Live A Live review: Square Enix’s remake has too little character

When I studied theology in a past life, there was a lot of smoke blown over how society had an “incredulity toward metanarratives.” (Thank you, Jean-François Lyotard). Metanarratives, in which all of history fits into an overarching structure that imbues meaning to its individual parts, weren’t cool anymore, and were met with skepticism.

However, metanarratives may be out of fashion. Live Every Day didn’t seem to get the memo.

This multi-era adventure, which can be reinterpreted at any time, follows eight characters throughout their respective epochs. The seven scenario are available immediately and unlock a new Middle Ages scenario after they have been completed. After the eighth scenario is completed, the “final chapter” unlocks and integrates all of the characters into one momentous story of humanity’s struggle against an eternal evil.

A boss fight in Live A Live

Image: Square Enix/Nintendo

The original was released in 1994. You Can Live As A Living was Takashi Tokita’s second game at Square (now Square Enix) after his work as a lead game designer on Final Fantasy 4Published as Final Fantasy 2 In the U.S. Chrono Trigger. So, basically, You Can Live Alive is sandwiched in Tokita’s catalog between two of the greatest games of the ’90s — if not all time. This is reflected in the game’s design. In 1994, it was innovative to combine multiple narrative lines in a videogame and retroactively link them together. It is still ambitious today. It’s a literary move attempted by a master of his craft.

Walk into any bookstore and you’ll find a binary made by the publishing industry between literary and genre fiction. Literary fiction is sold as character-driven and realistic — and simply labeled “fiction” — while genre fiction is said to be driven by tropes, and sold in categories like sci-fi, mystery, fantasy, or romance. This binary, like most, can’t cleanly describe works of art, and probably shouldn’t exist. It helps to explain why this remake is so poor. You Can Live Alive It is full of literary ambition but too dependent on tropes.

Only at the final game’s end is the literary ambition made clear. The lightbulb goes off and the story of all characters and their stories becomes one. But the impact of that revelation is weakened because the characters haven’t made an impression along the way. There’s a Wild West tale, a kung fu story, a murder mystery in space — and each relies on the archetypes of its respective genre to describe the protagonists, instead of portraying unique people in their own right. You have only 30-60 minutes each to finish the story. This leaves you little time for getting to know the motives and connections of the different characters.

The Wild West tale in Live A Live

Image: Square Enix/Nintendo

It’s possible to play an outlaw with no clue why, who wanders into town in the American West bearing a bounty. You can then play in the fashion of The Magnificent 7, you are hired to save the town while inspiring the townspeople to defend themselves, while simultaneously telling them that you’re not a good person. You will also hear Square Enix’s opinion on mariachi music in this chapter.

Oder you’re a silent, untrained shinobi who is assigned the task of sneaking in to a palace. (Your sensei is too essential to some other business that’s never named.) Leaping around between rooftops is cool, but you never learn why you are assassinating the palace’s leader beyond that he is involved in a war. As an aside note, Sakamoto Ryoma is the true-life immigrant who supported Westernization of Japan and overthrows the shogunate. He also speaks with a distinctive Cockney accent in this story.

Near-future relies upon a rebellious child trope. The distant future relies heavily on an AI rogue trope. Prehistoric scenarios rely on a boy/girl trope where the main motivations are simple hunks and a girl being captured by a member of a rival tribe. Here I’ll also note that 11 of the eleven playable characters are female. You Can Live AliveOne is female.

The Edo period scenario in Live A Live

Image: Square Enix/Nintendo

Because the scenarios are simplified into shorter bits — almost like discrete set-pieces — the gameplay fails to get its hooks in for a huge chunk of the game. What’s more, for the first eight chapters, the turn-based battles can often feel like interruptions that don’t serve the overall flow of the game. The battles are very straightforward so there’s not much thrill in leveling-up. Good turn-based combat feels to me like a difficult puzzle that requires careful planning. But Live As A Living’s battles are often finished in one or two moves with little more consideration than which of my attacks can hit the most enemies at the same time. Combat feels like an obligation, rather than a blessing, until the last chapter’s finale. It actively hinders the most compelling mechanics.

Actually, it is the mechanics. Do Methods of serving the narrative include avoiding combat. The shinobi, for example, can become invisible to avoid engaging in combat; the prehistoric characters can sense where enemies are hiding and can spot them. In the future, there is a more powerful chapter because the majority of battles can be played in an optional arcade game which actually increases in difficulty. The final chapter does include some exciting boss battles, but after 16-plus hours of robotically clicking through monotonous turn-based combat that never grows in scale, it’s a little late.

Despite the problems with characters and battles, this game shines because of how original the role-playing actually is. A game such as Persona 5You will be immersed in the daily life of a high-school demon fighter, or even a game. SkyrimYou can explore endless possibilities in a fantasyland open world. Live A LivingIt is a microcosmof humanity striving against total oblivion.

A fighter select screen in Live A Live

Image: Square Enix/Nintendo

Many role-playing games are influenced by biblical stories and references. You Can Live It This book feels like it is rooted in biblical principles. There’s a consistent villain who keeps appearing throughout the various scenarios as the essence of evil. There’s even a self-sacrificing sensei whose work is carried on by his disciple. There’s also a good bit of moralizing about hope.

Most importantly though, You Can Live AgainThis attempt to link all aspects of humanity into one narrative feels very biblical. As much as You Can Live AliveAlthough the story is well told and the characters are all too thin to carry it, this game does a great job of telling a vast tale.

You Can Live Alive Nintendo Switch releases the game July 22. Nintendo provided a prerelease code for the game to be played on Switch. Vox Media is an affiliate partner. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Find out more. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

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