This review contains spoilers
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Contextual information for review:
All unique stories were played including the stories that lead to the dark ending and perfect ending. Edo Japan's run was normal rather than all stealth or all kills. The optional retro game gauntlet fights in the distant future were not finished. All last story character dungeons were finished sans Pogo's One might say this was a "99% run".
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Live A Live is probably the best RPG i've played since Pokemon's Generation 2 remakes in the late 2000s. For those that don't follow the news and advertisement cycle of games, ane have merely found this review while skimming Backlog Live A Live is an SRPG with an anthology narrative structure created by Chrono Trigger creator Takashi Tokita . Simply put you are effectively playing several short stories in game form. Each with a different setting and "hook". One moment you will be running from a monster as a chibi robot and in another you will be fighting martial arts masters in a homage to Street Fighter 2. This gimmick is probably the lynchpin that makes the whole thing come together as Live A Live is very much a game that is better than the sum of its parts. I say this because while I love the presentational hooks of the genre-shifting every few hours it was definitely a case of quantity over quality. The difficulty balance is frankly pretty bad as its possible to clear a majority of the game without engaging with much of the game''s systems. The crowbar/ door key to avoid Behemoth mechanic in the future chapter?I had plenty of spare charges by the end of the chapter and was never in danger of running out. I also made short work of the wild west due to it basically being a short looting session and then a puzzle where most of the solutions are obvious (which is a shame since it had the most style of all the solo chapters). Basically, the only chapter I felt had a satisfying use of the battle system was prehistory as the solo lizard boy boss fights basically forces you to think about the amount of movement you spent and how to use Pogo's status moves. The rest was either a resource and level check (Odio's second phase) or a cakewalk (everything else). If you value strategy in your role-playing game's its sufficient to say Live A Live might not be to your taste. For me personally, though the excellent writing, graphical work, and atmospheric soundtrack really made up for the mindless gameplay.
Contextual information for review:
All unique stories were played including the stories that lead to the dark ending and perfect ending. Edo Japan's run was normal rather than all stealth or all kills. The optional retro game gauntlet fights in the distant future were not finished. All last story character dungeons were finished sans Pogo's One might say this was a "99% run".
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Live A Live is probably the best RPG i've played since Pokemon's Generation 2 remakes in the late 2000s. For those that don't follow the news and advertisement cycle of games, ane have merely found this review while skimming Backlog Live A Live is an SRPG with an anthology narrative structure created by Chrono Trigger creator Takashi Tokita . Simply put you are effectively playing several short stories in game form. Each with a different setting and "hook". One moment you will be running from a monster as a chibi robot and in another you will be fighting martial arts masters in a homage to Street Fighter 2. This gimmick is probably the lynchpin that makes the whole thing come together as Live A Live is very much a game that is better than the sum of its parts. I say this because while I love the presentational hooks of the genre-shifting every few hours it was definitely a case of quantity over quality. The difficulty balance is frankly pretty bad as its possible to clear a majority of the game without engaging with much of the game''s systems. The crowbar/ door key to avoid Behemoth mechanic in the future chapter?I had plenty of spare charges by the end of the chapter and was never in danger of running out. I also made short work of the wild west due to it basically being a short looting session and then a puzzle where most of the solutions are obvious (which is a shame since it had the most style of all the solo chapters). Basically, the only chapter I felt had a satisfying use of the battle system was prehistory as the solo lizard boy boss fights basically forces you to think about the amount of movement you spent and how to use Pogo's status moves. The rest was either a resource and level check (Odio's second phase) or a cakewalk (everything else). If you value strategy in your role-playing game's its sufficient to say Live A Live might not be to your taste. For me personally, though the excellent writing, graphical work, and atmospheric soundtrack really made up for the mindless gameplay.