Vesperia ends up easy but you need to get all the good skills and abilities. At the start you just have no recourse but to take damage a lot of the time.
Any of the newer games on their hardest difficulty aren't too bad because they let you dodge stuff. Specifically xillia, xillia 2, graces f, zesteria, and berseria. Vesperia on the other hand is a lot more traditional RPG where stats make a huge difference. The hard start kinda reminded me of infinite undiscovery which had the most absurd start on infinity difficulty. You do 3 damage a hit, the enemies have 500 hp, and they kill you in 2 hits. It was so bullshit that it was actually fun cause it was like a puzzle. Then you farm the HP increase item that gives you a % increase to your max hp and end up with billions. Was glorious. I miss that game. I wonder if theres an emulator I can play it on.
I only lost during boss fights in Vesperia I think. I never played Xillia since it isn't on PC yet for some reason. ---