Dud chapters like the narrative-driven outer-space story are easier to admire for their creative swings when you don’t need to slog through them for more than three hours. On the flipside, it means that you’re never trapped in a bad section for too long. The game has an ingenious wrestling chapter, where players go through a fighting game-like boss rush, but it blows by so quickly that I couldn’t get invested in its hero. Some chapters are let down by their slim runtime, as they don’t have space to fully develop their ideas. There’s a downside to that approach, too. Each individual battle feels plot-motivated with very few feeling like superfluous grinding. In its far future storyline, for instance, combat is presented as a game within a game that’s playable on a spaceship computer.
Stories are unified by a strong grid-based combat system that’s always adapted in a way that feels relevant to each chapter’s setting. Another is an old Western where I simply need to gather traps to prepare for one big battle against incoming bandits. One chapter has me cutting my way through an intricately designed Japanese castle filled with secret paths. Each chapter introduces entirely new ideas, keeping me from zoning out. Live A Live, on the other hand, always has me engaged. Once I figured out the optimal way to play, my eyes glazed over anytime I wasn’t in a story-progressing cutscene. But by the halfway mark, my brain went into auto-pilot. The game has a strong opening as it carefully layers in new characters, systems, and attacks to experiment with. Take last year’s exceptional Tales of Arise, for instance. With many RPGs in particular, I often feel like I can learn everything the game has to teach me within 10 or 20 hours. Modern games rarely justify their long runtimes. That approach solves my biggest pet peeve with the RPG genre - and even video games as a whole. Instead, Live A Live wants you to sample a platter of characters, settings, and systems, not weigh you down with a dense meal. You won’t run up against a glut of repetitive battles or need to spend hours grinding to pass a sudden difficulty spike. Each story is a self-contained tale that takes anywhere between 40 minutes and three hours to complete.
#Titanic video game xbox series
With virtually no fluff, Live A Live is able to deliver more focused storytelling and gameplay that doesn’t feel padded out to invent “value.” The adventure unfolds through a series of chapters focused on disparate characters throughout time. That’s a relief as someone who likes to play a lot of games, but it isn’t just my personal time that benefits from the slimmer runtime. Clocking in at around 20 hours, it’s a relic from a time when the genre wasn’t as focused on delivering some of the longest experiences in gaming. The first thing that especially stands out about Live A Live is that it’s the rare RPG that you can beat in a week. Even two decades after it first released in Japan, Live A Live’s manageable pace and eagerness to constantly show players something new makes it feel like a breath of fresh air in an era of titanic stories that tend to drag on.
Throughout my playthrough, I’ve found myself wishing more RPGs would take lessons from it. While the original release had an influence on RPG-makers ( Octopath Travelermore or less plays like a spiritual successor), it’s still unlike anything I’ve ever really played in the genre. The HD-2D remake is an uneven experience, but it’s been a surprise charmer for me thanks to its clever storytelling and experimental structure. Like many Switch owners, I plan to hop into Xenoblade Chronicles 3 today, but Live A Live is the game that currently has my attention. Xenoblade Chronicles 3, on the other hand, is a behemoth of an action-RPG that features a bevy of complex systems rolled out over a 150-hour adventure. Live A Live is a remake of an influential 90s game that features retro visuals, turn-based tactical combat, and a breezy runtime.
The Nintendo Switch got a pair of high-profile role-playing games this month, but they couldn’t be more dissimilar.
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