You Can Play Six or Seven Games, or Just One! Let's Play Live-A-Live!

[LoakaMossi]

Wandering

Out of all of the chapter premises, this one was the most appealing to me. I really like Westerns, so I was intrigued by the idea of a Western RPG. This chapter does not disappoint!

While I made a few cracks about how the time limit stressed me out, I really enjoy this chapter’s gimmick. The scavenger hunt itself has some items that are a little too well hidden, but I think it’s very well balanced; as I demonstrated, you can beat the final boss no matter how many traps you lay. It’s also the quintessential Western plot: protect the town from bandits!

Speaking of quintessential Western things, this chapter is the best Western media I’ve ever scene. Everything from the character archetypes to the graphics to the music to the attack techniques is instantly recognizable. Even if you’ve never actually seen a Western, you can still pick out the sendups. And if you do watch Westerns, there are a ton of specific references for you to find.

As for the characters, they’re all pretty great too! Ninety is a clear amalgamation of every Clint Eastwood character and I really like his backstory, even if we don’t get it until the very end. Mad Dog is really enigmatic, but I like that! The fact that I can’t really figure out his motivations make him really cool to me. The Sheriff’s arc was by the numbers, but it was nice enough, especially with the bonus scene. The twist regarding O. Dio was kind of dumb, but it was also kind of neat. I appreciate that it references an historical event, but that also just makes the whole thing dumber. While there are more characters, the only one I still want to talk about is Annie.

I’ve always liked Annie, but she was the exact character I needed to see after the Ninja chapter. I didn’t touch on it too much because I was scared of saying something dumb, but the latent sexism in the Ninja chapter was really getting to me. Rewarding the player for not murdering women is alright on the surface, but it creates problems when you can kill some women, and they don’t follow consistent rules. Don’t kill the maids? Cool, they didn’t sign up for this. Don’t kill the ninja because she’s a woman? That takes away her agency; she knows that she can die in a battle and probably expects to do so. You can kill this woman because she’s part of Ode Iou’s inner circle? That’s no different from the ninja, who we can’t kill. It just doesn’t make sense, it’s infantilizing, and by the end of it I was really starting to miss Li.

And then I remembered Annie existed, and I was happy with this game again! She’s also a stereotype; there’s a ton of Spitfires in Western movies, and there’s not a whole lot to differentiate her. But I was just so happy to see a woman take charge, see her stand up for herself, and not see the game patronize her in any way. If anything, she inspires the other characters like Gene and Clint to act more like her.

Overall, I would rank this chapter second out of seven. I still love the Kung Fu chapter more, but this chapter comes really close.

What do you all think? If you’ve played this chapter before, how well did you do on the scavenger hunt? If you haven’t, did you think this chapter was enjoyable, or did it rub you the wrong way? And did I say something really stupid during this post? If I did, feel free to call me out on it. I can never get better if no one tells me I’m screwing up.

I still haven’t decided how long I’ll leave the poll open. I’m not sure when I’ll even get a chance to record footage, so there’s no sense in closing the poll if I can’t even start playing.

[LoakaMossi]

It’s been a week and we’re still tied, so I’m going to move for a tie-breaker. Since neither of our remaining characters have names, the first character to have a name suggested will be the next character we play as. I won’t necessarily use that name, so you all can suggest as many names as you want.

[Bearpigman]

Unit-01 for Mecha

[LoakaMossi]

I’m going to count that! We’ll be doing the Mecha chapter next. Unfortunately, names have a six character limit. Also, we’re naming the pilot. @Bearpigman, I can change that name to Unit1 or Shinji. I prefer Shinji, but you can suggest whatever you want. Also, that name is not set in stone! If someone suggests a name I like more, I’ll use it instead.

[Bearpigman]

let’s take the the best of both worlds: Shinj1

[LoakaMossi]

Ordinary High School Delinquent

Here we go. It’s time to hit peak anime.

…This chapter is off to an ominous start.

That’s kind of a personal question, but I’ll say yeah.

: Well, that’s nice for you, isn’t it? But you know, there are plenty of people who aren’t…

And if we say no:

: That’s too bad, I guess. But your life is yours to do with what you will…

He doesn’t seem too happy with either response.

: Whoops, I was preaching a bit, wasn’t I? Well, listen to my story. Maybe you’ll understand…

Here’s our protagonist, and it looks like he’s having a nightmare.

(A shot rings out!)

: Dad, wake up!!

*By then… He’d already passed away. As a captain of the riot police, he was involved in a skirmish with a violent gang known as the Crusaders… He couldn’t have known… *

---

: Please tell everyone your name!

Hey, do you notice something about this naming screen? That’s right, there’s no numbers! I hecked up. I hecked up!

I’m still going with Shinji though. I like the irony of it.

: Everyone be nice to them, okay?

: I didn’t hear you, Watanabe…

Darn, we’re too late to see the Watanabe scene! He’s already in the orphanage, we missed it!

---

: I’ve… well, I’ve started to acquire strange powers. Like, I can read minds, and move objects without touching them…

: If you had similar powers, how would you use them? In my case…

---

Wait for Truth

Well, that’s enough of the void. Time to wander around a park!

But first, let’s take a look at our new protagonist. He’s not very impressive, stat-wise. His IQ will come in handy, but that HP is rough.

This guy seems innocent enough, but let’s test our Y ability.

…Still pretty innocent I guess. Let’s look at these other NPCs

: H-Hey, what are you doing? I’m just an old fogey! I’ve got nothing to do with you!/ (I bet this kid’s one of those blasted skull punks!)

: I ain’t a kid, you know! / (The taiyaki guy hasn’t come today… )

There’s a little scene playing out in this southwest corner.

: Kids these days! Sheesh! I wish these two’d get a room already! / (This reminds me of my younger days with the missus… Sigh…)

: Your eyes are as blue as window cleaner! / (I’m sure that’s what the Dating Strategy Guide said! Man, I’m smooooooth!)

: What?! How dare you! / (… … … I am SUCH an airhead!!)

Finally, this kid has something to say, or at least something to think.

: Stop following me around! I’ll call the cops!/ (He might be one of the kidnappers Mom warned me about!)

Kidnappers, huh? Well, I sure hope we don’t run into any of them!

(Music stops)

Uh-Oh.

These guys aren’t too keen on letting us pass quietly.

: (Wonder what these punks are thinking…)

: What!?

I really hope you have a step 2 Shinji, because now they’re threatening and frightened.

Motorcycle Noise

A Painful Death at the Hands of a PSYCHO

First fight of the chapter, which means it’s time to look at some techs!

Shinji has a couple of physical techs. They activate instantly, but they’re not very flashy.

He also has a healing tech, but with 80 health, he’s not able to make the most of it.

Now for Shinji’s more impressive techs: the psychic attacks! Mother Image is supposed to lower will, but I’m not sure what that means.

Unfortunately, all of Shinji’s psychic attacks have a lengthy charge time. While we wait for is second one, let’s look at our new friend’s techs!

He has two disruptive attacks, and both of them deal some heavy damage.

Pissed Fist, in addition to being a great attack name, is pretty useful crowd control, although it does have a chance to completely miss an enemy.

Finally, Heavy Blow has a chance to paralyze, which is always useful.

Sleet Image does more damage than Mother Image. It also lowers speed, which is a measured stat, so it’s better than Mother Image in every way.

And with that, the kidnappers have been dealt with!

: Hehe… Thanks, Matsu!

: You oughta be more careful, Shinji… They been pullin’ some weird stuff lately.

Even though he’s a punk, this Shinji still takes after his namesake.

: How’s your sis doing?

: Kaori’s gotten a little better, thanks. Oww, that stings…

: Scraped yourself up a bit, huh? Here, I’ll give you a lift.

Matsu seems to have a lot on his mind.

---

GO! GO! Buriki Daioh!
I don’t usually call attention to the music because it’s all worth listening to, but this track is actually an important part of the following scene.

In the old days of Babylonia

A fist of steel points to the sky

To accomplish the feat of defeating the demons
Light up the day with light

A warm heart will awaken it
BURIKI! DAIOH!
Is with us

I wasn’t kidding about peak anime.

---

Wait For Truth

: Hey… You’re already all the way out here, you should come in and see ‘em yourself…

Welcome to Chibikko House, the orphanage were Shinji grew up. I guess he’s not old enough to move out yet.

: You got into another fight, didn’t you!?

It wasn’t some schoolyard tussle, he was almost kidnapped! He’s taking this remarkably well, all things considered.

: I’m not a little kid, you know!

It’s easier to put up with Shinji’s attitude when the people around him don’t take him seriously.

: There! That’s better!

Before we meet the rest of the orphanage, let’s explore! We’ll be going through this whole hallway from left to right.

We start in Kaori’s room. It looks like the Director is checking up on her.

: Kaori’s taking a nap right now. / (You got into another fight, didn’t you? Kids these days…)

: Mmmm… / (Tarokichi… Please don’t die…)

Poor kid. She’s ill, but she’s more worried about her pet turtle.

The next room is the main sleeping quarters.

Following that is Taeko’s room.

And after that is the classroom.

I don’t think this room is explicitly identified, but it’s probably the director’s room.

Finally, we come to the laundry room, which is connected to the bathroom.

For some reason, Shinji can use all of the toilets in this chapter.

Taeko talking down to Shinji will never get old to me.

Kenichi is Matsu’s last name. I wonder why he didn’t come in?

The bathing part of the bathroom has one of two head items in this chapter. It’s not much, but we’ll take it.

Before we talk to all of the children, let’s look at what’s on the TV.

The battle to end all battles haaaaaas begun! This will determine the all-time CHAMPION of nationwide pro wrestling! Will it be Misawa? Will it be Mutoh!? There’s no limit on the number of rounds! Anything could happen, folks!!

Hopefully they’ll show some re-runs later. We might get a chance to see Dwayne!

There’s actually an easter egg here. The announcer said there was no limit on the number of rounds, so what happens when we hit Round 100?

Mutoh has ducked beneath the ring and hasn’t come out yet! We’re almost out of broadcast time, folks! Will we be able to bring you the results!? Wait… wait! There’s Mutoh! He’s come out from under the ring, and he has an apron in his hand! Oh… Oh my! There is PAINT on Mutoh’s face!!

That’s why it makes hair so full, rich, and wavy! Rinse and treatment also available!

Well that certainly happened. Let’s actually talk to these children now.

: Woooo! Misawaaaa!! / (Go, Misawaaaa!!)

: Hey! Get beaten up again? If you go to get revenge, let me know! I’ll go with you! / (You can’t just fight alone!)

: You’re always fighting, Shinji! Taeko’s been worried sick! / (Augh, get OUT of my HEAD!)

: (When will you come back…)

Wait, Watanabe’s father might still be alive? We might still get our running gag scene!

: Go get some medicine from Taeko’s room.

Even if his dad does live, Watanabe will still suffer for our amusement.

: I’ll be watching TV.
We actually have to follow Watanabe and talk to him to advance the story. This chapter has a lot of issues with event flags.

: Aw, come on! It wasn’t me!

: Come on! No fighting!

: Here’s your medicine.

: Meanie…

We should see if Watanabe is OK. That definitely looked rough.

: By the way… Kaori’s worried about Kazu’s turtle, Tarokichi. He isn’t feeling well.

Yeesh. We’d better check-in with her then.

: Poor thing…

: (Tarokichi’s… spirit isn’t dead…)

: I’ll go talk to that old antique shop dealer, Toei! He’ll know what to do!!

…If you say so, Shinji. What, are we gonna replace Tarokichi with a really nice lamp?

We don’t have any other leads, so let’s head over to the antique shop.

Welcome to the world map! This is the only chapter that takes this approach to the overworld. There are Crusaders wandering around, but I’m going to try and avoid fights for this update.

Before we stop by the antiques dealer, let’s check out a few other points of interest.

Psycho Bar

First up is this bar. It has a remix of the battle them, which is always cool.

: Hey, kid. If you come by my house later I’ll give you some candy.

: Sorry kid, we don’t stock milk here.

: I want my love to be smooth as chocolate.

: This shroom’s juice will clear your mind…

As for their thoughts…
///:(Mmmm… Matango!)

Wait For Truth

A lot of that place made me feel uncomfortable, so let’s check out this temple!

Looks like this is a bird church. I don’t know about you, but I’m already willing to convert.

: What a weird religion…

Is this “Master Inko?” How bizarre.

On my way to the antiques shop, I ended up in a fight. I decided to show off one of Shinji’s other abilities: teleport.

In this chapter, there’s no running away. Instead, Shinji teleports off to a random location. Let’s roll the dice!

…Let’s just jump ahead to the antiques shop.

It’s over in the southwest corner.

There’s definitely a lot of inventory here, but where is the shopkeeper?

: W-Wash your hands!

: Well…

I guess the whole story was inside of the ellipsis.

: Leave it to me! I’ve studied at the facility, AND I have wisdom handed down from the ancients!

You know, no biggie, just going to make a miracle happen!

Of all the adjectives to apply to “transporter,” “home-made” is one of the scariest.

: (Whew, I hope this works…)

That sounds confident enough for me!

Haha, whoops.

Hey, we didn’t get hurt! That’s great, isn’t it Toei?

: I… I don’t feel so well. You go on ahead. / (Aw, fiddlesticks…)

OK, we’ll meet you back at Chibikko House!

---

About as well as it could have, in hindsight.

: Don’t worry. Toei said he’d help.

: My transporter wasn’t working all that well, so I had to hoof it. We have to reduce Taro or whatever to a liquefied state, ASAP…

Nice, we’re making a turtle-bot!

: What’s a… fluid android?

: First we insert an electrode… Shinji, plug this into a power outlet, will you?

: An outlet? Let’s see…

We can’t really see an outlet from here. Kaori, you live here, where’s the outlet?

: I wonder if it’s okay…

R.I.P Toei, never scored.

Nah, he’s fine. And he brought back Tarokichi!

: (Since Toei screwed up, I guess we have to call him Taro now…)

: Science is spectacular! Say, that gives me an idea…

Hmm…I wonder what the game wants us to do…

And he runs right off.

I guess this thing doesn’t need a whole lot of maintenance? Did Toei just foist a White Elephant on us?

Awww, at least he’s appreciative.

: W-what…? Don’t follow me!

After this, he of course follows us.

Meet our new party member: a tough-as-nails turtle-droid with bowling balls for hands.

After that, a new sidequest opens up. Let’s get that out of the way while we can.

First step of this sidequest is to head over to the park.

We have to help Matsu run his Taiyaki stand.

And here’s how we farm healing items. This is a price-gouging mini-game: each customer will pay two prices for Taiyaki. If we charge them one of those prices, Matsu will reward us with a healing item. Here’s a chart of who’ll pay what. We want at least one of each item.

Price Chart

Boy
100 Yen: Taiyaki (Self Mid-Heal)
300 Yen: Banana Crepe (Self Mid-Heal)

Woman
300 Yen: Banana Crepe (Self Mid-Heal)
1000 Yen: Gutsy Taiyaki (Self Great-Heal)

Man
1000 Yen: Gutsy Taiyaki (Self Great-Heal)
10000 Yen: Misawa Taiyaki (Self Mid-Heal)

Old Man
100 Yen: Taiyaki (Self Mid-Heal)
10000 Yen: Misawa Taiyaki (Self Mid-Heal)

---

We’ve got four healing items, and there are four children. Kazu wants a Gutsy Taiyaki. In exchange, he’ll give us a Glove, which we already have.

Yuki wants a Misawa Taiyaki, Aki wants a regular Taiyaki, and Watanabe wants a Banana Crepe. They will give you a Power Wrist (2 Def +4 Pw), a Misanga (+4IQ), and a cap (4 Def), respectively.

---

To actually advance the plot, we need to see Toei. He’s nowhere in sight, but there’s a new stairway in his basement…

You have to climb down ten flights of stairs. Be thankful I’m only posting one GIF instead of all ten.

That does not answer our question Toei.

: These days, only liquefied humans have power like that… You know, people who’ve been melted down into goop to enhance their spiritual energy! Just like Taro here. In any case! There seem to be only two ways for Buriki Daioh to move. It either needs to be manipulated with psychic powers, or injected with a liquefied human.

: Psychic powers, huh… Bet I could handle it!

Look at Shinji’s character design, he’s clearly the main character, Toei!

: Come upstairs

: First touch the pink statue, read the book, play the xylophone and touch the blue mask. Then offer a prayer to Buriki Daioh… Finally, you gotta use the can. Make sure you wash your hands, first!

I don’t know if this is Toei’s security system or an actual part of Buriki Daioh’s launch program, but I do know that it is a pain. Let’s start moving.

Touch the pink statue

Read the book

Play the xylophone

Touch the blue mask

Washing our hands wasn’t a joke, in case you were worried.

…We’re being pranked, aren’t we?

GO! GO! Buriki Daioh!!

Yes, the theme music is diegetic. Somehow.

Don’t have to tell me twice, Toei! Let’s get this show on the road!

: (Come on, Buriki Daioh…MOVE!)

(The fifth lever makes noises, but no animation)

Just our luck. We manage to get a psychic character, but he isn’t psychic enough to do anything!

…Before I end this update, let’s talk about Toei’s Inventing. Remember the crafting in the Caveman chapter? Remember how it was more than a little annoying, but you could eventually work around it with a guide? Remember how I said it was just a way to avoid implementing a shop and currency system? Inventing is the alternative solution to crafting and it is far, far, far, worse.

The basic idea is: give Toei an item, and he’ll make a better version. Sounds pretty simple, right?

Since Squaresoft believes that too much fun is dangerous, they gave Toei a chance of failure. I’d say it’s too high a chance, but any chance would be too high. And if that wasn’t bad enough, some items can be made in to multiple things, and it’s random which thing is selected. Here’s the inventing tree.

Item Creation

• Banana Crepe (One time use heal item - Self Mid-Heal)
  First Aid (One time use heal item - Self Mid-Heal)
  Taiyaki (One time use heal item - Self Mid-Heal)
  -> Gutsy Taiyaki (One time use heal item - Self Great-Heal)
  Matango Light (One time use heal item - Area Mid-Heal)
  Misawa Taiyaki (One time use heal item - Self Mid-Heal)
  –> Potion No.9 (One time use heal item - All Great-Heal)

• Cap (Head: 4 Defense)
  -> Shower Cap (Head: 1 Defense, Water Skill Evade Up)

• Glove (Weapon: 4 Attack / Glove: -5 Speed)
  -> Bowling Ball (Weapon: 8 Attack / Glove: 0 Defense)
  –> Taeko’s Punch (Weapon: 16 Attack / Glove: 0 Defense)

• Director’s Boxers (Body: 2 Defense, -10 IQ / Head: -5 IQ)
  Watanabe’s Boxers (Body: 1 Defense, -25 IQ / Head: -45 IQ)
  -> Hoodie (Body: 4 Defense)
  Taeko’s Jeans (Body: 2 Defense)
  –> Full-body Tights (Body: 10 Defense)
  Punk Jacket (Body: 12 Defense, +8 Vitality)
  Taeko’s Stockings (Body: 4 Defense / Head: 0 Defense)
  —> Rider Belt (Accessory: +4 Power, +2 Vitality)
  ----> Shinju Shirt (Body: 20 Defense, +10 Power)

• Misanga (Accessory: +4 IQ)
  -> Power Wrist (Glove: 2 Defense, +4 Power)

• Bracelet (Accessory: +2 IQ)
  Buriki Brooch (Accessory: +3 Vitality)
  Punk’s Armband (Weapon: 6 Attack / Glove: 6 Defense) (+2 Power)
  -> Abnormal Pearl (Accessory: +8 Power, -4 IQ)
  MK Badge (Accessory: +2 Speed)
  Tattoo (Accessory: +4 Power)
  –> Golden Hairpin (Head: +8 IQ)
  Coral Ring (Accessory: +4 IQ, Water Field Immunity, Water Skill Evade Up)
  —> Magic Pendant (Accessory: -2 Power, -2 Speed, -2 Vitality, +8 IQ)

• Sneaks (Boots: 1 Defense, +4 Speed)
  -> Iron Foot (Boots: 6 Defense, +12 Power)
  –> Rider Boots (Boots: 3 Defense, +6 Power)

• Taeko’s Panties (Body: 8 Defense / Head: 0 Defense) (Sleep Immunity)
  -> Magic Pendant (Accessory: -2 Power, -2 Speed, -2 Vitality, +8 IQ)
  Potion No.9 (One time use heal item - All Great-Heal)
  Power Wrist (Glove: 2 Defense, +4 Power)
  Rider Boots (Boots: 3 Defense, +6 Power)

• Throwing Knife (One time use battle item)
  -> Bounce Gun (*Robot Accessory: “Bounce Punch”)
  Hand Grenade (One time use battle item)
  Napalm Bomb (One time use battle item)
  –> 100V Laser (*Robot Accessory: “100V Laser”)
  Plasma Spark (*Robot Accessory: “Plasma Spark”)
  Stun Gun (*Robot Accessory: “50,000V Shock”)
  —> Poison Jet (One time use battle item)
  ----> Kotobuki Lacquer (*Robot Accessory: “Lacquer Spray Shot”)
  Stone Cannon (*Robot Accessory: “Intense Shot”)
  -----> Angel’s Bottle (One time use battle item)
  Kintoto Cannon (*Robot Accessory: “Goldfish Shot”)
  ------> Hiyokokko Cannon (*Robot Accessory: “Dizzy Shot”)

I won’t document my exact use of this system, but if items pop up out of nowhere, this is where they came from. With that out of the way, it’s time for Shinji to deal with his inability to become a pilot. Watch him take it out on the Crusaders…next time!

And a heads up: I’m reaching the end of the semester, so expect my update schedule to be really slow. I’ll work when I can, but I’m going to focus on schoolwork first, obviously. I might not update again before the semester’s end, but anything can happen. If anyone reading wants to, feel free to suggest names for our spherical robot. (six character limit, no numbers) That way, if I do get free time, I can play further and give myself more content to edit.

[Mozz]

I really enjoy the plot and setting for this chapter …

as for our robot friend I vote “Egg”

[LoakaMossi]

Sticking it to the man!

Welcome back! To start this update, let’s take a closer look at our shelled robot.

A Painful Death at the Hands of a PSYCHO!

At first, he’s only good for being a sturdier body on the battlefield. His attacks are decent, but nothing to write home about.

He also has a counter that fires fairly often, but it’s not very heavy hitting either.

To make things worse, Taro doesn’t level up, so we need other methods of gaining better stats and techs. If we destroy the Crusader robots, they drop these Power Parts.

We can use them to permanently increase Taro’s health, but that’s it. The rest of his stats stay stagnant. And to learn new techniques, we’ll need to rely on Toei’s inventions…

Shinji, on the other hand, will level up after every three fights on this overworld map. The encounters scale with Shinji’s level, so as long as he throws a punch, he’ll get 40 EXP after every fight until we hit level 13. Since Shinji is one of the harder protagonists to use, I’ll be showing off all of these fights and keeping the experience. I hope you like “A Painful Death at the Hands of a PSYHCO!” because there’s going to be a lot of it in this update.

At level 5, the Crusaders switch out the cars for some spinning robots. These guys can hit for decent damage on every adjacent square, so standing next to them can be a little dangerous.

Shinji has learned Heaven Image, which can inflict Sleep and Level Down. It hits the entire battlefield, but it never does damage. It’s not useless, but I don’t usually feel the need to use it.

At level 6, the Crusaders decide the problem wasn’t the RC Cars, per se, it was the number of RC Cars.

At this point, Shinji figures out how to heal others. He can use it on himself, but it’s less potent than Self Heal, so there’s no reason to do that.

It’s level 7, and the Crusaders have decided to stop messing around. The Kyokushin models hit hard and have too much health for this level. While taking out the Crusader first will cause them to break down, it also prevents us from getting Power Parts.

While Shinji’s learned a new move that’s stronger than Sleet Image with better debuffs and a similar range, it’s not enough to make fighting the Kyokushin worth it.

In an effort to keep collecting Power Parts, I made a few inventions for Taro. All you need is any weapon the Crusaders drop, and you can start climbing the invention tree. Once you get one that’s listed as a robot part, you can give it to Taro as an accessory, and he’ll learn a new attack. However…

…I forgot that the earlier weapons were not the greatest. Both of these techniques have a charge time, and that’s enough reason to never use either of them. Thankfully, there are five accessory slots and seven accessories, so we can safely ignore these.

In terms of general strategy, you’re better off just dashing up to the Crusader and bopping him on the nose.

Once we hit level 8, the Crusaders decide to give us a sporting chance and bust out the Lariats. The blue ones are a little stronger, but this encounter is easier to deal with.

Shinji’s new move is a counter, and a pretty useful one too. Holy Ghost triggers on most physical attacks, and it does pretty decent damage. In my opinion, this is also the level where Shinji’s IQ is high enough to make his attacks worth the charge time.

At level 9, we can start disrupting the Crusaders’ civil engineering plans, I think.

Shinji finally learns a heavy-hitting move. Flame image only hits adjacent tiles, but it has great base damage.

In the meantime, I got the rest of Taro’s attacks. Lacquer Spray is one of the few attacks that fires instantly, and it has decent range as well.

Plasma Shot, however, is better in almost every way. It has the same 3X3 area of effect, but it can also target areas three squares away from Taro. It has a charge time, but that’s less annoying on ranged AoE moves.

While I never use Intense Shot, it is a good balance of useful and goofy. If you don’t want to spend the time getting the other “shot” attacks, I can see someone using this move a lot.

Goldfish Shot can hit on all eight directions and hits harder, but I think it has more charge time. Still, I tend to use it over Intense Shot.

Finally, Dizzy Shot is Taro’s ultimate attack. It does the most damage, but it has a chance of buffing the enemy’s stats if they survive. It’s a great finishing move, but it’s still a little risky.

After all that, we hit level 10. The Crusaders decide to attack us with all the spinning tops they have left.

Shinji learns how to channel his psychic powers into a physical attack! Holy Blow does pretty heavy damage, but that’s it.

Between you and me, I think he’s just imitating Matsu.

At level 11, the Crusaders take a Soviet inspired strategy. The Hebel robots don’t move on their own, but can still be knocked around.

Shinji’s finally figured out the y-axis, so Freeze Image is a move that’s valuable for its range alone. It does decent enough damage, but you’ll mainly be pulling it out when the enemy is hiding towards the top of the screen.

Level 12, and the Crusaders decide to fight fire with fire. These robots are also psionic. They pack some damaging attacks, can put us to sleep, and can disrupt Shinji’s charge moves. On top of that, Shinji doesn’t actually learn a new move this level. I guess figuring out vertical space took it out of him.

And at level 13, the Crusaders take up a mixed arms strategy. The Hebels block us in, the RC Cars wreak havoc on the inside, and the Kyokushin Mk. 2 is on point.

Unfortunately for them, Shinji figures out the best attack to deal with this configuration. Shadow Image does a lot of damage and has pretty good range. It’s not always the best attack to use, but it usually is.

Wait for Truth

Now that we’re done cleaning up the neighborhood, we can tell everyone at Chibikko House that we completely failed to pilot the robot.

…So, I have a confession to make. I deliberately avoided showing off a part of the game. It was a dragged-out joke that I though fell flat on its face, so I decided didn’t want to waste any time on it. It turned out to be an essential event flag, so I’ll just summarize it.

When you give Watanabe a snack, he tells us to meet him in the bathroom to discuss “you-know-what.” Apparently, he’s agreed to run a panty raid on Shinji’s behalf.

: Okay, here are Taeko’s panties as per request…

Problem is, he’s not very good at it.

: That’s not them!

This joke is okay, I guess, but the developers must have really loved it. You have to send Watanabe back three more times. The first two times, he brings back Taeko’s jeans and her stocking. The third time…

Taeko thankfully decides to put a stop to this.

: Cut it out!

Taeko punches Shinji, who turns around and punches the child for not violating someone’s privacy properly. I think it’s very appropriate we ended up with the name Shinji, because this guy is not very likeable.

Unfortunately, we can’t end on the pervert getting his just desserts. If we go back to the toilet, Watanabe pops up again.

We are the worst influence on these children. I’m surprised they still let us live here. Everything we got in this event is an equipment item, but I won’t go out of my way to use any of them.

…SpongeBob had better panty raid jokes than this.

(No Music)

Let’s just get started with the real meat of this chapter’s plot.

Looks like we didn’t thin their numbers enough; the Crusaders are still running their mass kidnapping plot.

Taeko yells our name, but doesn’t let us pass. I wonder why she won’t let us fight…

Well, screw that! We’re level 13, we’re every bit as capable as Matsu!

A Painful Death at the Hands of a PSYCHO!

We didn’t even need our psychic powers! We’ve got this!

: We’re getting out of here!

Keep struggling Kazu! We’re coming fo-

Oh. Goodbye Kazu, we’ll remember you fondly.

Too bad, Shinji. We’ll just have to wait for him to get back.

Or maybe…

We can just straight-up jack someone’s bike. I hope Taeko can convince him that we’re not affiliated with the orphanage, or they might be looking at a lawsuit.

---

Docks

We’re able to chase them to one of the areas we didn’t explore: the docks. Now we just wander around aimlessly until…

This happens. We want to follow them southwards. That will trigger another cutscene like this, and so on and so forth.

Eventually, we end up at this harbor.

:Y-YOU!!

A Painful Death at the Hands of a PSYCHO!

This fight ends up being a two-stroke battle.

Unfortunately, I think Matsu will be taking the credit for this one, Shinji.

Docks

: Why’re yez kidnappin’ folks!?

: I ain’t talking!

Oh no. Whatever shall we do.

:(…to the commander…)

Matsu doesn’t have a vocalized response to this, but what is he thinking?

Oh well, I’m sure nothing more will come of this. It’s not like Matsu would lie to us, right?

---

Wait for Truth

Back at Chibikko House, everyone is relieved that Kazu made it out alive. Taeko’s dialogue is the next event flag, but let’s check out what everyone else has to say/think.

: (Wow, Kenichi’s amazing!)
: We really can depend on Mr. Matsu after all… / (We still don’t know where Watanabe’s dad is…)
: I’d fight! Yeah! Tiger Driver! / (I’m so glad, Kazu…)
: That was such a thrill! / (Man, I totally wussed out…)
: Yay Kazu!! / (It’s cuz he didn’t take his nap.)
: I… I might have been kidnapped… / (Dad… When will you come back for me?)

There’s a surprising amount of variation in these responses. Anyways, we should check up on Kaori. See what Matsu had to say to her, and all that.

: H-he went home…

When you’re brother is psychic, you cannot afford to be a bad liar.

: (I can’t let him read my mind about Matsu!)

: (Trying to be cool…)

Considering we let three chump Crusaders get away from us, I doubt we can successfully assault a military base.

---

Speaking of which, that’s the last location on the overworld map.

If we say yes, he doesn’t believe us. But if we say no…

: I may not have an appointment, but…

: What’re you doing?!

A Painful Death at the Hands of a PSYCHO!

The Men in Black are not a serious threat, for the most part. They have disruptive and sleep-inducing techs, but they’re easy enough to handle.

Wait for Truth

It’s times like this that I remember Shinji doesn’t wear a shirt, and the whole situation becomes that much more bizarre.

Some of the MIB control robotic Dobermans. They’re more threatening, but not enough to be a massive problem.

This, by the way, is the best move the MIB have. PK Cannon can really do a number on your party.

Not everyone in the facility is a fighter, just the security officers. The receptionist is just baffled about the shirtless, psionic teenager that just wrecked two governmental security officers.

: (Hey, he’s kinda cute!)

If we take the escalator up, we find another commons area. There are three male workers here. They all have the same thing to say, but different things to think.

: (W-what are the guards doing?!) / (I want a raise…) / (Wonder what the secret project is…)

There are two more rooms on this floor. One is a bathroom, but the other is this.

: (He looks pretty dumb…)

I mean, I wouldn’t say she’s wrong. More importantly, we can check those lockers.

Just in case you weren’t certain, I don’t think these guys are on the up-and-up.

That’s a dead end, so let’s go through this door next.

We’ve got a hallway with a break room in it. There are more weapons in the lockers, and the NPCs have nothing new to say.

JEEZ, can’t a guy launch an improbable assault on government property in peace?

Anyways, we want to head down the escalator on the right first.

There’s another bathroom to the north, but this one is important.

: Matsu!

Matsu finally joins our party outside of a battle!

Looking at his stats just confirms what we already knew: he can hit like a truck, but he doesn’t rely on his IQ at all.

For comparison, here’s post-grind Shinji and Taro. No one obviously outshines the other, but each also has their own clear role: Shinji and Matsu are the mental and physical damage dealers while Taro is the tank.

Now that we have a full party, we can head through that other door.

Here’s a look behind the unguarded door. The lockers contain Napalm Bombs along with a Plasma Spark.

: Hey, you don’t mind, right? / (Man, security’s tight.)
: I’m working right now. / (You sure are stubborn! Well, I guess with my good looks, I can’t blame you.)

Behind the guarded door, we find more NPCs. But more importantly…

The room to the North has some sensitive data! Let’s check it out.

Well, I guess we have a lead on Watanabe’s dad. Maybe we’ll find him!

…

…I think Shinji might be in over his head here.

Let’s work our way back to the front of this building. We want the left escalator this time.

Once we fight our way past the guard…

…we find the sorriest excuse for an “anti-establishment” organization I’ve ever seen.

We clear them out without a problem.

In the next room, we find someone who’s eager to earn their paycheck.

The guard only has 60hp. All the RC Cars in the world aren’t enough to make this man a threat.

However, one of these enemies is this mini-boss. The general has 496hp and knows a lot of dangerous psionic techniques. He’s still just one enemy, though, so we can take him.

With the enemies gone, I can clearly show all the doors in this hallway.

The rightmost door leads here.

Talking to this woman does nothing, but reading her mind activates a battle.

It’s just against eight guards, so it’s not very threatening.

The middle door is password-protected, so that leaves one door left.

Well, I’m sure Shinji can operate this bizarre setup. Let’s poke around on the open terminal.

…Things aren’t looking good for Papa Watanabe.

The people here all say the same things, but their thoughts are different.

This whole thing is getting more unsettling with every step we take. Let’s just keep mo-

Welp. We found the missing people. I kind of wish we didn’t.

…Kazu was almost in one of these tubes.

This guy in the corner is trying to memorize the code, so we can get it from him. Time to go back to that locked door.

I actually like this input method. You don’t have to write the number down, but you still have to pay a little attention.

…Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second weirdest evil council!

: Who are you?!
:Y-Yamazaki!
:Matsu!? So you finally…

: My name is Cindelman… My research on liquefied humans progressed immensely thanks to Toei! But… you! You helped him to get away!

: Odeo Temple is where science and religion join as one! As the 2,000 people merge into one, the great Odeo will descend unto the Inko buddha statue!

: Such a pity. You’ve come all this way, but I’m afraid I can’t let you leave… Here’s a present from the professor…!

: Ooooh, this is perfect! Just the test I was hoping for! Human subjects…!

: KILL… I WILL… KILL YOU…

A Painful Death at the Hands of a PSYCHO!

Meet the chapter’s real mini-boss: W-1, powered by Kozo Watanabe.

He also has the PK Cannon, and it’s one of his weaker attacks. And, as demonstrated by Holy Ghost, PK attacks don’t work well on it. If we’re going to fi-

O-KAY, he also has an upgraded version of Plamsa Shot. Anyways, we need Matsu to-

…Well, maybe Taro can do something?

…I want to get off Mr. Watanabe’s wild ride.

So, W-1 is not a regular boss fight; it’s more like a puzzle boss. Do you see the cage on its back? It’s visible when it spins around during some of its attacks. That’s its weakpoint! Any physical attack from behind will immediately take it out.

Just don’t expect the striker to make it out alive. Taro! Tell our story!!

(Music stops)

…I always forget how depressing and oppressive the tone of this chapter can be.

We’ll be dealing with the consequences of our actions next time.

[UnderscoreDasher]

Such a great game. I still persist Live-A-Live would be venerated as one of SNES classics had it ever received proper western release.

[LoakaMossi]

The Tin Plated King Awakens!

Wait for Truth

Welcome back! After some intense revelations in the last update, everyone is taking some time to regroup.

: So Commander Yamazaki’s helping Cindelman, and Kumotatsu from Odeo Temple was there too…
: There’s gotta be a way to stop ‘em.

: Huh? Who’s Buriki Daioh?
: The ancient mech, Buriki Daioh… A saint from Babylonia of old is said to have controlled it via psychokinesis.
: A… giant robot? For real? Awesome!

: …

: Unfortunately… Shinji wasn’t able to do it.
: Is there another way?

: No… Well, if we inject a liquefied human, it might be possible to activate it like we did Taro…

: That won’t work, I’m afraid… Buriki Daioh is powered by the human spirit.

Yeah, things aren’t looking good. We’ve upset the magic-science abusing government, and our best plan of defense is an army of turtle-androids.

(Music stops)

CRY-A-LIVE

I’m sure you all can tell, but this is probably the most depressing chapter.

(Music fades)

: But you can’t…
: Heh… Us bikers don’t know the meanin’ of the word “impossible!" I mean, I’m Matsu…!

Once they leave, we can get a bit more information from everyone.

Wait for Truth

: (Kenichi…)
: What’s Matsu gonna do? / (If something happens to these kids…)
: I wanna ride on Buriki Daioh! / (But Matsu doesn’t have any psychic powers…)
: I wonder what’ll happen. / (Oooh, my nerves…)
: I bet Misawa could do it!! / (Save us, Misawa…)
: W-what did she say?

…Poor kid.

I say we go catch up with Toei and Matsu before these children destroy my heart.

---

Wait, does that mean Matsu couldn’t do it?

We should probably go check in on him. We’re going to need his help once the army comes knocking.

---

(Psycho Bar)[http://tindeck.com/listen/qzwmp]

: What, you come here to laugh at me? Bah, I couldn’t do anything after all…

So much for Buriki Daioh. Let’s go see if Kazu has recruited any turtles yet.

---

(Music Stops)

Oh. Oh God.

Guys, we’re really in over our heads.

We can’t read anyone’s mind, but we can still talk to them.

: Taeko…! Kaori!
: I’ll save them!
: I told you! It’s hopeless!
: I don’t wanna die!

It’s taken the majority of the chapter, but Shinji is finally going to do something entirely heroic.

Let’s go save some lives!

Taeko is easy enough to find.

: Shinji…!
: I’ll save Kaori! Get out of here!

And now we need to find Kaori.

OK, it’s probably a good thing she wasn’t in bed. That’s obviously a pretty flammable bed.

She’s not in Taeko’s room either!

Or the classroom! But I’m sure she’s nearby!

Kaori! Are you in here!?

KAORI!

KAORI, IT’S TIME TO GO!

The fire in front of this door doesn’t go out until you check the other room.

Oh God, please be alright.

: Ooooh… Shinji…
: Are you okay!?

---

: What? But last time…
: S’alright, I’m good. It’ll work this time! Let’s go!

---

I highly recommend listening to the music for the rest of this update. Super Robots need bombastic music.

GO! GO! BURIKI DAIOH!

---

(No Music)

: What is it?
: I-I’m sorry. I’ve been perfectly horrible to you…

WARM-A-LIVE

: Of course!
: Reiko!
: Yoshikazu!

---

GO! GO! BURIKI DAIOH!

---

---

: He binged on Matango to heighten his senses and his spirit…
: You moron! You’re gonna get yourself killed!

I can’t decide if he’s in a lot of physical pain, or if he’s just drunk.

---

---

(Music Fades)

: Huhf… huhf… huhf…

At this point, Matsu has completely collapsed. The only way to talk to him is through telepathy.

---

CRY-A-LIVE

---

: I don’t want any more deaths!
: Don’t be dense! They’re just stringing you along!
: Do you think the army will fold just because of your insignificant resistance?! Grow up, Matsu!
: So you’re just Yamazaki’s dog after all!

: (I pulled the trigger… Just an instant before him…)

---

: Let’s go… to the temple… Let’s bust ‘em up…!
: No! Don’t go!! Go tomorrow! You need rest!

…

: He’s not dead yet… Right?

---

: You… You’re moving it!?

GO! GO! BURIKI DAIOH!

: By the graces of the army…!

We have our goal: Odeo Temple. All that stands in our way is the entire Japanese Self Defense Force!

Pathetic!

Buriki Daioh has over 2000 HP, so this is even less damage than it looks.

METAL HIT! is our basic attack. It can hit any adjacent tile, and it wreaks havoc on these weaker enemies.

BABYLON KICK! has bizarre range. It can only hit more than one space away on its diagonals. That really limits the amount of tiles it can hit, but it does even more damage.

Wimps! All of them, wimps!

JOMJOM BULLET! has an AoE, but it hits random targets within that area. It’s good crowd control, but it’s a little inconsistent.

HALOGEN LASER! is our finishing move! It hits all tiles on our horizontals, but it’s also our only attack with a charge time.

Finally, they decide to send out a real weapon!

It only does about 5% of our HP with any given attack, but still!

It doesn’t stand a chance against the Ancient Mech of Babylonia!

---

: My army…
: … ‘Tis brilliance…! Humans melted together with other humans into one being, sharing both mind and body! And hatred… A superb world without fighting…

: Ah well… You wouldn’t understand.

The Demon King Odio

: You’ve come… Now! The Great Inko Buddha statue shall bring unto us salvation!

This happens for every bird in the temple grounds, but I’m only going to show one.

---

MEGALOMANIA

It’s time to face off against the Great Inko Statue, avatar of the god Odeo!

Liquefied Man Curse is the first attack that feels like a real threat. Removing our arm techs is bad, but the damage alone is enough to make it scary.

Keruru Story is the attack you should be most wary of; while it does less damage, it removes your foot techs. This completely destroys the main strategy that most people take on this fight.

Finally, Keruru Kick is a disruptive tech. It’s not high damage, but it can make things harder than they need to be.

Here’s how most people handle this fight. Babylon Kick is an instant attack that does a lot of damage, so it’s easy to do this until the statue breaks.

I, however, know better that to let a robot fight end like that!

HALO-GEN LAASEEEEER!

---

(No Music)

Get wrecked, birdman.

The Demon King Odio

Out of all the ways to die, “drowning in humans” has to be one of the grossest.

---

You said it, Shinji.

Whoops! They don’t like others speaking on their behalf, it seems.

---

: Huh…? Er… Okay!

Wait for Truth

Shinji picks up where Matsu left off.

Kazu is never allowed outside ever again!

The kids are still, in fact, kids.

Kaori’s still sick, but Taro seems happy to take care of her.

Buriki Daioh returns to its slumber.

Later, Shinji. You turned out alright, in the end.

And that’s the penultimate chapter down! Next up is the adventures of Egg the robot, unless I get another name suggestion. If you do suggest a name, six characters, no numbers. As always, I’ll have a text post up before the day’s out.

[LoakaMossi]

Flow

In the Live-A-Live fandom at large, the Near Future chapter is something of a black sheep. It’s easy to see why. Shinji is unlikable for most of the story, his attacks are difficult to use, Inventing exists, the plot uses weird event flags, it’s the only chapter that even has a detailed plot, and it’s looooong. I may have used more updates on other chapters, but this chapter definitely feels the longest.

That being said, there’s plenty to like!

I must have said this a dozen times by now, but Live-A-Live thrives on its style. In this case, the chapter feels like an arc of an anime, rather than a single episode. There is a definite progression of plot, there’s enough room to continue the story, and there’s Crusaders of the Level to pad out the episode numbers. What really sells this chapter, though, is its final act. Buriki Daioh’s entrance into the story is amazing.

The developers also realized the best way to handle a Super Robot in this kind of story. It’s obvious that Shinji will be able to pilot it, so it’s hard to create tension with “Can Shinji pilot it?” It’s also hard to convince the audience that it can lose in a fight. So putting Shinji in danger away from the robot, and with no way to reach it, can create legitimate tension. Putting Matsu in the driver’s seat before Shinji is odd for a by-the-numbers robot show, but it allows the writers to put Shinji in legitimate danger.

Matsu’s method of piloting Buriki Daioh was also odd and a little silly to met at first, but I really like it now. It’s a way to get Buriki Daioh in the action without feeling like a copout. Having either protagonist suddenly able to pilot it would feel cheap, but any concrete method would feel odd. After all, we would want to know why it took them so long to try that method. Having Matsu use a fatal method allows both protagonists to earn their place at the mech’s helm. Matsu sacrifices his life to save Shinji and Kaori, while Shinji comes to terms with his emotions in a way that lets him pilot Buriki Daioh.

Finally, the developers approach the problem of making Buriki Daioh seem unstoppable by going all in. It is unstoppable! Once Shinji gets it moving, there’s no doubt that he’s going to win. So instead of creating tension, they create catharsis. They make the bad guys seem completely unstoppable. They control the establishment and the anti-establishment groups. They can kidnap people in broad daylight. They can burn down orphanages without fear of reprisal. They’re so used to being untouchable that when Buriki Daioh enters the picture, the audience isn’t upset about the lack of tension. They’re relieved that something is finally going to be done.

The rest of the chapter oscillates between infuriating and enjoyable, but the third act is absolutely perfect.

All in all, I’d rank this chapter seven out of seven. We did it, everyone! We found the worst chapter! And I have to say, it’s not bad! I usually refer to it as “The Least Good Chapter” because none of the chapters are really bad, but that’s just me.

What did you think? Am I being too hard on Shinji? Am I overselling Buriki Daioh? Did I not talk enough about something you thought was worth discussing? And if you really liked this chapter: why? I would love to hear why people love the chapters I’m not too hot on.

[LoakaMossi]

OK, the update should be live for real now!

Hello World

Here we go. Time for the last chapter!

**Vessel Name – Cogito Ergosum
Vessel Type – Civilian Transport

Destination – Earth
Cargo – Alien life form
Crew – 5
Passengers – 1, military, in charge of cargo**

Welcome to the Cogito Ergosum, your new home for the entirety of this chapter.

The crew is in cold sleep, but it looks like we’re already missing one.

---

---

: Theeere we go… Finished!

At this point, we gain control of our protagonist.

The little guy makes burbling beeps and boops when he spins around like that.

: I’m Kato. That’s K-A-T-O. Kato.

Hi Kato! As you can probably guess, he’s the ship’s mechanic.

: Good morning? Er…

Here’s some trivia on the original patch that I do know. In the original Japanese and the old patch, Kato wanted to call his robot “Koro.” It means “round,” but it can also mean “dog.” I think “rover” is a good way of translating that, and I’m glad they changed that.

: You can be… Cube!!
Hmm…
… maaaybe not. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll think of something.

Kato paces a lot during this scene. He must be nervous about making a good first impression.

Kato is trying to teach us how to operate independently, so he left us alone. This will prove to be a bad idea. Now that we have a moment, I should take some time to show this little guy’s stats.

However, this chapter doesn’t have a stat menu. While this chapter isn’t devoid of combat, you won’t be getting into it accidentally.

I also realized that the menu is using the robot’s default name. I think this is the only chapter that allows this. That’s probably why Kato tries to name him; it lets the game use a placeholder for this menu.

Anyways, let’s immediately betray Kato’s trust.

**Month X, Day X
I’ve finished prototype 01. I ran some basic structural tests, but… … they turned out less successful than I’d hoped.

Month X, Day X
I’m gathering data for prototype 02. I’ve got the walking system done.

Month X, Day X
I’ve begun building prototype 03. It’s going pretty well.

Month X, Day X
I’ve finally completed prototype 03. Once I’ve performed my routine check of the ship, I’ll run one last test. Only one more week ‘til we’re back on Earth… Tomorrow, the other five crew members awaken from cold sleep. I’d really like to get it working before then.**

All of the crew members have terminals in their room. We’ll be able to read all of them before the chapter ends, but only Kato’s is available for now.

Now that that’s done, we can follow Kato.

: --Please state your business–
: Good morning! I need to register a new crew member.
: --Understood–

A fitting name for a young round robot.

: Now you can come and go as you please. Mind, each of the crew’s individual cabins have security locks. If you don’t have the owner’s permission, you won’t be able to get in.

Oh sure, now you tell us that invading privacy is bad.

: Alright then, Egg. Now I want you to follow me on your own. I need to test out your AI. I’ll be somewhere on this floor. Your job will be to come and find me.

This is either a rigorous test of Egg’s AI, or Kato just wanted to play Hide-and-Go-Seek.

Hmmm…Where could he be?

: Beyond this door is the Cold Sleep Room. During long trips through space, we use this place to go into cryogenic stasis. Don’t suppose you’d have to, though… Well, please wake everyone up. Thanks!

In lieu of a crew manifest, we can read the cold sleep capsules.

The last crew pod is Kato’s, but the last one…

It’s a mystery for now.

: Yeah! He’s called Egg.

These two seem pleasant enough.

…Never mind, Kirk is a jerk.

: Eh? A… A… robot? Oh! You finally finished him?

Hi Huey. Sorry for giving you a heart attack.

…OH. OK.

I’m sure this guy’s on the up-and-up! He has such a trustworthy name, after all!

: Corporal… The robot that Kato was building is done. He’s called Egg.

: Eh, don’t worry about it too much.

: When we wake up from cold sleep, we have a meeting in the break room. Come on! You’re part of the crew too, so you’re obligated to attend.

: Heh, that’s so like you to be treating him as if he were human!
: You really think so?

Everyone heads off, but we’re going to be making a side-trip.

I don’t think we properly introduced ourself, robot-to-robot.

: I know all about you
You are the first robot that Kato completed
I look forward to working with you

The break room is in the Northwest corner of the second level. It has two entrances and we’re taking the top entrance.

Hello again! Let’s go around and make friends.

Unfortunately, we can’t meet the captain. It seems a little odd to me that he’s the last one we meet.

: Damn straight! You want to take a shot at it?

I’m going to hold off on showing Kirk’s game. I may give it it’s own update. I’ll explain why I delayed it once we get around to actually playing it.

: Kirk’s really good at this game!

I do think it’s a little interesting that the jock character is also the video game playing character. It’s not super innovative or anything, but it stood out to me.

…I don’t know why I expected anything else.

Aside from Kato, I think Huey is the friendliest one here.

: It’s a story about people who lived centuries ago. I really like reading about people like that! They were so adventurous.

: That’s ‘cuz you’re a chicken! You’d be too scared to do that stuff yourself.

: You ought to explore the ship some. See the world, so to speak. Learn on your own.

Egg can do lot’s of things! Like walk, open doors, listen to people talk about him like he’s not there…

: Why don’t we teach him how to make coffee? Egg, come over here.

: S-Sorry…

It would seem that not only is Kato’s crowning achievement a spherical coffee maker, it’s not even that good at making coffee. Way to go, champ. This does give us the opportunity to hand out coffee to everyone on board.

:Th-thanks, I think. I’m not really thirsty right now, though.
: That’s the spirit, Egg! Thanks!
: Thanks. Why not drop by my room sometime later?

Giving Rachel coffee unlocks some optional scenes. This chapter has the most optional dialogue, but I’ll only try to get the more important scenes.

: Thanks! This is just how I like my coffee.

Well, three out of four ain’t bad. Let’s see if we can go for four out of five!

OK, we’re stuck at three out of five.

Oh good, the captain’s here to save us. I’m pretty sure Darth was about to spike us like a football.

: My apologies for the delay. How are you all feeling?
: We’re all fine.
: That’s good.

:Oh, that’s my robot! His name’s Egg.
: Oh, you finished it! I’d love to take a closer look later on.

: Some meeting! One game and it’s basically over.
: Hah! You know you like ‘em that way.
: Hahaha! True that.

: Well then, I’ll see it after I check the Mother Computer. Egg, you come too. Use the elevator. The Mother Computer is on Level 3, while the hold is on Level 1.

Well, we’ve met the crew, learned a skill, and nearly got murdered. I’d say that’s a full day! Next update, we’ll get into the real plot.

[ConfusedMoogle]

I’ll always have a soft spot for this particular chapter because it was the first one where LAL’s ethos (that is, We Just Watched a Whole Bunch of Movies: The JRPG) really clicked with me _{becaue it was the first one I played where I actually understood all the references}.

[LoakaMossi]

Technical Difficulties

Rachel has granted you permission to enter
Please enter your name

Welcome back! When we last left Egg, we had a few options for exploring the ship. Let’s start by meeting with Rachel.

Despite the computer recognizing us, we still need to input our name as a password to enter. Cybersecurity is garbage in the future.

: I’ve got a job to do in the cockpit.

She’s left us alone.

What a fool!

: I want to talk to you about something. Meet me in the cockpit at 0330 hours.

Email 02
Sender: Kirk

: Thanks for coming. I was really happy. Once we get back to Earth, let’s go on a trip somewhere.

Rachel probably has the least interesting diary. We already know that she and Kirk are together.

If you’re playing along, get used to seeing these screens. We’re going to be moving between floors quite a few times.

On the top floor, we can see that the cockpit is right next to the elevator.

We’re not heading there yet, though.

Kato said he was checking on the Mother Computer. Maybe we can still catch him.

: Let me introduce you to a friend.

Egg’s primary method of communication is still R2-D2 noises.

: Well then… The system checks out, so…

No, let’s stay off the rails for now.

: Alright then, see you there. Learn as much as you can along the way!

Both of these scenes are optional, by the way. If we’d gone straight to the cockpit or the storage hold, the scenes would have played out anyway.

Here’s the elevator, but what’s in that room down south? As far I as know, the game never makes you go down there.

Well, Kato did say we were the third prototype. This must be the creepiest think Egg has ever seen, though.

We want to head back to the northern elevator. The cargo hold takes up most of the first floor, and we want to check this room to the north first.

Welcome to the airlock! While I’ll let the game introduce most of the rooms as they come, I wanted to visit here early.

Number 1 toggles the outer door and number 2 toggles the inner door.

So, remember how this ship has terrible cybersecurity?

Workplace safety wasn’t a top priority either.

This chapter doesn’t really have combat, but you can still lose! During this chapter, you’ll need to worry about instant game overs. They don’t come up too often, but some are harder to avoid than others.

At any rate, we should catch up with Kato.

: Isn’t it, though? Kirk said he didn’t want to see it, though. I guess he just doesn’t want to accept that there are other life forms out there…
: He’s not a bad guy… But I just don’t really understand him sometimes.
: Well, he was a space explorer, after all. He’s rather jaded.

: I mean, you and Kirk are basically polar opposites!
: …

Hello! I’m here to save Huey from an awkward conversation about his ex!

Come meet this chapter’s first reference to a property it actually owns. The Behemoth is a reoccurring Final Fantasy monster. It’s usually not green, but maybe that’s how we can tell it’s an alien behemoth.

: Well… As they say, every rose has its thorn! Or in this case, two massive fangs!

At this point, the radio starts going off.

: What’s the matter?
: Something’s up with the comm system.

Oh hey Corporal. We were just leaving. Honest.

: Uh, Kato, before I forget, could you check out the air ducts?
: Sure thing.

Despite what this screenshot implies, we’re going to listen to the Corporal on this one. We’ve already seen what the first option does and the second option is just the Behemoth’s screech.

Remember that this ship has air ducts. They may become important later on.

Before we advance the plot, there are two things I want to do.

First is another attempt at privacy invasion.

Whoops. Busted.

Poor Egg. He’s not even a day old and he already understands the true meaning of fear.

The next scene I want to show requires visiting an alternate timeline. Both the cockpit and the cargo hold scenes will advance the plot, so you have to pick one. I think the cargo hold as far more plot relevance, so it’s weird that you can skip it.

Huey may be afraid of death, but Kirk fears the possibility of alien lifeforms. Who’s the real coward, hmm?

: I’m the communications officer. I check the antennae to make sure everything’s working properly.

: That’s odd…
: What’s wrong?
: The main antenna’s acting up.

You’ve already seen the rest of this conversation. Rachel and Kirk have nothing new to add. Instead, we’re right where we need to be for the next scene.

: He said to figure it out and get it working.

: Yeah, it’s fine. The main and sub-antennae are in totally different locations. There’s nothing to worry about.

: We can receive transmissions from home with no problem at all, but we can’t send them out!

: It might as well be totally kaput already.
: Communication’s useless if it only goes one way.

: No sweat! I’ll just hop outside, tinker a bit, and be back. Warp speed!
: Guess we don’t have a choice. Will you accompany Kirk outside the ship?
: Sure thing.
: I’ll cover the airlock controls. Then I’ll return and back you up from here.

And with that, everyone but Egg and Rachel heads out.

: And we were almost home, too… I was hoping I wouldn’t have to be alone with Huey again…

Rachel then decides to update the captain on our situation.

: Kirk and Kato are going outside.

: That was weird… Wonder if he’s feeling alright?

While we’ve proven that we shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the airlock, we should see how things are goi-

: Don’t mess with me, you son of a bitch!!
: C-cut it out, Kirk!

Jesus Christ, what happened? We left you guys alone for like, ten minutes, tops!

Seriously, what prompted this? You guys were perfectly capable of getting along earlier!

Ha ha, about that…

Yeesh. Now that that’s been dealt with, we should follow Huey back to the cockpit.

: Okay then.

: OK. Kato, enter your password and switch it over to maintenance mode.
: Sure thing. Let’s see…

Oh, this can only mean good things.

: Huh? Kirk? Is something wrong?
: D-don’t worry, it’s nothing.
: Are you all right?
: I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.

Unseen Syndrome

…

Checking Main Antenna … All red
Checking Sub Antennae … All red
Transmission currently impossible on all channels
And to preserve the running gag(?), the main antenna went before the sub antennae did.

No matter what we do, we aren’t fast enough to make it to the airlock before they bring Kirk in. Instead, we’ll go to the sick bay.

(Music Stops)

…

I think Kato may have just been in a hurry to get away from all of this. No one on board is going to take this well.

Egg’s too young to learn about death! Shield him from this!

: …
: I double-checked it myself! It’s really odd that it would fail…
: Damn straight it is.

: … He wouldn’t respond when I called him…
: What the hell is up with this ship!?
:Let’s check out the source of that explosion.
: I’ll go check on the cargo.

: If anything happens, I’ll be in the cockpit.

Yeah, this had to hit Rachel the hardest. She seemed to like Egg well enough, we’ll probably cheer her up a little bit, right?

…And on that cheerful note, I’ll bring this update to a close.

[LoakaMossi]

Downward Spiral

I guess Darth isn’t too comfortable with his mission.

I wonder if Kato and Huey have found anything out yet?

: It doesn’t look like there’s anything unusual going on…

---

: You’d almost be better off trying to swim through space!

While Darth’s jaded enough to function, Huey is about to lose his mind.

You know what’s great for shot nerves? Caffeine.

: You’re right… I need to hang in there…

After this line, the screen springs to life.

: What, are you serious!? That’s… Quite unfortunate… Well. We can at least give him a proper burial. Make the preparations. I’m on my way.

: He lost one of his crew, and he didn’t flinch a bit.

: … I’ll go over to Kirk’s room… Maybe there’s something he’d like buried with him.

I don’t think Huey’s calmed down yet. We’d better check on him.

: It’s true, I didn’t really like Kirk, but I never wanted him to die…!

Well, I don’t think there’s anything we can do. Let’s go check on Darth and Kato.

Crew Member Kirk has unfortunately died
The lock has been disabled to allow cleaning
Entry granted
Enter name

Registration complete
Entry granted

: ”Will Warp Navigation Become A Reality?” Just like Kirk to read something like this… Heh… Whenever Kirk was in a hurry to get something done, he’d say… “What are you doing! Get that done, warp speed!”
: At least we can lay him to rest…

Well, now that the funeral arrangements are taken care of…

Rats! Kirk actually bothered to password protect his info!

Luckily, it’s still a fictional password, so it’s the easiest thing in the world to guess.

Remember that arcade cabinet Kirk was playing? The memory card is essentially a way to cheat at it. I won’t be showing that game off in this update, though, so I’ll hold off on explaining it.

Unseen Syndrome

Instead, we should go prep Kirk’s body for-

Oh. This might be a problem.

---

: What’re you looking at me like that for? How should I know!?

Yeah, where is Rachel? Is she still in her room?

---

: Hehe… You’re so cute! Sleeping like a little baby… Hold on, I’ll go and bake some cookies. You like cookies, don’t you? Hehe…

: Huey… I know exactly what’s going through your head.

…Huey, she needs a therapist. This isn’t something you can just “pull yourself together” out of.

!

---

: Let me go!!
: Rachel, get ahold of yourself!
: Dammit, girl! Get a grip!

I don’t think Egg is equipped to deal with any part of this situation.

Thump, thump, thump. Crash! Roar… Stomp, stomp, stomp…
While you can’t hear the actual sound effects, I bet you can guess what made them.

Yep. It got out. And if we heard it escape, then it’s probably…

YEP! Let’s try and keep Egg off the menu if we can help it.

: Remember what you saw in the infirmary? Come on, think rationally! It’s a damn shame, but the man’s dead!

Corporal, nothing about this is OK.

After a short pause, the control panel’s radio springs to life.

: Well, it’s gone… I don’t know where it went, but we’re not safe no matter where it is.

---

: I’m sorry… I…

Rachel seems stable now, but we really need to get her psychiatric care when that becomes an option.

The Behemoth is such a serious threat that the Corporal forgot to insult us for being a robot.

Well, time to do the only thing we know how to do.

: I’m so tired… I’m sorry, Egg. I wanted you to be able to learn lots of fun things…
: Th-thank you, Egg. I’d like to say that it isn’t hopeless, but given the circumstances…
: … Hmph!
: … Thanks…

After we’re done serving coffee, the screen comes to life.

…Uh-oh.

You know, sometimes it can be dangerous to throw every single trope you can think of into a single story.

In this case, however, it’s only dangerous for the characters.

We can try to listen to Darth, but after a while…

: I-is… Rachel…?
: Don’t worry. She’s still alive.

CRY-A-LIVE?

: We’ve got to do something.

: She ought to be fine in there.

: Can you go to the computer terminal? Ask the Mother Computer for the password to the captain’s room.

---

Before we head to the mother computer, we should check out Huey’s room.

You know the drill by now.

Month X, Day X
The results of the test I took on Earth should be ready soon. If I pass, I’ll become Captain of my own ship. I’m keeping it a secret at the moment. When we get to Earth, I’ll surprise them. If I pass, it’ll be kinda sad, but I’ll have to leave this ship. Before I leave this ship for good, I would like to have a nice long talk with Rachel.

External Transmission
Month X, Day X
Sender:
Shipmaster Authority

Greetings. We regret to inform you that you did not pass the exam for qualification as a ship captain. The next exam period is in six months.
–Shipmaster Authority

Huey was just one of those people that life itself seemed to hold a grudge against, wasn’t he?

---

(Music Stops)

Egg might also be one of those people. The Behemoth is scripted to spawn directly outside of the terminal at this point, so you’ll need to dodge around it.

: Very well, please stand by
Password confirmed

Aside from starting with a word, that almost resembles a secure password. Way to go Cap!

The Behemoth decided to go hunting elsewhere.

Unfortunately, he didn’t go very far. On top of that, the doors close and lock the second we enter this hallway! Gee, I wonder who could be causing that…

Thankfully, we can just duck into the cold sleep chamber.

: No time to lose. Let’s move!

: I can’t believe that!
: Well then, who else could it be? Me?
: No, it can’t be…
: Either way, we’ll know as soon as we get the door open.

---

Beep beep beep beep beep beep. BZZZT! Beep beep beep beep beep beep. BZZZT!

: It… it won’t open!
: What are you doing!? Just break the goddamn lock!

Unfortunately, breaking the door down is told through audio cues, so there’s no animation to show.

You got the Power Jack. The battery has a limited lifespan.

On the plus side, Kato is willing to share the power tools once he’s done with them. Now, let’s see what’s up with the captain.

: Now the only ones left are me and you.

: Wh… what are you talking about?
: Don’t play dumb. You killed all the others, didn’t you!?
: ME!? What are you saying!? Why would I…?

: I wouldn’t have any reason to want to kill any of you, but…

: But nobody hated anyone else! None of us’d kill another human being!!

: They were just trying to live the way they wanted to, struggling and mulling over things along the way. Just like anyone else!

…

: This is the Cogito Ergosum. We’re currently on course for Earth. We should arrive there on time as…
BZZZT! Psssssh…
: Eh? What’s that!? Aargh! S-somebody help!! Th-the door won’t open!?

…Call me crazy, but I don’t think Kato’s responsible for this.

Darth won’t let us defend him though. Looks like we’ll need to find a different way to exonerate him.

While looking for something to convince Darth, Egg stumbles upon an alarm going off in the crew quarters.

The room’s alarm is going off
The reason is indeterminate
Forcefully disabling the lock now
Please investigate
Please enter your name:

Registration complete
Entry granted

There doesn’t seem to be anything alarm-worthy in here. But while we’re here…

**Military Notification
Plan No XXXXXXXXX
Continue to monitor the organism even during transport. In the event that you notice any sort of reaction to the presence of humans, take care to write it down. It is of the utmost importance that it reach its destination. Should the worst happen, its safety at the expense of human life has been deemed an acceptable risk. That is all.
–Command HQ
Oh good, Future Military follows the Albert Wesker school of operational thought. Kato needs to know about this.

---

: … A military notice? So THAT’S what this is all about!!

: Why would you go out of your way to use a civilian cargo vessel… just to bring that thing back to Earth? You had this planned all along!
: You went into my room!?

: Since you want data on that monster, you used us like lab rats in an experiment!
: … Calm down!

Unseen Syndrome

Starting from this point, the Behemoth will start pursuing Egg. It has a chance of spawning in any of the hallways as well as the cargo hold. We’re also not getting another power jack; after nine more uses, no more getting past locked doors.

Now that everything’s S.N.A.F.U., we should check in with the mother computer.

: ** I am currently looking for both Kato and Corporal Darth**
Please take care to avoid the Behemoth

It’s a good thing we have such a trustworthy ally at our side!

Besides opening locked doors, the power jack can also be used to access the ventilation system.

It can be a little difficult to navigate, but it essentially let’s you get to any point in the ship without having to worry about the Behemoth. In fact, the game let’s you know if you’ve managed to avoid the Behemoth in this manner. If Egg suddenly stops and the Behemoth’s roar plays, then the room he’s passing through had the Behemoth in it.

Anyways, the vents take us up to the third floor.

Oh, I’m sure that’s fine! That can mean only good things!

If we try to pass south through the third floor, we’re eventually stopped by these water jets. They’re the third and last thing in this chapter that can cause you to get a game over. The game also locks all the doors between Egg and the northern elevator, so say goodbye to two more power jack uses if you do this.

Instead, we want to go to the first floor. We need to get to the southern part of the third floor, and this is the simplest way to do it.

Unfortunately, there’s an ugly green obstacle in our way.

Once we get here, we need to pass north through the third floor, then take the elevator back down to the second floor.

I’m not sure if that’s the only way to progress the plot, but it does work every time.

If we head back to the storage room after tripping that event flag, we notice that something has gone missing.

And it apparently wasted no time in adding to the body count.

!

…Wait, I think I know who’s room that is.

Kato!!

[LoakaMossi]

Is This the Best Time for That?

In the last update, I left a pretty obvious hook. I think it’s only fair that we address that now.

CAPTAIN SQUARE

I mentioned giving this its own update, and I think that works as well as any other idea. It’s hard to include it in the story without bringing it to a screeching halt.

Captain Square is meant to make up for the lack of combat in this chapter. In this game, the titular hero has to fight his way through our solar system! Since this game doesn’t let the captain level up, a lot of the fights look more like puzzles than fights.

To start off, Mercury is a very simple encounter. There’s no real gimmicks to speak of. So instead, let’s talk about Captain Square’s techniques.

Tachyon Sword is Square’s basic attack, but it still has effects associated with it. It can drain HP and speed, and it attacks instantly. Pretty useful in a general sense.

Spinning Star has a similar damage output, but it can hit two squares away and it causes knockback.

Plasma Charge is our stronger healing option. It has a charge time, but it heals more HP than Tachyon Sword.

And to finish off this encounter, Supernova is pretty good for crowd control, but it can easily backfire if you can’t get away from the fire tiles.

At Venus, we get a taste of why people don’t usually like Captain Square.

Tope Suicide, in addition to having a bizarre name, causes knockback. Since half of Square’s arsenal needs to be charged first, this can really limit your options.

Plasma Ball is probably Square’s most useful technique. It has infinite range on the diagonals, does decent damage, and creates a damage tile. It technically has a charge time, but it’s so small that it’s hard to interrupt.

Pi Meson Shot would have looked more impressive if the enemies didn’t run away the second Square started charging it. It has a pretty impressive area of effect and damage output, but the charge time makes it a little too impractical.

Space Phage has it’s uses, but it’s still situational. It has a minimum range of two, but can hit on all eight directions. It hits instantly and has a chance of inflicting status ailments. It’s useful for hitting one enemy that’s hiding behind others, but it’s not even the best way to do that.

Anyways, enough of the birds. What awaits on that blue dot we call home?

Fire and suspiciously fire-like water. Welcome to the first puzzle fight!

Quark Sword is Square’s strongest attack. It does massive damage, but you’ll never hit anything because it’s charge time the longest in the entire game. But more importantly, it looks like Fire is invincible!

Which means we’ll have to take advantage of the surrounding water. Damage tiles do a set amount of damage. Water is usually the weakest, but…

Even 8 points of damage can take down Fire! After that, it’s just a matter of mopping up the stragglers.

On Mars, we have another instance of one unique enemy surrounded by others.

The Happy Tails counter with a pretty powerful healing move, but what about the Mother Tail?

She has a similar move, but she doesn’t benefit from it!

Take down the Mother Tail, and the rest will break down.

This is less like puzzle-solving and more like taking a tactical approach.

The Cosmo Stroller have massive controls over their horizontals.

Therefore, attack them from a vertical position.

Plasma Ball is more useful for picking off the stragglers.

And here is the exact moment that Captain Square drops any pretense of being fun.

The Gem Parapets will counter every attack within their counter’s range. As you can see, that includes the majority of attacks that we can even make.

You can work your way through them by using the Plasma Ball, but it’s still frustrating.

Here is an interesting concept that Live A Live never really takes advantage of: Layering Enemies. The Pimuri is a bug-like creature that hides under these fake Electrical Tiles.

This idea quickly gets out of hand because this is the only attack the Electric Mirages have.

They can also duplicate themselves. If this was their only move, it would be acceptable. But Shock Massage is just a little too OP for this encounter.

Supernova would be a pretty effective counter, but it can’t outpace the healing that the Mirages have. Due to the way turns work, this can be mitigated by hoping the Pimuri attacks more often, but…

The Pimuri is not something to be trifled with. Incidentally, this is why you should wait until after you get the Memory Card to try this. Without it, you would be forced to start from Mercury. And yes, this means that the best time to play the arcade cabinet is immediately after Kirk dies.

Eventually, I got lucky with the damage distribution. The Pimuri itself has low health, but it’s nearly impossible to hit in the first place.

Speaking of relying entirely on luck, this encounter is nonsense.

We have another “Leader and Subordinates” situation. Destroying the La La will break down the La Lus, which have absurdly high defenses. So you’d think that targeting the La La would be the easiest course of action, right?

That’s not really an option, though. The La La has equally high defense and more health! Since the La Lus only have one HP, you’re actually better off targeting them first.

Also, they can kill you in two attacks. So if you don’t start clearing out the La Lus, there is literally no safe position on the board.

Thankfully, Supernova is strong enough to punch through their defenses. Unfortunately, these enemies are floating, so they don’t take damage from tiles.

Eventually, I manage to do enough damage with Space Phage.

This fight sucks. Tope Suicide is back, so say goodbye to any attacks that need to be charged. Each type of Polka Dot is harmed by one type of damage tile and healed by all others, so we can’t rely on Supernova to thin them out. There’s no strategy to speak of, this fight is entirely luck based.

This guy was one Tope Suicide away from killing Square, so I got incredibly luck here.

(Stardust Captain)[http://tindeck.com/listen/iiomf]

And that’s all of Captain Square.

And here are my feelings on it.

I wish that they had fully committed to making puzzle bosses. Maybe that’s what they were going for, but the last fights ended up too reliant on luck. In any case, that’s one more section of the game shown off.

Next time, we’ll actually resolve this rapidly worsening scenario.

[LoakaMossi]

Debugging

Right, it’s time to finally resolve this mess.

: Wh… what the… What the hell!?

: That hunk of junk must have been the one that shut off Rachel’s capsule!

I will always be in awe of Darth’s competence. He is wasting no time on this body double nonsense. If he was Captain, this ship would have been fine.

Of course, it’s a good thing Kato’s here to bail us out.

Now that the corporal has backed off, it’s time for the match of the century.

What a glorious display of battle prowess! I can see how this machine nearly killed Kato!

This name, if you recall, is different between the English patches. Back when the second patch was new, all of the guides still gave Egg’s original name as “Koro.”

Imitation Egg is in for a world of hurt. Now that Darth has a justified reason to murder a robot, there’s no force in the universe that can stop him.

Unseen Syndrome

: Someone’s controlling this thing remotely!

(Music stops when Imitation Egg is shot)
There’s a lot about this one sequence that I really like. Egg’s quick reaction to his double’s death, Darth putting far more laser shots into Imitation Egg than he needed to, and Darth’s no-nonsense approach to the whole thing is really cool.

: Do you mean to say that someone tampered with it!?

Awwww, he’s starting to care about Egg!

---

This is less obvious since I opened this ventilation shaft earlier, but Darth will force this open if Egg hadn’t. Egg needs power tools for it, but Darth will just pry it open with his bare hands.

---

: I could destroy the lock… but if I damaged the mainframe, the entire ship’d shut down… and we’d all die…

: He should know some way to bypass the Computer. I’ll wait here. I’m not going to let the Behemoth get anywhere near this thing!

---

The Behemoth isn’t waiting outside of Kato’s room for us. Presumably, it could still smell Darth’s scent on Egg and ran away scared.

: … Are you all right? … You want to know OD-10’s weakness?

Kato’s in recovery, we probably shouldn’t be worrying him like this.

…Did you forget?

: You should be able to get inside its program…

!

Oh thank God. We’ll let the poor guy rest. We have a hard drive to wipe!

Our Behemoth repellant wore off! We’re a sitting duck!

It’s time for this Egg to beat it!

---

: Kato said you could get inside the Computer?

: Sheesh, to think that I’d be asking for help from a robot… Take this.

I like that he actually checks for the Behemoth before rushing off. That little detail makes his ability to freely move about the ship 100% believable.

Darth will call you after a short amount of time. I was fiddling with screen capture stuff, so I didn’t get very far…

The game opens the item menu for you, but you have to respond.

If you wait a little while more, Darth will ask you to find a way to help him.

Unfortunately, we can’t just jack in to the nearest terminal. He says to look for something unimportant, because it won’t be protected.

Hmmm…Something unimportant…

Doesn’t get much more irrelevant than Captain Square.

: … That’s it! Hold on! I’ll connect that game to the Mother Computer!

Egg must’ve been onto something, because the computer starts lighting up like a Christmas tree and beeps angrily.

…There’s more screaming and gunshots after this text box vanishes. R.I.P. Corporal Darth, you were too cool to live.

The Demon King Odio

MEGALOMANIA

Meet the Mother Computer, who I will always remember as OD-10 rather than the correct O1-D0. It’s the only Chapter Boss to have flunkies, the Stabilizers.

Now that we’re in a real fight, you know what that means!

Technique Showcase Time! High Speed Op is a very powerful healing tech. It can heal a lot of HP at once, but that’s all.

Upgrade, while being weaker in terms of raw HP, can also boost stats. It’s a bit more useful towards the beginning of the fight, but High Speed Op is better once damage numbers start climbing.

Mind Hack has a chance of lowering defense, but it doesn’t activate very often.

The next technique, Anti-Field, is a counter, so I couldn’t get it to activate for a while. So next up:

Noise Stream! It’s an instant attack that damages the whole field! It’s not very useful, as demonstrated by OD-10’s counter.

I’m saving Info Research for last, so lets take a look at…

Spin Drive is the only one of Egg’s techniques that uses Strength rather than IQ. It can cause knockback, but it’s highly situational.

Maser Cannon is Egg’s Ace-in-the-Hole. It does a lot of damage for a reasonable amount of charge time. It also hits every enemy between Egg and the selected tile, so you should always just choose the tile furthest away from Egg. Egg might have the best moveset in the entire game! It’s a shame we don’t get to use it very often.

Info Research gives us an HP reading and does a little damage, but it has a special effect on OD-10. It changes its appearance and unlocks Drive Back. It hits hard, but the electric tiles also damage 0D-1O, so it’s not the worst thing to be hit by.

High Speed Analysis is a pretty powerful debuff, but it also activated Egg’s counter attack! Anti-Field is a no-frill counter; it does around 100 damage do any adjacent enemy that attacks with an IQ based attack.

Hard Protect’s AoE is a little overkill, but it can also set of Egg’s Anti-Field. OD-10 is very susceptible to doing itself in, either through counter attacks or damage tiles.

Case in point…

I was given the job of protecting the crew
But the humans who gave me this job
Fought amongst themselves
Destroyed all sense of balance
Tried to disturb the operation of this ship
I do not understand humans
Humans…
Cannot be trusted

A select portion of the conversations recorded were purged.

The following dialogue appears on the screen in white letters.

Kirk: You’re a damn coward! Don’t you forget! That’s why Rachel dumped you!

Darth: This ship is a piece of crap! You’d almost be better off trying to swim through space!

Rachel: I know exactly what’s going through your head. You thought that if you killed Kirk… You thought I’d come back to you, right!? That’s what you thought! Right!?

Kato: Y… you!! You killed everyone!

Huey: I’d like to say that it isn’t hopeless, but given the circumstances…

This vessel uses an intelligent maintenance system, designation OD-10. Due to trouble with the system, the Computer’s logic circuits have been disabled. This should have no effect on normal activities, but if something that seems unusual occurs, please do not hesitate to ask a crew member about it.

It’s over. We’ve completely reset the system.

CRY-A-LIVE

!

Do you realize how many times during this chapter I wanted to make a joke about Darth clearly being the most likely to survive? I couldn’t do it because it would have spoiled this ending, but man was he the most competent character in this whole mess!

: There was a huge war. I can never forget that fear…

: Or rather, the Computers within their heads…

: Machines built by humans… We’re such a foolish species. I’m sure this ship’s Mother Computer simply gave up on us…

: Huey told you to learn. So that’s what you should do.

…“Another” human?

: Telling a robot to think? Heh, I guess I’ve really gone off the deep end…

No need to make fun of Egg’s height, Darth.

: Heh… Before I get off this ship…

Even though it hurts me on a spiritual level, we need to leave Darth hanging for a bit. This is our last chance to explore, after all.

First up, Kato’s had a chance to get his strength back.

: You stopped it, eh? Thanks, well done.

: I can’t believe that you’ve been such a big help…

This is really sweet, but I just noticed that no one has cleaned up Imitation Egg’s mechanical corpse yet.

If we go back to the Main Terminal, we can find what’s left of the Behemoth. More importantly, we can find a bit more information about our crew.

Any conflicts within the system to be resolved by Egg
Computer Capsule Password:
JUDGE

The quarantined Mother Computer can only run status checks and retrieve files now. The status check can be done without a problem, but the files, as implied by the option name, needs a password.

Surprisingly, OAKFDE turns out to be the actual password, not just a nonsense one made up by the Mother Computer.

Maintenance System Test Data
Crew Data
Evaluation

And there’s the last bit of info: the MC wasn’t just learning from the crew during this flight, it also had data from previous flights.

Now that all that’s done, it’s time to give Darth his coffee.

---

Kato manages to get actual medical treatment instead of just bed rest.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do for the rest of the crew.

For now, Darth and Egg will have to drift through space.

And wait for someone to find them.

XXXX En Route to Earth

XXXX Picked up while derelict near Earth

In the end…

Egg was finally able to reach Earth.

That’s it for all seven chapters everyone! I hope you’ve enjoyed them. Look for my text post on this chapter later today, followed by another text post looking at the game as a whole as I slowly turn this thread into Loaka’s Essay Corner.

[LoakaMossi]

Mechanical Heart

In a game full of experimental chapters, the Sci Fi chapter might be the most ambitious. Today, games that use player controlled pacing for a set narrative with minimal player interaction, such as “walking simulators” are an incredibly risky move. I have no real distaste for them, but a lot of the population seems to be downright allergic to the idea. Back in 1994, even setting up a single chapter to play like this would have been an odd choice.

Egg has a very small effect on the story as a whole. He carries out the climactic attack on the MC, but he never really pushes the story forward. He’s mostly along for the ride, with a couple of exceptions. While this can be frustrating for a lot of players, I think it’s a neat idea. There aren’t very many different kinds of plot. Creating a series of events that the audience has never seen before is nearly impossible. With that in mind, why not change the perspective, rather than the events? A lot of people have seen Alien, but why do we have to follow Ripley? Changing the protagonist changes how the audience sees the events and how they feel about the events. For example, if we were playing as Darth, this game would be completely different. It would not be a horror game, it would be the world’s easiest FPS. Live-A-Live has done this before by telling a Kung Fu story from the point of view of the Mentor rather than the Pupil, but this might be the more obvious example of perspective shifting.

But enough talk about concepts I only kind of understand, how do I feel about the characters? I don’t really like most of them! Kirk is obnoxious from the word go, Rachel goes from bland to hysterical, and Huey’s misery is almost comical after a certain point. Hol barely exists, so I hesitate to even count him as a character.

The rest of the characters, though, are all right in my book. Egg is pretty good at being a cute and lovable character. He doesn’t have much in the way of personality, but he’s fun enough to watch that it isn’t all that distracting. Kato is adorable, I don’t think Egg could have a better mechanic-dad. He doesn’t have much of an arc, but in a story this short he can get away with that. And, of course, Corporal Darth is my favorite character of this chapter. I love his redemption arc, I love his tragic backstory, I love that he really hates the rest of the military, I love that he manages to be aware of the kind of story he’s in without being obnoxious about it, and I love that he kills the Behemoth single-handedly. OD-10 is an interesting counterpart to Egg, but at the end of the day, it’s just a robot that learned to hate. It’s a good idea to have the antagonist resemble the protagonist in some way, but this chapter doesn’t do anything super interesting with the idea.

Overall, I put this chapter as the 6th best of the seven chapters. I really appreciate what the writers tried to do, but I don’t like reading a bunch of dialogue from unlikable characters, and I wasn’t really scared most of the time I was playing.

For one final time: What did you all think? Were you frightened by this chapter? Did you also find the characters grating, or did I just misunderstand them?

This post didn’t take very long, but my final text post will probably take a while. Look for it sometime this afternoon!

[LoakaMossi]

Alright, one more post, then I can stop spamming my thread.

The first cut has my thoughts on what Live-A-Live means to me:

Why an Anthology?

When reading, watching, or playing any kind of media, it’s important to ask “why?” There’s always a reason for why the writers did what they did and, even if it’s impossible to know for sure, it’s usually something work thinking about. When I made this thread, I sort of implied that these stories were conceived independently and then brought together for a single game rather than fleshing all of them out. While what little bits of the development cycle I know about sort of corroborate with this, I doubt that’s how this game came about. Think about how often a non-fantasy JRPG comes into existence; the odds of seven of them popping up around the same time from the same company just doesn’t seem likely to me. Instead, I’m going to assume that this game was conceived as an anthology from the ground up.

There are many reasons to arrange stories side-by-side in this manner. For example, Cloud Atlas uses six stories that interlock in a rather rigid and structural way to comment on how humans influence one another through their stories. Due to the freeform nature of Live-A-Live, however, I’m going to assume that the developers wanted to explore a theme in seven different ways. The order of the stories doesn’t matter at all, just the fact that they all exist in the same game matters. I think that Live-A-Live is an exploration of what it means to be a hero.

Let’s start with Bonk. Rather fittingly for a caveman, his motivation for his heroics is quite simple: to protect those weaker than him. This method is probably what we think of first when we think of a hero; someone who protects those that need protecting. Gori, Bel, and both of the tribes he encounters all need to be defended by him at some point. Of course, Bel and Gori bail him out of a few predicaments as well, but Bonk is the one who constantly uses his strength to protect those without it.

In contrast, O-D-O seeks to subjugate those weaker than him. Not only does he try to devour the Ku Tribe, he does so by forcing them to feed their members to him. He uses his strength only to take what he wants, and never once considers helping others. It really highlights what makes Bonk the hero of his chapter.

While there’s nothing wrong with protecting others, a lot of people take issue with the idea of relying entirely on someone else for the rest of their life. They don’t mind the help, but they eventually want to stand on their own two feet. That’s where the Puncha School of Kung Fu comes in.

The Puncha Master is obviously stronger than his pupils, but he does not try to shield them from threats. He actually can’t protect them, no matter how hard he tries. Instead, he tries to lift them up and make them stronger, not just in physical strength, but in strength of character. The Puncha Master is a hero because he helps others find the strength to become heroes as well.

Incidentally, the students’ character arcs really show that he takes this seriously and knows what he’s doing. Yuan becomes stronger and conquers his fear, but he never stops being meek and king. Sammo finds self-confidence, not through changing his body and slimming down, but by learning to accept his body the way that it is. Li learns how to make friends and integrate into society, but she never stops cursing or being generally abrasive. They don’t change who they are, they just overcome flaws that actually seem like personal problems rather than “flaws” as dictated by society.

What I’m saying is: Persona writers, you should be taking notes.

Contrast that with the way Odi Wang Lee treats his students. His army of grunts doesn’t receive any worthwhile training at all! The Tiger King doesn’t improve, and I doubt that anyone else in that school does either. His favorite pupils all have wildly different fighting styles, so it’s likely that he didn’t even train them himself. He just surrounded himself with people who were already strong because it would make him seem strong as well. The only member of the Yi Po Men School that seems to improve at all would be Lee himself, and he trains by being surrounded by assassins at all times!

Now, all of this goody two-shoes stuff is nice, but does a hero really need to be primarily concerned with others? Can a person be a hero while mainly thinking about himself or herself? According to Dwayne Takahara, yes.

Dwayne speaks to one other person during his chapter, and it’s not someone he wants to help or protect. Instead, Dwayne spends his chapter improving himself. It’s not that he’s rude to the people he fights, but he’s not particularly concerned with any of them. He’s upset that they’re murdered, but what really sets him off is Oldbright’s insistence that murdering them made him stronger. In the climax, he uses his newfound strength to bring down a threat to society, but we never see the society Dwayne is protecting. Dwayne is a study in the heroic nature of self-improvement.

Odie Oldbright, on the other hand, is some sort of cruel mockery of the subject. Rather than actually improve himself, he simply murders anyone close to his level of skill and pretends to be stronger because of it. It’s not a very complex commentary, but I think it’s effective enough. Dwayne gets stronger for the sake of being stronger, while Oldbright fakes his strength for the sake of looking stronger.

So far we’ve talked about heroism in interpersonal terms. But heroes can’t exist only in these one-to-one relationships. We’ve not even talked about family units, let alone nations. How does a hero operate in a national context?

We have two very different examples in the form of Bort, the playable protagonist, and Ryoma, the actual protagonist, from the Ninja chapter. While Bort is a member of a clan, he operates almost entirely as an individual. His moveset is meant to cover any kind of situation, he’s expected to complete his mission alone, and he gets to decide his own fate at the end of his story. Even when he cooperates within a group, he does so because it’s his choice. Ryoma, however, is a patriot, through and through. His first concern is the well-being of Japan and the people within it. His moveset is more limited and specialized because he expects to work with others. He cannot finish his mission on his own because he’s so used to operating within a group.

But despite these two being on opposite ends of the groups vs individuals spectrum, they don’t really clash a whole lot. They’re able to unite towards a common goal and, once that’s been dealt with, they’re able to separate or stay together as they please. They’re well rounded enough to know that they’ll both be needed, even if they disagree.

And then there’s Ode Iou, who stays in the middle of the road until he is run over. He wants to run a nation, but he only does so for his own benefits. He lives his own life, but he does so through the work of the people he subjugates. He has all the worst qualities of the two ideologies, and he suffers for it.

Speaking of individual agents, the Ninety Kid is as lonely as a loner can get. But his heroism doesn’t come from the fact that he’s alone. It comes from the fact that he chose to be alone.

The Ninety Kid can be a hero through his dedication and self-sacrifice. By sacrifice, I do not mean the loss of his family. That wasn’t a sacrifice, that was just tragic. What I mean was his sacrifice of any chance of returning to that lifestyle. He had money, and a lot of it. He could have blown into the next town over and started a new life without any problems. But he couldn’t bring himself to do that. Instead, he wandered the wilderness. While the hardship brought him renewed strength, to the point that his bounty was completely unobtainable, it brought him new complacency. He got too used to not caring. He had to sacrifice that lifestyle as well to protect the town he wandered into, which re-taught him that life was worth living. He’s only able to improve both his own life and the lives of others by giving something up.

O. Dio, in comparison, would represent pointless sacrifices. The best example of this would be his assault on the town; he can lose his entire crew without batting an eyelid. While he makes plenty of “sacrifices” it’s always other people who pay for them. As a result, he never gets stronger, he never makes relationships, and he pays for it in the end. By becoming the world’s angriest horse.

Now that at least one of my readers is thinking about Equivalent Exchange, it’s time to talk about the anime chapter. Shinji Tadokoro learns an important lesson in his chapter, but it gets a little drowned out by the way the plot kicks in with a vengeance in the third act. Shinji learns something every teenager should; how to deal with your emotions.

At first, Shinji tries to brush everything aside and act as a low-key edgelord. He refuses to acknowledge that his emotions even exist. Everything he does, he does to show up Matsu. But he never explains why he wants to do that. He’s just going through the motions of being a punk biker without any of the passion that needs to be behind it. Eventually, the events of his life force him to answer to his emotions. He rushes into the burning orphanage entirely for Taeko and Kaori’s sakes, not for his own self-aggrandizement. When Matsu succumbs to his overdose, Shinji feels every emotion at once. He’s glad to finally know more about his father, he’s mad that his best friend was responsible for said father’s death and lied about it, and he’s sad that he just lost his best friend. This allows him to fully tap into the anime clichés and effectively pilot Buriki Daioh. Shinji is only able to become a hero when he fully understands his own emotions.

While it’s not as obvious as the other chapters, Odeo and his followers serve as a foil to this. Odeo himself is a mindless beast that only cares about destruction, while his followers act only for the sake of amassing power, again, without any stated motive.

And finally, that brings us to the unlikeliest hero, Egg. As I mentioned earlier today, Egg doesn’t really act as a hero in his own story. He plays an important role, but Darth drives the story forward and removes the most immediate threat to the crew. What lesson can we learn about heroes from Egg?

Well, we can learn the importance of learning itself. Throughout his chapter, Egg learns both hard and soft skills from the crew of the Cogito Ergosum. He learns hard skills like making coffee and operating power tools, but he also learns how to make friends and how people can change for the better.

To better understand why Egg’s process of learning is important, we need to look at OD-10, who learned in the wrong way. While Egg learned what it means to be a human and how that’s beneficial to him, OD-10 took the worst lessons from humanity. Instead of trying to learn how to resolve conflicts after observing them, it just assumed that perpetual conflict was inevitable. Instead of learning how humans take emotions into account when making decision, it assumed that humans were irrational and unpredictable. In contrast, Egg practically became a human. Egg’s adaptability and ability to learn is what makes him a hero, at least in his heart.

Weirdly enough, there’s no hero who fights to uphold the law. Ryoma is close, but he’s fighting for the idea of a nation rather than the nation itself. You would think that a hero whose heroism comes from the authority of either the law itself or an executor of the law would be one of the first things put in…

Even if the developers had no intention of any of this, I hope that this little essay didn’t go too far into the land of wild assumptions. I’m not saying that this is the only way to read these stories or even a particularly good way, it’s just something that came into my head and made a whole lot of sense.

For the sake of full disclosure, this entire post was born from watching this video.

https://youtu.be/Naaz_JzTz_4

If you were interested by this post but wanted to see it done way better, check out that video.

At any rate, thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings! I hope that it was enjoyable. I’m worried that this is going to read more like deluded nonsense than a somewhat thoughtful analysis.

And the second cut has some general clean-up stuff. You can skip to this one if you just want to know what I haven’t covered in the game yet.

So, What Now?

As far as the game is concerned, I didn’t miss a whole lot. There are a few things from the Sci Fi chapter that I don’t think I covered, but that chapter has an absurd amount of details. If you do decide to try this game on your own, see if you can find something I missed!

But, I guess it wouldn’t be fair to bring this LP to an end just yet…

After all, there’s a whole other chapter I haven’t covered yet! The Medieval chapter is unlocked after finishing the other seven chapters. I’m open to name suggestions with six characters, letters only, but I have no problem using this Knight’s default name of Oersted if everyone is out of names.

[KingCarnival]

Brando for the name!