Game 500: Out Live (1989)

 

If you enjoy that tagline, note that the 1997 remake is subtitled Be Eliminate Yesterday.

       

Out Live

Japan

Sunsoft (developer and publisher)

Released 1989 for the TurboGrafx-16 console

Date Started: 25 January 2024

           

This entry is going to disappoint a lot of commenters who were looking for a more "significant" or "meaningful" game to mark the 500th title covered on my blog. Sorry about that. I wasn't interested in reaching forward in time, and while there are some landmark games remaining for 1993, none is so obviously vital to the history of the genre that artificially elevating it to this position would have done anything but draw attention to the inadequacy of the choice. Instead, I decided that the most on-blog thing to do for my 500th game was just let the next game come up organically, using the same process that I've been using for years. In this case, it was time for a random selection (which includes the possibility of console games), and the random roll produced Out Live. If it makes you feel better, maybe you could read some hidden meaning in the title.

        

Naming your mecha is the only "character creation" the game offers.

      

This is the first time I've played a game released for the TurboGrafx-16 console, known as the PC Engine outside North America (a term that makes no sense to me). It and its cousin, the TurboGrafx CD, hosted over 100 RPGs between 1988 and 1995, including many games previously released for the PC-88, PC-98, or MSX. There are, in contrast, comparably few crossovers with competing consoles of the period, like the NES and the Sega Genesis. The first TurboGrafx RPG was probably Jaseiken Necromancer (1988), for which I have not found a full English translation. Out Live is one of several 1989 releases, still quite early in the console's existence.

     

From the backstory.

    

The game was released only in Japanese; I'm playing an English translation courtesy of Nebulous Translations. But the game's title is rendered in English even in the Japanese release, as is the mysterious statement on the title screen: "It's Far a Future on PLANET." According to a "Readme" file provided by Nebulous, "your goal is basically to become the champion of Duelists on Lafura, and solve the conspiracy involving your lost friend." The opening titles establish the setting as the planet Lafura, whose ancient ruins are being excavated by the Empire for "advanced science and technology." The Empire is opposed by "a local organization that calls itself Mars." An Imperial Scout--presumably the player's friend--has been lost investigating the ruins, and the player is tapped to follow up by his commander, Markus Booker.

   

The player controls a mecha called Braudis by default, but you can rename it after the opening screens. In the game, all Mecha names are preceded by the letters "FW," but I'm not sure why. Booker gives the player two specific goals: "Infiltrate the FW dueling scene in Lafura as one of the duelists" and "find the whereabouts of the legendary FW Braudix," which I gather is different from Braudis.

    

The opening screen.

      

The game begins in a maintenance shop on Lafura. The player has 1,000 credits. It appears each town in the game (at least so far) is a menu town, with options to repair and restock the mecha at the maintenance bay, buy and sell items at the gun, armor, or item shops, or visit the saloon to talk to NPCs. On my first visit to the saloon, someone named Ermak told me to "go and register as a duelist" but provided no information on how to do so.

     

Wonder of wonders . . . a Japanese game in which an NPC looks like a plausible adult.

      

The towns on the planet are all connected by twisty mazes. The first maze connects Lafura with Torinton City. As you maneuver your mecha through the futuristic passages, you're randomly attacked by a variety of enemies. 

    

At least so far, the game is quite simple and boring. The tiled 3D mazes are large and featureless, with no treasures or special encounters, and only the occasional "boss" enemy. Combat itself is boring. It's all turn-based, even though a more action-oriented approach would fit the game better, and there isn't much to do but attack round after round and watch as the enemy attacks you. In the early game, you have only one gun and thus only one action to take, except replenishing your shields with energy packs when they get too low. You can buy a number of usable items, like missiles and bombs, as well as armor upgrades, so it gets a little more interesting later, but not much.

       

You spend a lot of the game just looking at walls like this.

      

Enemies have a chance of appearing every time you make a move, including turning, so if you want to grind, you can just spin around near a city. I'd guess you get an encounter roughly every 8-10 moves. You don't see them until they're upon you. I guess they're all supposed to be mechas, although some of them look like animals or just pieces of random artillery.

      

This is a mecha, right? Not a monster?

    

Defeating enemies gives you both "attack experience" and "defense experience," though the latter only if you took damage during the battle. You also get "target points" for each kill, which are converted to credits if you reach a city. 

     

These are the options each combat round.

     

I leveled up a few times on my way to Torinton City. Leveling up occurs automatically, with no player choices or input, which will hurt it on the GIMLET. Attack levels increase your damage and also increase your maximum shield value. Defense levels just seem to reduce damage taken. Combat really isn't very deadly. You can carry a decent supply of energy packs, which are cheap, and if you die, you just get sent back to your last city, having lost nothing except any money you accumulated since you left. This is good because the game is incapable of saving your progress, instead requiring you to write down a 40-character password.

     

My mecha's stats about mid-session.

       

In Torinton, I found a duelist at the bar named Nachi. He challenged me to a duel. When this happens, when you leave the city you have an option to go to "dueling." You're taken to a small circular arena with the enemy on the other side. You cannot move; you just exchange shots until one of you is dead. In this case, it was Nachi. He bemoaned his fall from the dueling ranks. I earned 1,000 credits.

     

What can I say? You suck.

      

Back in the bar, Nachi said he knew someone who knew one of my friends. This turned out to be a suited guy named Mikuta. He said that the agent who came before me spoke to a female duelist named Chris. He also thought Mars might be behind my friend's disappearance. Chris was also available in the bar, and she said she'd tell me what she knew if I could defeat her.

      

"Otherwise, I'll keep information about the safety of a fellow duelist secret just for the giggles."

      

I defeated her in another easy duel, winning 2,000 credits, at which point she said she'd "lend me her help" but told me absolutely nothing. Nachi suggested my next dueling opponent should be Joe in Green City.

    

I bought a "Titan Shield," a "Hawk Missile," and as many energy packs (which restore 1,000 shield units) as I could carry before heading out.

      

Leaving a city gives you a choice of directions.

     

Instead of mapping, I just followed the right wall until I reached Green City, then followed the right wall back to Torinton, then went back to Green City again, rising a few levels en route. I suppose I should probably map lest I miss something important in an "island." 

     

Chris was at the bar in Green City along with an older man named Lesley. Lesley wanted me to kill a monster in the labyrinth near the city, "near the three doors that led to the next city." This one took me a while. I kept leaving the city, following the right wall, but I'd run out of shield strength as well as energy packs before reaching either the monster or the next city, White Hill City. For a while, it was touch and go. I kept zipping back to Green City with a "Back Walker," which returns you to the last city automatically. I'd replenish my shield and items, including buying a new Back Walker, and end up with 400 credits less than when I left. But as I rose a couple of levels, improving my ability to deal and resist damage, the situation slowly turned around.

       

The "weird monster" is probably native to the planet, and sapient besides.

        

I eventually made it to the beast, a large, tentacled enemy hanging out behind a door deep within the level. I unloaded my remaining missiles at him, then finished him off with my guns (which never run out of ammo).

    

I can't quite tell what "the monster" is.

       

The game took me back to Green City automatically. At the bar, I found a duelist named Joe taking credit for my kill. Lesley didn't know who to believe.

      

I'm not sure how that proves anything, but okay.

    

Joe challenged me to duel, so I entered the arena and defeated him without much trouble. As his mecha collapsed, he apologized and said that he "just wanted some fame" as he hasn't been doing well in the dueling rankings lately. Lesley apologized for not believing me ("I thought that only the legendary Braudix could defeat that monster").

   

Meanwhile, a slick blond guy named Kam recognized me as "the pilot sent by the Reconnaissance Office." He also challenged me to a duel. I fought him, again without too much trouble. Between all the duels and other rewards, I had over 12,000 credits by the end. I bought some titanium armor and upgraded my guns to what I assume are better ones. Guns are one of the many things that I don't quite understand. I started off with "N1 Vulcan" guns, and the shop in Lafura sold "B1 Blaster" and "I1 Cold" guns. I forgot what was for sale in Torinton City, but in Green City, I can buy "N2 Thunder," "B2 Mega Blaster," "I2 Freeze" and "L2 Excimer" guns. I assume the number is the rough "level" of the gun, but I don't otherwise know if different types of guns do more or less damage against different types of enemies. I'd have to have enough money to buy multiple guns and compare them.

      

I guess he doesn't like the Reconnaissance Office?

      

Out in the corridors, I haven't noticed that whatever guns I have do different damage to different types of enemies, but they do seem to do different damage based on the color of the walls in the area that I'm in at the time. I don't know how many colored areas there are. I've been through areas that I'd describe as yellow, blue, and red, but I suspect that there are more and I'm just not seeing the differences, since there are more than three different types of guns.

   

Armor items sold in Green City were Ceramic Armor, Titanium Armor, Titan Shield, Graph Shield, and Replica Shield. There's no indication of their protective values until after you buy and equip them. I gather you can have one item of armor and one shield at any given time. I assume the more expensive ones are better, but that doesn't always hold true in other games.

      

Every city has shops.

      

I got to White Hill City without much trouble. In the bar, a duelist named Mirau Amandara challenged me. Like all individual combats in the game so far, he was relatively easy. "Be careful of Kam," he warned me after I defeated him, which earned me another 6,000 credits. Back in the bar, he offered, "I heard that woman you were hanging out with has been kidnapped." Another duelist named Nachi Murakami remarked that he hadn't seen Chris in a while.

      

Enemy duelists like to smack talk you in the middle of combat.

      

I used my extra funds to explore some of the other items sold in shops. In addition to your guns, you can carry 8 missiles at a time. The item shop:

• Anti-Fire. No idea what it does. Every time I use it, it just says "Option had no effect."

• Vacuum Breath. No idea what it does because it costs too much (8,000 credits).

• Acid Bombs and Net Bombs. Damage enemy armor, softening them up for other attacks. Like missiles, you can only carry 8 at a time. Unlike missiles, you can't use them in arena battles. 

        

Hitting an enemy with an acid bomb.

      

• Magnetic Wire. From the message that comes up ("reduced enemy evasion"), I guess it makes your attacks more likely to hit.

• EN Packs. Restore 1,000 energy. You can only carry 8.

• Back Walker. Automatically return to the last town you visited.

• Repair Unit. Remove the effects of acid, a weapon some enemies use, which causes you to take damage every step.

• Nitro Charge. Not sure. You use it in combat. I think it gives you extra attacks.

• Esquit. Lets you automatically escape any combat.

      

I was feeling good as I left White Hill City for Skala City, but of course the enemies also leveled up a notch. Particularly difficult were "Deeply Burners," capable of destroying my entire shield in one hit. I learned to blast these guys with missiles the moment I saw them. Like the trip to White Hill, the journey required a few false starts and retreats. By the time I made it to Skala City, I had gained two levels each in attack and defense and earned another 4,000 credits.

       

I'll wrap up here. Out Live seems to be a rather boring, linear game with minimal player input. It's a testament to the fact that kids will buy any damned thing as long as it has robots on the cover. I'll probably finish it, though. It seems wrong to abandon the 500th game.

     

Time so far: 3 hours