Not quite as good as the original, but is still a very good PS2 game worth a rental.
First off, ToL has a whole new cast of characters. I found this disapointing because ToS had a much better cast. The characters in ToL aren't as easy to adapt to, nor as cool. The main character (Senel) looks like a more mature version of Genis from ToS except with poofy hair. You can also tell that some of the voices are the same except on different characters. For example, it is obvious if yu listen to Will's voice that it was done by the same guy who did Kratos's voice from the Gamecube one.
Combat is about the same, except minus the swords. You can get swords, but it's like this. Each member of your party speciallizes in something. For example, if you have Chloe, she uses a sword and nothing else. You can get different upgrades and swords too. The main character speciallizes in his fists.
Combat is about the same. If you've played ToS you know what I'm talking about. It is still very fast paced and very, very fun. While they were funner in the original, Legendia's battles are still just as fast and frantic. The enemies all have health bars from the start which is cool so you don't have to scan them and the boss battles aren't too hard but they are fun. The graphics, are not quite as good but the game boasts more real anime cutscenes. In the original there was very few FMV's and all the ones where very short. Legendia has a lot more like that along with the same style of normal non-fmv cutscenes that the original had. Some highlights in the graphics is that the worlds are very colorful and detailed and you can not only see your own reflection in the water but trees and buildings as well. Just like the original, the game has both good and bad voice acting. You'll probably want to kill the character Shirley because she has one of the most annoying voices in any game but other voices sound pretty good. Not all of the game is voice acted but most of the cutscenes, making up a good amount of the game is. The music is superb.
The game is about 45 hours in length minus sidequests. If you want to do the sidequests it can take up to 75 hours. Try to do as much as you can because it is a very good game and either way it is still pretty long.
If you really liked Tales of Symphonia, and even if you didn't, Tales of Legendia is definitely worth it.