The story itself follows Lang, quite possibly the most generic anime hero ever to grace an RPG since Vahn from Legaia 1. Lang, a typical rebellious youth, pursures the golden-eyed thief who pummels him but good in the game's opening act and runs off with the Aqualith, his town's source of water. As the plot unfolds, Lang will meet up with the expected waifish love interest, an old karate master, a headstrong blonde bimbo, and a big guy with an axe. Riiight.

In absentia is the vast, explorable overworld of the original, replaced with a Grandia-esque world map, with areas that open up as the plot directs. Towns and dungeons alike will be revisited, although most are of an interesting layout that merits exploration. Most of the game's dungeons are very large, and although they almost always fall into predictable themes (sewers, ancient ruins with secret technology, volcano, sky castle), almost all of them feature clever puzzles in the vein of Wild Arms or Alundra, albeit slightly less difficult.

The graphics are crisp and clean, sweeping along at a peerless 60 frames per second, with nary a chug to be seen. That said, the textures are rather plain, and many areas a visually quite sterile, with none of the imagination that graces a Final Fantasy or Grandia title. The character models are a bit questionable, with tiny hands mounted on giant wrists, and a somewhat inconsistent art style throughout. On the other hand, the animation, especially in battle, is top notch and some of the best I've seen in a console RPG: each of the many, many battle techniques a character can learn is superbly choreographed and executed, with a great dynamic battle camera that never fails to get a dramatic shot. Spells likewise look great; while they may not rival an FFX summon, they're very crisp and never look hokey. Special touches such as heroine Maya's complex han gestures while spell casting, or the various transitions between combat stances among the melee characters, add an elegant and subtle touch.

That's a good thing, because the combat engine is where you'll spend most of your time. As a battle opens, the player is prompted to pick a sequence of moves corresponding to high, low, left, and right maneuvers. Each move may be more or less effective, depending on the foe; obviously, a low sweep or hook slash will not work on an aerial enemy, and a foe with heavy plating on his head may not succumb to a high strike. (In a departure from Legaia 1, defending will not double the num,ber of moves available in a sequence.) As you execute moves, certain combinations (such as left, left, up) will combine and reveal themselves as powerful Arts; more complex sequences can product Super Arts which often have elemental properties. Hyper Arts, which can only be revealed through plot encounters, are among the most devastating. And, in a new addition to the series, Variable Arts make their debut, which allow two characters to combine their attack turn for one devastating strike. Boss fights will often require a very deep understanding of the battle system to succeed, but skillful players will find that taking the time to learn the nuances of the system will pay in spades.

Gone are the monster capture/summon aspects of Legaia 1, replaced with a single summon bound to a character. As a character levels up, the summon will become more powerful. Also, as a welcome new addition, equipment has specific skills bound to it that grant the character specific properties and abilities, as seen in Final Fantasy 9. Finally, a cooking component taken straight from the Tales series makes an appearance.

Legaia 2 is certainly a welcome offering, even with heavy hitters like Wild Arms 3 and Suikoden 3 competing for mindshare. That said, the plot remains as bland as that of its predecessor, and the characters are equally forgettable. Folks looking for their next big fix of Final Fantasy-esque melodrama probably won't dig the bland style and cliched plot, but for hardcore console RPG types who'd like to tinker with a deep battle system and don't mind a reasonable challenge, Legaia 2 is certainly worth the money.