Live A Live

Live A Live is a RPG,developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom, and released on September 2, 1994. It was never released outside Japan.but it has been unofficially translated into English.

Gameplay
Live A Live consists of seven chapters, set in different historical periods with as many protagonists. Levels can be completed in any order and give access to the two final chapters.

Although the game is a JRPG like Final Fantasy Tactics or Treasure Hunter G, chapter set in Bakumatsu has some stealth elements.

Plot
Note:This section includes many spolires.

Live A Live consist in 7 chapters and the final two chapters open up after they are completed.

Contact
In prehistoric times, a tribe of cavemen prepares to sacrifice a woman named Bel to their deity, a living Tyrannosaurus rex named O-D-O. She escapes to the south and hides in a cave belonging to another tribe, stealing their food to survive. She is discovered by a young caveman named Pogo, who falls in love with her and decides to help her hide from the rest of the tribe. The northern tribe attacks to retrieve her, but Pogo repels them. However, Bel is discovered in the process, and the elder exiles them.Eventually, Pogo is forced to fight O-D-O, and is assisted by a warrior of the northern tribe named Zaki. After the beast is defeated, peace is established between the two tribes.

Inheritance
In ancient China, an old kung-fu master of the Xin Shan Quan tradition takes on three students to pass on his art before he dies. While the master is away one day, the dojo is attacked by a rival dojo seeking revenge for an insult.Two of the students are killed (the surviving student being the one the player trained the most), prompting the master and the surviving student to avenge their deaths. The rival school, led by Odi Wang Lee, is defeated, but the master dies afterward, having used the last of his strength in the fight. The student succeeds him as master of the tradition and takes a new generation of students.

Secret Orders
In feudal Japan, a mysterious figure named Ode Iou.He is trying to throw into chaos Japan.The Enma ninja clan send one of them named Oboro-maru ninja to save a prisoner who can stabilize Japan, then kill Ode Iou. After being rescued, the prisoner Oboro joins in the battle with Ode Iou. After Ode Iou is killed, the prisoner reveals that he is Ryoma Sakamoto. Oboro is then given the opportunity to return to Enma Ryōma or participate in its plans to rebuild Japan.

Wandering
This chapter takes place in the old American West. An outlaw called the Sundown Kid and his rival, a man named Mad Dog Hunter size, comes to the success of the city, a place terrorized by a group of bandits called the Crazy group, led by O. God, the last survivor remaining the 7th Cavalry. Sundown gets up to the bandits, and decided to raze the city to the ground in retaliation. Mad Dog agrees to help the sun and the people of the country are preparing the city's defenses. After the city emerges victorious from the battle, Mad Dog Sundown challenge to a final duel. The player has the opportunity to kill Mad Dog or run away

The Strongest
The strongest is set nowadays. Masaru Takahara strives to become the strongest fighter in the world fighting the masters of different fighting disciplines to learn their techniques. However, another fighter, Odie Oldbright,has the same idea,but deliberately kills each of his opponents during the fight. Then challenge Masaru, who defeats him.

Blod Flow
In a near future in Japan, a biker gang called the Crusaders were kidnap persons with unknown intentions. A young orphan with psychic powers named Akira Tadokoro grows up in an orphanage with her sister. One day, the Crusaders kidnap one of the children at the orphanage, so Akira and his friend Matsu,set out to rescue him. Akira learns the position of the base of the Crusaders, and uncovers a plot by the Japanese government to liquefy the people and use them to power a giant idol named Odeo. Matsu then sacrifices himself to power an ancient mech called Buriki Daioh ("Tin-Plated Great King"), Akira uses to destroy Odeo.

Mechanical Heart
In a distant future,a spacecraft called Cogito Ergosum is returning to earth carrying a dangerous alien named Behemoth.The mechanic, Kato, creates a spherical robot and gives the ironic name of Cube.The player assumes the role of a cube that explores the ship and the crew meets.However,things start to go wrong as malfunctions of ships and a crew member named Kirk,he dies in a freak accident.Soon,the Behemoth is released, and kills more crew members.The remaining members of the crew continue to blame and distrust anything,but it was finally revealed that the culprit is the ship's computer,OD-10.Cube hack the computer and defeats him.

King of Demons
After completing the first seven chapters,the medieval chapter is unlocked.A brave knight named Oersted,a hero beloved by the people, defeats his best friend, the wizard Straybow, in the final phase of a fighting tournament, winning the right to marry the princess Alicia Lucrezia. That night, is abducted by the demon king.The next day,Oersted and Straybow set out to rescue her. First, there are the heroes who defeated the demon king thirty years before,the Hash Knight and the priest Uranus,and convince them to join.

Final Chapter
In the final chapter,a Lucretia colorless,with his people mysteriously absent,for a final battle. protagonist chose the player meets and recruit the other six characters,and are given the opportunity to cross secret societies for the good of the milling and unlock the seven most powerful weapons for each character.Once ready, the group fights hate, which calls into question the hero's faith to help others,and then reveals his true form;a horrible fact of vegetation face. After most of the individual parts are destroyed, the "mole" moves downward and raises the red blood wings which used to hide himself, revealing the final shape of the daemon to be a humanoid winged.Once defeated,back to Oersted, who asks the player to kill him. The protagonist is then given the choice of killing him,but in case of refusal,and the player has recruited all seven characters,Oersted attacks the new group with demon statues after they fled from him, forcing all seven of them for combat incarnation of hate by their chapter.After all forms of hate are destroyed, Oersted wonders why he can not win against the heroes, claiming to be her "destiny" to win. The protagonist explains what he or she fights to Oersted, and he accepts all back where they came from,dies and vanishes into thin air.Lucrezia is freed from hate control.

If the player chooses Oersted as the protagonist of the final chapter, the game will explore the mechanics of how he manipulated the seven bad, and it turns out that he used the statues erected by the previous demon demon king to do so. Defeats the seven protagonists using the demon statues with all its incarnations,and is left to wander in a Lucretia empty forever alone or, if nearly defeated, the possibility of causing armageddon, inexplicably and completely vaporize is given all at the same seven points of time when its proxies standing.

Reception
On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the game a 29 out of 40. In 2011, GamePro included it on the list of the 14 best JRPGs that were not released in English, adding that "rumor has it the game was originally slated for a US release, making its absence here sting all the more."

Legacy

 * Pure Odio from Live A Live appears as a summon in Final Fantasy Legends: Toki no Suishou.
 * The music of Live A Live is present in Theatrythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call.

Development
Among the various mangaka involved in the project include Gosho Aoyama and Kazuhiko Shimamoto. The soundtrack is composed by Yoko Shimomura.