This game is really special. i remember hearing tim rogers talk about this on an old kotaku video, and when the remake was announced both he and toby fox were very excited! and man, i really loved live a live. its not perfect, but it has so much endearing love put into it that makes it amazing.
octopath traveller took this idea of a bumch of strangers all coming togetger from live a live, and honestly i dont know why they bothered when live a live is this good. Each chapter is a seperate story within its own time frame. Each story is themed in a certain way, anc is allowed to totally be exactly what it is and nothing else. the wrestling chapter is styled like an arcade game fighting machine, it has no XP for battles, no roaming mechanics or NPCs to talk to. the prehistory story is done entirelt without dialogue, and the distant future is done entirely without combat. It doesnt force combat or buying new gear or upgrades where they dont matter, and it doesnt extend these stories longer than they need to be. some are better than others, like akira's and shifu's have room for improvement in terms of plotting, but they do so much to add flavour and make each one feel truly unique and special. the actual gameplay itself is seriously good, its RPG mechanics are non-intrusive for the majority of the game and the combat is active, interesting, fresh, and fun! each characters movesets are completelt unique and viable. the final chapters suffer from some repeated environments and random encounters, and some badly designed dungeons (the trial of keys lmao) but these weakspots are really very minor comments in an otherwise fantastic JRPG. I havent even got to the art style yet, this HD 2-D is utilised and made colourful in such an exciting and vibrant way that the game never gets boring to look at. i keep comparing it to octopath for very obvious reasons, but honestly its not fair, because live a live doesnt everything octopath wanted to do but superior. octopath traveller is terrible. live a live is a must play for anyonr with any interest in JRPGs.
octopath traveller took this idea of a bumch of strangers all coming togetger from live a live, and honestly i dont know why they bothered when live a live is this good. Each chapter is a seperate story within its own time frame. Each story is themed in a certain way, anc is allowed to totally be exactly what it is and nothing else. the wrestling chapter is styled like an arcade game fighting machine, it has no XP for battles, no roaming mechanics or NPCs to talk to. the prehistory story is done entirelt without dialogue, and the distant future is done entirely without combat. It doesnt force combat or buying new gear or upgrades where they dont matter, and it doesnt extend these stories longer than they need to be. some are better than others, like akira's and shifu's have room for improvement in terms of plotting, but they do so much to add flavour and make each one feel truly unique and special. the actual gameplay itself is seriously good, its RPG mechanics are non-intrusive for the majority of the game and the combat is active, interesting, fresh, and fun! each characters movesets are completelt unique and viable. the final chapters suffer from some repeated environments and random encounters, and some badly designed dungeons (the trial of keys lmao) but these weakspots are really very minor comments in an otherwise fantastic JRPG. I havent even got to the art style yet, this HD 2-D is utilised and made colourful in such an exciting and vibrant way that the game never gets boring to look at. i keep comparing it to octopath for very obvious reasons, but honestly its not fair, because live a live doesnt everything octopath wanted to do but superior. octopath traveller is terrible. live a live is a must play for anyonr with any interest in JRPGs.