A by the book RPG, with a few nice touches.

What we have here is a pretty average RPG. And by average, I don't mean average as in "5/10, this is rubbish", I mean as average as in, this RPG is OK. Nothing to make it stand out for non-RPG fans, but anyone who likes the genre will like this game.

The basic storyline is nothing too new. Your character (I've long since forgotten his default name... was it Lang or something?) starts out in an isolated village in the country side, find out he has special powers and then goes on a quest to save the world from the anime-style villain. In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking that the game is very dull at the start. Because when you begin, your character can do nothing but use attacks, and when you get her, your second character can do nothing but heal, the fights in the first few hours are a little dull. A high encounter rate, which reaches ffx levels of annoyance, doesn't help either.

But this game is worth sticking with. As you progress, slowly you learn new things, and the start seems little more than a 4 hour long training exercise.
When the game gets going, it's good points are revealed.

The first is probably what the game is the most famous for - the move system. Basically, rather than one basic attack, your characters get a long combo of attacks. Basically, you enter a series of directions. Certain combinations pull off special moves, some of which cost AP and some of which restore AP. The system is reasonably deep, even if it just amounts to different ways of doing damage.

The accessories/weight system is also nice - basically, you can equip various benefits/handicaps by using materia-like accessories. This gives you a bit of customisation, rather than forcing the same tactics on everybody.
There are the usual load of optional mini-games too.

If I've gone into detail for a few things, and not covered much others, then it's because apart from what I've mentioned, this is a typical RPG. The story, while enough to get you playing, is bog standard and can be seen coming a mile off. Luckily the charecters are likeable and have had a reasonable amount of attention paid to them, which is vital to any RPG.

Gameplay
Too repetaitive for it's own good. Legaia's strongest point isn't it's gameplay, which hurts it somewhat.

Graphics
We're talking first gen ps2 graphics here, nothing too fancy. However, that doesn't mean that they are in any way bad, and congratulations are due for managing to do every cutscene in the game engine without using fmv - more games should do this.

Sound
Music is standard RPG fair. Cheesy music in towns, chillout music in dungeons, heavier music during fights. It's on par with the graphics really - doesn't stand out, but does the job.
Sound fairs less well - the same battle cries repeated over and over again will get on your nerves.

Replay Value
The game is the typical length for an RPG, however you will not want to play through it again.

Reviewer's Bias
Mildly for

Summary

I'd give it 7/10. But you have to be very into RPGs, and be able to withstand a lot of repitition in places.
However, the sad truth is that, unless you want to play every decent RPG around, in which case Legaia is for you, there are many RPGs which are better than this one, and are probably more worth of your time.