Line #1 Analysis/LiveALive


1	'''UNMARKED SPOILERS. Proceed carefully.'''
2	!!Time to Live A Evil
3
4	Each scenario in the game paints us a picture of the destructive hatred Odio wishes to unleash upon the world. Odio's hatred is explained by playing through Oersted's chapter. Oersted starts out as a noble, heroic figure. [[PlayerPunch The game shows us,]] [[DespairEventHorizon tragedy after tragedy,]] exactly how such a person can be turned evil - with enough hatred, anyone can be pushed to the other side. If Oersted can be pushed to the brink, what does that say about the rest of us?
5
6	The only time the player actually gets in on Living Evil is at the end of the game. Notice that the only time Odio could cast Armageddon on command was when the player themselves chose Oersted for the Final Chapter. This is meaningful as it goes into ''meta'' territory: the player agrees with Oersted, and humanity is not really worth fighting for. You've become evil too. The casting of Armageddon could now be completed.
7
8	[[OneHundredPercentCompletion Or you just really wanted to see that evil ending.]]
9
10	!!The Player and [[spoiler: Oersted]]
11
12	The most memorable chapter of this game is the 8th one, and for good reason, usually [[TragicVillain villains with tragic backstories]] are only told through backstories, we never actually see what they went through first-hand, [[spoiler:Oersted/Odio however, you saw Hasshe die, Streibough turncoat, the accidental regicide, Uranus performing a HeroicSacrifice, Alethea [[SpitefulSuicide committing suicide]] and more, and by the end of it [[FallenHero Oersted]] [[ThenLetMeBeEvil snaps,]]]] and offscreen by the time the Finale begins, he [[spoiler:killed everyone else in Lucrece.]] Was the Lucrecide he committed wrong? Yes. However, did you wish for it to happen? '''[[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Absolutely.]]'''
13
14	This is quite an interesting study of human nature, if the 8th chapter wasn't told at all and we cut straight forward to the Finale, would you sympathize with [[spoiler:Oersted]] at all? Probably not, what [[spoiler:Oersted]] shows is that the more sympathetic traits a villain is given, the more we may root for them, some players even said they want him to have a happy ending.
15
16	!!The Incarnations of Odio
17
18	As one commenter on a playthrough of Live A Live noted, each incarnation of Odio in some way represents an aspect of his personality and how warped and misanthropic he became.
19
20	Odo represents the belief that love can screw you over in the worst way possible. When Odio tried to win the love of the princess, he was cruelly rejected not just by her words, but her suicide to spite him, since he never considered her feelings in the matter. Odo, as a prehistoric monster, is seen being served cavewomen as a sacrifice, a means of preventing the tribespeople from being swayed by affection and falling to heartbreak.
21
22	Ou Di Wan Lee represents the belief that wisdom is not worth listening to. Odio ignored the advice of the two people who never once betrayed him. And from his perspective, it seemed like the one piece of advice he did heed turned out to be wrong. Ou Di Wan Lee thus works to destroy a rival dojo permanently in order to prevent its wisdom from being spread.
23
24	O. Dio represents the belief that companionship can only wear you down. While at first Odio believed the people of Lucrecia were good friends who respected him, it seemed all they really respected him for was as a warrior who could protect them, not as a person with his own agency. When he was framed, the people instantly turned on him, believing he was done serving them. While he did have a few true friends, they were all killed by unfortunate circumstances. Not to mention his supposed best friend turned out to be a traitor, and the woman he loved turned out not to love him back. When O. Dio was formed from the spirits of Custer's Seventh merging into the one horse that survived, he gathered together the Crazy Bunch as a two-for-one weapon, not just to torment villages directly but to show that any of them could turn traitor at any moment.
25
26	Ode Iou represents the belief that humanity is inherently selfish and greedy. While Odio believed in his best friend, the fact that he was always coming out on top in their competitions caused him to start turning arrogant and self-centered, which left his friend feeling bitter and resentful. So he ultimately betrayed Odio, even turning the princess against him. Ode Iou, as a fuedal lord, takes advantage of human greed by seeking to start another war, then taking over what's left when the dust settles, all just to prove a point.
27
28	Odie O'Bright represents the belief that anyone can become a monster when pushed too far. Despite trying to use his strength for the greater good, Odio was manipulated by his own flaws, had all his true killed, and right at his darkest moment, he had his love rejected. This caused him to snap and become the monster that everyone believed him to be. Odie was made a cold-blooded killer as a means of forcing sport fighters to sink to his level and use their strength to become killers as well.
29
30	Odeo represents the belief that there is no escape from fate. This was a belief that Odio had from the beginning, though at first it was in a more positive light, as he believed he was destined to become the kingdom's greatest defender. But things started to go wrong for him very quickly, yet even then he had a chance to back down and change his fate. Instead he kept pressing onward, believing fate would see his struggles rewarded. Instead, he found himself spiraling down the path of a hate-filled dark lord bent on destroying the kingdom. Thus Odeo manipulates the people of Japan to suffer from fate as well, deceiving them into converting into a sentient liquid to power himself.
31
32	OD-10 represents the belief that humanity is inherently cruel. Despite Odio giving his all for the sake of the kingdom, his mistakes were repaid in the cruelest ways imaginable. His arrogance regarding his friend caused him to be betrayed. He didn't see that the villagers only saw him as a tool, and when he tricked and decieved, they only saw someone having lost their usefulness and had him thrown in a cell to be executed. When he failed to understand the princess's feelings, she killed herself just to spite him. Thus OD-10 decides to repay cruelty with cruelty, releasing a dangerous alien beast on a helpless space station while trying to set up the inhabitants to kill each other.
33
34	!!The Seven Heroes
35
36	And yet when pitted against the heroes of each age, they each in turn prove how narrow-minded Odio truly is.
37
38	Pogo falls in love with Beru, and never once does she betray him, even falling in love with him as they spend time together. Pogo is actually shown understanding Beru's feelings, what simple feelings cave people can have this early in pre-history. And when Beru is kidnapped, Pogo immediately goes to rescue her, seemingly not taking very long. And Beru is overjoyed when Pogo does show up, showing that she never stops believing in him. In the end, Pogo's love for Beru doesn't screw him over. Instead, it gives him the means to bring two tribes together by slaying Odo, and shows through the first word spoken, "Love", that affection can be the strongest force of all.
39
40	The chosen student of the Earthen Heart Shifu, no matter which of the three is selected, takes their teacher's wisdom to heart as they seek to aid him against the Indomitable Fist. Lei Kugo in particular, when using her special skills, will proudly declare that the shifu taught it to her, showing she was paying attention to his wisdom. The chosen student takes this wisdom, along with the strongest skill of the Earthen Heart, and uses it to kill Ou Di Wan Lee, comdemning the Indomitable Fist to obscurity before going on to be a shifu in their own right, showing that wisdom can and should be listened to and passed on.
41
42	The Sundown Kid at first is something of a loner, having put out a bounty on himself for mistakes in his past. But when helping the people of Success against the Crazy Bunch, he finds they continue to believe in him, even when the bounty hunter Mad Dog reveals his past. By working with the villagers to take out the Crazy Bunch and working with Mad Dog to defeat O. Dio, Sundown proves that at the end of the day, companionship can do great things.
43
44	Oboromaru is tasked by his clan to free a political prisoner captured by the Ode clan, one with enough clout to prevent war. Between Oboromaru's own ability to go through the entire mission without getting human blood on his hands, or counting the kills he makes to remember them, and said prisoner's desire to see Japan freed, it's clear that Ode Iou's belief that he can create war is a pipe dream as he dies by both their hands.
45
46	Masaru Takahara's goal to become the best is to learn from the best, even through the act of fighting them. And it's clear from each of the six fighters he goes up against that they all at the very least respect him for his dedication. There's a comraderie of sorts between them, so while Masaru is more than willing to kill Odie O'Bright, it's not because he's sinking to the killer's level. It's because the man has belittled six great champions that Masaru is grateful to for helping him master the martial arts, and he's not about to let that slide. In the end, he doesn't become a monster. He becomes an avenger, and it's implied that Odie is both his first and last kill.
47
48	Akira Tadokoro has had a hard life, losing his brother, being ostracized as a delinquent, and having to deal with incredible psychic powers. But while fate seems to see him destined for the life of a punk, he prefers to make his own fate. And he does, in the best way possible. He becomes a protector of his home city on his own terms, not someone else's. This culminates in him piloting the mighty Steel Titan to destroy Odeo, pretty much giving fate the middle finger.
49

Context Analysis / LiveALive