The game isn’t particularly difficult, as HP is restored between fights and you can run from most battles with a 100% success rate, but victory still feels sweet, especially in the odd instances where it demands you learn the battle system’s nuances. Many aspects of the combat, especially in the endgame, feel excitingly improvisational. The Live A Live remake has been rebalanced a bit over the original release, but battles still feel like you took all the toys out of your closet and tried to have a schizophrenic chess match with them. With that in mind, it’s impressive that the battle system is even as entertaining and functional as it is. All in all, there’s a surprising amount of depth to the battle system, though Live A Live isn’t necessarily interested in mining it for its full potential. There are also many abilities that can buff and debuff many different stats. That means you ( usually) won’t spam your strongest attack in every fight, because it might not work well on every enemy. On top of all of that, there are many different categories of ability, both physical and elemental, and everyone has different weaknesses and resistances. Each playable character learns many unique special abilities when leveling up, but there are no MP costs and no traditional “Attack” command you just use whatever ability you want every round, though it might have a charge-up, which can be interrupted by certain enemy attacks. Combat is turn-based and all characters act according to their speed stat, but combat takes place on a small grid where location affects which attacks can reach which areas. For instance, the game has items and gear to equip, but there is no currency or shops. It works really well.Ī Unique Combat System in a Game That Isn’t Too Invested in CombatĮverything about Live A Live looks and sounds similar to other RPGs, but when you get into the details, it’s actually all different. For the remake, Square Enix, Team Asano, and Historia have dramatically upgraded the visuals and audio, added various quality-of-life improvements, and mostly left everything else the same. It eschews complex game mechanics and massive quests in lieu of telling eight short, distinct stories that all provide wildly varied and fun experiences.
Live A Live was one of the most unique RPGs ever made back in 1994 when it released for Super Famicom in Japan, and it continues to be equally unique in 2022 in review as an HD-2D remake on Nintendo Switch.
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