The fact that this is a list. The fact that 10 games from one genre and 2 developers/publishers in a single console generation can make up a top ten list.......and that there's room for debate on other titles that could be in the mix too.....is absolutely wild. Shows you how much ass they were kicking.
Looking back, this era was just unbelievable. So many amazing creators firing on all cylinders, heck watching this video gets me excited to play or replay every single one of these. And thanks for bringing up the collection releases as well. Not only was this the first time most of us experienced FFV and FFII, but for me who didn't get into RPGs until the late SNES era, these were the way I experienced FFIV and Chrono Trigger for the first time, too. It's actually kind of weird playing the SNES version of CT for me because I'm waiting for the anime scenes to pop up xD
Parasite Eve is a great game, from Takashi Tokita - the creative director and writer of Final Fantasy 4, he's also the creative director of Chrono Trigger and Live A Live and co-wrote Chrono Trigger (he was one of the four writers).
Square Soft and Enix were on a roll back in the PS1 era. This list is great I just miss Chocobo's Dungeon 2 and Legend of Mana on the list, but tghen again those that are on it need to stay. To many amazing games👍. Nice video.
Haha, good list! I don't know if a recent comment of mine helped influence it or not, but in my headcanon, it did 😅 The only mentions that were missing to me would've probably been Dragon Quest VII (though to be fair, I never played the PSX version) and probably Legend of Mana. There was Tactic Ogre, too, but the PSX version is a port from the SNES one (even though most people first played the PSX version)
I played Chrono Cross a couple of years before I played Chrono Trigger, so I had no expectations or even a bar by which to judge it. So I thoroughly enjoyed that game and it's one of my favorites on PS1. I can only go by the games I actually played, so my top 10 list (in alphabetical order): Chrono Cross Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VIII Final Fantasy IX Final Fantasy Anthology Parasite Eve Parasite Eve II Star Ocean: The Second Story Threads of Fate
I LOVED Brave Fencer Musashi! It doesn’t get enough love, that’s for sure. Yeah, it’s not an epic JRPG, but it was such an addictive light-hearted game.
My favorite Enix games were all on the Super Nintendo - Robotrek, E.V.O. Age of Eden, Soulblazer, Ilusion of Gaia, emulated Terranigma(as they didn't localize it in the NA region), and emualted Dragon Quest V and VI(because the SNES Dragon Warriors were the ones which never got localized.) (Okay, I also played Star Ocean Second Story and enjoyed it even though it was hard as nails.) My favorite PS1 Square game was Final Fantasy VII bar none but I loved some of their obscure titles as well. As for PS1 Enix games, it has to be Dragon Warrior VII, the last Dragon Warrior game under that title before Enix merged with Square.
No Threads of Fate / Dew Prism? WE RIOT! ;) The PS1 was such a fun generation. I was in my Jr High and High School years for the PS1 era, and it felt like a lot of companies were experimenting with so many wild new game ideas as they tried to figure out how to transition into 3D, along with a lot of games starting to come to the US that never would have been localized in the earlier generations.
Thanks again for the credit! Even though Square Enix has a pretty bad rep these days due to some fumbles and questionable decisions, no one can deny how good their RPG library is in general
Chrono Cross is single handledly THE, BEST, jrpg OST of ALL TIME, no discussion, hands down, period. And a masterpiece of a game (as it was held when it came out) but yeah, not exactly the sequel CT deserved for sure
In my opinion the golden era for SE is the ps1 they used to release great games consistently from the ff games to the parasite eve games ohhh and one of there best games on the ps1 is thread of fate ohhh that game was pure fun
Another great list! I love that you included the Chronicles / Anthologies / Origins collections. True the loading times on these were pretty bad, but the pixel art remains some of my favorite for these classic games. The PS1 was truly a great system for Final Fantasy fans between these and the "big 4" as you called them. I don't have a lot of experience with the SaGa franchise - only the first two entries (called Final Fantasy Legend here for anyone who didn't know). I did enjoy those games though. I have Frontier 2 and some other entries laying around unplayed though - and that is a situation that will be rectified. I have never been able to get into Chrono Cross, despite trying many times over the years. First it was its failure as a sequel to Chrono Trigger that I couldn't see past. A year or two ago I tried the remaster, trying really hard to judge the game on its own merits. And while I made it further than I ever had before, I was still bored. One of the best soundtracks ever, but I just do not like the game. Xenogears was great though, deserving of it's reputation. Also enjoyed Parasite Eve a lot at the time, though I'm less sure it would hold up. Front Mission 3 and Brave Fencer Musashi have been on my backlog for ages, and I do need to play them one of these days.
I also love tales of eternia! It was probably the most FUN I have when playing any jrpg in the ps 1 era because of the couch co-op with my brother! I think it was not mention in this video is because Tales of eternia was published by Namco.
Valkyrie Profile does have a spiritual successor - Indivisible. Though the setting and artstyle are completely different. I personally enjoyed Indivisible a lot, completed it to 100%.
Brave Fencer is fun but it's definitely a little clunky at times. This was before analog was fully adopted. It's definitely a fun play and quite charming as well. But anyone who has played the game will know that Steamwood is the worst part of it by a longshot and you have to do it twice. That's where you'll really feel the controls and the fact that it's timed only makes the frustration worse. I'm surprised we didnt see Dragon Quest on here. Did you just wanna focus on the Square side? Or do you not like DQ7? I've only played the 3DS version for a bit, so maybe the original PS1 version isn't worth mentioning.
My personal preference for Mitsuda soundtracks is Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and Xenoblade Chronicles above Chrono Cross. Not that Chrono Cross is bad, I don't think Mitsuda is capable of making a soundtrack less than stunning. It's mostly that I remember many more songs off of those games than Chrono Cross.
Good on you. But they still released on the PS1, therefore, they’re PS1 games. They’re also quite different from their original releases in terms of additions and graphics.
Back when you see the name ‘squaresoft’, You know it will be good.
I'm so glad Parasite eve is on this list.
The fact that this is a list. The fact that 10 games from one genre and 2 developers/publishers in a single console generation can make up a top ten list.......and that there's room for debate on other titles that could be in the mix too.....is absolutely wild. Shows you how much ass they were kicking.
Great choice for the background music on the FF section. Matoya’s Cave theme probably one of the best songs of the 8 bit FF era.
Looking back, this era was just unbelievable. So many amazing creators firing on all cylinders, heck watching this video gets me excited to play or replay every single one of these.
And thanks for bringing up the collection releases as well. Not only was this the first time most of us experienced FFV and FFII, but for me who didn't get into RPGs until the late SNES era, these were the way I experienced FFIV and Chrono Trigger for the first time, too. It's actually kind of weird playing the SNES version of CT for me because I'm waiting for the anime scenes to pop up xD
Parasite Eve is a great game, from Takashi Tokita - the creative director and writer of Final Fantasy 4, he's also the creative director of Chrono Trigger and Live A Live and co-wrote Chrono Trigger (he was one of the four writers).
love seeing Parasite Eve on this list - imagine a remake of that or Vagrant Story on PS5…
Square Soft and Enix were on a roll back in the PS1 era. This list is great I just miss Chocobo's Dungeon 2 and
Legend of Mana on the list, but tghen again those that are on it need to stay. To many amazing games👍. Nice video.
Haha, good list! I don't know if a recent comment of mine helped influence it or not, but in my headcanon, it did 😅
The only mentions that were missing to me would've probably been Dragon Quest VII (though to be fair, I never played the PSX version) and probably Legend of Mana. There was Tactic Ogre, too, but the PSX version is a port from the SNES one (even though most people first played the PSX version)
I played Chrono Cross a couple of years before I played Chrono Trigger, so I had no expectations or even a bar by which to judge it. So I thoroughly enjoyed that game and it's one of my favorites on PS1.
I can only go by the games I actually played, so my top 10 list (in alphabetical order):
Chrono Cross
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Anthology
Parasite Eve
Parasite Eve II
Star Ocean: The Second Story
Threads of Fate
Vagrant Story is my favorite game of all time, though I am very glad FFT and Front Mission 3 were on the list.
I’ve mentioned Vagrant Story in so many lists that I felt omitting it from this one to allow for others to be represented wasn’t too bad!
i was just thinking valkyrie profile should be on this list! glad to see it actually made it on here. 😅
I LOVED Brave Fencer Musashi! It doesn’t get enough love, that’s for sure. Yeah, it’s not an epic JRPG, but it was such an addictive light-hearted game.
Still holding out hope that Brave Fencer Musashi makes a comeback at some point. Great list here.
this jrpgs on that era was soo good that we dont complain much on how slow repitative the long loading screens are on it.😂
Ain’t that the truth!
Over the years I've made sure to keep my black label Final Fantasy PS1 games. Still one of my favorite parts of my collection.
My favorite Enix games were all on the Super Nintendo - Robotrek, E.V.O. Age of Eden, Soulblazer, Ilusion of Gaia, emulated Terranigma(as they didn't localize it in the NA region), and emualted Dragon Quest V and VI(because the SNES Dragon Warriors were the ones which never got localized.) (Okay, I also played Star Ocean Second Story and enjoyed it even though it was hard as nails.)
My favorite PS1 Square game was Final Fantasy VII bar none but I loved some of their obscure titles as well. As for PS1 Enix games, it has to be Dragon Warrior VII, the last Dragon Warrior game under that title before Enix merged with Square.
No Threads of Fate / Dew Prism? WE RIOT! ;)
The PS1 was such a fun generation. I was in my Jr High and High School years for the PS1 era, and it felt like a lot of companies were experimenting with so many wild new game ideas as they tried to figure out how to transition into 3D, along with a lot of games starting to come to the US that never would have been localized in the earlier generations.
Thanks again for the credit! Even though Square Enix has a pretty bad rep these days due to some fumbles and questionable decisions, no one can deny how good their RPG library is in general
This is a beautiful video reminds me of my childhood! Thank you :D
Glad you enjoyed it!
Chrono Cross is single handledly THE, BEST, jrpg OST of ALL TIME, no discussion, hands down, period. And a masterpiece of a game (as it was held when it came out) but yeah, not exactly the sequel CT deserved for sure
Love the content of this channel! Keep up the great work Alex!
I see you, last chapter title.
Amazing work as always!
In my opinion the golden era for SE is the ps1 they used to release great games consistently from the ff games to the parasite eve games ohhh and one of there best games on the ps1 is thread of fate ohhh that game was pure fun
Front mission 3 is a masterpiece
I was lucky enough to experience many of these are a kid but I missed out on Xenogears and Parasite Eve.
Now if square enix can pull this off in the rest of our current decade I'll be a happy man 😊
I would love to have more games like Brave Fencer Musashi. Light-hearted, short and simple game with a couple of good idea/inovation.
Did you ever play the sequel on PS2?
@@drewtheunspoken3988 I did and I quite enjoyed it actually, particularly the art style 😃
@@PengWinDood I'd love to see a new entry in that series. It will never happen, but it's fun to think about what it would look and play like.
@@drewtheunspoken3988 true, who knows it might happen someday.
Another great list! I love that you included the Chronicles / Anthologies / Origins collections. True the loading times on these were pretty bad, but the pixel art remains some of my favorite for these classic games. The PS1 was truly a great system for Final Fantasy fans between these and the "big 4" as you called them.
I don't have a lot of experience with the SaGa franchise - only the first two entries (called Final Fantasy Legend here for anyone who didn't know). I did enjoy those games though. I have Frontier 2 and some other entries laying around unplayed though - and that is a situation that will be rectified.
I have never been able to get into Chrono Cross, despite trying many times over the years. First it was its failure as a sequel to Chrono Trigger that I couldn't see past. A year or two ago I tried the remaster, trying really hard to judge the game on its own merits. And while I made it further than I ever had before, I was still bored. One of the best soundtracks ever, but I just do not like the game.
Xenogears was great though, deserving of it's reputation. Also enjoyed Parasite Eve a lot at the time, though I'm less sure it would hold up.
Front Mission 3 and Brave Fencer Musashi have been on my backlog for ages, and I do need to play them one of these days.
Legend of Mana
A bit of a shame that Tales of Eternia is not here, but I understand that the competition is harsh.
I also love tales of eternia! It was probably the most FUN I have when playing any jrpg in the ps 1 era because of the couch co-op with my brother!
I think it was not mention in this video is because Tales of eternia was published by Namco.
Isn't that PS2? My favorite tales game, nvm. I'm thinking tales of vesperia. Eternia is great though.
Tales of Eternia isnt a Square Enix title though? Also, Eternia was mentioned in the previous top 10 PS1 JRPGs list.
Tales of Destiny 2 = Tales of Eternia
@@DanielSantosAnalysis Right, it isn't, my bad.
Valkyrie Profile does have a spiritual successor - Indivisible. Though the setting and artstyle are completely different.
I personally enjoyed Indivisible a lot, completed it to 100%.
I didn’t like Indivisible. It’s too stripped down for me.
Brave Fencer is fun but it's definitely a little clunky at times. This was before analog was fully adopted. It's definitely a fun play and quite charming as well. But anyone who has played the game will know that Steamwood is the worst part of it by a longshot and you have to do it twice. That's where you'll really feel the controls and the fact that it's timed only makes the frustration worse.
I'm surprised we didnt see Dragon Quest on here. Did you just wanna focus on the Square side? Or do you not like DQ7? I've only played the 3DS version for a bit, so maybe the original PS1 version isn't worth mentioning.
I'm a simple man, I see Aya Brea, I click.
Good stuff.
Chrono Cross
Agree that CG's were a nice addition to the classic FF games but they were not enough to make the ridiculous battle loading times bearable sadly.
My personal preference for Mitsuda soundtracks is Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and Xenoblade Chronicles above Chrono Cross. Not that Chrono Cross is bad, I don't think Mitsuda is capable of making a soundtrack less than stunning. It's mostly that I remember many more songs off of those games than Chrono Cross.
People really talk mess about Xenogears' second disc like the first one wasn't SIXTY WHOLE HOURS of some of the best gameplay ever.
Parasite Eve ❤❤❤
Kinda sad DQ7 didn't get a mention.
I wouldn't consider the Anthology/Chronicles compilations as ''PS1 Games'', tho.
Good on you. But they still released on the PS1, therefore, they’re PS1 games.
They’re also quite different from their original releases in terms of additions and graphics.
I guess you didn't want to be different and pick Threads of Fate as well. A shame 😋
Xenogears. Play it again with mods, with rebalanced gameplay, random battles, characters and hd backgrounds.
🇵🇭
SaGa frontier 2 is so beautiful, sadly it was so bad compared to 1