Stocke works in espionage for the Alistel kingdom. One day, he’s summoned by his handler, Heiss, and is requested to discreetly escort a fellow spy back to the capital. He’s joined by two mercenaries named Raynie and Marco, and together, they set off on a journey to protect this unknown ally. However, just before they head out, Heiss gives Stocke a strange book titled “The White Chronicle”. One thing leads to another, and Stocke discovers that the White Chronicle actually gives him the power to travel throughout his own timeline and alter events as he sees fit. Could this power help bring an end to the war between the Alistel and Granorg kingdoms?

While Valkyrie Profile is largely an RPG about time management, Radiant Historia is more about time manipulation. As events occur, you’ll be able to jump back and forth between points in time and alter events and see different perspectives of the story. One branch will have you remain working as an agent, but then other branches will see you working as a soldier in the military. But, much like Valkyie Profile, the story is less about the characters and more about finding their place in their world and what their actions truly mean for the course of history.

Life is just unfair sometimes. You saved a woman from sexual assault, and rather than even getting a simple “Thank you” from anyone, the attacker instead successfully sues you for battery and gets you sent away from home. Rather than send you to juvie, instead you end up in a work-release program where, if you stay on your best behavior, you’ll avoid imprisonment and be able to return home. You end up living and working at a small, out-of-the-way café run by the temperamental Sojiro Sakura, who wants nothing more than to be left alone and for you to stay out of his way. On your way to your first day of school, however, you and a delinquent named Ryuji somehow stumble upon a magical castle right in the middle of the city…

Anyone who loved trying to balance their time between dungeon grinding and advancing the story in Valkyrie Profile will feel right at home in Persona 5. You’ll have to optimize your schedule so that you can work in a dungeon raid in between hanging out with your friends, studying for exams, or building up your social stats (required for advancing your relationships with your Confidants). But, while Valkyrie Profile has a more mythical, fantastical tone, Persona 5 has a more punk attitude. It’s about living your teenage life wild and free and acting according to your own personal sense of justice rather than acting in favor for the greater good.

The Millennial Fair just begun, and Crono’s going to have some fun! As soon as he enters the fair, however, he actually runs into a girl and knocks her pendant flying from her neck. The two search for it together, and the girl, not having anyone to travel the fair with, decides to tag along with Crono. She calls herself Marle, and the two partake in all the various sights and attractions at the fair. However, Crono’s longtime friend Lucca has her own display set-up, as she and her father have somehow managed to build a real working teleporter! Crono and Marle participate in their demonstration, and while everything works fine for Crono, Marle’s pendant somehow triggers a wormhole and sends her flying back into the past! Crono chases after her and finds himself in a bigger story than he ever thought he would, spanning across literal eons!

Valkyrie Profile actually has a lot to owe to Chrono Trigger. Not only was Chrono Trigger one of the first popular games to incorporate time as a story element into an RPG, it also popularized the notion of “multiple endings”. However, the major difference is that Valkyrie Profile uses its various different endings as a reward for maximizing your scheduling and actually seeing everything that the game has to offer. Chrono Trigger on the other hand has them more as fun “what-if” scenarios for what might happen if you managed to end the story at a certain point and encourage different styles of play.

The Demon lord Demonaica has been abusing their immortality and rising in power. However, you’ve managed to infiltrate Demonaica’s inner circle and have gained some demonic power of your own. Rather than continue on as Demonaica’s lackey, you’ll fight back! You’ll rise up an army of your own and drive back Demonaica’s forces from your home world, finally bringing peace back onto the land.

Fans who enjoyed alternating between platforming and turn-based combat in Valkyrie Profile will probably find a lot to like about A Valley Without Wind. However, rather than switching between turned-based RPG combat and platforming, you’ll have turn-based strategic combat ala Civilization, then have more action oriented scrolling gameplay in between battles. A Valley Without Wind 2 boasts dozens of hours of gameplay as well, so people looking to play something in the long haul might want to give it a shot.

Link has found himself wandering the Lost Woods in search of an unknown person beloved to him. In the midst of his wandering, he encounters the Skull Kid from his previous adventures in Ocarina of Time. But there’s something different about Skull Kid. He’s still mischievous, but there’s something much more sinister about his demeanor. He steals the Ocarina of Time from Link, and then, just to spite him, he transforms Link into a Deku Scrub! Now, Link has found himself far away from the lands of Hyrule and into a strange, uncanny nation called Termina. A friendly mask salesman he meets along the way has informed Link that he can transform Link back into a human, but he’ll need to reclaim his Ocarina from the Skull Kid in three days. Why three days? Well… he seems a bit skittish about that…

Valkyrie Profile is a game that exists on a straight timeline, and you’ll need to involve yourself in the lives of the inhabitants of the world and deal with their plights in order to strengthen yourself and progress. Majora’s Mask actually follows a very similar pattern of performing quests for ailing individuals of the land, but rather than being stuck to a timeline, the game takes place over the course of a looping three days. Even with the ability to reverse time by three days, there’s still a sense of urgency because you’ll always needs to make sure you’re fitting your adventure into the schedules of the people of Clock Town. Missing an event means you’ll have to rewind time all the way back to the morning of the first day!

Just when everything seems to be getting back to normal, Lightning is encased in crystal and is put into status for 500 years. Upon awakening, Lightning discovers that she was specifically chosen by the god Bhunivelze to save Grand Pulse from catastrophe in its final hours. Lightning has thirteen days to gather energy called Eradia, which Bhunivelze will use to create a new planet for the people of Grand Pulse. And, who knows? Maybe along the way she’ll figure out what happened to her sister and her other friends from the original Final Fantasy XII!

Valkyrie Profile and Lightning Returns have a very similar plot structure. Both games alternate between inhabiting the “real” world (or the world of humans) in order to solve their problems to further the plot, and the way the plot plays out is affected by how much a player is able to fit into a single day. However, while Valkyrie Profile advances time through little vignettes where time passes as soon as you’ve made a choice, Lightning Returns will actually progress in real time! It feels like Lightning Returns was made to update the formula set up by Valkyrie Profile!