The Live A Live remake came to PlayStation and PC last month, and the director of the oft-overlooked Square Enix classic is once again teasing fans with the possibility of a sequel.
Asked about the possibility of a sequel in a social media Q&A, director Takashi Tokita said that "if the Steam and PlayStation editions of the game can sell a million copies, then I would be very confident in proposing a Live A Live 2 to the company! So I need all of you guys help with that!" That's a pretty standard response to this sort of question, but it's a lot more specific than the last time Tokita referenced the possibility of a sequel.
How did the manga artists influence the worlds of Live A Live? Which extra era would the team love to add? Could there ever be a Live A Live II?Producer Takashi Tokita returns to answer more of your #LiveALiveQuestions!The game is out now on PlayStation 5, PS4, and Steam. pic.twitter.com/ukGAKNoRfAMay 24, 2023
Tokita and the rest of the devs on the original Live A Live collaborated with seven different manga artists - notably including Case Closed/Detective Conan creator Gosho Aoyama - to design characters for each of the game's seven eras. If a sequel happens, Tokia says "I think it would be great if we did not restrict ourselves to just manga artists, and could collaborate with all kinds of different creators from around the world on a new game."
One fan's question about additional time periods for the original game shows that Tokita has ideas for expansion, too - after all, a modern day setting for a game made now would look much different than the modern day of the 1994 original. "I think that a period based on the modern day of 2023 would have a very sci-fi or near-future feel to it, with internet networks and AI, et cetera. So I think it might be fun to have a 'real modern day' episode."
During a recent Famitsu interview (translation via Nintendo Everything), Tokita also recently revealed that "in the Nintendo DS era, we had tried to plan a sequel, but it was hard to display the passion of Live A Live fans to the company, and so we ended up in an impasse."
I never thought we'd be living in a world where Live A Live 2 seemed like a real possibility, but then I never thought we'd live in a world where the original Live A Live could get a remake. The original game was released only in Japan, but its HD-2D remake enjoyed a worldwide launch on Switch last year before coming to PC, PS5, and PS4 just a month ago.
The best JRPGs are timeless.
