A quick look at the story: the events in the game happen some hundreds of years before the events in Valkyrie Profile. Alicia, princess of Dipan, and Silmeria Valkyrie, whose soul is trapped in Alicia's body, search for the Dragon Orb, one of the four treasures of the gods, to save Midgard from the god Odin himself, which plans to dispose of the ones who defy him. That's all that can be said without spoilers.

"Beautiful". That's probably the first thing you'll think when you play this game. From the citizens of Solde, where the gameplay begins, to the monsters at the very last floor of the gigantic Seraphic Gate, every character, dungeon, town or special effects has great graphics and it's not hard to find a place which you would like to have a portrait of.

Not only the graphic work is good - the game also has a great voice acting for all of the characters (including some enemies) and the BGMs fit every stage of the game, with the calm songs you hear when visiting a city (or even while in the World Map) or the somewhat rock n' roll style of the music in a few dungeons.

The gameplay, while not in battle, is entirely in 2D platformer-style. In towns, the character can walk, jump and that's pretty much it. When exploring dungeons, you can also do a sword attack or use "photon". The "photon" consists in pressing a certain button to "freeze" an enemy/object and then pressing it again to hit the enemy/object and change places with it. It is used mainly for solving puzzles or just when you're not feeling like fighting monsters. In most dungeons there are also the Sealstones, orbs that can affect the gameplay in some way. They can affect the party (when held), a single party of enemies (in case an enemy is holding it) or enemies in several areas (when left on a Dais).

Now, the battle gameplay may confuse newcomers a bit, but is not that hard to figure out. When you touch an enemy, you'll see a 3D battlefield, in which are shown your party and the enemies themselves. Then, you can walk, use the "dash" command or use something in the battle menu (itens, using magic, changing an equipment etc). If the enemy is in range (which is shown by a circle around the party) you can attack it. When you do it, the party and the enemy will be shown in side-scroll mode and you have to hit the buttons which represent each of the characters in your party to make them attack. To win a battle, there's the possibility of fighting each of the enemies in the field or just killing the Leader of the group.

When talking about the characters in the game (and there are many, each with their own backstories, although most of them aren't really part of the game plot, being used just as battle characters), there are two ways of getting them: the nine main characters (excluding Alicia), enter the party after events in the game, and the Einherjar, which can or cannot be assigned to the party at your choice. To get them in your party, you must find their weapons in the dungeons (these weapons also show which of the four sorts of characters they are).

The side-quests are mostly limited to battle the optional Dungeon Guardians (as most of them guard Sealstones or itens), which are found in specific parts of the dungeons; The side-quests also include making itens by getting the needed materials (which can also be other equipments), taking them to the Armory/Salesman that offers the wanted equipment, and finally buying it from them. A few itens are got by activating certain events. And, as it's common for RPGs, there's also a secret dungeon (the almost always present in Tri-ace games, Seraphic Gate), which has the hardest optional bosses in the game.

If you're just looking for a good story and a great battle system, the game offers your both, with the added pleasure of seeing some beautiful landscapes and hearing great music. If, besides that, you miss the good and old side-scroll platformers, you've just found your game.