Suikoden was sort of impenetrable for me as a kid. Whereas you could easily stumble through final fantasy, suikoden felt like it had just enough going for it that you actually needed to understand its mechanics. The vast cast was always intimidating and I wouldn’t ever use anyone who didn’t seem obviously strong immediately, and I suspect that was why it felt hard.

On the other hand revisiting turn based rpgs of my youth has generally found them insanely easy (just use buffs) so it could also just be that.