Live A Live was originally released in 1994 on Super Famicom, but only in Japan. Luckily, in 2022 the world was blessed with a wonderful HD2D remake of this classic. *Cough* read my review of the game *cough*. So, what about Live A Live 2? Could Square Enix really grace us with a full-on series revival? This is a question I’ve considered since playing the Switch release of the game. The gears really began to turn in my head once again when some rumors started floating around on X(formerly Twitter), suggesting that a new title could be in development. These stirrings in my mind led to the question, “What would my hopes and wishes for a Live A Live 2 be?”
A game like Live A Live is practically BEGGING to get sequels. The formula easily accommodates just about any idea for an RPG. Cram in more time shenanigans or even use the multiverse as a concept. Anything like that works as the crux of the game and allows for a lot of interesting storytelling. That even accommodates a large variety of characters, just like the original. I could get used to a series with ample juicy, scrumptious bites of unique ideas and presentations wrapped up in a cute little RPG bundle. The only question from here is, “What form could a Live A Live 2 take?”
The Next Set of Lives – New Paths to Tread in (Un)Familiar Lands?
One of the biggest draws of Live A Live is the variety, the crux of which lies in the characters and settings in which they dwell. The original game had a good amount of variety that contained characters such as a cowboy, a ninja, a knight, and even a psychic teen hoodlum, along with their time periods that ranged from fantasy to sci-fi settings. I can see a couple of different possibilities for the approach that could be taken for a potential sequel. There could be all new characters and eras, or they could reuse the settings while placing a spin on what character archetypes you play as.
As for creating an all-new cast and collection of areas, I think it’s the freshest option. This allows the devs to play around with different ideas and inject RPG goodness into other genres that don’t get to see it as much. Some cool concepts they could use are things like a Magical Girl chapter or something like a Space Opera. These examples take the broader time periods the original establishes and urge them towards a different area. I love the Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey-inspired, horror-flavored Far Future chapter in Live A Live. But I couldn’t help but wonder about a Star Wars-inspired adventure with more action… A Magical Girl chapter could even reuse the Near Future’s setting! Swapping the original Live A Live’s shounen-based story with a shoujo magical girl tale would be a fun swap!
Even ignoring reusing time periods, Live A Live 2 could just up and invent new eras! A pirate era? War era? Those don’t exist! But I want mini RPGs of them. We could seriously see entirely new time periods with different gimmicks. This is the hypest option for me! Yes! Give me something that I couldn’t guess and didn’t know I wanted! Imagine getting some more cool game homages. The unabashed adoration the Present Day chapter in Live A Live has for Street Fighter is awesome. We need more chapters like that in a sequel, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
With imagination, the sky is truly the limit. I could sit here and happily daydream about theoretical mini-RPGs for hours, but when it comes down to brass tacks, many ideas are close enough to premises found within the original game. But… What if this was used to the game’s advantage? I think another path that the game could follow is reusing the time period eras but remixing them with new characters and direction.
There are so many ways you can even spin the settings found in the original game. Edo Japan? Let’s explore that setting more from the perspective of a Samurai dealing with another threat elsewhere. A young psychic delinquent in a near future setting could easily be swapped to a Yakuza being part of a Toku team or something! Hmm, mixing around the protagonists and settings of the first game could be interesting! Put a robot in the Medieval era! What about a mind-reading martial artist? See? Even a heavy reuse of ideas in the first game could lead to an incredible sequel.
Fighting for Your Live – Stopping the Spread of Hatred
You know what they say… if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… Polish it! Or, uh, something like that. Anyway, I think Live A Live’s battle system has a lot of potential, even without drastically mixing things up. In my review of the game, I likened the gameplay to a ‘puzzle-box’. I definitely want that element preserved in a sequel. Figuring out the exact combination of movement and the ability to end a battle with a flash of inputs is satisfying. Despite this, I understand that element is as strong as it is because of the pacing of fights. If they were to expand the battle mechanics, these perfectly paced ‘puzzle-box’ encounters could suffer. But let’s play devil’s advocate.
The grid and charge-based battle system are very reminiscent of Stategy RPGs. I feel that they could lean more into some of those elements. Slightly expanding the grid while adding in elements like terrain could add some serious depth! Having to factor in moving through water or even traveling UP terrain like FFT could be very interesting and add a lot of variety in terms of mechanics AND presentation. Enemies designed around terrain, like flying or burrowing enemies, would make a change like this even better. Heck, let’s also give big enemy attacks an MMO-esque damage indicator. That forces you to consider your movement options along with escape options that account for the terrain. From here, we just add on abilities that can affect or be affected by the terrain, and you have a bona fide evolved battle system!
I could honestly go either way with having a “mostly the same” or “we added cool new things” battle system. Having the same strong pacing and encounter learning of the Remake would be great with new abilities and characters. I could also appreciate updates to the combat as long as they’re considered and implemented well. However, what if they threw caution to the wind and just made an entirely new battle system? Could they go full SRPG? What about a more traditional turn-based battle system? What if they went REALLY crazy and decided to make the first HD2D Action RPG???
The Spice of Live – Devilish Details
Chapter variety in Live A Live is pretty decent. Some chapters have different story-to-combat ratios, but the presentation and small gameplay gimmicks alter how you play each chapter. I feel we should expect this to be expanded or better implemented in a sequel. Imagine a stealth-based chapter where you move around like a Metal Gear Solid game in the overworld. More personally designed chapter gimmicks in areas such as control would greatly add to the ‘omnibus’ feel the original team sought to capture. Even broadening the scope of each individual chapter would be a nice thing to add. Having some real minigames or more involved side content would allow players to immerse themselves further in each world.
Immersion of the world is important, but immersion into what’s happening in the world is too. Our connection to the goings-on of any game is, of course, in the characters. Live A Live has a rich cast outside of the main characters, as well. I loved the extra characters you could add to your party in the individual chapters. I think a potential sequel game could seriously flex by having more story focus and interactions with the side characters. Ooooh, actually, let’s even get them involved in the final chapter reunion that Live A Live 2 will surely have. Having stronger bonds with your side characters AND getting to use them in the final chapter would be a dream! Do it, Square.
So, well-implemented side characters would be a stark upgrade. What would be a smaller addition that would create gameplay richness? Secret Bosses. Secret Bosses are in a couple of chapters of the original and offer an additional goal for players to achieve. Extra content like this pushes the player to strive for something greater than the main story. I feel every chapter should have something like a hidden boss or optional boss in Live A Live 2. Bonus points if they’re tied to the plot or theme.
Live A Live’s HD2D Remake had excellent endings that pay off the player’s choices. It’s even easy to get all of them! This is a top-notch payoff to a great game. This “cherry on top” is important. Live A Live 2 needs to have this, at the bare minimum. Ideally, Live A Live 2 will go above and beyond and offer a Chrono Trigger amount of endings. Even more ideally, we could see multiple endings for each chapter. Substantial ones, even!
Something I’d like to see brought back is the use of manga creators. The original version of Live A Live featured well-renowned manga artists designing the characters for each chapter… Ikushima from Square Enix did the updated designs for the remake, which is pretty standard for remakes. But we’re talking about a SEQUEL! I love Ikushima’s work with all of my heart, but the amount of variety and soul you get from having a broad team of talented artists is unprecedented. It really helps sell that these characters are from different times and places. Imagine seeing character designs from more recent manga artists. What if we got character designs from big names like Oda or even designs done by Gege or Horikoshi? Even outside of battle Shounen, we could get some other awesome artists! Personally, I’d like some rom-com or gag manga artists of some variety!
Reigning in Expectations – Evolution vs. Iteration
Really, the big question I have regarding a sequel to Live A Live is: “Will the game focus more on evolving the formula with new and interesting changes, or will the game try to iterate on the ideas from the first game to provide a more polished experience?” I think it will lie somewhere in the middle. I’m sure there will be some new features or big changes on top of polishing the tried and true formula.
Some of my “wishes” for Live A Live 2 undeniably have a large scope that I’m not quite certain would crop up. The first game is amazing, but it IS an updated version of a Super Famicom game. Square Enix may not be inclined to go all out on an HD2D title that still leans towards a niche market. What I ultimately expect is a game that’s, at the bare minimum, on par with the original.
Realistically, I think they may alter the twist of the main plot to add some uniqueness, but overall the structure will track very closely to the first game. I wholly expect at least 8 bite-sized story chapters where each has a unique gimmick and setting. The ending will surely cap things off with the main characters uniting to put an end to the great evil that has plagued the multiverse or timeline throughout the game. I expect there will absolutely be some surprises sprinkled in here and there. I just wonder if they’ll go with entirely new eras of time or stick with the original game’s selected archetypes. Will we get a Feudal Japan era again? Will it be another ninja or possibly something different within that era, like a samurai? Or could we even see entirely new eras?
Well, we just gotta keep on keepin’ on while living our lives. We’ll get to see it someday! Hopefully…
