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Here and only here, the protagonist caveman Pogo can use his powerful sense of smell to track down the whereabouts of NPCs or enemies he’s looking for. In prehistory, for instance, language has yet to be invented, so all the storytelling brilliantly takes place with animation and imagery.
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Not only do the different chapters take place in different eras, but each one distinguishes itself with unique characters and mechanics to suit them. You can even pick one up, put it down, start another, and return to the first later if it suits you Live A Live will conveniently keep track of your progress in each story even if you save over a file, a feature I made a lot of use of as the discovery of numerous, fun hidden secrets prompted me to revisit chapters I’d thought I’d combed thoroughly. Whether they're remakes or original.On the surface, all of Live A Live’s seven vignettes are disconnected, and it largely doesn’t matter which one you start or end with. Which was why I was somewhat disappointed that there weren't really any interactions between them all in the final chapter, though for a SNES game that was originally released in 1994 I suppose that's understandable.I hope with Live A Live, and Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy previously, we get more games in the 2.5 HD style. Although all of the character scenarios play on classic tropes and clichés (Cube's scenario especially will give you strong ALIEN and 2001: A Space Odyssey vibes) it is all done very well and I enjoyed spending time with every protagonist. Could've used more character interactions and story moments.FINAL SCORE:8/10, Live A Live is a fun, classic JRPG that reminds me positively of Chrono Trigger and the older Final Fantasy games. PROS:-A fantastic musical score by Yoko Shimomura-Beautiful 2.5 HD world.-Seven Sizzling Short Stories with good themes and variationsPROS:-A fantastic musical score by Yoko Shimomura-Beautiful 2.5 HD world.-Seven Sizzling Short Stories with good themes and variations in gameplay-A classic SNES Remake done (mostly) right.CONS:-Some changes in the English localisation that feel more like censorship.-English voice acting is kind of bland.-Final chapter is somewhat "meh", mostly dealing with final boss and bonus dungeons.
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