The original PlayStation is widely regarded as one of the best gaming consoles of all time. The high amount of legendary games on this platform ranged from beloved platformers to action-adventures that dazzled players with what were cutting-edge graphics and gameplay for the time. However, it would be impossible to talk about the prominence of the PS1 without mentioning one genre that dominated the console for the years to come: RPGs.
The PS1 was home to a number of incredible JRPGs that have become classics in every sense of the word, in no small part due to their intriguing stories, memorable characters, timeless gameplay— and their massive runtimes, typically the biggest out of any other genre. This list offers a general estimate for how long each game takes to beat and with a fair amount of completion percentage, but it will vary from player to player.
10 Final Fantasy VII — 60 Hours
It would be impossible to talk about the rise of the JPRG genre on the PlayStation without mentioning the game that started it all, at least in terms of bringing the genre to a massive mainstream audience.
Final Fantasy VII is arguably the most popular game to have ever released on the PlayStation, which was surprising given the massive runtime of the title— something that wasn’t exactly all that common in the Western market at the time. After FFVII, however, gamers were suddenly a lot more tolerant of games that took dozens of hours to beat.
9 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona — 65 Hours
Most people tend to gloss over the first few entries in the series when talking about the Persona franchise, as it didn’t really catch fire until the acclaimed Persona 3. But that is a shame since the early installments are also great in their own right, including this first entry.
The first Persona game was one of the longer adventures on the PS1, although it’s possible that more than half of this runtime was spent battling due to the ridiculously high enemy encounter rate.
8 Final Fantasy IX — 70 Hours
Final Fantasy IX was a loving tribute to the franchise’s past, allowing new gamers to witness the roots of the franchise while giving old gamers a much-needed blast of fresh— and familiar— air after the futuristic worlds of the past three titles in the series.
One ridiculous part about FFIX was the fact that the player needed to speedrun through the entire game in less than 12 hours in order to get Steiner’s Ultimate Weapon, the Excalibur II. Such a feat was pretty much impossible without modern conveniences, and even then it’s still quite a challenge.
7 Grandia — 70 Hours
Grandia is a rather charming RPG that most people haven’t really been exposed to, which is unfortunate, especially since that also led to its great Dreamcast sequel not getting its due respect either. Any fan of old-school RPGs will be more than interested in this series, for many reasons.
Playing through the first Grandia game is an absolute blast, and serves as the perfect entry point for anyone who wishes to get into this highly enjoyable series that has seen multiple sequels over the years.
6 Final Fantasy VIII — 75 Hours
Many people consider Final Fantasy VIII to be the black sheep of the post-SNES era of the franchise, which is doing a huge disservice to a great title that was released following the massively successful Final Fantasy VII. It was only a given that this game wouldn’t be able to meet the unfairly high standards held for the sequel of a legendary title.
FFVIII is an incredibly fun title, and the 75 or so hours that people that give it a chance can easily sink into this title will be more than worth it.
5 Xenogears — 75 Hours
The fact that Xenogears managed to make this list even after the second half of the game was cut short and was reduced to multiple screens of static text is a testament to the massive scope of this legendary title.
Xenogears is easily one of the best JRPGs of all time, which is why it’s a shame that the second half of the game is such a mess— it massively tarnishes the quality of an otherwise great game. The Xenosaga and Xenoblade games are considered spiritual successors to Xenogears as they are created by some of the same people and have similar styles and themes.
4 Final Fantasy Tactics — 80 Hours
It’s quite surprising that the longest runtime of any Final Fantasy game on the PS1 isn’t a title from the main series, but rather a spinoff that turned out to be one of the best games in the entire franchise.
Any fan of tactical RPGs would find themselves right at home with Final Fantasy Tactics, which— while somewhat challenging— is definitely one of the best games on this list by a country mile, and one of the best in the tactical RPG genre period.
3 Front Mission 3 — 85 Hours
Speaking of tactical RPGs, one simply can’t mention long-running titles without talking about the massive powerhouse that is Front Mission 3, the third mainline game in a series that was previously entirely exclusive to Japan.
It’s a criminally overlooked title that more fans of classic RPGs, tactical games, and mechs in general should definitely sink their teeth into, provided they’re willing to invest the time required to best this mammoth title.
2 Persona 2: Eternal Punishment — 95 Hours
Persona 2 is widely considered by the hardcore fanbase to be the unsung hero of the franchise, with some even going so far as to labelling it the best Persona game of all time.
Confusingly serving as a direct sequel to Persona 2: Innocent Sin— nobody ever said this was an easy franchise to keep track of— Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is easily one of the longest games on the PS1, and could’ve topped this list had it not been for an infamous title that more than doubles its run time.
1 Dragon Warrior VII — 200 Hours
Dragon Warrior VII (aka Dragon Quest VII) is a game that many people have heard of but relatively few have played. That said, any hardcore JRPG veteran would know about a title that is so ridiculously long that it takes more than 250 hours to complete everything the game has in store for the player, and well over 150 hours just to complete the main quest. The number of people who have finished this game, even just the bare minimum, is most certainly a relatively small number indeed.
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