Review: Live A Live

destructoid.com:

Before the internet was widely adopted (how to date yourself, 101), a lot of games lived in secrecy, particularly JRPGs. For me, Seiken Densetsu 3 was the granddaddy of them all. The phrase “Secret of Mana sequel” was enough to activate thousands of JRPG fan sleeper agents everywhere, which led to the proliferation of fan translations, and thus, the legacy of the game itself. But I couldn’t play everything back then, and Live A Live was another big JRPG that eluded me — until now.

Live A Live (Nintendo Switch)Developer: Square EnixPublisher: NintendoReleased: July 22, 2022MSRP: $49.99

We’re living in a golden age of gaming nostalgia, as far as many classic publishers are concerned. For other industries, it’s commonplace to see old media reborn and resold again. But given that gaming really took off in the ’90s, we’re truly starting to unprecedented growth in nostalgia mining. For Square Enix, the demand went into high gear with Octopath Traveler opening up a go-to retro-modern aesthetic blueprint. The 2022 Live A Live remake is one of the results of the retro RPG revival floodgates opening up.

Originally released in 1994 on the SNES, Live A Live was a highly experimental RPG that juggled multiple eras and storylines in a very ambitious fashion. Not all of it worked in the ’90s, and not all of it works now. But it’s still just as mesmerizing, and just as inviting for people who want to try something wild and weird.

All of these feature their own protagonists, narratives, and mechanics — and link up over time. While the vast majority of the game is held together by a grid-based JRPG battle system (more on that later), Live A Live is largely story-driven, and each age generally has its own gimmick.

It’s probably best to