It's been a long time since I've come across a truly cryptic game. Even in the PS3/Xbox360 era, they were few and far between. There were bosses here and there that had specific patterns and whatnot that you had to follow to beat them. In God Of War (Chains Of Olympus I think) when you fight Charon, you have to follow a specific battle plan. And often if you don't have a players guide, you're screwed. Then there's Zelda: Oracle Of Ages. How are you supposed to learn how to beat the mini boss in dungeon 4? Its shield is indestructible, so you can't land a hit. You have to let him destroy his own shield, which takes careful maneuvering. Yeah, I knew that going in the first time. Note the sarcasm.
FF8 had a lot of cryptic parts. Summoning Doomtrain for example. Even if you find the Solomon ring, you would have to have all issues of Occult Fan magazine before you would have the slightest clue what the ring did, on your first time through. Enter players guide. That's what it took for me to figure out what the fucking thing was for the first time I got it.