Live A Live preview: A blueprint for Square Enix’s back catalogue

It’s a promising remake and hopefully a sign of things to come

The Wild West is one of the game’s many settings (iStock/The Independent)

An elderly martial artist descends the mountains in search of students to pass on his teachings. A young ninja infiltrates a palace to rescue a diplomat from the clutches of a feudal lord. A wandering outlaw must protect a saloon from a raiding bandit gang. And an autonomous service droid opens its eyes for the first time in a return voyage to Earth. Live A Live was an ambitious omnibus when it was first released in Japan in 1994 and while the original may seem dated, it’s never felt more timely than in 2022.

Original director, Tokashi Tokita (Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger), is returning as producer and there will be a fully remastered soundtrack from Yoko Shimomura. This combo means that Live A Live is not only promising a remake of a release that would have passed by many in the west, but a reimagining of Square Enix’s past works through a modern lens.

Thanks to the success of recent titles such as Octopath Traveller and Triangle Strategy in a retro-modern art style, Live A Live’s global re-release looks set to pave the way for future remasters of classic JRPGs.

But along with its reimagined visuals for the Nintendo Switch platform, it also appears to be a clear statement of intent for Square Enix, to dive through its SNES-era catalogue with an “HD-2D” remake. An exciting prospect for anyone clamouring for a remake of Chrono Trigger and early Final Fantasy games.

Before Live A Live’s 22 July release date on the Nintendo Switch, we’ve been given an opportunity to play early stages of the game with four of its characters. A demo of Live A Live is also available to download on the Nintendo eShop, which will give players a chance to try the game for themselves before committing to a purchase. What’s more, any progress made in the demo can be carried over to a full version of the game upon its release.

For our full first impressions of Live A Live, read the rest of the article below.

‘Live A Live’: £39.99, Game.co.uk – Available 22 July

(Nintendo)

• Release date: 22 July 2022
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch
• Age Rating: 12+

‘Live A Live’ preview

Live A Live’s core gameplay will be familiar to anyone who has played a Japanese role-playing game in the last thirty years. There’s a focus on turn-based combat – which takes place on a 7x7 grid – with characters and enemies able to move across spaces in order to position themselves for attacks.

But while this combat can be fairly rudimentary, it does come with its own unique skill sets depending on which character is being played. As each chapter takes place in a different period of history, each character’s moves are vastly different.

During the Imperial China chapter, for example, the playable character is already a martial arts master which gives them access to powerful moves. Whereas, in Feudal Japan, the character is a young shinobi, meaning that combat encounters can prove more challenging when starting out.

Read more: ‘Triangle Strategy’ has old-school looks and dynamic turn-based action

Outside of fighting, each character also has a gimmick unique to them. In the case of Feudal Japan’s chapter, encounters can be avoided completely using stealth, while in the Distant Future chapter, outside of a playable arcade machine, combat doesn’t take place at all. During the Wild West portion, much of the action revolves around clearing the town of supplies and assigning locals to set traps for an ambush.

With different directions for each chapter, each offers a unique experience beyond the throughline of the game’s combat, with clear influences from other media across different genres. The Ancient China chapter takes clear influence from Wuxia films, for example, whereas the Distant Future has clear references to sci-fi films such as Alien.

The HD-2D style also gives these genre-spanning backdrops plenty of room to breathe. There’s swooping camera shots and an added sense of depth that’s missed from screenshots of the original 1994 release, and all while still retaining the charm of its sprite characters.

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Live A Live’s breadth of timelines gives each genre its own taste without feeling like it drags on. And as Square Enix has expressed an interest in remaking more HD 2D remakes of its back catalogue, Live A Live already feels like a step in the right direction as a clear blueprint for things to come.

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