Live a Live Reviewed in the Style of Live a Live
Short and sweet
Seemingly out of nowhere, previously untranslated 1994 JRPG Live A Live has been given a new lease of life by Square Enix. The famous publisher has not only translated it but given it the patented HD 2D treatment - a blend of sprite work and 3D models, as well as a re-recorded soundtrack and new voice acting. It’s a game I’ve always meant to play, so I’m glad it’s gotten a modern makeover and that it’s been done well, which is not always a given with Square Enix.
What sets Live A Live (rhymes with Hive A Jive) apart from other JRPGs is its unique structure - it’s made up of a series of eight vignettes that vary greatly in style. These vignettes are about 1-3 hours long and the first seven can be played in any order before an eighth unlocks, and then there’s a longer section at the end that ties everything together. Each vignette packs more personality than many bloated RPGs have in their entire runtime, and I would like to honour them by giving a short, sharp review of each of the eight vignettes.
Prehistory: The First
🤐🦣🙋♂️🐒➡️💘❌😈💨
The first section in chronological order, set in the Stone Age, has no dialogue, just speech bubbles with pictures. Pogo the caveman and his monkey friend are out to save a woman he is lusting after from being sacrificed. Also, there are a lot of fart jokes.
Imperial China: The Successor
An aging Shifu who knows his time is nearly up
A master of a near-forgotten martial art
looks to impart his teachings once more before he passes
A homage to martial arts and a twist on the game’s fairly standard turn-based combat. You’re the overpowered master fighting your increasingly strong group of students before facing a rival martial arts school.
Twilight of Edo Japan: The Infiltrator
A ninja is on a rescue mission and must infiltrate a labyrinthine building. The closest to a standard JRPG dungeon in the first batch of vignettes, but there’s still a twist - you can turn invisible to stealthily pass enemies.
The Wild West: The Wanderer
A gunslinger called The Sundown Kid, a lone wanderer, walks into a small town. He approaches the saloon, opens the doors, and then - Bam! All of the western tropes appear in this excellent genre pastiche. The Sundown Kid takes on a bounty hunter, then works together with him to prepare the town for a looming invasion by an outlaw gang.
Present Day: The Strongest
Live A Live vs. Street Fighter II - Fight! Doooot doo doot, do-doo do-doot.
This is basically a fighting game arcade mode but with JRPG combat, complete with character select screens and beat-up portraits of your defeated foes. It’s a blast, and it has the best music of the lot.
The Near Future: The Outsider
It’s anime time - cue opening credits montage. An orphan who can read people’s minds, a biker gang abducting kids from the orphanage, an eccentric professor, a cool guy with a motorcycle, a giant mech, and something called liquefaction that can be done to people. A lot is stuffed into this enjoyably goofy chapter.
The Distant Future: The Mechanical Heart
In this vignette, you play as a little round robot called Cube, which inhabits a cargo spaceship transporting a dangerous beast. There’s no combat at all in this chapter, barring an optional arcade mini-game, in this tense, drama-filled sci-story. It’s basically a story-focused exploration game (aka walking simulator, for those who still call them that).
The Middle Ages: The Lord of Dark
After completing the first seven vignettes, you unlock this eighth one, a kind of high fantasy JRPG starring a knight named Oersted trying to save a captured princess from the Lord of Dark. It works well as a set-up for the final chapter, which brings all the previous sections together.
I understand that Live A Live can be a tough sell - it’s a full-priced remake of a Super Nintendo game. But its near-endless novelty and creativity stand the test of time, and the HD 2D treatment makes it look and sound at home on modern hardware. In its fan-translated SNES form or the new shiny remake, Live A Live is a must for JRPG fans.
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