I’ve played this before (or rather, I played the fan translated SNES rom from Aeon Genesis) and have long considered it a personal favorite of mine, despite some of its cavernous flaws. The Switch remake doesn’t necessarily fix or sweep all those flaws under the rug, but rather refines some of the mechanics, polishes everything up, and amplifies many of its greatest assets (the soundtrack, in particular, remains as stellar as it ever was). The updated HD-2D graphics are arresting and full of nice, expressive flourishes and the numerous bite-sized vignettes (a multi-genre pastiche, slowly expanding into a glorious gestalt as you hurtle towards the end) are diverse, engaging, and overplump with goofy charm. Above all, Live a Live remains an absolute joy to play, with one of the best endgames I can recall from any J-RPG. And that ending… wowsers. Highly, highly recommended.

Reviewed on Apr 20, 2023


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