Shimomura’s sublime music has helped me through a lot of rough patches in my life, so it’s been an absolute delight to finally experience her first project for Square. The variety of each chapter is further enhanced by an eclectic soundtrack from legendary composer Yoko Shimomura, best known for Kingdom Hearts and Street Fighter II. It really feels like a marvelous short story collection, rather unlike the many bloated experiences we get today. These creations were already exceptional and unlike what was found in other JRPGs in 1994, and the Switch remake’s gorgeous HD-2D aesthetic only makes them pop all the more. And, finally, “The Distant Future” tells the story of Cube, a robot tasked with investigating mysterious incidents on a spaceship.Įach premise offers its own terrifically unique flavour, driven in no small part by sharp character designs from renowned manga artists like Detective Conan‘s Gosho Aoyama (“Twilight of Edo Japan”), Skull Man‘s Kazuhiko Shimamoto (“The Near Future”) and Basara‘s Yumi Tamura (“The Distant Future”). Meanwhile, “The Near Future” shows us a psychic-powered orphan Akira Tadokoro who takes on a corrupt government. Years later, in “Present Day,” martial artist Masaru Takahara pushes himself to become the world’s greatest fighter.
A shinobi named Orobomaru is tasked with rescuing a political prisoner and assassinating a feudal lord in “Twilight of Edo Japan.”įrom Asia to America brings us “The Wild West,” in which a mysterious gunslinger known as The Sundown Kid defends a small town from bandits. “Imperial China” follows an aging martial arts master (the Earthen Heart Shifu) as he seeks three final pupils. In “Prehistory,” a young caveman (Pogo) defies his tribe to save a young woman from being sacrificed. There’s so much to love about Live A Live, but its greatest strength lies in its radically different seven main scenarios. Impressively, it offers that same sense of wondrous magic that I look for in a JRPG, easily making it my current Game of the Year.
By masterfully playing with genre conventions, Live A Live proves to be a superb and unforgettable experience.
And by the end of my 25-hour playthrough, I came to an unforeseen conclusion: Live A Live deserves every bit of the recognition enjoyed by fellow SNES Square RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. Would it be like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy? But much to my surprise, Live A Live was decidedly different from those other Square works - both from the ’90s era and in the decades since. Given my lack of knowledge about Live A Live, though, I didn’t quite know what to expect. Now, Square Enix has brought Live A Live to the Nintendo Switch in a remake that changes little from the original experience beyond sprucing it up with the stunning ‘HD-2D’ visuals introduced with 2018’s Octopath Traveler. While disappointing sales put a stop to any subsequent plans to bring Live A Live overseas, it’s nonetheless a notable title, as it hails from Takashi Tokita, the lead designer of Final Fantasy IV, co-director of Chrono Trigger and director of Parasite Eve. Enter Live A Live, a fascinating 1994 title that was only ever released in Japan on the Super Famicom (SNES for my fellow Westerners). Imagine, then, when I found out that a long-lost SquareSoft RPG was getting another shot, nearly 30 years later.
Whether it’s the emotionally resonant stories, deep character progression and robust combat, there’s just a magical quality to these games. Square games have held a special place in my heart for most of my life.įinal Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts… the journeys they’ve taken me on, and the long-lasting memories and friendships that came about from them, have meant a lot to this socially awkward nerd.
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