Live A Live Reviews
Live A Live tries to do many things, but not all of them live up to the same standard. The overall narrative is satisfying, but the stylistic discrepancy between its various adventures, combined with a certain underlying simplicity, makes the game a short adventure lacking depth, but admittedly exciting when it gets into the right gear.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Live A Live is hands down one of the most interesting games I've experienced in a while. A neat little package made up of completely disparate elements, it shouldn't work but it does. Add in some truly clever gameplay mechanics, the gorgeous HD-2D visuals and phenomenal soundtrack, and you have a game I would urge any JRPG fan to play.
LIVE A LIVE is a great adventure that still holds up 28 years later. With its 8 very different stories, the game delivers a wide variety of still very original gameplay. Despite offering 2 or 3 scenarios that aren't as interesting as the others, it makes up with a well-balanced rhythm of story and gameplay. In the end, it's relatively short compared to other Tactical RPGs which, in my opinion, make the genre more accessible to newcomers.
Review in French | Read full review
Live a Live does not fit into any canon. Although it's an RPG, it's not like others you've tried. Its short stories, in different eras, make each of its 9 chapters like a separate game. Too bad they are short and don't go too deep. But if you expect something with the classic ninth flavor, here you will find it. And very beautiful.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Live A Live delivers a gem of a JRPG from a lost generation. It's a nostalgic blast from the past with enough modern innovations to keep the experience fresh and engaging.
I implore anyone who enjoyed JRPGs of the 90s, especially the ones by Square itself, to give Live A Live a try. It’s filled to the brim with variety, humor, and interesting narratives. It may not be perfect or surpass your childhood favorites, but fans of the genre will find a place in their hearts for it nonetheless.
The 2022 iteration of Live A Live shows how remakes for games from the early 90's should be done: a fresh coat of paint, a few quality of life improvments and Live A Live looks like a brand-new title that plays just as well. The story was, with a few minor drawbacks, so great that it still amazes today. It i is a love letter to old school RPGs and a recommendation for everybody who likes them.
Review in German | Read full review
Live a Live puts together many of the things that put people off from playing JRPGs but makes it surprisingly accessible. It gives you several lives worth living and rewards you for really exploring every one of them.
Live A Live is a masterclass in how to remake a classic title that is being released in other territories for the first time.
Live A Live aims to tell nine different stories, with very different protagonists and settings, all within a short period of time. The jack of all trades approach means that some chapters are fantastic and others can drag. It tries to do a lot of things at once, some of which work and some that don't. Luckily, the good parts outweigh the bad, and Live A Live is a great pick for fans of classic JRPGs, so long as they expect an occasionally bumpy ride.
Live A Live feels like it shouldn’t exist, or was destined to remain hidden away with only a few fortunate fans stumbling upon it in the midst of online forums hosting fan translations of forgotten classics. I’m not sure what inspired Nintendo and Square Enix to bring this game back from the dead for a whole generation, but the fact they went through with it is a miracle. Whether you’re a JRPG fan or simply keen to play something completely different, Live A Live manages to surprise and delight in equal measure while refusing to show its full hand until the last possible moment. I’d argue it was almost worth the decades we spent waiting.
Live A Live has been well worth the long wait. This remake reintroduces an influential, unique JRPG to the wider world with aplomb, with a cacophony of different gameplay styles, music, and visuals that somehow hang together beautifully. Despite looking like Octopath Traveler and perfecting the HD-2D visual style, you'd do well to remember that this is still a Super Famicom RPG, with many of the frustrations that come with ‘90s RPGs still intact in this remake. Still, we admire that Square Enix decided not to change too much with this remake, instead delivering an authentic and faithful update to the game that the majority of players outside Japan missed nearly three decades ago. This is a piece of gaming history we have loved getting to experience for the first time.
We like the basic idea of "Live a Live" with the eight characters, whose seemingly independent stories are later linked together. In combination with different settings and sometimes strongly varying game mechanics, this also results in a certain variety, but not to the extent that the title can decisively set itself apart from other JRPGs. In fact, the individual chapters are playful in themselves and sometimes too limited in the dimensions of the worlds, so that a feeling of monotony rather than a great variety arises. The bottom line is that "Live a Live" is a decent JRPG that genre fans in particular can take a look at, although for most of them, despite some special features, it will hardly have what it takes to be a must-play.
Review in German | Read full review
Seeing the rebirth of a video game as important and influential as it is unknown to most (at least here in the West) is a feeling difficult to describe. Live A Live is a remake made almost impeccably and, above all, with great taste, between the magical touch of HD-2D and the original soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura appropriately rearranged for the occasion.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Live A Live is a fascinating lost piece of gaming history that offers up an impressively-varied cinematic saga well ahead of its time, although a slide into more traditional JRPG tropes in its third act diminishes some of what makes the game special. Live A Live is an unpredictable journey worth experiencing, but like life itself, it may leave you feeling a bit worn down by the end.
Live A Live is a remake of the game from 1994, which may not offer an equal story, but in the end it allows you to experience some interesting twists and turns and it is for them that it is worth playing the production of Square Enix ... Although I am aware that the proposal will be appreciated by a few.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Live A Live for Nintendo Switch is a structurally faithful and visually satisfying remake of one of the rarest gems of the 16-bit era JRPG landscape.
Review in Italian | Read full review
There’s something for everyone in Live A Live, a deliberate blast from the past that draws from Final Fantasy IV as much as it does 2001: A Space Odyssey and Shane. You’ll love some sections more than others, to be sure, but the way it all ties together is nothing short of spectacular.
Despite being so old, this is one of the more inventive and creative RPGs that I have ever played, and it really shows where some of Square's ideas for later projects came from. Those who have been waiting patiently for decades to experience Live A Live will no doubt be happy with this remake, and anyone else who is merely looking to scratch their itch for a new RPG to play should find a lot to like here, too.
I realise this is a pretty short review by my standards for the JRPG genre, but there really isn’t much else to say about Live A Live; this is a quirky and fundamentally experimental JRPG that in many ways remains out there on its own. The chapter-based approach to simple (but enjoyable) narratives that take place across time and space allows for an experience that is both varied and flexible. Throw in the most excellent application of HD-2D art for the remake, and the fact that this is the first time this game has had a formal release in the west, and Live A Live is an essential experimental title for the curious and those that enjoy playing things that are genuinely different.