Drakengard

Drakengard, known in Japan as Drag-on Dragoon is a 2003 Dark Fantasy Action Role-Playing video game developed by the now-defunct Cavia and published by Square Enix for the Playstation 2. Developed by legendary game director Yoko Taro, the game features both ground-based and aerial combat as well as a dark tone and story for it's time.

Plot
During a war between two religious factions, the deposed Prince Caim makes a pact with the Dragon Angelus in order to protect his sister, Furiae, who is the very key to the salvation of the world.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) A very interesting and dark storyline, especially for it's time, that takes many interesting and very dark twists and turns on genre conventions, often even veering towards horror territory at times. The story is also, for much of the time, very well-written and genuinely intriguing as it's not afraid to let it's characters fail at plenty of points.
 * 2) The setting is also pretty well made, with plenty of interesting lore in it's world explained either in game or through unlockables, and it takes a different version of medieval fantasy that's both high and low fantasy, often even mixing steampunk with medieval fantasy. Some enemies in the game are even unaffected by magic, which is an interesting twist.
 * 3) Gameplay very similar to Dynasty Warriors for fans of that series, but with the added intrigue of fighting often huge armies while flying a dragon. In plenty of levels, you can even switch between piloting Angelus and playing as Caim on the ground.
 * 4) A very interesting and well done musical score.
 * 5) Plenty of very unique characters for it's time, as it often has characters who are morally ambiguous or downright disturbing as opposed to heroic characters like many other JRPGs.
 * 6) Caim is a pretty interesting character despite no dialogue since the beginning (due to him sacrificing his voice in his pact with Angelus) as he goes to insane lengths to protect Furiae and has an uncontrollable rage and bloodlust that become major parts of his character arc later on. He also despises dragons for the murders of his parents, which makes his pact with Angelus extra ironic.
 * 7) Inuart, Furiae's former fiance before her assignment as the Goddess of the Seal, loves her deeply and cares for Caim as well, but comes to be obsessed with Furiae and even resent Caim due to his relationship with her.
 * 8) Furiae, speaking of her, is a very sympathetic character and an interesting contrast to Caim's violent tendencies as she only wants peace in the world and even resents her destiny due to it upending parts of her life.
 * 9) Angelus is a human-hating dragon who only agrees to make the pact with Caim for her own survival from brutal torture, but even she is somewhat disturbed by Caim's behavior and starts to feel pity for him over the course of the game.
 * 10) There's also a few optional characters to claim in your party through side-quests more or less, and they're all pretty interesting as well.
 * 11) Leonard is a hermit priest who loses his family during the war and makes a pact with a fairy in exchange for his eyesight. That latter detail also has some lore surrounding it as he has vile desires he tries to suppress.
 * 12) Arioch is a woman who was driven to madness by the murder of her family and has a warped view of the world around her. She also made a pact with separate spirits of fire and ice in exchange for her womb, which also contains hidden information about her character.
 * 13) Seere is probably the most normal and morally straight out of the optional characters and most of the cast in general, which provides a nice contrast from the darkness in it's cast.
 * 14) Pretty good cutscene graphics for it's time, which often contain a lot of blood, gore, and disturbing imagery which was uncommon in JRPGs at the time.
 * 15) Pretty good voice acting for it's time with plenty of voice actors who'd appear in beloved anime and other video games as well.
 * 16) The story takes many dark, unexpected, and horrifying/heartbreaking twists throughout that further set it apart from most JRPGs, like Inuart's madness and betrayal, the backstories of the optional characters, and even Furiae committing suicide, which was unheard of in games around the time.
 * 17) Five different endings depending on certain actions taken by the player, one of which is somewhat of a joke ending while the others can range from satisfying to genuinely heartbreaking and disturbing.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The gameplay has often been criticized for being highly repetitive as you'll pretty much be fighting massive waves of enemies in pretty linear levels like the aforementioned Dynasty Warriors. The level design is also nothing to write home about and it devolves pretty much into button-mashing and often prolonged levels, which can get boring.
 * 2) The gameplay graphics are pretty mediocre, especially for their time as games like Final Fantasy X and Jak II had already come out with excellent graphics. The draw distance is also pretty poor as you'll be unable to see enemies unless they're really close.
 * 3) While the story is pretty good, there's some flaws, like noticeable pacing issues especially in the beginning and some pretty big plot holes at certain points.
 * 4) The game acts as if Caim just barely noticed Angelus being tortured in the castle courtyard despite the public setting and her being pretty noticeable in the first place.
 * 5) The "voice" Angelus heard before the elf village is attacked is never explained, and it also doesn't make much sense why Inuart didn't believe her despite the massive army attacking it and smoke from all over.
 * 6) In Ending A, Inuart is pretty much ignored after his boss fight and never appears again in the story after running away with Furiae's body. This plot hole is explained in Drakengard 2, however.
 * 7) The gameplay style also can clash with the storytelling style at times, as the story seems to favor realism and disturbing moments while the gameplay is often too action-oriented and large scale to compliment that. Also, because of the gameplay style, some of the lore isn't explored thoroughly except in some of the novelizations.
 * 8) Some parts that could be considered overly edgy and too much for some.
 * 9) Leonard is revealed to be a closeted pedophile in his backstory, which is likely the reason he gave up his eyesight in his pact.
 * 10) Arioch is revealed to be a cannibal of children out of a warped belief that she's "keeping them safe" inside of her, which is incredibly disturbing.
 * 11) The leadup to ending C, it's revealed that Furiae had incestuous feelings for Caim and she commits suicide in front of him onscreen.
 * 12) Manah's death in ending C, though thankfully offscreen, is still highly disturbing as she's literally a child.
 * 13) Speaking of the endings, ending B is downright depressing as it involves Furiae dying not once but twice, Caim being emotionally broken, and clones of the monster Furiae was turned into spreading all over the world and eradicating humanity.
 * 14) The appearance of the Watchers is highly disturbing, as they literally eat two of the main characters alive.

Reception
Drakengard was met with strong sales, but also received mixed reviews from critics, with praise often directed to it's story and musical score while the graphics received mixed reviews and the gameplay was criticized for being repetitive. The game did receive a cult following, often for it's dark and intriguing story and parallels to the later, more popular Nier series as well as kickstarting creator Yoko Taro's career as a video game director and writer.