Live-A-Live -- Innocence and Sin

In 1994, the game company Square (now known as Square Enix) brought to life a masterpiece of a video game. Live-A-Live is an obscure RPG that unfortunately wasn't released in the United States for some reason or another. However, the game addresses many human questions.

The game starts you off by selecting one of seven scenarios for a moderate length chapter of a story: Ninja, Mecha, Caveman, Kung Fu, Sci-Fi, Cowboy, and Wrestler. Each of the chapters take place in varying timelines. As you play through the chapters, none of them seem to be related to one another in any way at all, which may seem like quite a bit of a turn off. However, after completing all seven of the stories, a final scenario is unlocked and the story is tied together dramatically. So what makes Live-A-Live different from any other RPG with different playable stories? That answer lies within the heart of each chapter, a message on the worth of humanity and life itself.

In the Cowboy chapter, the protagonist is pushed to protect Success Town from the gang, the Crazy Bunch; to the point where the man who is after the bounty on the protagonist's head and the protagonist team up. You witness the dreadfully mistrusting human interaction in the Sci-Fi chapter as a robot, forced to feel emotions as a hiding menace pits friend against friend; watching everything go wrong as the crew members distrust one another. The worth of human life is questioned when a clan of cavemen attempt to sacrifice a young woman to appease a lingering doom to retain survival. The government of the near future team up with a crime organization to attempt to achieve world peace at the cost of human life and the destruction of nature. An old Kung Fu master longs to pass down his technique to a worthy pupil, while a rival dojo attacks in pride, neglecting honor. A wrestler strives to become the strongest fighter in the world, challenging the strongest fighters to learn from them as he respects them. Somewhere between the lines, a knight learns of the cruelty of humanity and upon losing everything, lashes out in disgusted rage, his suffering stretching to the ends of space-time.
The themes of human worth shine through the characters and story of each chapter in the game. Live-A-Live accurately depicts both the sin and innocence of humanity through the characters' interactions and the choices each one makes.

"Animals may be ruled by instinct, but they do not take the life unless they need the food. You maggots however, you are different! You never tire of senseless destruction! I must teach you, I must teach you what it is like to be the vanquished!"