Our Games of 2022 series continues this morning with Live A Live
When it's wacky, oh boy does it get wacky. One of my favourite stories, set in the near future, is the best episode of the Power Rangers you've never seen. Spiky-haired protagonist Akira uses his psychic powers with the help of 'local businessman' Matsu, friend of his orphanage, to foil the plot of a biker gang.
JRPGs thrive off including"did they really just do that?" moments in almost equal measure as they thoughtfully examine the world around them. It's what gives us the Honey Bee Inn segment inbetween eco-terrorism in Final Fantasy VII, and making friends with Nancy the crawfish is absolutely as important as taking on the Seiryu Clan in Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Separating the weird from the weighty in distinct chapters is really just one way that Live A Live telegraphs its dissection of the JRPG. I won't spoil anything, but the last two chapters unlocked after completing the first seven are the most on the nose about this. Why are you a hero? Why do you get rewarded? Why does everybody's life revolve around you? It's wonderfully melodramatic.
It's impressive then that despite clocking in at half the usual playtime and highlighting so many tropes of the genre, that Live A Live still manages to be one of the best examples of the JRPG out there. The knowledge that you're playing through story beats that have been covered many times before doesn't make the chapters any less compelling. Live A Live still commits to the JRPG bit even when it knows it's laying the makings of one bare for all to see.
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