Life is Strange

The spirit does.

Remember that this is a man who was going to have the mother of his child hooked back on illegal drugs to keep her out of the way. And help a murderous drug dealer get off in exchange for doing the deed.

Feels like given the system in Arcadia Bay is open to corruption via the Prescott Family it would be plausible for a rich and powerful DA to lean on favors/friends/ect to make sure he gets punished.

My assumption is that giving up his teacher is WHY he'll get away with it. I presume that the Prescotts didn't go for, "my son is completely innocent. Who is this Rachel Amber person?" but "My son was controlled and abused by a psychopathic celebrity!"

Which ironically is probably more just if they institutionalize him because dude was sick. Even if he did kill Chloe.

Mr. jefferson would get the blame for a dozen counts of kidnapping and assault plus murder (since Rachel died in the process of another felony—its murder)

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Mar 4th 2020 at 5:33:15 AM

That's true. The system bends over backwards to invent excuses not to punish rich white boys like Nathan Prescott. "Mr. Jefferson did it all, and Nathan was a poor and sweet and innocent boy led astray by that wicked man," is just such a convenient excuse.

The worst case scenario Nathan's probably looking at is that he gets convicted as an accomplice, but then receives a slap on the wrist at his sentencing hearing. Cue the judge delivering a speech about how Nathan "has a bright future ahead of him, and we wouldn't want to let a little youthful indiscretion ruin his amazing potential."

Edited by TobiasDrake on Mar 4th 2020 at 7:21:59 AM

Likely with, again, a bit of "incentive" from Daddy to said judge. The system in the Bay is even more rigged than it is usually - and that's pretty damn rigged. Sean would also likely have some of the most highly-paid and utterly conscienceless lawyers in the country flown in to defend Nathan.

tl;dr, that town is not getting better without getting rid of Sean. He rots away everything he touches. I'd really like to see a sequel about that, especially with the hints that he's aware of the supernatural stuff...

Edited by HamburgerTime on Mar 4th 2020 at 10:53:07 AM

I am currently stuck in an area with few entertainment options and fewer friendly faces. Thankfully, I recorded an entire playthrough of Before the Storm ages ago and saved it on my PS 4.

I don't sleep very well without a movie on, so this is keeping me sane.

I cannot exaggerate how glad I am that I did this. LIS is one of the most relaxing movies I've ever watched. I joke, but seriously, I'm glad these games exist.

Say what you want about Before the Storm

The scene at The Tempest still puts a smile on my face, especially when Nathan does well.

It's so cheesy, and Rachel and Chloe ruin the script but... I almost wish they'd done a full reading of the play.

Rachel using the play as a stealthy way to get serious with Chloe just fascinates me. You don't want to believe that these two will have so much tragedy later.

The scene of them heading off after touches a special place in my heart.

I don't know what about this story makes me care about these teenagers so much.

Edited by Soble on May 6th 2020 at 10:48:10 AM

I also like the theatre scene. Also the backstage scene before that. It's just so comical with Mr. Keaton's overly melodramatic acting, and the so many ways Victoria will get knocked off (seriously, it's worth relpaying that scene with all the possible scenarios). But my all time favorite scene from that game is the final scene of Ep. 2, when Chloe meets Rachel's parents. It shows the stark contrast between the two characters' family backgrounds. Also, Chloe's snarks are priceless.

It's the realism. Supernatural elements or not, the characters are written so realistically that it's hard not to empathize with them.

Trying to befriend a Boomer with puns they shrug off is such a mood, to be fair.

Before the Storm was a really interesting playthrough for me because of the conundrum, "Do I try to play Chloe making the decisions I would want to make, or do I try to play Chloe making the decisions that Chloe would make?" It's kind of an interesting dynamic handing the player control of a character who not only already has an established personality, but is kind of a trainwreck of a person.

I still remember having to make the choice of how to respond to David in the car ride early on. I wanted to try and make peace with David. But I wound up opting to call him a jack-booted Nazi because that's what Chloe would do.

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 8th 2020 at 8:46:08 AM

I found myself thinking similar things in the other Life Is Strange games too. I sometimes find it hard to choose between what I as a gamer would do, ie which option is likely to give the best result, and what the character would do. I usually end up doing what the character would do, but the decision is always there.

Actually, no matter how you play, the story will remain consistent, but will give a different interpretation of Chloe's character. If you reject every opportunity to bond with David, then their relationship in the first game comes off as primarily because Chloe has always been a jerk and she never even gave a chance to David. If you accept everything, then it comes off as there was a time when Chloe tried, however reluctantly, to make amends with David, but it somehow did not work out. Or you can change attitude mid-game, prompting the question of what could have make her change her attitude. This can all affect, in little ways, how you see Chloe in the first game's events.

There's basically a second game between Before the Storm and LIS. One that I think would be interesting to play but has a lot of events that I don't think fans would want to.

• Chloe getting dumped by Rachel Amber. Rachel apparently wanting to remain friends.
• Chloe not really accepting she was dumped by outright denial.
• Rachel's rather than unpleasant relationships with older men, albeit with one we now know saved her and Chloe's life.
• The death of Rachel Amber.

Yeah. I think Before the Storm is good because while we know how things end up in the future, it's not about that. I don't see the appeal of a game that focuses on showing us things we already know. Like, unless they put some sort of twist on those things it's just kind of unnecessary.

That's true for practically any prequel. They add context to things we take for granted in the original story.

I feel like we needed two more episodes of Before the Storm.

I would have liked to learn more about Rachel's supernatural abilities. IIRC she seems to have an emotional meltdown-induced pyrokinetic flare-up at the end of BTS Episode 1, and she's also connected to the ghost doe that shows up throughout the first LIS.

Yeah, more of Rachel would have been a good thing, because she's probably the most interesting character in the setting as far as intrigue goes.

Is it confirmed that the doe is connected to Rachel? I thought it was Max's spirit animal.

I think that part of what makes RA so interesting is the game never really lets us in her head.

Because Chloe is infatuated and can't view her critically.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 9th 2020 at 3:44:38 AM

The doe leads Max to Rachel's grave and I believe it even disappears during the cutscene she's discovered in. If I remember correctly. I haven't played since release.

Is it known for sure that Rachel Amber had powers? Certainly the end of episode one of Before The Storm hinted at it, but it may have just been effects for added drama. It did also cross my mind that she may have had the same time-control powers as Max, since she was so wildly popular with everyone; rewinding over and over to get the desired result is more or less the point of that power (in gameplay terms at least).

I think it's fun to think that Rachel might have had powers, but I don't think it'll add to, or detract from, the story if she did, and ultimately it doesn't really matter.

It's not explicitly stated, but heavily implied that she had some connection with fire. It is said that the wildfire spreads unusually quickly, and when you look around in the hospital after Rachel is stabbed, the firefighters talk about the fire suddenly going out. Also, in the closing scene of Ep. 2, when Rachel gets angry, you can see the candle flames growing (until she breaks the table and it goes out).

I wished Rachel wasn't hinted to have powers. There's no way to focus on them because Chloe didn't now abut the supernatural until Max came back, and what was done only amounts to meaningless teasing.

Like I said, there's about two episodes missing.

I wish they'd been from Rachel's perspective.