After a certain point, I had the best deck possible that you could get, without gameshark or using a USB. Was able to comfortably play through the entire game without losing once after that. It's always the first playthrough where you start from scratch that is the most savage in terms of how ridiculous the game gets with you(Like Seto 3rd and so forth having 20 cards in their hand instead of 5, like you). That's what makes it all the more satisfying when, even with the game's bullshit, you come out on top in the end.Forbidden Memories is such bullshit.
It's legit one of my most hated games I have ever played due to how nonsense it is. It's even worse now that I know the AI literally cheats in cards to beat your ass with.
By comparison, Dark Duel Stories was way too easy and you can basically fuck with the opponent easily and win, even the hardest of bosses.
I think I did play Sacred Cards or Reshef of Destruction but that was a great GBA YGO title.
There're very few games that have given me a similar rush to going through the final 6 bosses of YGO Forbidden Memories and defeating them for the first time. Being able to outplay all those cheating niggas back-to-back makes for a hell of a "Fuck yeah!" moment.
Currently have an emulated version of the game, as well as the original PS1 game on disk, and am playing through the former, which makes it possible to earn all the ritual monsters you couldn't otherwise earn in the base game, by defeating specific opponents. As well as adding and allowing you to gain other cards you couldn't in the original, like Five-Headed Dragon, which the emulation creator of course gave to Seto 3rd and Nightmare as a three-piece. Gotta keep the spirit of the original in-tact, after all.