My Favourite Live A Live Chapter is the One with (Almost) No Combat

In space, no one can hear electrifying JRPG battle music.

Live A Live doesn’t like to sit still. This classic Super Famicom JRPG—which was given a gorgeous HD-2D glow up in 2022—is split between several chapters, each focusing on a different time period and cast of characters. The focus of these chapters switches from cave men to cowboys and just about everything in between, essentially creating an interactive short story collection which may or may not be more interconnected than you first think.

What I really admire about Live A Live’s design is how each of its chapters commits to a unique gameplay premise which complements the story being told. The Present Day chapter is structured like a fighting game tournament as your character seeks to become the strongest warrior in the world. On the other hand, you’ll be setting traps throughout a remote town to protect it from an enemy charge in the Wild West story. A lesser JRPG would simply rely on the different settings to carry the burden of variety, while letting its gameplay fall into samey territory. Not Live A Live.

And then there’s the Distant Future chapter, titled The Mechanical Heart. A chapter that has the audacity to almost entirely remove battles from its gameplay in service of its narrative, tone, and, perhaps most importantly, themes. And I freaking love it.

The Mechanical Heart places you in the metallic shoes of Cube, an adorable maintenance bot who knows their way around a coffee machine and an arcade cabinet—life goals, am I right? They are aboard the outer space transport freighter Cogito Ergo Sum. Cube is joined by a crew of a half dozen humans, each of whom are keen to deliver the cargo and go home.

What’s the cargo, I hear you ask? Just the big, bad monster “The Behemoth”, with a name, look, and crunchy roar sound effect to make any retro Final Fantasy fan swoon.

It’s okay, though, because The Behemoth is totally secure inside the ship’s cargo hold. And nothing will go wrong, right? Yeah… no.

After some mysterious technical mishaps occur on the Cogito Ergo Sum, The Behemoth breaks free and begins wreaking havoc on the crew of the ship. What was once a simple delivery mission is now a fight for survival as the 16-bit equivalent of Mr. X from Resident Evil 2 threatens an instant game over around any corner.

The comparison to a horror game feels appropriate for The Mechanical Heart, as this chapter works hard to build its feeling of dread. Even before sh*t hits the fan, there’s still a palpable sense of unease lingering beneath the story. The characters have distinct personalities that don’t always gel with each other. Tensions nearly boil over between the maverick Kirk and the by-the-book Huey, while hardened military man Darthe does not take kindly to Cube being a part of the team.

The long, empty corridors of the Cogito Ergo Sum will have detractors labelling this chapter a “boring walking simulator”, but I found the level design to be intentionally claustrophobic and isolating to complement the story’s tone. And while other chapters in Live A Live are brimming with Yoko Shimomura’s scintillating soundtrack, the general lack of music in The Mechanical Heart feels incredibly stark by comparison.

All these elements work together to create an unsettling atmosphere worthy of any great science-fiction-horror/base-under-siege story. The cherry on top is that, once The Behemoth escapes and the crew members begin turning on one another, Cube has no way to fight back.

Live A Live’s turn-based battle system is almost entirely abandoned in The Mechanical Heart. Outside of an arcade mini-game and the final boss, Cube remains a helpless maintenance bot with zero fighting ability to combat the myriad of dangers around them. When you get chased by The Behemoth or need to navigate the humans’ increasingly erratic behaviour, you feel utterly powerless. All you can do is run away and hope you don’t fall victim to a ship literally and metaphorically falling apart.

It helps that this chapter is only roughly ninety minutes long. I can see how playing a JRPG with no combat and a lot of going up and down elevators could be infuriating if extended across several hours. But The Mechanical Heart wisely fills its short playtime with engrossing characters and an ever-looming peril that makes up for—and I’d argue justifies—its truncated gameplay.

Cube’s character arc reaches its apex when the small robot needs to save the remaining crew members by finally going into battle. While I won’t spoil who is behind the chaos on the ship—although, any seasoned consumer of science-fiction will cotton on to the real antagonist rather quickly—it’s unbelievably satisfying to have little Cube teach them a lesson after all the horrors they’ve committed.

The Mechanical Heart places strict gameplay restrictions on its playable character to make you feel helpless in the midst of a terrifying catastrophe. And even though it’s just one of many bold design choices made in Live A Live, it ranks as my absolute favourite.

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The Video Game Storyteller is a free Substack written and formatted by Harry Fritsch on the lands of the Jagera and Turrbal people, the Traditional Custodians of Meanjin (Brisbane).

All images were either captured directly by the author or sourced from publicly available promotional screenshots.

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