Live-a-Live is a good game, but it's also a very interesting game, probably more than it is good. I at least respect the parts of this game I don't really like.
I feel like you can sort of break up this game's chapters into two categories: The chapters that play and flow more like traditional JRPGs (Prehistory, Imperial China, the Near Future, and the Middle Ages), and the more experimental ones (Twilight of Edo Japan, the Wild West, Present Day, and the Distant Future). The more traditional chapters are all a pretty good time; paced decently well, okay to good dungeon design, memorable setpieces. They all kind of end up never really reaching their full potential because of their length, though. Something like the Near Future especially feels just kind of like a condensed RPG that can't reach its full potential because it can't develop its characters more fully. I do think their quality varies some; Prehistory is a bit weaker than the others, and the Middle Ages feels more interesting and memorable than the others, but I'd say they're all "pretty good" on their own.
The more experimental chapters are uh....mixed. Edo Japan and the Wild West I think have pretty good execution. but I'm not really big on their concepts to begin with. I'm not super into games designed around learning and remembering stage layouts, nor does a "Metroidvania Stealth Game" sound like something up my alley, so my issues mostly have to do with the types of games those chapters try to be. Present Day, though, fuckin' rules; I love it when games have a pure-combat arc that's just a total riff on wrestling (see chapter 3 of Paper Mario tTYD), and this delivers in spades. It's unfortunately easily the shortest part of the game, but I still had a blast with it. Distant Future, though, I think is honestly a total flop. It's really interesting, and really experimental to make a combat-less dialogue driven mini-RPG, especially for 1993. It feels very indie game-esque. But the writing just isn't good enough to sustain it, and the story is mostly just a subpar riff on Alien. It was interesting to see it done in a game like this but I don't think it really works.
And then there's the ending, which has a cool concept (that was much better fleshed out in FF6), but ultimately ends up feeling kinda grindy and repetitive. The bonus dungeons each character has feel sorta tedious and bullshit in terms of how they're designed; they're not hard at all, but the friction that exists doesn't feel well designed. The actual final dungeon and encounter, though, rules and brings this thing to a pretty memorable end.
Overall, it seems like a mixed bag, but I liked more of it than I didn't, really. And the parts that I didn't like were at least memorable.
I also have to mention the combat system, which totally owns. Chrono Trigger was 100% a step back from this. The fact that it's grid based forces you to consider positioning a lot more, and the abilities are varied enough to have niche utility in different situations, even if they're not super well balanced across the board (some characters end up being way more useful than others). If nothing else, if you're a fan of RPG boss battles, the ones in this game are worth the price of admission alone.
I feel like you can sort of break up this game's chapters into two categories: The chapters that play and flow more like traditional JRPGs (Prehistory, Imperial China, the Near Future, and the Middle Ages), and the more experimental ones (Twilight of Edo Japan, the Wild West, Present Day, and the Distant Future). The more traditional chapters are all a pretty good time; paced decently well, okay to good dungeon design, memorable setpieces. They all kind of end up never really reaching their full potential because of their length, though. Something like the Near Future especially feels just kind of like a condensed RPG that can't reach its full potential because it can't develop its characters more fully. I do think their quality varies some; Prehistory is a bit weaker than the others, and the Middle Ages feels more interesting and memorable than the others, but I'd say they're all "pretty good" on their own.
The more experimental chapters are uh....mixed. Edo Japan and the Wild West I think have pretty good execution. but I'm not really big on their concepts to begin with. I'm not super into games designed around learning and remembering stage layouts, nor does a "Metroidvania Stealth Game" sound like something up my alley, so my issues mostly have to do with the types of games those chapters try to be. Present Day, though, fuckin' rules; I love it when games have a pure-combat arc that's just a total riff on wrestling (see chapter 3 of Paper Mario tTYD), and this delivers in spades. It's unfortunately easily the shortest part of the game, but I still had a blast with it. Distant Future, though, I think is honestly a total flop. It's really interesting, and really experimental to make a combat-less dialogue driven mini-RPG, especially for 1993. It feels very indie game-esque. But the writing just isn't good enough to sustain it, and the story is mostly just a subpar riff on Alien. It was interesting to see it done in a game like this but I don't think it really works.
And then there's the ending, which has a cool concept (that was much better fleshed out in FF6), but ultimately ends up feeling kinda grindy and repetitive. The bonus dungeons each character has feel sorta tedious and bullshit in terms of how they're designed; they're not hard at all, but the friction that exists doesn't feel well designed. The actual final dungeon and encounter, though, rules and brings this thing to a pretty memorable end.
Overall, it seems like a mixed bag, but I liked more of it than I didn't, really. And the parts that I didn't like were at least memorable.
I also have to mention the combat system, which totally owns. Chrono Trigger was 100% a step back from this. The fact that it's grid based forces you to consider positioning a lot more, and the abilities are varied enough to have niche utility in different situations, even if they're not super well balanced across the board (some characters end up being way more useful than others). If nothing else, if you're a fan of RPG boss battles, the ones in this game are worth the price of admission alone.