Valkyrie Profile

Valkyrie Profile is a 1999 role-playing video game developed by Tri-Ace and published by Square Enix (then, just Square). The plot follows the Valkyrie Lenneth on her mission to organize recently deceased warriors into Einherjar and prevent Ragnarok, the fall of everything.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Great graphics for it's time, characters have fluid animations.
 * 2) Amazing story, it uses plenty of norse mythology but tells it's own story as opposed to being overtly faithful to it. It also questions the gods rather than painting them as the undeniable good guys, questioning whether or not they're really doing good.
 * 3) Set during a more modern day as opposed to a viking-like world, which gives the game a neat and unique aesthetic.
 * 4) Great characters, all of which have a backstory that resulted in their death before being recruited by Lenneth. They've also got their own unique abilities in battle.
 * 5) Awesome unique combat system, it's sort of turn based like Final Fantasy X, only specific weapons can grant the player the ability to make one character hit more than once. Using a specific character's ability at the right time is key, as some may be able to weaken it so that the others can attack and deal major damage. You can also have multiple characters attack in succession, for example, having one break the enemy's guard while having the others attack and do damage afterwards. As a result of this, combat has a much faster pace that still requires some strategy and is very fun because of it.
 * 6) When the hit gauge reaches 100%, you can use one character's special move, which are awesome.
 * 7) Up to 24 recruitable characters.
 * 8) Three different endings depending on your actions throughout. Having your seal value higher than 37 results in the normal ending, while having it below 37 and doing some specific actions results in the much more satisfying and amazing true ending.
 * 9) Great soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba.
 * 10) Actually encourages you to go off the beaten path.
 * 11) An interesting time-limit mechanic that unlike Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, gives you a lot of time to explore. It's measured in periods, which decrease with every action you take (resting, searching for new einherjar, exploring an area, etc.).
 * 12) Much darker tone than many Final Fantasy games, which helps the story greatly, making the game more emotional and intense.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The game was never made available for newer home consoles, though it was made available on app stores and the PSP (for a price, of course)
 * 2) Voice acting in the English version is pretty cheesy.