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VagueRant
May 24, 2012
The finale of the original series was unquestionably a mess overall, but it at least had some memorable and meaningful moments. You got Max driving through the storm listening to Nathan Prescott's warning/confession. Don't-give-a-gently caress Max telling Jefferson to eat poo poo and die. Even some of the initial mindfuck moments (splatsplatsplat / I love you Mister Jefferson) in the terrible overlong dream sequence they padded it out with due to lack of budget were notable.

ALSO I think the Bay ending is beautiful and perfect and saves pretty much the whole episode thematically, even if they rushed the setup, but hey.

Whereas the BTS finale has nothing? Maybe it's because I have an addiction to reaction videos, and I've probably spent more time watching LiS break people on YouTube than I spent playing the actual game - but man, there's not really anything to look up from this one and it bums me out.

Macaluso posted:

I think a better way to handle the end that I saw someone suggest was to have the stinger be Chloe putting up the missing person posters. Same general idea the end stinger wants to get across, but I feel would've felt less... gross.
Kinda agreed, but the idea to have five straight minutes of random friendship montage, not especially edited to a random song - followed by credits - followed by "two years later she dies" - is just a weird idea to get across anyway.

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Macaluso
Sep 23, 2005

I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG, BROTHER!

VagueRant posted:

Kinda agreed, but the idea to have five straight minutes of random friendship montage, not especially edited to a random song - followed by credits - followed by "two years later she dies" - is just a weird idea to get across anyway.

Oh totally, I'd have preferred they'd have just attempted to do the credits stinger at all. The game didn't really need it

Nameless Pete
May 8, 2007

Get a load of those...
To me, the biggest effect of the final decision is how it changes the way you view this part from the first game.

And you know what, I've been sitting on this opinion for months, but drat it the first game looked better. BTS had pretty good animation. LIS had bad animation, but the lighting and use of color were gorgeous. Chloe's room no longer has the soft pink sunbeams filtering in through the American flag, bathing her bed in a warm glow. Like, half the game is Max contemplating a sunset. BTS sharpened the textures up, but in doing so they lost too much of the handpainted French impressionist vibe that the first one had. It looks more realistic, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Most people will pick BTS when compared side by side, but I think LIS had better art direction and will hold up a lot better in fifteen years when they're both looking technologically ancient.

Macaluso posted:

I think a better way to handle the end that I saw someone suggest was to have the stinger be Chloe putting up the missing person posters. Same general idea the end stinger wants to get across, but I feel would've felt less... gross.

That would have been better. End on a note of "Chloe never stopped loving her" rather than "Rachel was brutally murdered." They went for the gut punch, which they unquestionably got, but in kind of a crass way that it felt like the first game was trying extremely hard to avoid. In story about sexual violence against young women you need a deft goddamn touch to not come off as exploitative and they failed that here.

VagueRant
May 24, 2012
Even the montage feels like a bizarre misstep. Like they couldn't pick one ("Do we end on the hair dye reveal, or comparing tattoos?" "What about writing the graffitti from the original?!") and stick to it so they animated all of them and edited them all together.

EDIT:
I mean drat, you can compare the editing of the song to the footage with the No Care intro of ep 2 and just looks shockingly lazy.

VagueRant fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Dec 20, 2017

spudsbuckley
Aug 29, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

(and can't post for 4 years!)

Macaluso posted:

I think a better way to handle the end that I saw someone suggest was to have the stinger be Chloe putting up the missing person posters. Same general idea the end stinger wants to get across, but I feel would've felt less... gross.

Weird, i was waiting for exactly that at the end as well.

exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


Nameless Pete posted:

That would have been better. End on a note of "Chloe never stopped loving her" rather than "Rachel was brutally murdered." They went for the gut punch, which they unquestionably got, but in kind of a crass way that it felt like the first game was trying extremely hard to avoid. In story about sexual violence against young women you need a deft goddamn touch to not come off as exploitative and they failed that here.

I don't think you can say LiS "deftly" avoided this as the ending stinger borrows almost the same exact visual language from the teaser to Episode 5.

LoseHound
Nov 10, 2012

VagueRant posted:

The finale of the original series was unquestionably a mess overall, but it at least had some memorable and meaningful moments. You got Max driving through the storm listening to Nathan Prescott's warning/confession. Don't-give-a-gently caress Max telling Jefferson to eat poo poo and die. Even some of the initial mindfuck moments (splatsplatsplat / I love you Mister Jefferson) in the terrible overlong dream sequence they padded it out with due to lack of budget were notable.

ALSO I think the Bay ending is beautiful and perfect and saves pretty much the whole episode thematically, even if they rushed the setup, but hey.

Whereas the BTS finale has nothing? Maybe it's because I have an addiction to reaction videos, and I've probably spent more time watching LiS break people on YouTube than I spent playing the actual game - but man, there's not really anything to look up from this one and it bums me out.
Kinda agreed, but the idea to have five straight minutes of random friendship montage, not especially edited to a random song - followed by credits - followed by "two years later she dies" - is just a weird idea to get across anyway.

Honestly I'm glad BtS has nothing. It's an intimate and short story about Rachel and Chloe, and any BIG moments would probably come at the expense of that.

Also "rushed the setup"? I mean yeah the last few character beats are delivered on a silver platter by an irrelevant rando but man when I got to that clifftop in ep5 my reaction was "frickin finally".

Nameless Pete posted:

To me, the biggest effect of the final decision is how it changes the way you view this part from the first game.

And you know what, I've been sitting on this opinion for months, but drat it the first game looked better. BTS had pretty good animation. LIS had bad animation, but the lighting and use of color were gorgeous. Chloe's room no longer has the soft pink sunbeams filtering in through the American flag, bathing her bed in a warm glow. Like, half the game is Max contemplating a sunset. BTS sharpened the textures up, but in doing so they lost too much of the handpainted French impressionist vibe that the first one had. It looks more realistic, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Most people will pick BTS when compared side by side, but I think LIS had better art direction and will hold up a lot better in fifteen years when they're both looking technologically ancient.

LiS had some great lighting but I think BtS has some amazing imagery. I love the scenes with Chloe and her dad, the feeling of the play, and the scene where you can sit and watch the fire in the junkyard. BtS uses the style for more dramatic images than LiS did. LiS looked great, but I think of its style more in terms of environment and atmosphere while BtS's in terms of composition and character.

The pool scene from LiS and the stars in Rachel's room are both visually memorable scenes with a similar feel, so they seem like a decent example. The pool setting is rather incidental to the scene, but the cool blue glow and the whole chillin in ur undies and talking about how gross boys are with your platonic bff thing set the intimate, relaxed mood. In BtS, the stars are tied to Rachel's character through her interest in astrology and through the dialogue of the scene where the stars are compared to her parents. We get dramatic shots emphasizing fire, stars, theater, ravens, and other motifs meaningful to the characters. In BtS the physical objects are more important to the scene, but in LiS it's the mood and lighting. I don't think it's better than LiS, but different and still appealing.

of course i could be talking out of my rear end but whatever

exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


If y'all really are in the mood to cry today, read Ashly Burch's blog post about how playing Chloe helped her deal from the loss of her boyfriend. Goddamn.

http://www.ashlyburch.com/blog/2017/12/20/the-boy-in-the-well

Professor Mau
Sep 18, 2007

I agree that this episode was a bit weaker than Episodes 1 and 2, but I still loved it. My only real problem with it was that Damon clearly shoots up Sera with what looks like a lethal dose of Heroin, yet by the time Chloe comes to she's just totally fine, chilling and smoking a cigarette? What the hell. Also if she's back to surrendering to her addiction, why did she leave the drugs on the table when she left?

I actually was sure that what that scene was going for was that James had paid Damon to kill Sera and make it look like an overdose, so when she was still around after I was thoroughly confused.

I actually really liked the scene with Elliot, although I agree they should have done more to foreshadow his pushiness. I interacted with Elliot plenty, but if you hadn't that scene would come out of nowhere. Regardless it got us the most interesting use of the backtalk mechanic in the game. Also, good to see the exploration of that kind of toxic masculinity in this, a game series which is often explicitly about men treating women badly.

I do kind of wish that the "maybe Rachel is bad for you" speech had come from someone who wasn't Elliot though, it would be interesting to have seen it come from Steph or Mikey.

Speaking of I cannot believe I missed a tabletop session because I let Drew get his rear end kicked. Come on game, Barb needs a +2 Greatsword drat it.


Overall, this series was great, and it's great to see that games like this can stand on their own merits without having to rely on the time travel mechanics. It will be interesting to see how Don't Nod take lessons from what worked with this game in their future work.

Edit:

exquisite tea posted:

If y'all really are in the mood to cry today, read Ashly Burch's blog post about how playing Chloe helped her deal from the loss of her boyfriend. Goddamn.

http://www.ashlyburch.com/blog/2017/12/20/the-boy-in-the-well

Ooof, that was a great, but rough, read. Ashley Burch is a spectacular writer.

Professor Mau fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Dec 20, 2017

SirSamVimes
Jul 21, 2008

The sky is full of words you've gifted me.


I think the dose wasn't intended to be lethal, the idea was to give a recovering addict a dose of heroine and force her to relapse as well as completely ruining her credibility for any claims she makes.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

I am really curious what DontNod has planned for Season 2 now (hopefully we'll see something at E3). But it's gonna be tough to make a new cast and setting as good as the ones we have now. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing more side games like this one in the future as well.

Torgo2727
Oct 24, 2004
Taking Care of the Place While the Master Is Away
I'm worried that Life is Strange will follow Telltale's Walking Dead. Telltale captured lightning in a bottle with the first season and it went downhill from there. Is that an inevitability? Are all sequels fated to not be as good as the original? Does my stupid monkey brain think everything in the past better than what we have now?

exquisite tea posted:

If y'all really are in the mood to cry today, read Ashly Burch's blog post about how playing Chloe helped her deal from the loss of her boyfriend. Goddamn.

http://www.ashlyburch.com/blog/2017/12/20/the-boy-in-the-well

Duuuuuuude...

Torgo2727 fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Dec 20, 2017

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Torgo2727 posted:

I'm worried that Life is Strange will follow Telltale's Walking Dead. Telltale captured lightning in a bottle with the first season and it went downhill from there. Is that an inevitability? Are all sequels fated to not be as good as the original? Does my stupid monkey brain think everything in the past better than what we have now?

I think Life is Strange 2 is going to be the big test in that regard. If they can do a game with little to no connection to the previous one and still have it do well then we might have a new franchise on our hands. If not then the series will probably wind up dead in the water unless they decide to do more side games like Before the Storm (and Deck Nine has said they're interested in taking another crack at the series if they get the chance).

There is a web series apparently in development (which I'm kind of curious how they're going to pull off without it coming off as basically just Twin Peaks with superpowers) but I'm guessing that's basically just going to be a live action retelling of the first game.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Dec 20, 2017

spudsbuckley
Aug 29, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

(and can't post for 4 years!)

Larryb posted:

I think Life is Strange 2 is going to be the big test in that regard. If they can do a game with little to no connection to the previous one and still have it do well then we might have a new franchise on our hands, if not then the series will probably wind up dead in the water unless they decide to do more side games like Before the Storm (and Deck Nine has said they're interested in taking another crack at the series if they get the chance).

There is a web series apparently in development (which I'm kind of curious how they're going to pull off without it coming off as basically just Twin Peaks with superpowers) but I'm guessing that's basically just going to be a live action retelling of the first game.

There's potential for another Deck Nine spinoff based on the time period between the end of BTS and LiS that details Chloe and Rachels ups and downs.

LiS2 is not going to be easy for Dontnod. The setting and mainly female cast is what makes the first two games unique and interesting so any variation on that could just make it a nothing Telltale-formula game.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

spudsbuckley posted:

There's potential for another Deck Nine spinoff based on the time period between the end of BTS and LiS that details Chloe and Rachels ups and downs.

LiS2 is not going to be easy for Dontnod. The setting and mainly female cast is what makes the first two games unique and interesting so any variation on that could just make it a nothing Telltale-formula game.

That could work but since there's a lot of stuff in that period that Chloe doesn't know about at the time you would either need to make Rachel the protagonist for the game or better yet maybe play as both, switching between them at appropriate points. Hell, Rachel's gimmick is already built into the character (just turn her natural acting ability into a gameplay mechanic).

Larryb fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Dec 20, 2017

DeathChicken
Jul 9, 2012

Nonsense. I have not yet begun to defile myself.

I didn't even actively dislike Walking Dead Season 3 (I thought the cast was far more memorable than Season 2, anyway), but they got super lazy with cutting off the branching paths. There comes a point where it becomes obvious that nothing you do ultimately matters, barring a few places, since the universe will ultimately correct itself to railroad you onto one storyline.

Macaluso
Sep 23, 2005

I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG, BROTHER!

Larryb posted:

That could work but since there's a lot of stuff in that period that Chloe doesn't know about at the time you would either need to make Rachel the protagonist for the game or better yet maybe play as both, switching between them at appropriate points. Hell, Rachel's gimmick is already built into the character (just turn her natural acting ability into a gameplay mechanic).

I was thinking the only option to do that episode would be Frank cause I didn't think they'd ever make Rachel playable. But the more I think about it the more that story has to include playing as Rachel. I love the idea of switching between the two, and I feel like that part of the story really need to be told so you have some kind of closure to it all. What happened between Rachel and Chloe? Why did Rachel get with Frank? For how long? Rachel hooks up with Jefferson apparently too. Were Rachel and Chloe still friends after things went south and before she went missing? Did she cheat on Chloe with Frank? Rachel is a character that could've just remained a mystery, but now she's not, and I feel like now you need to finish that stretch of the story that hasn't been covered yet. Having Rachel be playable would also be good to have her mindset when she does things, like whatever happens to her and Chloe, why she dates Frank, etc. Using her acting as a mechanic would be cool, as it would sort of put a new... spin? on choosing answers to reply with.

Especially because this game made the two of them SUCH a strong pair, I feel like now more than ever fans are gonna want to know what happened to them between BtS and LiS, I sure do. I mean we're getting one OTHER part of time yet explored (when Max leaves) so now it's like you have a timeline with a chunk missing and I feel like you're gonna have to fill that chunk in now. Rachel is a character I think people are gonna want to see more of too.

The ONLY problem with doing this, is that beyond the beginning of the game/potentially the first episode, there's not really anywhere happy to go in that story. Chloe will be sad. Frank will be sad. Rachel's story is gonna be sad and end badly no matter what. I want that whole story but I think it'd also end up being maybe TOO depressing as a whole?

I feel like I'm typing a lot about this game, but I don't think a game has been on my mind so strongly in a while, probably Night in the Woods is the only other game this year that did that.

Torgo2727
Oct 24, 2004
Taking Care of the Place While the Master Is Away

DeathChicken posted:

I didn't even actively dislike Walking Dead Season 3 (I thought the cast was far more memorable than Season 2, anyway), but they got super lazy with cutting off the branching paths. There comes a point where it becomes obvious that nothing you do ultimately matters, barring a few places, since the universe will ultimately correct itself to railroad you onto one storyline.

Here's the thing. The Walking Dead season 1 was a great game because of the connection between Lee and Clementine. That was the core of the game that made it memorable. It wasn't because it had a "choose your own adventure" element. Life is Strange was great because of the connection between Max and Chloe not because there was on occasional "David Madsen will remember this" flash across the top of the screen that may or may not slightly change how the story played out.

Life is Strange 2 must have strong, well written, well voice acted characters for us to latch on to. Can DontNod do it a second time? Maybe? Telltale could not.


Then I found this link while googling.

http://mugflub.blogspot.se/2016/07/why-life-is-strange-screwed-you-up.html

Torgo2727 fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Dec 20, 2017

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010


While a Rachel/Frank game could work out pretty well I'm worried that getting too deep inside Rachel's head might ruin the mystery of her character a bit and, like you said, if you're gonna go all the way this really can't end in anything besides misery for all concerned. I'm sure they could find ways around that though (or just focus mainly on Frank, I feel like there's a lot of ground you could cover with him). A reverse of BtS showing Max's life in Seattle could also be possible but I'm not certain she's an interesting enough character to be able to carry a game on her own.

Between this and the first game Chloe's story has been pretty well told by this point, so if she ever pops up again in a future title I think it should be more as a supporting role at best while somebody else takes center stage.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Dec 21, 2017

Oxygen Deficiency
May 19, 2008



Well I beat it. Episode 3 was okay, probably weakest of the three for me. I went with lie to rachel which i guess is the happy ending? I went back and chose the other choice in collector mode but it didn't roll any credits so i guess you need to replay the whole episode to see the other ending(s).

I really loved the hospital scene with the Norths and Steph, probably my fave part of the 3 episodes. :3:

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Oxygen Deficiency posted:

Well I beat it. Episode 3 was okay, probably weakest of the three for me. I went with lie to rachel which i guess is the happy ending? I went back and chose the other choice in collector mode but it didn't roll any credits so i guess you need to replay the whole episode to see the other ending(s).

I really loved the hospital scene with the Norths and Steph, probably my fave part of the 3 episodes. :3:

There's only one ending to this game though there are alterations to it based on your choices throughout all 3 episodes. All the final choice changes this time around is the scene in the hospital and the one at Rachel's house immediately afterwards. The ending is a lot more upbeat in general than either of the ones in LiS (until the final scene after the credits that is) and all the "devils" get what they deserve (Damon is killed by Frank, Eliot is expelled and, if you choose to tell Rachel the truth, everything James spent the last 15 years trying to preserve comes crashing down on him)

Also I loved the D&D segment in the hospital and the Backtalk attached to it was a nice little sendup of the first game's ending (including fan reactions). It might have been a little too on the nose though but it was a nice bit of levity in an otherwise pretty bleak episode. Steph and the Norths were probably my favourite new characters in BtS and I wouldn't mind seeing more of them one day (Skip wasn't bad either).

Larryb fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Dec 21, 2017

VagueRant
May 24, 2012
Fuming that the game had us miss another DnD sequence if you let Drew get beat up. Got all excited for one when I saw Steph and Mikey too!

LoseHound posted:

Honestly I'm glad BtS has nothing. It's an intimate and short story about Rachel and Chloe, and any BIG moments would probably come at the expense of that.

Also "rushed the setup"? I mean yeah the last few character beats are delivered on a silver platter by an irrelevant rando but man when I got to that clifftop in ep5 my reaction was "frickin finally".
Just to be clear, I think eps 1 and 2 of BTS had plenty of big(ish) reaction moments. I wanted to see how people reacted to the easily hateable David Madsen even when actively trying to like him, I liked seeing people get torn up when Chloe sees her dad's car. I wanted to see people laugh and cry at the play, people get excited at the kiss. There was plenty to talk about. It's just ep 3 felt like it had nothing to get any real emotion out of people (except maybe that controversial end stinger).

And to clarify re: original ep5 - it's the sudden infodump from Warren followed by Chloe hurriedly confirming "yeah the storm is definitely caused by me i guess" that felt rushed to me. Wish the realisation had been spread out a little more and made firmer. Think a lot of people went Bae over Bay because they thought Warren and Chloe jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Definitely agree with you the game has some beautiful vistas though. It's intentionally a very different look than the nostalgic "Golden Hour Is Every Hour" visuals of LiS. A lot of stuff they did with lighting, fire and the burned out forests looked great. But Nameless Pete is right when it comes to the character models and texture details, looks like they had to sacrifice some quality and consistency to improve the lighting and animation.

exquisite tea posted:

If y'all really are in the mood to cry today, read Ashly Burch's blog post about how playing Chloe helped her deal from the loss of her boyfriend. Goddamn.

http://www.ashlyburch.com/blog/2017/12/20/the-boy-in-the-well
"What kind of world does this?" :smith:

Torgo2727 posted:

Here's the thing. The Walking Dead season 1 was a great game because of the connection between Lee and Clementine. That was the core of the game that made it memorable. It wasn't because it had a "choose your own adventure" element. Life is Strange was great because of the connection between Max and Chloe not because there was on occasional "David Madsen will remember this" flash across the top of the screen that may or may not slightly change how the story played out.
I dunno, Lee and Clem and Max/Chloe are solid foundations and throughlines for the story as a whole. But it was crafting good choices episode-to-episode that were just as important. For example: the Kate Marsh saga, or how I still remember how awful I felt the time I let some random woman (who I could have mercy-killed) be slowly eaten by zombies so I had more time to grab supplies for my survivors. A lot of it is the illusion of choice, like euthanising Chloe - there's no consequences, but you feel that choice, the choice IS the experience.

Also I feel the need to remind everyone that Tales From The Borderlands was the best thing they've done since TWDs1 and was surprisingly a significant rival to LiS in emotional gaming for me that year. No matter what your opinion of mainstream Borderlands - everyone should definitely play it!

exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


My issues with Episode 5 of Life is Strange are mostly structural in nature. The Nightmare sequence goes on for way too long with too many superfluous elements, and it splits the emotionally impactful lighthouse finale in half. Should have gone Photo Jump -> Nightmare -> Lighthouse with no breaks and no stealth segments. When people say the end choice somehow "betrays" the themes of Life is Strange however I honestly have to wonder if they were even paying attention to the game because Bay/Bae is 100% married to its central question.

Viridiant
Nov 7, 2009

Big PP Energy
I honestly think the time travel element of the first game muddied the waters a bit too much. I can't say how I would exclude it and still come to the same kind of choice while keeping the scope of the setting as small as it was so I'm not prepared to say it shouldn't have been there. But I did not care at all that the supernatural element of this game was so far in the background.

VagueRant
May 24, 2012
I'd still like it if LiS season 2 was entirely about the struggle of construction workers and toxic masculinity or something, just to go completely different.

Eshettar
May 9, 2013

*whispers*

yospos, bithc
I admire that the developers didn't try to somehow bring the time-travel powers back for Before The Storm. The whole rewinding aspect of Life Is Strange was so specific to Max's character that it would have made this game look like a cheap cash-in if they returned. As things stand, I'm astounded by how incredible the prequel ultimately turned out to be. So much love was put into it that I was almost crying when Chloe picked Rachel up from school at the end. The way the Life Is Strange theme wells up as Rachel comes dashing past a disapproving Wells...that sealed it for me once and for all. I have found my favorite video game franchise.

One thing that struck me about Elliot when Chloe confronts him in the study is how completely sure he seems that he's the hero. The way he talks makes it clear he thinks this is his story and she's the love interest whom he has to rescue from the evil wiles of Rachel Amber. Which pretty much nails what a stalker is: someone who projects their own desires onto the person they're obsessed with. Her own thoughts and feelings only make him angry because they're standing in the way of the outcome he pursues AKA that she falls in love with him and they ride off into the sunset together. Elliot doesn't care about who Chloe is as a person because, to him, she's just a prop in the story he's written inside his own head and he starts getting nasty when she refuses to follow the script. It felt so satisfying to see him get a taste of reality as he's expelled for what he pulled. My only regret is that there was never an option to say "You know I'm a lesbian, right?" when he was babbling about how much he 'cared' about her.

Eshettar fucked around with this message at 12:27 on Dec 21, 2017

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Yeah, for all we know LiS 2 might not even be about time travel. Plus, the gimmick was specifically tied to Max's character (she's an introverted photographer so giving her the ability to literally undo her mistakes and jump back through photos she was featured in makes sense) so they'd need to come up with something else to fit the new protagonist. Fortunately since this will be a completely new story with little if any connection to the first game they pretty much have free reign to do whatever they want.

While Rachel might have had some kind of unconscious control over air (that inhuman scream she made when the fire started that seemed to kick up the wind and spread the flames, temporarily muting the world around her at the end of Episode 2 and the fire mysteriously going out on it's own after she got hurt and sent to the hospital) I like that the game was never really explicit about it (nor should it have been or otherwise it'd be weird that Chloe wouldn't mention it to Max in LiS).

Chloe just seems to be a normal (if extremely unlucky) person as far as I can tell. She might possess some limited form of prophecy (though that could have just been the raven influencing her dreams) and may serve as a catalyst for change (both Rachel and Max first use their "powers" while they're in Chloe's presence during a traumatic moment, though that could just be a coincidence) but that's about the extent of it.

Also, considering how hyper-protective he was you'd think James would have turned the whole town upside down looking for Rachel when she disappeared but instead there was barely any investigation into the matter and, according to Chloe, her parents were in denial about the whole thing. This leads me to believe either James was no longer the DA at the time and/or that the tell Rachel the truth ending is canon and their family was in such disarray that they were basically past the point of caring.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 12:53 on Dec 21, 2017

Paul Zuvella
Dec 7, 2011

They could easily do time travel, completely divorced from Arcadia bay and max. Like that can be the one tie to the original. Someone, somewhere gets time travel problems and has to deal.

exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


The next Life is Strange could be about literally anything but I think the adolescent age group and female-centric cast were so impactful that Dontnod won't stray from that. I would be more willing to bet that they go with a different thematic power, though.

Tired Moritz
Mar 25, 2012

wish Lowtax would get tired of YOUR POSTS

(n o i c e)
Give me the gay dudes

PTizzle
Oct 1, 2008

exquisite tea posted:

The next Life is Strange could be about literally anything but I think the adolescent age group and female-centric cast were so impactful that Dontnod won't stray from that. I would be more willing to bet that they go with a different thematic power, though.

I'm really hoping that's what they do!

I dug the finale. Much like season 1's last episode it was a bit messy but it did an admirable job wrapping things up and had some lovely moments. Very impressed with the series as a whole (especially after my expectations were low).

Will be sad to leave these characters behind but very intrigued as to where they'll go with season 2.

exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


Tired Moritz posted:

Give me the gay dudes

:same: because can you imagine anything more boring than hetero romance in a video game.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Yeah, I have to admit this all wrapped up way better than I was expecting it to. I was worried that Sera was going to turn out to be a bad person but while she did make some big mistakes it was really James that was ultimately responsible for the situation getting as bad as it did. I still wonder what that scene of her smoking in front of a wildfire with a smirk on her face in Episode 1 was about though (relief at finally seeing her daughter again perhaps?).

Even the raven was sort of explained in a subtle way (if you remember what William's personality was like in the first game his method of advising Chloe here actually kind of makes sense in hindsight, plus it was hilarious hearing him say "hella").

I wouldn't mind seeing a male protagonist in LiS 2 as a change of pace though, just as long as they kept it unique enough to not make it feel like just another Telltale game.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 13:54 on Dec 21, 2017

Eshettar
May 9, 2013

*whispers*

yospos, bithc
I just watched the Geek Remix playthrough. They goofed up the Back Talk against Elliot and I noticed an interesting detail about him. The more visibly angry he becomes with Chloe, the more his voice changes. Listen to how he sounds when he first shows up at the Amber residence and then compare that with how he sounds once he's uncovered Chloe's ruse. The mask of the soft-spoken boy is stripped away and what's revealed is the aggressive person he truly was all along.

I thought that tied in rather nicely with the main theme of Before The Storm which is how people often use personas to keep the world from seeing their true selves. Ironically, Elliot accuses Rachel of being a manipulative actor who uses people to get what she wants while the truth is that Elliot and James are both the greatest contenders for that crown.

Eshettar fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Dec 21, 2017

VagueRant
May 24, 2012
Lighter note, haven't seen much talk in this thread about how much the voice actors/mocappers from the game have gotten involved with the fan community. Especially Kylie Brown who plays Rachel:
https://twitter.com/Kylie_Anne14/status/925556987806416896

Seems like her and some of the other actors (including the one who plays Steph) are constantly doing livestreams and whatnot. And apparently there's still a regular LiS podcast out there called the Blackwell Podcast that regularly interviews the actors.

Get the impression Rhianna DeVries (BTS Chloe) has been a bit quieter oddly. But either way, hope she gets a bunch more work after this. She came into a pretty awkward situation replacing Burch, and she knocked it out of the park all the same.

VagueRant fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Dec 21, 2017

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

exquisite tea posted:

:same: because can you imagine anything more boring than hetero romance in a video game.

Honestly, I want lesbian-focused games that aren't godawful depressing like this and Gone Home. Anime games don't count.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

You could argue that even Chloe herself wears a mask (the whole punk thing is partially an act to hide her crippling loneliness and insecurity, as Samuel kind of points out in Episode 2), she's just more inclined to let it slip at times than most. If you think about it, Eliot kind of has the same problem as Rachel does (he's used to getting what he wants and reacts violently if reality doesn't line up with his fantasies) but possesses none of her good qualities to back it up. While I wish Chloe had been a bit more aggressive in dealing with him (or at the very least, drove the final nail into the coffin by telling him she was gay) it worked well in shattering that illusion and he got what was coming to him in the end (it would have been nice if we'd gotten a little more hints about his dark side other than the constant texts and the journal in his room though).

As for James, some of the most dangerous villains in fiction are the ones who truly believe they're doing the right thing. Not only did he actively hide Sera's existence from Rachel for years (especially considering she was remorseful for what she did and truly wanted to see her child again) but even went so far as to collude with a drug lord to keep her quiet, that's a pretty evil act no matter how noble his intentions were. In the end, assuming you tell Rachel the truth, he winds up reaping what he sowed as the family he's spent all this time and effort preserving collapses in front of him (I do kind of feel bad for Rose though).

In fact, now that I know how to get the Sera part of the ending that's what I'll be going for when I do my chronological playthrough of the whole series later down the line, I don't want to give that man even the slightest shred of victory (might even sacrifice the Bay too just to be sure).

VagueRant posted:

Lighter note, haven't seen much talk in this thread about how much the voice actors/mocappers from the game have gotten involved with the fan community. Especially Kylie Brown who plays Rachel:
https://twitter.com/Kylie_Anne14/status/925556987806416896

Seems like her and some of the other actors (including the one who plays Steph) are constantly doing livestreams and whatnot. And apparently there's still a regular LiS podcast out there called the Blackwell Podcast that regularly interviews the actors.

Get the impression Rhianna DeVries (BTS Chloe) has been a bit quieter oddly. But either way, hope she gets a bunch more work after this. She came into a pretty awkward situation replacing Burch, and she knocked it out of the park all the same.

Wow, she even sort of looks like Rachel to be honest. I ended up liking the new cast a lot more than I was expecting to (in fact, I'd say a few of them are almost on par with the original VAs) and I hope they manage to find more work after this (still looking forward to the return of Burch and Telle for the bonus episode though).

Larryb fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Dec 21, 2017

exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


I guess if there's any prevailing theme that carries over between season one and the prequel, it's the cusp of womanhood provoking the ire and resentment of powerful men. In Before the Storm you have James Amber who is driven to monstrous actions by an obsessive desire to shield his daughter from corruption and the loss of innocence... which directly contributes to a change in Rachel's character that later leads her to fall into another man obsessed with preserving the moment before corruption and the loss of innocence.

Macaluso
Sep 23, 2005

I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG, BROTHER!

VagueRant posted:

Lighter note, haven't seen much talk in this thread about how much the voice actors/mocappers from the game have gotten involved with the fan community. Especially Kylie Brown who plays Rachel:
https://twitter.com/Kylie_Anne14/status/925556987806416896

Seems like her and some of the other actors (including the one who plays Steph) are constantly doing livestreams and whatnot. And apparently there's still a regular LiS podcast out there called the Blackwell Podcast that regularly interviews the actors.

Get the impression Rhianna DeVries (BTS Chloe) has been a bit quieter oddly. But either way, hope she gets a bunch more work after this. She came into a pretty awkward situation replacing Burch, and she knocked it out of the park all the same.

Her voice acting as Rachel was the highlight of the episodes for me. If we get another story involving Rachel I hope the strike being over doesn’t result in replacing her with a more “professional” actor. I don’t know how these things work so perhaps that’s not a concern, but I think it’d be really hard to replace her voice. She nailed that role.

Frank I had no idea was changed. They got a really good voice replacement for him.

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exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


I think Rachel Amber's VA is literally 19 years old so she probably hasn't even gotten her union card yet.

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