Live A Live

Live A Live is a role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom with a remake coming to the Nintendo Switch. This was originally a Japan-only game that was given a fan translation by an online group called Aeon Genesis. Production began in late 1993 and was the directorial debut of Takashi Tokita. Tokita wanted to tell multiple stories within a single game, with each section drawing inspiration from different sources. This game is a collaboration with Square and Shogakukan's manga artists

Why The Adventure Is Yours To Control

 * 1) This game is split into seven chapters with each having a different theme. They consist of prehistoric times, ancient Chinese, feudal Japanese, the Wild West, the present day, the near future, and the far future.
 * 2) The story is unique compared to most RPGs. Instead of being a single story, it's multiple plots that turn out to be engaging with the stories being based on popular genres like sci-fi and western.
 * 3) It may be true that each of the narratives still keeps the same mechanics, but they do have unique gimmicks like stealth, a lack of standard battles, or using telepathy to learn new facts.
 * 4) Battles in this game have different moments for each scenario; some can be random encounters, some can have enemy sprites that can be avoided, and others are entirely scripted.
 * 5) The battle system is turn-based and the characters have skills that have no limit yet take multiple turns to charge. Everything in battle is a technique!
 * 6) Skill systems are also utilized in the game. You have those that require getting experience points as a method of getting new abilities while other character progressions are locked behind story events. There's a scenario where the techniques are learned through seeing an opponent using them.
 * 7) Plenty of party members when you combine all of the chapters. Aside from the main characters, you have characters like Gori, Beru, Zaki, Circle, Prisoner, Lei, Samo, Yun, Maddog, Taro, etc.
 * 8) Each world has different items that can be used and are found in certain chapters. Some items can be used for certain moments where it's needed.
 * 9) Damage types play a role here in battle as they are five damage types for both physical and magical damage types respectively. You can't defend against any but some equipment raises defense against them.
 * 10) Status types are unique and presented well here. They come out with some clever ones like the Drunk status that makes users do a normal attack only or the Stone status making the character not move. Not to worry, most healing items will heal all stats.
 * 11) Items are not the only collectible that can be used as you can have armor and arms for each respective world. They can be categorized in headgears and body armors while arms are categorized in the right arm and left arm.
 * 12) A cast of one-of-a-kind characters thanks to its unique setting
 * 13) *Pogo is a young boy who finds himself learning much more about the world he lives in. Because of the time period, he's in, he doesn't speak yet still carries a strong sense of justice.
 * 14) *Earthen Heart Shifu is an honorable old man who rarely gets upset. He believes that strength does not always amount to physical might or attacking people and that kung fu should never be used to kill people unless needed.
 * 15) *Oboromaru is an untrained ninja of the Enma Clan who was sent to rescue a politician from Ode Lou. He's basically a silent yet ambitious character.
 * 16) *The Sundown Kid is a "mysterious gunman who likes companionship from time to time. He's a cowboy that saved a village from the wrath of a bandit gang thus opening up.
 * 17) *Masaru Takahara is a hot-blooded man who never loses hope. He's got a great taste of justice and even respects elders and his superiors despite being a hothead.
 * 18) *Akira Tadokoro may seem to be short-fused but is often kind to the people around him. He often procrastinates on smaller tasks, such as selling Taiyaki or helping around Chibikko House but tackles bigger problems head-on as his temper thins.
 * 19) *Cube is a little robot that uses beeps and chirps for its dialogue. He must determine just who or what he is.
 * 20) Once you cleared every 7 scenarios. You must plays the eight-chapter which set in the medieval era which in turn unlocks a final chapter that ties the narratives together.
 * 21) *Oersted is the main character in this scenario. His story and gameplay is classical RPG with random encounter system. His story is also very tragic and one of major strong points of this game.
 * 22) The final chapter has a lot of optional dungeons that have some powerful equipment. Oersted in the final battle transforms into a demon and will revert back to his human form. The hero has the choice to either kill Oersted and get stuck in the time period forever or spare him thus fighting against each form of Odio as a physical incarnation of hatred. In the end, a dying Oersted sends each protagonist back to their time period.
 * 23) 4 different endings that involve you either choosing Oersted as the final protagonist or not.
 * 24)  The best ending: Many great moments occur there.
 * 25) *Oersted gets spared and after the battle, he sends each protagonist back to their time period
 * 26) *Pogo returns to witness Bei thus having a child
 * 27) *The Xin Shan Quan reopens the school and trains a new generation of martial artists.
 * 28) *Sundown Kid returns to his lonely life as a drifter, only to encounter Mad Dog once again.
 * 29) *Masaru closes up his gym and hits the road as a traveling warrior looking for the next challenger
 * 30) *Akira reunites with the other children of the orphanage
 * 31) *Cube reunites with Kato and sees Earth for the first time.
 * 32) It's literally a genre roulette. The game knows how to put the genres into good use for an RPG.
 * 33) An engaging soundtrack composed by Yoko Shimomura of Final Fight, Kingdom Hearts, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and Street Fighter II. There are a lot of great nostalgic hits to listen to.
 * 34) *This game is also her first compositions after joined Square.
 * 35) There is a good amount of scenes involving the deaths of your respective characters for the sake of variety like Pogo falling to the ground or when Cube's broken body is shown.
 * 36) Has a lot of good use of shout-outs to other media without being forceful and fits well with the theme. You got great use of references from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Street Fighter, Akira, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Alien, Shane, Giant Robo, The Terminator, The Flintstones, just to name a few. You see, this is called inspiration.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Your character can't move when a technique is charging.
 * 2) Level grinding can be a bit of a chore. You see, the arc villains can be defeated around level 10 yet the final boss can be defeated at level 30.
 * 3) Anyone or anything with the name Watanabe. Though funny, it also falls into the category of being a butt-monkey which can get annoying for some.
 * 4) Akira starts off with the worst stats out of all the playable characters.
 * 5) The game is short in length thanks to the chapters.
 * 6) In original version, You cannot redo anything from previous chapters once the final chapter is unlocked.

Reception
The game was reviewed by Retro Gamer magazine where it called the game a "one-of-a-kind experience". Jenni Lada, writing for the website GamerTell, included the title in a list of the best Super Famicom titles exclusive to Japan, praising its variety compared to other titles for the platform. GamePro included it on the list of the 14 best JRPGs that were not released in English, adding that "rumor has it the game was originally slated for a US release, making its absence here sting all the more".

Despite this, it was a commercial failure compared to Square's Final Fantasy releases. However, it did manage to gain a cult following.

Trivia

 * Takashi Tokita felt that his experience with the game helped solidify his directing and storytelling.
 * A notable feature of Live A Live was the artists brought in to design the lead cast of the seven main sections. The artists were Yoshihide Fujiwara (The Successor), Yoshinori Kobayashi (The First), Osamu Ishiwata (The Wanderer), Yumi Tamura (Mechanical Heart), Ryōji Minagawa (The Strongest), Gosho Aoyama (The Infiltrator), and Kazuhiko Shimamoto (The Outsider).
 * The Undertale song Megalovania which originated from Toby Fox's hack of Earthbound "Radiation's Halloween Hack" was going to use the track Megalomania from Live A Live, but never got around it.

Videos
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