I really do hate feeling that I’m undervaluing effort. If anything, I should probably have just played a fantranslation of the original Live A Live, so that I could feel a little more as though this game’s web of genre anthologism was particularly formally impressive or functionally experimental. It’s a little personally embarrassing how much slack I’m willing to give older gens for breaking their spines over ambitious systems I take for granted nowadays, and narratives I’d find quaint in anything released now. I want to lay blame on Octopath’o’vision more than anything.
Live A Live’s cool, I won’t deny - the individual cinematic reverence to which each of these chapters are framed, the unique ways their characters express themselves thru bespoke mechanics like Pogo’s rudimentary crafting & hunting, Shifu’s already capped level & disciple training, Akira’s overworld psi abilities… I just don’t think there’s enough meat on any of this game’s bones for me to feel strongly either way about any of the stories, let alone for the final act to even feel self-justified that its cast have the capability to act as convincing anti-hate thesis statements - and not simply an extension of what Live A Live always does; falling back to the motions of genre.
Playing through Square’s library has made me feel incredibly assured in their ambitions and creativity, kindling much of what I find so mysterious and evocative about the JRPG genre. Games that spin themselves wildly into their own neuroses and bloom into an orchard of mechanics and character dynamics we’re today still only barely reaching similar heights of. To me. Live A Live feels like a demo disk or something of that mission statement, glimpses into their process but, too brief for hooks to really set in.

For an RPG as experimental and out there as this, this game is kind of incredible. I'll get my problems out of the way first: This game has zero difficulty at all, if you know what moves will deal good damage then you're probably gonna be fine. There isn't anything like MP in this game, so you're free to use your strong moves at will. There's no enemy quality whatsoever until the very last minute, and even then you can usually beat those enemies too really easily. It's a shame, because I do like the idea of the combat system here, relying on positioning and moving more than a typical RPG. Also Distant Future SUUUUUUCKS you just walk back and forth on the ship and are basically just doing busywork. There's some times in the game where there's not much direction, but I forgive it because it's generally few and far between, and you just need to check everything. The voice acting is a mixed bag, but the main characters are all good, which is also great because for many of them this is a first or early role. The positives of the game are many though, I love the stories and how they all end up coming together. The general vibe of the game is immaculate. There's things that are hard to describe why or how I enjoyed so much, but I know I did. I hear the original version of this lacked a lot of things like the ATB bar or weaknesses shown, but I think the game is honestly easy enough that you might not need it anyways. I love the HD 2D style and I think this game does it pretty well, though I've also seen that they've redone a lot of the character sprites as well which was probably necessary, I saw a few of them from the original and they looked a bit rough around the edges. Redone music is also great, some standouts were the Present Day and Near Future battle themes. Not to mention Megalomania, which is better than what Toby Fox ended up making after stealing the title... I think it's strange to recommend this game, there are definitely some drawbacks that some people may not mind, like the game being so easy, and with how different each portion of the game is sometimes. I recommend it anyways, even if you're totally blind. It's very, very good.

Odio is not a very threatening name no matter what the name actually means, sorry.

It's like an anthology of jrpgs. You play through many worlds, each with their own charm and style. Some worlds focus on the story, others on the gameplay. The fighting mechanics are pretty simple, but that's not a bad thing.

The pixel art in this is really good.

I enjoyed my roughly 25 hours with this one. Worth a playthrough.

was about to jump into another story-heavy jrpg after trails into reverie (a known story-heavy game) til i saw a youtube video saying that if you're afraid of having gaming burnout as a jrpg player, try live a live for this game is such a palate cleanser AND I AGREE

this game is so quirky and idk somehow boundless as in nothing could really frame this game from its plot, mechanic, aesthetics, and everything. each arc has its own gameplay that deserves its own video essay. the mechanics really remind me how video game can be fun and absurd at the same time and how deep storyline does not mean layers of seriousness from time to time.

this game is surprisingly short and im fine with that! the effort to tie up every character's story kinda patchy and there's a lot of loose ends which is not that big of a deal because its just a game! stupid fun exciting little game!