History VideoGame / LiveALive

* ChekhovsSkill: At the end of the Imperial China chapter, the new master of Earthen Heart manages to split the rock on the mountain clean in half, which Shifu was unable to do himself. [[spoiler:This becomes a central mechanic in their dungeon in the Final Chapter, where you have break one to enter, then use the right skill to break the rocks blocking doorways inside.]]

** It's implied from his machinations and treachery that [[spoiler:Streibough]] is actually the [[spoiler:Lord of Dark of the Middle Ages chapter.]] It's shortly shown in the ending that [[spoiler:Oersted ''becomes'' the Lord of Dark.]]

** Not only is each chapter's end boss [[spoiler:named after some variation of the word "Odio", but in the remake, after their defeat, they expel a cloud of dark red energy as they die, suggesting that ''something'' is tying each villain together.]]

** The room before the Lord of Dark. A player could easily freeze in their tracks when they see [[spoiler:seven statues resembling each of the seven bosses prior to the Middle Ages chapter. This counts in-universe, too; ''every'' protagonist reacts with shock when they interact with their respective statue in the Final chapter.]]

** After [[spoiler:your chosen protagonist for the final chapter find themselves in the ruins of Lucrece, you're wandering around the area until you see a familiar face: One of the other protagonists.]]

** [[spoiler:It is all brought full circle in the Middle Ages chapter: After being betrayed by his best friend, the royals, and the villagers, Oersted gives up his humanity to become the Lord of Dark, Odio, with the intent to destroy humanity in every time period for the final chapter, and even beforehand, after Hasshe's initial victory against the first Lord of Dark, the people and the kingdom only cheered temporarily before forgetting his deeds and heroism, causing him to seclude himself as a hermit in disgust of the people.]] The counterpoint: [[spoiler:That one kid still believed Oersted till the end, even after Oersted-as-Odio subjected him to a FateWorseThanDeath.]]

** Akira mentions that he gained the power to move objects without touching them. However, none of his attacks in combat involve using telekinesis, nor does he use it in any cutscenes, making this ability an InformedAttribute. The InformedAttribute part is removed in the 2022 remake art which depicts Akira telekinetically holding some stationary. After the first fight in the remake's Near Future chapter where Matsu drops Akira off at the orphanage, Taeko gasps on how Akira got into another fight and how his shirt got ruined. However, [[NoShirtLongJacket Akira doesn't actually wear a shirt.]]

*** In the remake, one of the [=NPCs=] will declare that [[Videogame/SleepingDogs a man who hasn't eaten a soup dumpling is never a full man]].

** True Ending: [[spoiler:Choose anyone except Oersted as the final protagonist, recruit all the other characters at least once, and refuse to execute him when prompted after his boss fight. After a BossRush against all of his reincarnations, Oersted and the final protagonist share some words before sending everyone back to their original times with his last breath. In the remake, following the boss rush, Oersted, out of frustration, absorbs even more hatred into himself to summon the TrueFinalBoss, Sin of Odio, culminating in a fight in which all heroes participate (including Oersted, who redeems himself at the last second and delivers the final blow).]]

** In the Distant Future chapter, the release date for Captain Square is September 2, 1994, the release date of the Super Famicom version of the game.
** The designs of the Near Future cast heavily resemble the ones provided in Kazuhiko Shimamoto‘s doujinshi retelling of the chapter’s events, particularly Taeko. The Steel Titan also has new animations for its attacks based on their manga depiction, such as Marduk's Rage deploying missiles from its jetpack and the Halogen Lasers being emitted from the red pads on its forearms.

** Trial of Keys: Oboro's trial and a similar case to Pogo's and the Earthen Heart Master's. The trial can be entered by anyone but Oboro is needed for a ninja enemy called Shadows to spawn as they drop keys that are needed to proceed. If a key is obtained, Oboro is removed from the party and the party returns to the Trial of Keys, the party members cannot use the keys themselves and require Oboro to unlock the doors.

** [[spoiler:Oersted, now Odio, went on one offscreen sometime after the end of his chapter. What happened exactly is never specified except for the fact that it ended in the deaths of every human in Lucrece.]]

** If you killed all 100 people in Ode's castle, the sky suddenly '''darkens''' with black clouds covering the morning sun, and a strong thunderstorm starts while the narration simply states the number of lives you've taken. This suggests that the 100 murders you committed '''will''' weigh heavy on Oboro's conscience and implies that what you did '''will''' have dark consequences for the future of Japan.

** [[spoiler:The remake adds an extra phase to the final boss in the best ending; after the boss rush, Odio's hatred will coalesce into the Sin of Odio in one last gambit to prove his viewpoint, forcing the party to fight it, with all seven heroes and Oersted himself joining in the battle.]]

** One of the healing items in the Middle Ages chapter, the Alice Biscuit, is meant to be a ShoutOut to Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland, a 1865 novel. The medieval times lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries.

** In the Near Future chapter, the Japanese Army are at the beck and call of Yamazaki to prevent Steel Titan from stopping the advent of Odeo where many humans are horribly liquefied.

* ArtificialStupidity: The combat mechanics of this game, among other things, requires you to not just use the right move at the right time, but be in the right position to not only avoid attacks, but deal attacks of your own. The AI is quite bad at this, rarely moving enemies out of the way of your potential attacks and/or moving them in position for their own strongest attacks- which becomes painfully obvious when [[spoiler:[[RoleReversalBoss you control the final bosses]] in Oersted's version of the Final chapter, which not only allows said bosses to take advantage of your quite superior tactics but makes the protagonists victim to the game's Artificial Stupidity.]]

** [[spoiler:Alethea as a spirit in the Dungeon of the Mind gives Akira his best weapon and finally gets the team out of the dungeon, which formerly had no exit. Streibough also, to a lesser extent, but only as far as [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizing just how much his jealousy cost Oersted and the world]].]]

* AwkwardSilenceEntrance: Given that it's such an iconic trope for westerns, of course the Wild West chapter would use this trope; the moment the Sundown Kid enters the Crystal Saloon, a deafening silence suddenly forms... except for one mariachi that keeps obliviously singing and has to be silenced by his partners.

* BattleThemeMusic: Every chapter has its own fight theme - "Kiss of Jealousy" for Pogo, "Clash in China" for the Earthen Heart Shifu, "To Arms!" for Oboromaru, "The Wilds" for Sundown, "Knock You Down!" for Masaru, "Playing with Psychos" for Akira, and [[spoiler:"Heroic Struggle" for Oersted]]. (Cube never gets into a random battle in his chapter, unless you count the [[GameWithinAGame Captain Square]] theme for his chapter's substitute. [[spoiler:During the BossRush where the boss fights use the normal battle theme instead of "Megalomania", the OD-10 fight plays "Unseen Syndrome".]]) Chapter bosses all share the same theme, "Megalomania". [[spoiler:Which is not the only thing they share.]] This culminates in [[spoiler:the Final Chapter, [[LastEpisodeThemeReprise where the main battle theme is the title theme]].]]

* BigBadDuumvirate: In the Near Future chapter, [[spoiler:the army commander Yamazaki, the temple head Unryu, and the professor Livingstill]] team up to revive the god [[GreaterScopeVillain Odeo]].

** The Near Future chapter ends with the BigBadEnsemble defeated and their plans ruined, but [[spoiler:Lawless died due to his overdose, Kaori's condition is still unclear as she's still bedridden and Watanabe presumably still doesn't know that his father was [[ReforgedIntoAMinion turned into the now-destroyed LH Combat Unit W1]] and won't be coming back as well as 2,000 innocent people were liquefied for Odeo's revival. Meanwhile, Akira takes over Lawless' taiyaki stand which has increased in popularity and inherited his motorcycle, but Steel Titan now lays dormant as Akira is unable to reactivate it at will.]]
** The Distant Future chapter. Cube managed to [[spoiler:defeat OD-10 and shuts down her higher functions]] and at the same time Darthe kills the Behemoth, ending its threat. [[spoiler:Sadly only three of the characters survive and make it back to Earth (Cube, Darthe, and Kato) while Kirk, Huey, Rachel, and Hor are dead due to OD-10 going haywire. Notably, this chapter is the only one to have the sombre "Cry A Live" theme playing during the credits.]]

** Akira (in the voiced remake as well) naturally starts doing a LOT of attack calling once he gets his hands on [[HumongousMecha the Steel Titan]]. Though he'll sometimes start quoting the mech's BraggingThemeTune instead, which works just as well.

** Finally, Creator/YuuichiNakamura's role as Oersted is most likely an [[{{Irony}} ironic gag]] over his role as ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, aka Steve Rogers, from the Japanese dubs of the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' (not to mention Creator/SquareEnix themselves just had [[VideoGame/MarvelsAvengers an Avengers-based game in the recent years]], though they had different voices there, so they resorted to the more mainstream-based Cap dub voice), since Captain America had very similar traits with Oersted, except that everything that he represents ''is twisted beyond recognition'' at the end of his scenario.

* ClockPunk: Karakuri ningyo are a surprisingly old Japanese craft, as Clockwork Gennai's creations are this and himself appears to be a primitive {{Cyborg}} with this level of technology. The Mimic Mammet takes the cake though, being a PaletteSwap of Oboromaru unless he breaks, which reveals his mechanical parts.

* DoubleMeaning: In the [=PlayStation=]/Steam trailer, the description for the Middle Ages chapter is [[spoiler:"A Demon King and a '''Hero''' True". This can be easily read in the context of "the villain versus the hero", but this also describes Oersted perfectly in the remake, who ''[[FaceHeelTurn becomes]]'' said Demon King, but he ultimately prevails as a hero in the end by slaying Sin of Odio.]]

** [[spoiler:[[GoldenEnding The Best Ending]]; Odio is defeated, and Oersted realizes his wrongdoings before [[DyingAsYourself dying as himself]] and being allowed to rest in peace. Each of the characters are returned to their respective times and are shown living happily afterwards.]]

* EvolvingTitleScreen: The opening montage of the remake's title screen changes depending on your progress. [[spoiler:After completing the Middle Ages chapter, the final shot of Hasshe's grave is replaced with the Middle Ages heroes facing off against the Lord of Dark. Completing the game adds a shot of Oersted within Sin of Odio framed inside the "A" of the title and replaces the end screen overlooking Lucrece Castle with one featuring the seven heroes looking over it as well.]]

** Remake-Exclusive Best Ending: [[spoiler:Choose anyone except Oersted as the final protagonist, recruit all the other characters at least once, and refuse to execute him when prompted after his boss fight. After a BossRush against all of his reincarnations, Oersted out of frustration absorbs even more hatred into himself to summon the Sin of Odio. After a fight in which all heroes participate (including Oersted, who redeems himself at the last second and delivers the final blow), Oersted and the final protagonist share some words before sending everyone back to their original times with his last breath.]]

** [[spoiler:Oersted, now Odio, went on one offscreen sometime after the end of his chapter. What happened exactly is never specified, but this ended in the deaths of every human in Lucrece.]]

->''For [[ThePowerOfLove Love]], For [[PassingTheTorch Legacy]], For [[PowerOfTrust Honor]], For [[RedemptionQuest Redemption]], For [[ToBeAMaster Growth]], For [[ThePowerOfFamily Family]], For [[HumansAreFlawed Humanity]], For [[HopeSpringsEternal Hope]].''

* {{Antepiece}}: In the remake's Twilight of Edo Japan chapter, entering the rafters room above the front gate for the first time shows a short cutscene where a mouse gets spooked, runs over the trapdoor in the middle and falls down it, to show the player what happens. (It kicks you to the start of the castle.)

* NothingIsScarier: The Distant Future chapter is largely devoid of music outside of the [[GameWithinAGame Captain Square mini-game]] and the chapter's climax boss, and there's only five human characters in the chapter, [[DwindlingParty which slowly dwindles as the chapter goes on.]] This is on top of the chapter taking place in a largely empty spaceship with a dark and oppressing atmosphere. There is only one enemy on the ship; and it's an InstantGameOver if it catches you. Naturally, this is the game's horror chapter.

*** Decking yourself out in [[Franchise/KamenRider Rider accessories]]. Besides its namesake, it's just full of lovingly corny, Japanese retro sci-fi in general. The opening, with a black screen before two eyes appear is straight out of the original manga for ''Anime/MazingerZ'' and ''Anime/ShinMazinger'' with Akira's question [[BreakingTheFourthWall towards the player]] is near-identical to Kouji's own question except asking what [you] would do if you could read minds instead of piloting a giant robot. The climax of the chapter even has [[spoiler:Steel Titan rising out of the park lake which parts in half, just like the original intro of ''Mazinger Z''.]]

** Promotional materials for the Switch remake prominently show [[spoiler:the secret Middle Ages chapter and its protagonist, plus scenes from the final chapter which reveal the heroes are eventually going to team up. One prominent scene for Oersted in the trailers is him confronting Streibough at the end of his chapter, although his identity is partially obscured in shadow, his voiced line in this scene indicates he was a friend of Oersted]].

** [[spoiler:Oersted (a silent protagonist) speaking at all]] is the start of this, with the ending line [[spoiler:confirming the "Odio" theming with the other chapter bosses.]]

*** When Darthe introduces Cube to the Behemoth, he guesses that the military wants to study it for combat purposes and turning it into a weapon, all in a unenthusiastic tone. This hints that he doesn't really care about [[spoiler:following his orders to prioritise its survival above everyone else even if it goes on a rampage, and has no qualms about killing it in justified self-defense.]]

*** In the remake, each of the chapters of the seven eras have titles that are themed around their specific protagonist. [[spoiler: Only the Middle Ages chapter has the AntagonistTitle named after the main villain known as The Lord Of Dark. Further hinting that not only does the main villain have more to do with the plot of the overall game, but also the fate of the hero himself.]]

*** Completing a chapter in the remake unlocks its set of songs in the Jukebox feature. Megalomania, the chapter boss fight theme, is unlocked from the start and is included among the basic themes of the game. The overworld Leitmotif of said bosses, Odio, the Lord of Dark, is not. That's because it's unlocked by completing the Middle Ages chapter, [[spoiler:the chapter that explains Odio's origins thoroughly, and is positioned in that chapter's library]].

* GameWithinAGame: Captain Square in the Distant Future chapter, which provides the otherwise-absent battles in other chapters. [[spoiler:The arcade machine itself is what Cube needs to face the Mother Computer OD-10.]]

** Death Prophet can be defeated easily when you hit him on the tail. When you do, he may unleash an attack called "Not the tail!", which will deal minor damage to the attacker, but deals 999 HP to himself, killing him outright (he only has 960 HP).

** Twilight of Edo Japan: Watanabe the Thief is killed by a Samurai after trying to get a stash of valuables, unless Oboromaru had killed said Samurai prior, so he's instead successful and presumably alive during and after his escape.

* ClockPunk: Karakuri ningyo are a surprisingly old Japanese craft, as Clockwork Gennai's creations are this and himself appears to be a primitive {{Cyborg}} with this level of technology. O-Robo takes the cake though, being a PaletteSwap of Oboromaru unless he breaks, which reveals his mechanical parts.

** First is [[spoiler:Odio's face, the FinalBoss of the original game. It consists of the Brow of Odio, two Eyes of Odio, and the Maw of Odio. Only the Eyes and the Maw attack, with the Brow being nearly invulnerable and countering with a full-field heal/buff to the other parts if it gets hurt. Once the Eyes and Maw are killed, the Brow shifts into Purity of Odio and fights alone for its second phase]].

* CrapsaccharineWorld: The city in which the Near Future chapter takes place. A lush park with a food stall, an OrphanageOfLove, marvelous inventions and such... but there's a biker gang kidnapping people, a bar full of drunk punks, [[spoiler:and a trio of conspirators planning to summon a false god.]]

** The Near Future chapter starts off as a somewhat hilarious playable concept of a mecha anime series starring a StockShonenHero with psychic powers who can help a local biker run a taiyaki stand and both beat up thugs for fun, and the resident AbsentMindedProfessor takes care of said mecha while coming up with several chaotic ideas. Then you get to the Tsukaba Facility and [[spoiler:the plot's tone drops off of a cliff when Akira discovers the [[BodyHorror liquefied humans]] who were part of the kidnapped 2,000 civilians mentioned earlier, and the conspirators are running an AssimilationPlot to summon the evil god Odeo. Even if the good guys win in the end, Akira's best friend and father figure is now dead alongside 2,000 people who won't be going back to their families.]]

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: There are multiple in the Final chapter; the most notable example is the guardian of the Dungeon of Strength, who only appears if Masaru is in your party.

** The Near Future gives Akira [[RobotBuddy Taroimo]] as a permanent sidekick, while [[BadassNormal Matsu]] comes and goes until the climactic dungeon.

* HeroicSpirit: Deconstructed. Yes, the sheer willpower of the seven protagonists is what saves the day in their stories, some of them having to discover that spirit first. [[spoiler:Then you get to Oersted, who already fully believes in Heroic Spirit, but in his case it's more pessimistic -- '''everything''' that can go wrong [[FinaglesLaw does go wrong]]. That he ultimately ends up as [[EldritchAbomination Odio]] is a testament to how utterly ''broken'' he was by the end.]] But then reconstructed, [[spoiler:when Oersted summons the other seven protagonists to prove his point... and said protagonists' HeroicSpirit save the day and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Oersted gets reminded on how he couldn't win by not shaping his spirit well enough.]]]]

* HotBlooded: Fittingly, both Akira and Matsu. Masaru doesn't talk much, but he reveals his nature to fit this in a particularly epic moment at the end of his chapter.

* InvisibilityCloak: Oboro gets one of these in his chapter, which can be used by holding down Y. Intangibility Cloak might be a more accurate term, though; while it's active, Oboro can't move, but enemies on-screen can't see him and will move ''through'' him. Apparently he was also given two more as spares, which get used by the Prisoner and O-Robo.

** Pogo has Bing Bang Boom[[note]]Dodegesden[[/note]], a close-range, no-charge blunt move where he repeatedly clubs an enemy for ludicrous damage, but is inflicted with heavy stat debuffs for a while after using it.
** The [[spoiler:new Earthen Heart Master]] has Heavenly Peaks Descent[[note]]Xuan Ya Lian Shan Quan[[/note]], a spirit-element attack that deals heavy damage with no charge time or drawbacks. This is originally learned in the Imperial China chapter, where it can only be used once against the chapter boss, but upon being re-learned through leveling it can be used without limit.
** Oboromaru has Death Blossom[[note]]Bronze Leaf[[/note]], a spinning slashing attack that covers a wide area and debuffs attack and defense. In addition to leveling up, it can also be learned early by offering 10 Koban to the talking pot in the Twilight of Edo Japan chapter.
** The Sundown Kid has Hurricane (Shot), which has a lengthy charge time but lets him fire a ridiculous amount of wind-element bullets at anything in its target area.
** Masaru has Worldbreaker's Wrath[[note]]Earth-Rending Fury[[/note]], an earth-element earthquake and one of his only area-of-effect techniques. He can learn it early via Jackie Iaukea if certain conditions are met to make him use it. Oddly, Mimic Mammet can also learn the skill if it reaches level 16 or the Koban pot is used.
** Akira has Judgement Day[[note]]Holy Image[[/note]], a divine area-of-effect that deals middling damage but has a high chance of inflicting every debuff and multiple status ailments, including petrification.

** Beru in the caveman chapter has really low stats and it's generally up to Pogo and Gori to keep her safe. [[MagikarpPower Until she hits level 7 (or level 6 in the remake)]] and learns "Sing Hurt," which can potentially OneHitKill the chapter boss.

* RobotBuddy: Cube. Unusually for the trope, he is also the main character of his chapter, but he's still Kato [[spoiler:and Darthe]]'s friend.

* RoomFullOfCrazy: [[spoiler:Upon Kirk's death, Rachel takes to dragging his corpse into her room and laying it in her bed, pretending he's just sleeping. There's also a crazy text document draft readable on her computer terminal.]]

* SuperRobot: Steel Titan, in the Near Future chapter.

** If you check the files at the Robotics Facility in Akira's chapter, you'll find a file detailing the Crusaders gang you've been fighting, which also reveals its founder as [[spoiler:Kenichi Matsui]].

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Akira's psychic powers (except for his healing) have to be charged before attacking, and most are focused on StatusEffects and debuffs rather than raw damage. To add onto the [[QuirkyBard spooniness]], he starts off with having the worst health out of all the playable characters which significantly adds to the difficulty of completing his chapter. The remake does buff his stats a bit though and some of the charging time is shortened or made instant.

->''For [[ThePowerOfLove Love]], For [[PassingTheTorch Legacy]], For [[RedemptionQuest Redemption]], For [[PowerOfTrust Honor]], For [[ToBeAMaster Growth]], For [[ThePowerOfFamily Family]], For [[HumansAreFlawed Humanity]], For [[HopeSpringsEternal Hope]].''

* JokeCharacter:

* JokeCharacter: Akira starts off with having the worst stats out of all the playable characters which significantly adds to the difficulty of completing his chapter. The remake does buff his stats a bit though.

* VillainTeamUp: At the end of the Cowboy chapter, [[spoiler:if the Sundown Kid doesn't kill Mad Dog, after he leaves Success Town, he encounters his rival again in the desert, who's now riding O. Dio, reverted back into his true form of a horse. It's almost immediately subverted when the Sundown Kid shoots Dio's reins, causing him to buck Mad Dog off and run off into the desert, forcing Mad Dog to chase after him. Completely subverted in the GoldenEnding where this happens, where Mad Dog presumably makes amends with Sundown and manages to keep O. Dio.]]

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Ghosts, traps, yokai and giant fish don't add to Oboromaru's kill count so in a PacifistRun you'll need to grind out these enemies to level up high enough to beat the bosses. [[spoiler:Ode Iou turns into the Gamahebi demon at the end, which is definitely off the human kill list.]]

** If you check the files at the Robotics Facility in Akira's chapter, you'll find a file detailing the Crusaders gang you've been fighting, which also reveals its founder as [[spoiler:Matsu Kenichi]].

* PacifistRun: One of the possible ways to beat the Twilight of Edo Japan chapter.

* YourSizeMayVary: Most human or humanoid bosses, with the exception of playable characters like Streibough or Mad Dog, have sprites that tower over your characters. However, in the overworld, they are no bigger than a normal person with the same build as them.

* SapientShip: Cube's chapter has the Cognito Ergo Sum; [[spoiler:also AIIsACrapshoot]].