[Strike Witch]

I picked up Ys: Oath of Felghana on Steam.

It's a pretty average JRPG story. Red-headed hero Adol the Red and his trusty companion Dogi return to Dogi's homeland of Felghana to find monsters roaming the land and a tyrannical count plotting some sort of evil involving ancient statues that are full of malevolent power. After getting involved in saving a young girl named Elena from some monsters, Adol and Dogi decide to save the land from disaster!

etc etc

The story is pretty quaint, but it all changes once you hit the gameplay. I guess the best way to describe it is hack and slash strapped to a jet engine- your character zooms through levels swinging his sword like nutjob, going through enemies like an Australian goes through booze. It's just killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill, and the fact that enemies literally explode into chunks upon death makes it even more crazy and satisfying.

And the bosses, the bosses are actually challenging too. They have complex patterns you have to adapt to and some really clever strategies, though some were bordering on ridiculous. There's also a bunch of puzzle solving with magical bracelets and exploration, and it has an awesome soundtrack.

So yeah, Ys. Simple plot, fun gameplay, good music, and it's very long. Lots of achievements and difficulty levels too.