Such a fan that he payed $140 US on Ebay...
(SPOILER)
The story revolves around a Valkyrie (Norse battle maiden) named Lenneth Valkyrie. Her job is to gather warriors ('Einharjar') for Odin to fight in the final battle, Ragnarok. As you progress through the game, you recruit more Einharjar (while finding out about their own dramatic backstories) and unlock more about Lenneth's own past and sealed memories. The story is filled with Norse Mythology (albeit very artistically liberated) and other wonderful things.

The gameplay is pretty neat, and unique. As Lenneth, you begin at the beginning of the game, and recruit your first two Einharjar. There's then the first dungeon, which serves as a tutorial (by the wonderful goddess of fertility, Freya). After that, you have eight chapters left until the end of the world (Ragnarok), with I 24 periods each. You fly around the world map, entering areas. Entering a town or dungeon or other area will cost you one period, so make sure everything you do counts. But you'll have plenty of periods to do what you want. But before you go anywhere, you must use 'Soul Concentration' which unlocks new areas and dungeons. There's different music for this depending on whether you'll find a potential Einharjar or a new dungeon.

Unlike most RPGs, Valkyrie Profile acts as a platformer outside of battle (hence the title). Lenneth can jump, strike, and do other neat platforming things. She can also shoot ice crystals to freeze bad guys and stop them for a limited time. She can also make single ice crystals, enlarge them, or built platforms out of crystal dust to solve puzzles or reach treasure.

However, when you touch an enemy or strike them, battle begins, and it's much different from a platformer. Battle is psuedo-turn based. Each character on your team is assigned a certain button. By pressing that button, that character attacks, and you can build up attacks to make a combo. If the combo bar reaches 100 % (filled up by your attacks, not necessarily 100 whole attacks), you can use a special attack from one of your characters, a "Purify Wierd Soul". These are pretty spiffy attacks that have some cool quote to go along with them usually. If one PWS fills up the combo meter again, you can use another PWS, but the combo meter will automatically go down to a set point again, so use your PWS strategically.

Speaking of Einharjar...there are two types. There are the warrior Einharjar, who use a variety of weapons, and mage Einharjar, who use spells. Warriors can equip Swords, Two-Handed Swords, Katana, Bows, and Spears, while mages can learn spells from spell books. Warriors usually can attack more than once in a combo with advanced weapons, and mages can hit multiple enemies or hit an enemy multiple times with their spells, but they have to charge up for a few turns before acting again.

There's a hell of a lot more, but I've typed enough. Just go buy the game! You won't be disappointed. If you have a PSP, get the 'Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth' version. It has sextastic CG cutscenes. Other than that, from what I know, it holds true to the original version. You won't regret getting it! But, really, don't spend too much money for the original unless you're a rabid tri-Ace fanatic like I am.

I'm sure Black Mage could explain the story better than I can, though.