Developer: Nextech Publisher: Sega Released: 1996 Genre: Action Rpg
This one is embarrassing for me. I bought Linkle Liver Story back in 2000 as it looked like an interesting title. But after ogling it in Gamefan I have barely put thirty minutes into it in the twenty years I have owned it. It took so long to get around to it that there is now an English fan translation! As sad as that is at least I can enjoy the story, such as it is. Linkle Liver Story is a beautiful title whose gameplay falls short. It has good ideas that are not executed well enough to make it great.
Linkle Liver Story takes place in the world of Mamouna. The Mother Flower keeps the world in balance as the pearls it produces creates life and sustains it. The different races live in harmony as well. One day a mole named Hungaro steals the Mother Flower, throwing the balance out of whack and terrorizing the different races. When Kacchu’s master is injures himself she must take his place as guardian of the beastfolk and stop Hungaro for the sake of the world.
Linkle Liver Story is an action RPG, emphasis on action, Kacchu has many different attacks with some that do not require a weapon. Kacchu can perform a spin attack that can deflect projectiles, dash, and execute a rolling attack. By holding down the attack button you can charge your companion Puchimuku. Depending on the elemental weapon equipped his attack will vary. You gain magic halfway through the game with your spells being dependent on the weapon as well. Speaking of weapons….
Although it does not look it Linkle Liver Story has one of the most elaborate weapon systems of that era. Eventually you will end up with four elemental staves. You can combine these staves with elemental seeds representing earth, wind, water, fire. But even better, you can use these seeds to create up to seven weapons for each element. Weapons are rated in terms of power, range, and speed and the choices (spear, axe, hammer, etc.) will cater to different playstyles. Taking it a step further, each weapon can be upgraded four times. The game parcels out new seeds and staves regularly, giving you a reason to revisit the land of seasons constantly to create new items to potentially deal with new enemies. Compared to most action RPGs this one has done an awesome job providing numerous systems to keep the gameplay fresh.
Sadly the game gives you almost no reason to engage with any of it. Linkle Liver Story is incredibly easy to the point of absurdity. Kacchu can take a lot of punishment before death. Life restoring acorns drop regularly or are in chests frequently. In addition checkpoints are generous. Ideally you would need to switch weapons (you can carry four, one for each element) to deal with themed enemies. In reality you can pick one and stick with it with no problem. I probably used two or three weapons total in the entire game and felt like I missed nothing. You can even use level one weapons up until the end and be none the worse for wear. Outside of two or three boss battles everyone can breeze through the game.
The other side of the coin is that Linkle Liver Story is extremely short. The world map has a decent number of dungeons and such. However most consist of a few rooms at most. Some barely have any enemies at all! The longer dungeons show what could have been: they are full of traps and clever enemies to fight. The game moves at an extremely brisk pace that causes its meager content to dry up fast. At most this is a five hour game. There is something to be said about a game that does not waste your time. But when it has so many intricate systems that are begging to be explored it would have been fantastic were it twice the length. Oh well.
It is a damn shame Linkle Liver Story is so short and easy as it sure is pretty, at least initially. The game does an amazing job creating a good first impression. The Ronde Forest features colorful polygonal trees that shift perspective as you move. Water has reflections of the sun and clouds above and it is fascinating to see in motion. The animation of the sprites is similarly amazing. But each subsequent area is less impressive, as if the budget were running out. The non-polygonal bosses due still remain impressive to the end but by that point there are SNES games that look better. That is disappointing but as a whole I do think it is a looker.
In Conclusion
There is a lot to like about Linkle Liver Story. The artwork overall is absolutely beautiful and the gameplay has its moments. But its brevity and ease hurt it. I like it but I do not know if I would recommend it if you are looking for an action RPG, there are better titles out there.
