsfolk when in towns and solving puzzles in dungeons – the game unusually switches to a 3D polygonal presentation when entering battle. While battles look understandably atrocious by today’s standards, the solid turn-based combat stands the test of time. Wild Arms is undoubtedly one of the best PSOne RPGs available.
The Adventures of Alundra
An action-RPG in a similar vein to Zelda games, The Adventures of Alundra looks great and its original premise keeps your attention until its very end.
Playing as the titular Alundra, The Adventures of Alundra has you exploring an island on which you have been shipwrecked, dealing with monsters and solving puzzles as you go. With the locals of the nearby village of Inoa suffering from recurring deadly nightmares, it’s also up to Alundra to use his newly-discovered ability of being able to enter people’s dreams to help resolve their issues
The Adventures of Alundra’s varied gameplay and captivating plot that deals with mature themes such as depression and religion make it a very interesting game indeed, and certainly one worth playing, even today.
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Developed as “a game which adults would want to play”, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain was pretty ambitious for its time. It combines a dark story with grim visuals and addictive action-RPG gameplay.
Putting you in the shoes of Kain, a recently murdered nobleman who returns to life as a vampire in order to exact revenge, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain has you traversing the lands of Nosgoth in order to defeat the Circle of Nine; a group of sorcerers that have become corrupted. Slowly becoming to accept his new vampiric form as more of a blessing than a curse, the fate of Nosgoth will ultimately lie in his hands.
A bleak and harrowing adventure, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain’s brilliant story and voice acting makes it an experience to be remembered.
Vandal Hearts
Vandal Hearts undoubtedly looks horrendous by today’s standards. But its captivating story and strategic turn-based gameplay means you won’t really mind.
Sensing a conspiracy within the government, Ash Lambert of the Ishtarian Security Forces attempts to bring attention to his worries. In doing so, however, he becomes the target of the nefarious conspirators, forcing him and his allies to take matters into their own hands. Cue a lengthy adventure full of twists and turns and many fountains of blood.
If you like a good politically-charged story married with solid strategy gameplay, Vandal Hearts is the game for you.
Breath of Fire 3
As the last member of a race that can turn into powerful dragons, Breath of Fire 3 centres on a character called Ryu as he seeks to uncover the mysteries of his people and also locate his surrogate family.
Along Ryu’s travels he meets a varied cast of characters that support him in his quest, and often finding himself in sticky situations, he’s grateful for the help. Depicting Ryu at various stages of his life, Breath of Fire 3 is a fairly unusual RPG in that it doesn’t really have a central villain of any sort. Not that is needs one, anyway; it’s an engrossing adventure with a great combat system that will keep you hooked until its very end.
With its colourful graphics and band of interesting characters, Breath of Fire 3 is one of the PlayStation One’s finest RPGs, and undoubtedly the best in the series.
Front Mission 3
Featuring two distinct storylines, Front Mission 3 is a turn-based strategy RPG with a huge amount of replayability.
Allowing you to develop and customise mechs called Wanzers, Front Mission 3‘s gameplay is strangely addictive. When you’re not tinkering with your Wanzers, changing their weapons and parts until your perfectly happy with how they’re set up, you can take them out on missions, enjoying the rewarding turn-based combat and progressing the thrilling story.
Developed by SquareSoft, Front Mission 3 was the first Front Mission game to be released in Europe, and we’re glad it was; it’s one of the best games the PSOne has to offer.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
The game that spawned half of the term ‘Metroidvania’, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night combined the platforming action of the Castlevania series with the level and progression structure of Super Metroid to create something extremely special. Oh, and it also had a great deal of RPG elements thrown in, too.
Playing as Dracula’s half-vampire, half-human son, Alucard, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has you hacking and slashing your way through the Lord of Darkness’ minions on your quest to put an end to him. For good.
With its sumptuous animation, addictive gameplay and one hell of soundtrack, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is not only one of the PS1’s best RPGs, it’s also one of the best games of all time.
Suikoden
Loosely based on a classic Chinese novel, Suikoden is a politically-charged RPG that’s a must-play for any fan of the genre.
When corruption eats at the heart of the Scarlet Moon Empire, the son of one of the Six Great Generals finds himself at the head of the liberation army. Tasking with finding as many of the 108 Stars of Destiny as possible, it’s up to you to build up your forces, advance upon the capital and depose the Emperor, bringing peace to the land once again.
Featuring one of the best game soundtracks ever made, as well as a captivating story and a cast of memorable characters, Suikoden is a game that everyone should experience at least once. Also, while you’re at it, you’d be wise to check out its sequel too.
Final Fantasy VII
A game that needs no introduction, Final Fantasy VII is not only the best RPG to grace the PlayStation One, it’s also undoubtedly one of the greatest games ever made.
Spanning three discs, Final Fantasy VII’s story can only be described as epic. You take control of the mercenary Cloud Strife and his band of eco-warriors as they strive to bring down the Shinra megacorporation and the villainous Sephiroth, who threatens the very safety of the world. While Final Fantasy VII‘s story is a huge part of its success, you also have to give credit to its brilliant cast of characters, mesmerising soundtrack and fantastic materia system that made the combat both strategic and fun.
Now available slightly spruced up on the PS4 and PC, there’s no excuse for anyone to have not played Final Fantasy VII. Oh, and it’s also being remade in an episodic manner for release sometime in the near future, but something tells us its unlikely to make the same impression on us that the original release did all those years ago. Here’s hoping though!
