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When I was still in high school, I was one of the biggest fans of PlayStation RPGs. I've literally collected close to a hundred PlayStation titles which I dutifully store in a cabinet. One such RPG title which I remember I enjoyed playing was "Legend of Legaia". This was SCEA's answer to the role-playing games developed by Squaresoft and Konami. It was marketed as a mix between fighting games and RPGs and that was the one factor that piqued my interest.

"Legend of Legaia" starts with the story of Vahn, your typical village boy who eventually becomes a hometown hero. A strange mist envelopes the world and the evil forces have thrived in this mist for ages. After monsters made an ambush attack on his village, he felt the urge to search for Genesis trees, gigantic trees which dissipates the evil mist. Starting with the tree in the town center, he begins his arduous journey to "activate" all Genesis trees and clear the spreading mist once and for all. He's joined by two other characters along the way, but I won't spill additional information so you can find it out for yourself.

Yes, you heard me right. There are only three characters in this game. Unlike most RPGs with an extended cast (Suikoden, I'm looking at you), Legend of Legaia only has a trio of fighters. The good thing about this is that it takes character development up a notch. You will really feel attached to your three characters and know them inside and out. You should consider that this is just a single CD game unlike the epic 4-disc Final Fantasies. It's almost overkill if they decided to add more characters.

Now let's talk about the actual stuff that matters, the gameplay. Well, battles are still turn-based like most RPGs but in Legend of Legaia's case, you also have to provide a series of punches and kicks to create powerful combos.

I know that this has been done before in Final Fantasy, but personally, I think it was only a light version of this game's battle system. Players have to be patient in experimenting with the different combinations. While it can be tiresome, it's also pretty rewarding when you discover a new "Hyper Art". I remember spending countless nights trying out new combos. All the while I was keeping myself from checking GameFAQs for the other combinations that I may have missed. As lame as it sounds, it's actually pretty fun.

Simply put, Legend of Legaia is a PlayStation RPG classic and deserves to be put in a pedestal beside the other best-sellers. Besides, what other game do you know that has an acronym of LoL and actually gets away with it?

Learn more about this author, Julius Albert Custodio.
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