I'll start off with a truly excellent little game called Alundra.
Here's the original game description found on the back of the case:
"Between the worlds of light and darkness lies the world of dreams. A world where the rule of reason loosens its grip. A place where an insidious evil is stealing minds and blackening the hearts of those from the world of light. Grab a weapon and become the dreamwalker Alundra as he struggles to purge the evil ID of an ancient world before it falls to ash. Explore dungeons, find weapons, solve challenging puzzles, and kick some serious monster butt as you weave between tense reality and nightmarish dreams to save the hapless masses. With a wide cast of characters and scores of challenging puzzles created by the people responsible for Landstalker on the Genisis, Alundra will rob you of precious sleep until you finish!"

That's pretty corny sounding, yes, but that last part is so true. The actual story is excellent, the characters are pretty well developed, the puzzles are tough (but still very fun), there's a wide array of weapons, items, and magic to choose from, and so much more, all wrapped up in a tone that alternates well between comical and darkly serious.
Placing many dungeons within the realm of the subconscious allowed the developers to make some truly inspired puzzles. At one point, you're placed in the mind of a girl with multiple personality disorder, and at another point jumping from the mind of one sleeping twin to another. The 'real world' dungeons are no slouch either. You dig through ruins, fight monsters, demons, and even gods themselves in your efforts to protect this tiny village of Inoa.
In short, this game could and should have been Sony's answer to the Zelda games. I'm a big Zelda fan, and I place this game of a similar type decidedly on par with those.