User Reviews

If you're a fan of SNES RPGs, Live A Live is a surprising little gem that seems to have flown under most people's radar. This game is basically 7 RPGs in one, with an 8th to tie them all together. Each separate game takes place in different times and settings across history. This, in general, is a huge plus; it's unique and lets the game get a lot of mileage out of its battle mechanics, because it explores them across different settings and characters. Unfortunately, that does lead the game to being a bit inconsistent. Live A Live is a game of high highs and low lows. To me, the game is at its best in the Western part, the Sci-Fi part, and the Medieval part, with the Present-day, Ancient China, and Pre-history falling in the middle, with the Near-Future, Ninja, and Final Chapter being significantly less fun.

In some levels, the battle mechanics really shine, while in others, they're either tedious, boring, or unbalanced, and I think that's really what drags down my less-preferred chapters. One thing I will give this battle system: after each fight is over, you go back to full health. I think this was a brilliant design system. The worst part about grinding in other games is not just the battle itself, but having to go back to the town to heal, only to come back to grinding. By putting you back to full health every time, the developers can make each battle hard, and you can end up dying to some random enemy. You can't just win by button-mashing in most cases, so that does keep the combat relatively fresh.

However, when the combat works, it works. Especially the parts where you're over-leveled, it just feels good to lay a smack-down on enemies, and a wide variety of moves for each character and skillful animations keeps momentum going. Besides this, the game keeps up a good pace by splitting the game in nine sections, meaning even if you don't particularly enjoy one section, a new one is right around the corner to tickle your fancy.

This game absolutely knocked it out of the park when it comes to genre. One of the reasons I liked the Western chapter so much is because it feels substantially like you're not just watching a Western; you're Clint Eastwood in a Western. Each story borrows heavily from its genre and conventions. The Sci-Fi chapter is very similar to Alien. The near-future chapter borrowed from contemporary shonen anime. Each setting is brought to life by distinct and savvy music. The music from the China section specifically evokes imperial China, The Ninja chapter traditional Japanese music, and the main theme from the Western is so evocative of the "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" main musical themes. These 16-bit soundtracks sound good even today. One thing I would say about the music is I wish there were more! There are some odd patches of silence during the game, times when it felt like music should be playing. Though, consider this: my only complaint with the music is there wasn't enough of it.

Besides the music, the writing for each scenario is tight and well-constructed, unlike so many SNES-era RPGs that had convoluted plots. The characters have motivation that makes sense, there's drama, suspense, and it's funny in a good handful of places. I have to tip my hat to Aeon Genesis, they did a great translation.

Oh, and one last really, really frivolous complaint: I don't like a handful of the default names. Most games I play have pretty good default names, but I found myself customizing names in several of the games. Trivial, I know.

If you're a fan of RPGs, especially for the SNES, maybe this one slipped under your radar. Give it a try, it's really good.

Live a Live is one of Square's most underrated games and was never officially translated into English. Nonetheless, this is an outstanding game and has the key elements required for it to stand the test of time.

The game, like Square's more popular Chrono Trigger, is based on time. However rather than taking the characters through time, the game takes the actual player through various periods in a variety of different locations. This is done by breaking the game into a series of shorter games that feature different characters and can be selected in any order. Amazingly each sub-game manages to maintain an interesting storyline and pleasant characters, which when combined with great theme music makes the game very effective. However once completing all the individual stories they intertwine to conclude the game.

Since completing Live a Live a number of years ago, I am yet to have the fortune to come across a game that bears the slightest resemblance to this. It is simply amazing how the stories successfully shift from being humorous to sad and from a thriller to more philosophical.

....but where to start though? Live a Live is indeed a cult RPG that was released only in Asia and Asian communities here in South America.

Instead of being Final Fantasy like, Live a Live has many plots that are far from the "Save the World" or "Save Yourself" theme.

Here is the story and character rundown:

Pogo - A caveman living in prehistoric times, he survives on his instincts in a primitive world. A time when verbal conversations are non-existent, simple signs are used to explain oneself. Survival of the fittest is the game that Pogo competes in.

Shinzan - A monk living in ancient China, he is the sole master of the Shisanken style of kung fu. Reaching old age, he wishes to pass on the tradition of his style onto a new generation, and seeks out pupils for one who may ultimately become his successor.

Oboromaru - A ninja during the bakumastu period in Japan, where the famous ninja and samurai seem to spark the interest of in many situations. He is sent on a mission to kill a powerful lord, in order to prevent him from causing war to ravage Japan once again.

Sunset - A cowboy during the early times of American history. As a typical scenario for this time period, outlaws and wanted men are plenty, and often go beyond the reach of the law. Sunset is a wanted man, and a mystery to all.

Masaru - An aspiring martial artist during modern times, he strives to better himself by learning different attacks from various styles created from around the world, in an attempt to become the strongest.

Akira - During the near future, there is a young psychic with many latent powers; he lives a relaxed life, taking it easy in the local park, and helping out his friend Matsu with his taiyaki stand, which helps provide money for the orphanage that he has been a part of, ever since the death of his policeman father.

Cube - A small robot created on a spaceship during the future, he was made to be a helper around the ship, and to learn as much as possible. However, due to an odd series of events, this tiny invention must deal with a new problem that troubles human and robot alike.

Graphics 8/10 This game won't win any beauty contests, unfortunately. The visuals are decent, sure, but they get less impressive when you look at the year the game was made, 1994. This is the same year as Final Fantasy VI, an infinately better looking game. However, the characters are very well animated in battle, and show a suprising amount of detail. To accurately describe the graphics, outside of battle they're a touch better than Final Fantasy V, and in battle they're very good, but nothing breathtaking. Also, the areas are varied and all are designed very well.

Oh, BTW, this is one of the few games with naked males, as well as female.

Live a Live, alongside Rudra no Hihou, is a classic of Square's games out side of Final Fantasy (ugh!).

Man, they sure do not make RPG video games like this anymore. Live A Live was and still is an original RPG video game, and a fun and hillarious one at that.

The game refrences around many main characters representing different eras, such as the Prehistoric era, Han dynasty, Shogun Japan era, Medieval era, Wild West era, Modern era, Future era and even a whole scenario on Wrestling! This game seems to have a LOT in it, consitering it was made in 1994. And notice the parodies and satires of various era movies and such (eg. spoofs of Million years BC, Quest for Fire, Spagetti Westerns, the "Alien"series, Shaolin films, etc.)

I wish Squaresoft would rerelease or make more games like "Live a Live", "Bahamut Lagoon", "Rudra" or the "Seiken Densetsu" series and cut down on the Final Fantasy and Evangellion ripoff type games!