Games

Best Action JRPGs With Difficulty Levels, Ranked

Published

23 seconds ago

January 19, 2025

Christoph Rediske

ryuji in persona 5 strikers and cait sith in final fantasy 7 rebirth

Summary

Table of Contents

Soulslike RPGs lack difficulty levels, but Ys Memoire offers various settings catering to all players’ preferences.
Scarlet Nexus provides different difficulty levels, encouraging varied gameplay experiences for gamers.
Persona 5 Strikers and other Musou games offer flexibility with difficulty settings for players’ enjoyment.

Action RPGs can be some of the most challenging games to get into. Even the simple hack-and-slash ones can be intimidating for newcomers to the genre. No one would ever recommend Dark Souls to someone wishing to branch into the genre, right?

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That would be too cruel and it may turn that player off of video games forever. Soulslike action RPGs typically don’t have difficulty levels but these other examples do. From easy settings for beginners to challenge modes for the hardcore, there’s something here for everyone. How the difficulties work will be discussed but the ranking will mostly focus on the games themselves and how they are balanced.

8

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana

A Good Jumping Off Point

Difficulty menu in Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana

Systems

Released: January 7, 2025
Developer(s): Nihon Falcom
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OpenCritic Rating: Strong

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is a newly remastered game of an old classic that first launched on the PSP in 2010 or at least that’s the case for North America. Players will have to decide what difficulty they want to start with including Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Nightmare.

Very Easy will make the hero, Adol, near invincible through the first two dungeons with the challenge ramping up from there. Every other difficulty level increases the amount of grinding players have to do along with the amount of equipment progression. Normal, is, of course, the most balanced for this action RPG but overall this is a great Ys entry to jump into.

7

Scarlet Nexus

The Tales Team Goes Futuristic

Systems

Released: June 25, 2021
OpenCritic Rating: Strong
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Scarlet Nexus was released the same year as Tales of Arise in 2021. Both Bandai Namco games feature difficulty levels, which is not unheard of at least for the Tales of series. In Scarlet Nexus, players can decide between Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, or Very Hard. Like Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, it all depends on how much grinding players will want to do to beat the game.

That said, even on Very Easy players will have to get accustomed to the action combat and buddy system as some boss fights will not mess around. Of the two Bandai Namco games, Scarlet Nexus feels more ambitious even all these years later and it will be a good game to experience before this console generation ends.

6

Persona 5 Strikers

A True Successor

The difficulty menu in Persona 5 Strikers

Systems

Released: February 3, 2021
OpenCritic Rating: Strong

Persona 5 Strikers is one of the many Musou games that Omega Force developed beyond their bread-and-butter franchises: Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. It’s a direct sequel to Persona 5, taking place the summer after the events of the first game. The protagonist, canonically referred to as either Akira or Ren, comes back to visit his old Phantom Thieves comrades to go on a road trip.

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Along the way, they get roped into a new adventure wherein they will have to use their old powers to right some wrongs but this time in real-time combat. Players can experience the game on Easy, Normal, or Hard and can change it at any time. Most Musou games have difficulty levels, so they are all pretty inviting even the newly released Dynasty Warriors: Origins.

5

Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom

An Easier Adventure Overall

The difficulty menu in Ni no Kuni 2 Revenant Kingdom

Released: March 23, 2018
OpenCritic Rating: Mighty

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch looked like an RPG aimed at kids what with the kid hero and Studio Ghibli aesthetic. It was a pretty hard game though when it was released on the PS3 which was lightened up when it was remastered later.

The sequel, Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom, sort of course corrected and was an easier experience from the start, offering players Normal, Hard, and Expert difficulties. Even the Hard mode felt balanced so above the original, this is a wondrous RPG to jump into. Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom also switched turn-based combat into action combat and mostly did away with the monster-catching aspect for better or worse.

4

Star Ocean: The Second Story R

The Best In The Series Redone

The difficulty menu in Star Ocean The Second Story R

Systems

Released: November 2, 2023
Developer(s): Gemdrops, Inc.
Publisher(s): Advertisement

Square Enix
OpenCritic Rating: Mighty
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Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a complete remake of the PS1 game which used Square Enix’s patented HD-2D style. Players have some cute difficulty modes for this one including Earth, Galaxy, Universe, and Chaos which fits with the space adventure motif.

Players can choose two different protagonists too which basically just starts the game on different levels. Most players should feel comfortable with Galaxy as Star Ocean: The Second Story R is not that grind-heavy of a game although there are later sections that may be tricky for those unaccustomed to the Star Ocean series.

3

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX

A Wide Birth Of Disney Classics

Released: March 9, 2017
Developer(s): Square Enix
OpenCritic Rating: Advertisement

Strong

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX is a great example as it’s a collection of most of the games in the Kingdom Hearts series. From the start, Kingdom Hearts has always included difficulty levels which makes sense since they are Disney games ultimately aimed toward a younger audience.

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In the first game, for example, players can choose between Final Mix: Beginner, Final Mix, and Final Mix: Proud. Each difficulty will point out extras that players may or may not receive like secret endings. Harder modes in these games also make it easier to get secrets so it’s all a coin toss on what players are looking for between easy secrets or an easy gameplay experience to see all of the Disney worlds from Aladdin to Tron Legacy.

2

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

A Dynamic Range Of Options

The difficulty menu in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Systems

Released: February 29, 2024
OpenCritic Rating: Mighty

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the second game in what will be a remake trilogy and it has an interesting approach to its difficulty system. Players can choose Easy, Normal, or Dynamic at the start and then change it during the game. Normal can get pretty challenging but so can Easy if players aren’t paying attention to leveling up or equipment progression including Materia.

Dynamic will automatically shift battles from Easy to Normal depending on how players are doing. If they have to keep reviving party members, Dynamic will slide things onto the Easy side. If players aren’t getting scratched and are dispatching enemies quickly, the opposite is true so it is definitely unique.

1

The World Ends With You: Final Mix

A Fashionable Trend

The difficulty menu in The World Ends With You Final Mix

Systems

The World Ends With You: Final Mix was the Switch release of the game that began on the DS. This action RPG integrated difficulty into the battle system well. Instead of giving players weapons or straight-up magic, the hero, Neku, could equip pins with different powers attached from slashes to fireballs.

Players could set the game to Easy or Normal difficulty anytime and depending on their level, they could get more or less rewards like EXP or more pins. Players could also stack monster encounters, called Noise, to increase rewards so overall The World Ends With You: Final Mix is just a great customizable experience that every RPG fan needs to experience at least once.