Life is Strange

Is it not normal to put video game release dates on your calendar? That is seriously ninety percent of what I use a calendar for.

-remains silent-

I think if you were to expand the hypothetical survey to include non-TV Tropes videogame forum visitors, you'd find that not many people do it

I just put games on my GameFly queue when I noticed they're out. I browse the New Releases periodically to see what's been released and then I go, "Oh, that game's out. Neat!" There are way too many games for me to single in on any one of them as the one game I absolutely need to have the second it comes out.

Life is Strange 2's first episode is releasing on September 27, 2018, but DONTNOD isn't giving further details about it until August.

Huh. With Vampyre releasing this year I wasn't expecting anything from the sequel until next year.

At the very least, I expected a December announcement and January release. I think that was what the first season did, right?

Is it possible to be as awesome as Max and Chloe?

I do not know.

Hmm.

A backpack.

William Hella (some Youtube guy) makes some observations about the trailer.

• dark and gloomier than expected - channels more of Episodes 4 and 5 than of Episodes 1 or 2
• old, worn backpack - maybe it's after highschool
• could be a travel bag - maybe travel will be a theme, traveling places with nothing but your backpack - fits in well with each game's theme of nostalgia
• the logo is woven into the backpack - compare to Max's photograph and Chloe's anarchy symbol
• rather than time travel, or yelling at people until they sh't bricks, maybe the game is just about travel
• where are we? where are we traveling to? what are we running from?

Therefore, I must conclude that the "power" this time around will be Hammerspace. You carry around a magical backpack that lets you carry more stuff than it should.

I'm only half-joking, I'd find that kind of neat. Most people tend to carry around some kind of baggage emotional or otherwise after all.

Chloe and Max pass the reigns to Captain Spirit.

edited 24th Jun '18 6:55:47 PM by Soble

I've seen it mentioned that the backpack strongly resembles a type of canvas/denim backpack that's strongly associated with the French skateboarding scene (basically a brand that does a plain coloured, hard wearing backpack which skater kids would draw their own designs on).

I finished Captain Spirit. I think it's a promising start to Season 2.

• The stuff with Charles is terrifying. I do hope that Season 2 can see Chris adopted by his apparently loving grandparents.
• The Captain Spirit stuff was adorable, although I didn't see much of it since I accidentally triggered the ending before I could do most of the Captain Spirit tasks. Fortunately, reloading the game brings you back right before the ending cutscene, so I'll 100% this on a later date.
• Hawt Dog Man in comic form!
• This does take place in the same universe as LiS 1: one of Chris's mom's old books is a photobook by one Mark Jefferson named [[{{Squick "Teenage Spirit}}".
• Chris was 7 in 2014 and promotional material indicates that he is 10, so this game likely takes place in 2017.
• I wonder how DONTNOD is going to integrate Chris's superpowers into the game.

It's also said that Chris's mum was a Blackwell graduate. Arcadians clearly have dreadful luck with car accidents.

Oh yes, time to avoid this thread until I have time to play the game :P See you in about four days.

Forgot it was coming out so soon. How long would you say it is?

It took me about an hour and a half, but there's a good deal of optional side content that I didn't do.

edited 25th Jun '18 3:21:32 PM by lrrose

Yeah, it takes a little over a hour to play through, but you can't find everything with just one playthrough (certain actions make time advance and some things happen at specific places at times).

I wonder if William and her died in the same accident.

edited 25th Jun '18 8:50:56 PM by CharlesPhipps

I WILL MURDER YOU IF THAT IS SOMEHOW A SP-

Hrh-hrm. William's accident? Ah well, I already knew the mom was dead from the trailer. That would be a fun coincidence.

edited 25th Jun '18 5:46:17 PM by Soble

It seems unlikely that Emily and William died in the same accident. She was killed by a hit-and-run driver with no mention of a bus involved, also much more significantly, I just realised; the dates don't match up. Emily was killed in 2014, and while I don't remember the exact date, William would have died around 2007-2008.

The 'puzzle' to unlock Charles' phone annoyed me. With all those significant dates around, how the fuck are you meant to work out that the code is 'hawtdawg' typed on an alphanumeric keypad? I can't remember the last time I saw an alphanumeric keypad.

Naff puzzles aside (I found the 'hidden treasure' without completing the map, or even realising I needed to, unless there was a different treasure I didn't find), this was a nice little taster of things to come. I enjoyed the bait-and-switch with the game making you think Chris has telekinetic powers only for it to turn out he was using his hand out of shot, and then the end showing he actually does have telekinetic powers.

Oh heck no. I'm still playing through but I saw that phone and left it be.

Why? Because the puzzle is stupid (which you probably couldn't know unless you knew the solution), or because you don't want to use the phone for narrative reasons?

Both, sort of.

• Already ticked off his dad by not coming down for breakfast, and for questioning his drinking.
• Both password puzzles in the last two games were annoying.

I actually feel pretty bad for Charles. While his behavior is inexcusable, I get the impression that he really does love his family and that the whole ordeal has just let his demons get the better of him. It's sad, really.

I haven't touched the spin off and I don't know if I'm going to get a chance before Season 2 starts up. Can someone give a run down on the important bits? I hope I'm not asking too much. I just suddenly got busy with a couple of video game writing projects and now have a big back up to deal with.