Life is Strange

But if I don't I can't play as Max again and I can't obtain a simple wardrobe upgrade for the main character that does nothing to effect the game's plot or its progression.

I'd be crazy not to spend the extra $8.

God I wish I could quit this game, its making me do things I'm morally opposed to.

I, for one, envy how you met Ms. Burch. Kudos.

Interview with Ashly Burch, Rihanna DeVries and the lead writer on Chloe and Rachel's relationship.

It looks like David also got recast.

Daughter, the band that did the announcement trailer song are the composers for Before the Storm's score.

Before the Storm launch trailer.

Next Thursday can't come soon enough.

-hyperventilates realizing that's not far away-

Finished episode 1 an hour or so ago. So far, shaping up very well. If I didn't know it was by a different dev, I'd never have guessed.

Thoughts:

Chloe seems to have much more character than Max, who was at least a little bit of a blank slate character (not necessarily a bad thing). The dialogue options seem to reflect that, and I like the new dialogue confrontation mechanic that I've already forgotten the name of.

Skip seems like a pretty cool guy. Shame he's gonna lose his job, assuming something worse doesn't happen.

I was starting to think that Rachel had time control powers too, because how else could she be so fantastic at everything and beloved by everyone? Events in the park more or less wrote that theory off though. However, does she have wind powers, or was the blowing wind as she screams in the climax just for dramatic effect?

I'll admit, I was worried that this would be a cheap cash grab from the hype from the first game. Happy to say that my fears were unfounded.

• The new voice cast is very good and there were plenty of points where I outright forgot that Chloe was miscast. But I would have prefered if Square had not been greedy and accepted the union's demands.
• Backtalk is a fun feature, but a bit too easy.
• So the slight retcon that Chloe actually did try to contact Max repeatedly after William's death makes me think quite a bit less of Max.
• Frank being friends with Chloe just feels weird.
• I punched that assshole and got a black eye for my trouble.
• I dressed up in the Hotdog Man shirt, which was the entire reason I shelled out the dough for the deluxe edition.
• Holy shit I forgot how much of a dick David is.
• I like Justin's new VA better.
• The D&D game was a really good sequence.
• Is it possible to stump Rachel at two truths and a lie?
• I had Chloe come onto Rachel at every opportunity.
• I don't think that Rachel actually has wind powers.

Ah, yes, I forgot to talk about David. I think he came across as less of a dick here. Seemed to me more in-line with his character as shown at the end of Life Is Strange; heart in the right place, but he just doesn't know how to go about it like a normal person.

I also forgot to talk about Chloe's dreams. She mentions in her journal that they're strangely real, and they seem to have a certain premonitional quality about them. I don't think Chloe has any powers, but could Max's future inference in Chloe's past be causing them? I'd be surprised if the whole game went by without at least a hit of something supernatural.

Backtalk was a bit easy, but I think there's room for it to get harder in later episodes.

edited 31st Aug '17 3:14:59 PM by artfulscruff

So I don't get Rachel's issues yet. But I'm impressed with the amount of ground covered on her in the first episode.

To be fair, they have three episodes. They have to cover ground quickly.

Ok. I'm starting the new game tonight.

As for the 'Max didn't respond to Chloe at all' thing, its possible this might get explained in the Max episode or, well, I can think of a number of reasons she might not have gotten the memo. If she didn't know Chloe's dad died, I could see it happening. I myself have a lot of similar issues because I have college out of state and over 1,000 miles from home and its difficult to maintain relationships outside of the area.

To be fair? I wasn't making a criticism.

38.83 MB... 39.92 MB... 40.77 MB... 8 Hours Left...

...

I don't always use 'to be fair' in reply to a criticism. Its honestly become just a response to most commentary cricisim or praise. I apologize.

I'm pretty sure Max knew he died - she was in their house that very same day, after all.

I haven't started the episode just yet so, if that's a thing shown in Before the Storm, I didn't know yet. I'm waiting for it to finish downloading and play it over dinner after classes.

No, this was in Life is Strange proper. Remember Episode 3? When you go back in time to the day Chloe's dad died?

Chloe's journal entries are... interesting.

I guess I need to watch Blade Runner. The Call-Forward in that entry was funny.

edited 31st Aug '17 9:29:10 PM by Soble

Oh my god. How could I forget about that?

Oh. right. It was a plot culdesac. I mean, good character moments, but not one that really overall added anything to the actual plot development.

Though, it always bothered me that Max had to outright block him from leaving the house when, well, distracting him for 10 mins would probably change so many things on its own including 'Traffic is now desync'd from when the accident was going to happen anyway, so it should logically not happen at all'.

edited 31st Aug '17 11:33:35 PM by InkDagger

So, I just checked the Steam store, and they have the game for $17 and the deluxe version for 25~.

That's all three episodes right? Not just the first one?

EDIT: Nevermind, figured out its all three.

edited 1st Sep '17 1:59:00 AM by 32ndfreeze

It's that whole "it's destined to happen" thing with time travel. Even if you blocked someone from their destination for five minutes and they logically shouldn't be present at the time of a car accident, events still conspire so that they wind up in a different car accident a block away, or a different truck comes by and hits them.

Max trying to save Chloe is an example - Chloe didn't die in the bathroom, but she would have died anyway after accidentally shooting herself in the junkyard. Max prevented that, but then Chloe would've been hit by a train. Max prevents that, but then Chloe gets crippled and would have died gradually from some manner of organ failure. Max prevents that, but then Chloe gets shot in the head outright by Mr. Jefferson. Max prevents that, but then Chloe supposedly becomes a casualty from the storm. And finally Max prevents that too...and depending on your end-game choice Chloe either dies in the bathroom again or lives, but for how long is anyone's guess.

Stray observations:

• I guess I know where Chloe got "hella" from now. Now to wait for "no emoji."
• Dialogue is as endearingly cringy as ever.
• I feel like Chloe's new VA "improves" over the course of the episode. Towards the end I barely noticed any difference.
• Rachel was sitting in the train car next to some of those weird symbols that Max saw in the first game.
• It seems Rachel was to Chloe what Chloe was to Max.
• I can't tell if I'm not playing Chloe "right" or if the dialogue choices are just more vague and awkward - some of the conversations seem to have weird jumping off points.
• Wildfires and The Tempest have come up more than once. I suspect this is no mere coincidence.
  • "Okay Rachel, there's a river right over there. Probably a whole lot safer."
  • "You know I wonder why people always burn sh't in those trash cans. That can't be safe."
  • "LOL, THE F'CK RACHEL?"
• The preview for the next episode... looks like it was done in a different art style somehow...
• Holy crap the main menu is on fire! The existential implications of Rachel doing this are astronomical!
  • I don't know what exactly it's called, but games like this and Metal Gear that reflect your progress in the game through the main menu really earn my praise.

edited 1st Sep '17 6:15:45 PM by Soble

Seems I picked the less popular options. Guess I am playing Chloe right after all. My minor choices weren't so original though.

I struggled between whether Chloe was hot for Rachel or whether she herself was still struggling to actually accept Rachel's friendship. All of the doe-eyed looks Rachel kept giving her, and all of those awkward silences made that a tough stance to take. Maybe it's the "Pricefield" in me but I didn't have Chloe confess anything to Rachel. I did, however, tell two truths and a lie, shared music with her, and had Chloe peep on her.

I keep trying to make the story go the way I feel it should go instead of just picking a choice. >.< I guess it means even less in this game considering it's a prequel. That said, whether Chloe like-likes Rachel or just sees her as a friend can still be perfectly ambiguous without damaging the original game's characterizations.- I love that.

edited 1st Sep '17 1:55:19 PM by Soble

I played it as though Chloe didn't capital-L Like Rachel yet, or at least wasn't ready to admit it to herself. It's possible my root reason for this is that I don't want the story to force a relationship between the two, as I've discussed earlier in this thread.

I'd forgotten about The Tempest too. Almost certainly a Call-Forward to the storm of the first game, and nothing will come of it in this game.