I really enjoy the plot and setting for this chapter …
as for our robot friend I vote “Egg”
I really enjoy the plot and setting for this chapter …
as for our robot friend I vote “Egg”
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!
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…
In terms of general strategy, you’re better off just dashing up to the Crusader and bopping him on the nose.
Between you and me, I think he’s just imitating Matsu.
…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.
: Okay, here are Taeko’s panties as per request…
: 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…
: Cut it out!
…SpongeBob had better panty raid jokes than this.
(No Music)
A Painful Death at the Hands of a PSYCHO!
:Y-YOU!!
A Painful Death at the Hands of a PSYCHO!
: Why’re yez kidnappin’ folks!?
: I ain’t talking!
Oh no. Whatever shall we do.
: (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.
When you’re brother is psychic, you cannot afford to be a bad liar.
: I may not have an appointment, but…
: What’re you doing?!
A Painful Death at the Hands of a PSYCHO!
: (Hey, he’s kinda cute!)
: (W-what are the guards doing?!) / (I want a raise…) / (Wonder what the secret project is…)
: (He looks pretty dumb…)
I mean, I wouldn’t say she’s wrong. More importantly, we can check those lockers.
: Matsu!
Matsu finally joins our party outside of a battle!
: 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.)
…Kazu was almost in one of these tubes.
: Who are you?!
:Y-Yamazaki!
:Matsu!? So you finally…
: 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!
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.
(Music stops)
We’ll be dealing with the consequences of our actions next time.
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.
: 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)
: But you can’t…
: Heh… Us bikers don’t know the meanin’ of the word “impossible!" I mean, I’m Matsu…!
: (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?
(Psycho Bar)[http://tindeck.com/listen/qzwmp]
: What, you come here to laugh at me? Bah, I couldn’t do anything after all…
(Music Stops)
: Taeko…! Kaori!
: I’ll save them!
: I told you! It’s hopeless!
: I don’t wanna die!
: Shinji…!
: I’ll save Kaori! Get out of here!
And now we need to find Kaori.
: Ooooh… Shinji…
: Are you okay!?
(No Music)
: What is it?
: I-I’m sorry. I’ve been perfectly horrible to you…
: Of course!
: Reiko!
: Yoshikazu!
: He binged on Matango to heighten his senses and his spirit…
: You moron! You’re gonna get yourself killed!
(Music Fades)
: Huhf… huhf… huhf…
: 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!?
: By the graces of the army…!
: 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.
: You’ve come… Now! The Great Inko Buddha statue shall bring unto us salvation!
I, however, know better that to let a robot fight end like that!
(No Music)
: Huh…? Er… Okay!
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.
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.
OK, the update should be live for real now!
**Vessel Name – Cogito Ergosum
Vessel Type – Civilian Transport
Destination – Earth
Cargo – Alien life form
Crew – 5
Passengers – 1, military, in charge of cargo**
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.
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.
**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.
: --Please state your business–
: Good morning! I need to register a new crew member.
: --Understood–
: 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.
: 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.
: 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!
: Yeah! He’s called Egg.
: Eh? A… A… robot? Oh! You finally finished him?
: 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?
: I know all about you
You are the first robot that Kato completed
I look forward to working with you
: 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.
: 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.
: 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!
: 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.
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.
Welcome back! When we last left Egg, we had a few options for exploring the ship. Let’s start by meeting with Rachel.
: I’ve got a job to do in the cockpit.
: 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.
: Let me introduce you to a friend.
: Well then… The system checks out, so…
: 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.
: 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!
: …
: 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.
: Uh, Kato, before I forget, could you check out the air ducts?
: Sure thing.
Before we advance the plot, there are two things I want to do.
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.
: That’s odd…
: What’s wrong?
: The main antenna’s acting up.
: 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?
: 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!
: Okay then.
: OK. Kato, enter your password and switch it over to maintenance mode.
: Sure thing. Let’s see…
: Huh? Kirk? Is something wrong?
: D-don’t worry, it’s nothing.
: Are you all right?
: I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.
(Music Stops)
: …
: 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?
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!
: 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.
: 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.
: ”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…
: What’re you looking at me like that for? How should I know!?
: 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.
: 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.
: Remember what you saw in the infirmary? Come on, think rationally! It’s a damn shame, but the man’s dead!
: 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…
: 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…
In this case, however, it’s only dangerous for the characters.
: I-is… Rachel…?
: Don’t worry. She’s still alive.
: 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.
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)
: Very well, please stand by
Password confirmed
: 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.
: It… it won’t open!
: What are you doing!? Just break the goddamn lock!
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!?
Registration complete
Entry granted
: … 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!
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!
I’m not sure if that’s the only way to progress the plot, but it does work every time.
In the last update, I left a pretty obvious hook. I think it’s only fair that we address that now.
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.
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?
(Stardust Captain)[http://tindeck.com/listen/iiomf]
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.
: Wh… what the… What the hell!?
: That hunk of junk must have been the one that shut off Rachel’s capsule!
: Someone’s controlling this thing remotely!
: Do you mean to say that someone tampered with it!?
: 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!
: … Are you all right? … You want to know OD-10’s weakness?
: You should be able to get inside its program…
: Kato said you could get inside the Computer?
: Sheesh, to think that I’d be asking for help from a robot… Take this.
Hmmm…Something unimportant…
: … 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.
Now that we’re in a real fight, you know what that means!
The next technique, Anti-Field, is a counter, so I couldn’t get it to activate for a while. So next up:
I’m saving Info Research for last, so lets take a look at…
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…
It’s over. We’ve completely reset the system.
: 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.
: Heh… Before I get off this ship…
: You stopped it, eh? Thanks, well done.
: I can’t believe that you’ve been such a big help…
Maintenance System Test Data
Crew Data
Evaluation
Now that all that’s done, it’s time to give Darth his coffee.
XXXX En Route to Earth
XXXX Picked up while derelict near 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.
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!
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:
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.
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.
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.
Brando for the name!
Christ alive, I thought I was never going to get this update finished! Imgur decided to go to war with my computer, and I was not prepared!
I always like it when a work of fiction does something completely normal, but makes it feel so weird. Excuse me, Live-A-Live only has room for non-conventional JRPG settings! Get this faux-medieval nonsense out of here!
: In the West… Er… What’s your name again?
: And in the East…
: Now then, before the finals, a word from the King!
: Remember, to the winner…
: Now then, it’s Brando versus Straybow in the final match!
: To Brando goes victory, and the hand of Princess Alicia! In celebration of these two, on whose shoulders Lucretia’s future rests…
: Father overdid it a little at the feast, admittedly, but he’s happy to have an heir such as you…
: How is it that the Demon could have come back to life? We have little hope. The brave Hero Hash slew it last time… But he’s closed his heart now, and is living as a hermit in the mountains.
Hmm… I wonder who’s brave enough to face this danger…
: Thank you, Brando. I hereby proclaim you the new Hero! Please! Destroy the Demon, save Alicia and return peace to this fair land of Lucretia!!
: I’m counting on you, Brando! I believe in you!
Jeez. I’m pretty sure this guy has more dialogue than some of the chapters.
The minister fills us in on the rest of the legend.
: Brando! Take care!
: You must be the new Hero!
: That’s our Brando! So manly…! Tee hee!
: This sword has been handed down through many generations of my family. Please, take it.
: Go on! Destroy that Demon!
: Don’t let some nasty Demon get you down!
: This might come in handy…
: You like it? Go on, have another! Have as many as you like!
This Thing is an accessory that grants +1Vt. Since we don’t have a lot of accessory options, let’s go ahead and stock up.
: I gathered this in the southern woods…
: Save the Princess!
: I don’t have anything for you… Oh, wait, I know! How about this?
: Can’t really afford more than this, sorry…
: My sisters live in the village of Familia, to the southwest.
: It’s my treasure, but… Since it’s you, Brando, you can take it!
: It was a present from my woodcutter daddy!
: I-i-i-i-it’s Brando! Cooool!!
: I’m the woodcutter. I picked up some seeds out in the woods.
: The mountain in the southeast is known as Devil’s Peak. No one’s ever been up there except Hash and Uranus…
: I’m the woodcutter’s wife. Roundabout the time I’d left to bring my husband his lunch…
: Oh no, I’ve completely forgotten! Give me a minute… I’m going to be up ‘til three in the morning worrying about this if I can’t… Oh hey, wait, “three” reminds me of “tree,” so… Tree, tree… Oh, right! See, my husband brought that home, and… There’s an old man in a nearby village who spent all day sitting in the sun. Now, let’s see, what was the name of that village? Errr… I’ll think of it eventually…
: There’s a snowy peak to the West of here called Hero’s Mountain.
: We can’t fight, but we still believe that you can bring the Princess back!
: Please save the Princess… and all of Lucretia!
: Grownups are sneaky! They don’t fight, they just lay it all on the Hero!
Whew. That’s the lot of them.
: My son’s a huge fan!
:Are you really Brando?
Wow, we win one tournament and we already have a fan club!
: What a lovely day…
We’ve heard about this guy before, too. He’s that old man who likes sitting in the sun all day.
The other hermit is our new lead, for reasons that should be obvious.
(Music Stops)
: How do you know of this shield?
: So the Demon has come back…
: But afterwards, the kingdom had no use for him, and he was soon all but forgotten. Eventually, he hid himself in the northern mountains, and grew disgruntled…
: So then…
: That’s right… I’m the monk who fought alongside Hash all those years ago.
: Though rescuing the Princess is indeed important, I don’t wish to leave Hash as miserable as he is. If people can’t believe in others, then in what CAN they believe…?
: I still believe that Hash will change his mind!
Uranus’s last move is a counter, so it will be a while before we see it.
: You’ve grown weak, Hash. People are inherently weak, so they have to depend on those stronger than themselves…
: That’s how they grow strong. Fiercely strong…
Unfortunately, this isn’t enough. Hash still refuses to speak.
(Music Stops)
: Don’t get me wrong.
: Let us first visit the summit.
I realize the name makes that look like a joke, but I’m serious. It is never worth fighting. Even if you could kill it easily, running away would be quicker since it won’t be worth the EXP at that point.
Yeah, this chapter’s pace is breakneck fast compared to most Final Fantasy games.
(Music Stops)
Death Trail is listed as an “Evil” technique. As such, it has special properties when used on the incarnation of evil. It triggers a counter attack called “Barrier Burst.” This attack turns Hash to stone, which Uranus can easily cure, and lowers the Demon King’s Defense considerably.
(Music Stops)
This update contains a portrayal of a suicide. It is not any more graphic than the regular cartoony sprites, but it it still a suicide. If you do not wish to see it, it will be marked by another Trigger Warning banner so you know which specific part to skip.
: How pathetic…
: Hash…
: Hash this, great hero that… I’m tired of hearing it.
: So that wasn’t the Demon after all…?
: The true demon… is much stronger…
: Why did you come?!
: I… I may be old, but I am still a Hero…
: Hash…
(Music Stops)
That’s a pretty apt track title. A pair of heroes just lost their respective best friends, the Demon King is still around, and Alicia is nowhere in sight.
: Th… that’s right… You’re the new Hero, right? Brando! Please, save the Princess! Mighty Brando!
Brando is probably feeling a lot of things right now, but I doubt that “mighty” is one of them.
: The hero Hash and Straybow, too… So that means the true demon… And Alicia…
: You must be exhausted. Please, rest in the room to the left…
This has been a pretty full day. Brando could spend the next week sleeping this off.
(Music Fades)
(Silence)
Uranus isn’t waking up right now. If Straybow managed to make it out, we should go check on him!
: Who is it…?
: But now I’m starting to see why Hash hated people so much… But you know, Brando… You have nothing to gain by hating humans.
: You certainly seem to be… VERY strong.
: Father overdid it a little at the feast, admittedly, but he’s happy to have an heir such as you… Of course, I’m happy too.
: I’m just me, now. From this day forward, even more than Father… More than anyone…
Difficult Fight, or Awe-Inspiring Battle
Difficult Fight, or Awe-Inspiring Battle
Claustrophobia can cause knockback with her attacks, but there’s nothing uniquely threatening about her.
I didn’t record GIFs of them in action, but Brando starts learning Hash’s moves at this point. He starts learning them at level nine, with the last one learned at level sixteen.
: You’ve ruined everything! You always have! No matter how much I help you out, you always take more, more, more! Even in the tournament!
Amber Storm is a stronger version of Blue Squall that lays down damage tiles.
(Silence)
: Brando… Why… why didn’t you come for me…? I waited for you! Oh, how I waited…
If, for any reason, you would rather not view a suicide or listen to suicidal thoughts, please continue to the next banner.
The bodies will still be in shot. Unfortunately, that will be the case for the majority of the rest of the update.
(No Music. Low Rumbling that continues to grow louder as the memories progress.)
now we are getting to the part of the game that I simply do not remember at all! im excited
(Loud Rumbling)
Welcome back. When we last left our hero, he decided that he was sick and tired of being a hero. Brando, through methods unknown, has learned how to control these statues. As for what they do…
But that’s not all. Let’s say you are fighting a level 16 protagonist, and he starts to put you on the ropes. Do you have any options?
At the end of the Medieval chapter, you get brought back to this screen. If you select Brando, you get the events of this update. The game doesn’t actually require you to murder everyone you’ve played as up to this point.
Now that Brando’s story has been told, it’s time to pick our Finale Protagonist. Who’s going to lead the charge against the Demon King, Odio? We’ll be able to add any of the others to our party, but our leader is with us until the end of the game.
0 voters
And if you’d like a quick refresher on our old protagonists, check out the roster!
You thought it was Brando but it was me ODIO
Yes, I’ve been waiting the whole LP to make that joke.
… Oh that’s just terrible