Life is Strange

I would assume everyone Max helped on the way to Joyce's diner is alive.

x6

Hasn't stopped people from going to the extent of a Happily Ever After. And, well, like I said, there's issues of closure and resolution here that simply make 'We don't want to give away details' a cop out regardless of intentions. I understand budget constraints, but if you, say, have a game where the ending gets a budget cut and it gets shipped off to be made using DLC, its still valid to criticize the original ending because the ending isn't really there.

And I don't mean to harp on 'headcanon' because how dare someone dictate what is and isn't fair game, but when it goes to the extent of 'This ending is clearly better because you can choose for everyone to live in your head and the game won't say anything' is where I feel like it crosses into ignoring what the game was trying to say at all, muddled as its execution was.

I just hope its an ending that Dontnod will learn from in the future.

edited 14th Sep '17 5:09:00 PM by InkDagger

Where's the original source for the "it's up to you who lived" statement by the way?

It was a dev on twitter. I'm afraid I don't quite have the time at the moment to start digging for it though.

faThis sounds more like the ending is bad because of a statement the developers made - rather than what I assumed was just discontent with the Bay ending itself. I also remember the devs saying something along the lines of "the real ending is the one you picked" but I can't be arsed to cite it either.

...except the town was destroyed and Max and Chloe logically wouldn't just leave the town if anyone they cared about were still there?

If the Funeral ending is Max learning that she can't have her cake and eat it too, then the Bay ending is making a similar point that Max can't fix everything in life and that sometimes things just happen beyond our control. The whole game is spent trying to save Chloe and Rachel and Kate and the Bay, so Max finally choosing to just let the chips fall where they may and wait out the destruction of their hometown brings the coming of age story to a similar, sobering conclusion.

Again, this seems to be more a problem with the developer's afterthought about letting the fans headcanon what happened, rather than was actually shown in the ending itself. What we saw in the ending were some telling visuals: the town destroyed, a body bag, pretty sure the diner was crushed, not a soul to be found. Max and Chloe leaving implies there's no reason for them to stay. I didn't headcanon "everybody lived" because there was little reason to, so I guess I made the ending bittersweet. But even so I can't agree with this "the ending is too perfect and completely removes the consequences the game advertised" logic.

The consequences were right there - the town is so damaged and full of corpses that Max and Chloe just up and leave the next day, their fates uncertain. Either that or Max and Chloe have become so traumatized by the experience they've completely forgotten their previous identities and driven off into the Oregon wilderness on probably a half a tank of gas to parts and psychotic hillbilly murder dens unknown.

If it were a linear game the above would still follow - I wouldn't/shouldn't have assumed everyone lived and the consequences would still be there. The plot still led to an ending where Max had to choose the lesser of two evils, except without the illusion of choice (being a linear game) she definitely picked Chloe over the town, the consequence being that innocent people likely died or lost their homes for the sake of a single person.

I don't think that's what a DEM is. A DEM would be if Max suddenly discovered she could use her power to "reset the damage, but not the tornado," and therefore let the Tornado happen, but still save Chloe and the town.

Saying that "stopping the tornado was the main objective and it's a let-down if Max doesn't stop it" feels disingenuous.

In one ending, Max goes back in time and prevents the tornado, symbolically letting go of her past and moving on with her life. In the other, Max chooses Chloe over the town, symbolically letting nature run its course and accepting the consequences of her actions.

The plot leading up to these endings doesn't really demand that she stop the tornado because the resonating metaphor in both is still about Max accepting that you can't just magically reverse every decision and hope for a better outcome, which she's been doing throughout the entire game. The two endings go about making this point in different ways - a deterministic view when you sacrifice the town versus a more fatalistic view when you sacrifice Chloe - but the core of it, accepting life's harshness, is still there.

It's not a let-down to me because stopping the tornado was never the point. The point of the game that I saw was to illustrate Max's emotional journey to adulthood, concluding with the bitter pill that life isn't perfect in both endings. The tornado actually falls out of focus after Episode 2, which to me weakens the idea that you were meant to dwell on this plot point. (And Dontnod did seriously argue that Max's time powers were unexplained because they were more of a "metaphor for Max's adolescence" or something like that, so it's not hard to believe that the endings were subject to similarly lazy, artistic trappings.)

The claim from the developers that "you can just fantasize about a happier ending if you want" doesn't really change the somber nature of both. It's certainly a perplexing statement to make but it doesn't really change my reaction.

EDIT: The Bay ending is less visually spectacular, yes, but there's nothing wrong with it thematically. Both arrive at similar destinations - Max erasing her choices forces her to live with the trauma caused by those choices; Max keeping her choices instead of erasing them forces her to live with their outcome.

EDIT: Good god, the run-on sentences. I ran out of breath so many times editing this and it's still not fixed.

edited 14th Sep '17 8:09:24 PM by Soble

Like I said, though, there seems to be some time between the storm itself and the departure, since somebody cleared the road.

I'm not too sure about the timelines for when Kate going to Nathan's party, or for when Chloe and Max actually left town.

The first was probably clarified in one of Kate's lines that I'm too lazy to look for, but the endings don't have any voice-acting, dates, or journal entries so it's entirely guesswork.

The road being clear is something I could just as easily write off as Dontnod just being lazy and/or running out of money and time Artistic License.

The road is visibly not clear in the sequence where Max actually goes into the storm to get Warren's selfie, so it seems like an odd thing to just forget.

Well, in order of likelihood

• it's a tornado, debris is getting sent every which way, and it was far from over by the time we transitioned from Max and Chloe on the cliff to the morning. The landscape could have easily changed.
• they abandoned the Prescott subplot, so I wouldn't put forgetting a visual detail above them. Between that, the endings lacking any voice-acting and the re-usage of assets in that same episode, I'd wager they were also running low on funds and time, so it could've been an oversight
  • (2) Convenience.
• the road wasn't clear in an alternate timeline where Max hadn't gone back in time with Warren's photograph. Max then went back in time and told Chloe about the alternate timeline and all the craziness that went down. Boom. Butterfly effect.

edited 15th Sep '17 10:21:26 AM by Soble

On an unrelated note, apparently the last popular choice in the whole game percentage-wise is intentionally getting Pompidou run over by a car when trying to break into Frank's RV. Probably a bit much even for people who seek out Videogame Cruelty Potential.

I think the road think is just for convenience of the shot. There are literally corpses out on the road. If a crew cleared the road, the corpses would be cleared too.

Also consider the following; if you choose to sacrifice the Bay...not overwatering Lisa was all for nought!

Question: Anyone know how to not have Chloe shoot Frank or his dog? I stole the money so Frank's paid off, but he still seems to get angry (does he remember the beans from another loop somehow?).

Another theory about the true cause of the storm that's been making rounds recently is that Chloe's guess was right - the storm was summoned by Rachel's spirit to destroy the town that destroyed her. Some even think that the prequel, once complete, will confirm this.

It's a stupid ending either way because it states it's better to do nothing than stand up for people being bullied, murdered, or yes sexually assaulted if you read the worst possible interpretation for what our serial killing douchebags are doing.

The Save Chloe ending is every bit as bad because it makes Max a mass murderer for her best friend/crush.

It's a shit ending and almost ruins one of the best games I've ever played.

Say what you will about Preston being the bad guy with quantum powers or something but at least it's not Bury Your Gays or making them psychotic.

edited 16th Sep '17 6:33:29 AM by CharlesPhipps

I disagree with both interpretations there:

• If you sacrifice Chloe, you absolutely stand up to the villains (do you honestly think Max didn't tell David what had just happened in the girl's loo and — assuming he didn't plead out — testify at Nathan's trial?). It's just that you have to accept you can't prevent one specific act of villainy.
• Max choosing the "Save Chloe" ending isn't murdering the town any more than choosing the other ending is murdering Chloe. It's basically the trolley dilemma (you know, the one that became a meme a while back); having to choose who dies doesn't make you responsible for the deaths, even if you feel that way.

Personally I prefer the "Rachel wants to kill Chloe as a sort of reversed Murder the Hypotenuse — summoning the storm is basically holding the town hostage so Max'll break it off" theory.

edited 16th Sep '17 8:33:36 AM by Bisected8

I've never actually had her shoot them. Every time I failed the dog attacks and Max rewinds.

Apparently you have to let Warren "go ape" on Nathan and when he kicks Nathan's gun away, and Chloe will steal his gun. Just make sure that Frank takes the gun from Max in Episode 2, and don't let Warren beat up Nathan in Episode 4 so that Chloe doesn't take Nathan's gun.

edited 16th Sep '17 9:44:01 AM by Soble

Unfortunately I already did that scene and I don't want to have to go through the opening of Chapter 4 again if I can help it. I managed to get through it via dialogue options in the end.

" I don't want to have to go through the opening of Chapter 4 again if I can help it. "

Heh.

For the record, I did it.

I only chuckle because that's basically where I had to put the game down for a bit.

edited 16th Sep '17 12:58:18 PM by Soble

I just finished the episode.

How the hell did they manage to make things even worse? The poor closeted anime fangirl's suffered enough!

For the record, my personal favorite alternate storm cause theory is the Prescotts disturbing the Indian Burial Ground. There's this running undercurrent of Native Americam mysticism throughout the story - the talk of spirit animals, the fact that the town was founded on a site where Native Americans and settlers actually got along (thus the "Arcadia," presumably), the mysterious totem pole that nobody knows where it came from...

That was the running thought I had as well, but it could never be anything significant because the powers were just a metaphorical means to an end.

You know, just because they were a metaphor in the narrative which didn't need explaining to bring the story to a satisfying (clearly YMMV) conclusion, doesn't mean there isn't an In-Universe explanation for them. It's the same principle as magic in Harry Potter (it's made clear that it comes from somewhere, and some wizards study it because they want to know why, but you don't need to know why to enjoy the plot of the books).

Personally, I liked to think of it as a Cosmic Horror Story; some sort of being with a non-linear experience of time is helping Max out for reasons unknown (it basically just lets her plop a later version of her consciousness earlier in the timeline; photos create a specific point to travel to, but so would a clear written description, or reasonably good sketch or painting; or even just a memory).

My other less-serious theory is that whatever entity (God, the universe, quidquid) that wanted the "Chloe is dead" timeline was using the storm as a Batman Gambit; hoping that Max and Chloe would relent and let Chloe die in exchange for sparing the town (since Max would just reverse every other attempt to kill them directly). So LIS is Final Destination, except from the perspective of a super hero protecting the protagonist.