Oersted’s hatred is so strong that he literally tears people from across time into his own, and it’s only by overcoming their differences that the main characters of Live A Live can succeed.
Live A Live’s core unifying theme is hatred, and how it can warp our lives and the lives of others. Live A Live’s villain brings everything together with a unifying narrative theme. It’s no coincidence that Oersted is a totally silent hero … until he loses his mind and becomes the Lord of Dark himself. He realizes there never was a Lord of Dark in the first place, and his mind fractures. Human flaws are what lead to Oersted’s fall. The game questions the very reason we tell stories about heroes and why we create “perfect” characters, absent of the flaws we wish we didn’t have. Here lies Live A Live’s biggest subversion, however: The hero fails, partially because of his own greed for glory. This chapter focuses on a chosen hero named Oersted, who has to take down the Lord of Dark to save a princess, which is pretty typical stuff. In just a few hours, Live A Live manages to take a sci-fi horror scenario and impart a real message - and that’s just one example.Īll of the disparate themes in the game really come together once you’ve cleared the first seven scenarios and unlock The Middle Ages. What’s really fascinating, however, is that the story is ultimately about the failures of humanity and our inherent egocentrism In other words, people are often predisposed to focusing on their own needs while ignoring the needs of others. Nintendoĭistant Future is perhaps the most fascinating chapter in all of Live A Live, featuring virtually no combat and a sci-fi horror narrative that constantly keeps you guessing about the “monster.” This chapter slowly peels back various layers of mystery with an alien creature, rogue AI, military conspiracies, and more. The Distant Future chapter is clearly inspired by the likes of Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
You could talk all day about how each chapter subverts the tropes of its specific genre, but for these purposes, we’ll focus on the Distant Future and The Middle Ages, where the point of the entire effort comes together. Each scenario tackles a different genre, like the Near Future examining the mecha genre or Imperial China adapting martial arts movies. At its core, however, Live A Live is actually a deconstruction of the RPG genre as a whole, specifically how we perceive the hero’s journey. Live A Live’s main selling point is its anthology-style storytelling that features eight separate characters and narratives. (Be warned, there will be some minor spoilers for Live A Live ahead.)
Perhaps what’s most remarkable about Live A Live, however, is that it feels just as unique and subversive as ever, even by 2022’s standards. But all these years later, Square Enix’s HD-2D remake finally brings the game into the limelight. Live A Live is a brilliant RPG that simply didn’t get the recognition it deserved in 1994, mainly because it never received a North American localization. When an attack on the Kingsman headquarters takes place and a new villain rises, Eggsy and Merlin are forced to work together with the American agency known as the Statesman to save the world.Games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII have left a lasting mark on the game industry, but other RPGs have a more understated influence.