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Life is Strange [5 episodes of Gone Home]

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
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Aug 27, 2009
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27,792
Compelling arguments guys, glad we discussed this!
AreYouThereGod.jpg
 
Self-Ejected

Bubbles

I'm forever blowing
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Corinne greeted Rusty and led her straight to a man, a man who must have been Tewky Purvis, balding, not especially handsome, but not ugly, either, with a mustache. Well, half the men in the room had mustaches, including Dr. O. She couldn't hold that against him. They were talking now, her mother and Tewky Purvis, and laughing, maybe even flirting. Miri didn't like it. She didn't know how grown-ups judged each other, especially how women judged men. It never made sense to her. It's about character, Rusty once told her. Strength, goodness. A sense of humor doesn't hurt, either.

She didn't ask how men judged women because she already knew. It was obvious, and Rusty looked glamorous tonight. "That's not all of it," Rusty had once argued. "But you're right--looks are certainly a starting point. Chemistry, too." Miri understood chemistry now. Chemistry turned your legs to jelly and made your insides roll over.

If Mason hadn't had to work tonight Miri might not be at the Osners' party. She hoped she'd never have to choose between her best friend and the boy she loved. Since seventh grade, New Year's Eve had been for just the two of them, Natalie and Miri. She didn't think Natalie would have invited Mason. Maybe someday when Natalie was also in love, they'd invite dates to the Osners' party, but not now. Rusty must have thought that Miri would be out with Mason when she accepted Corinne's invitation. Now she'd have to deal with her daughter keeping an eye on her.
 

Ivan

Arcane
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Jun 22, 2013
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ACT 3's Ending: After Chloe's traintrack bullshit and general stupidity/recklessness I not only called what state she'd be in but was all
tumblr_mdku1paiPb1qcga5ro1_400.gif

when I saw it. Shame it didn't let you take control as Max when she's by the house steps. Give me control you fucks!

Still, suffering through Act 1 and 2 (save for the saving grace ending) and most Act 3, this is pretty overhyped shiiiiiiit.

Glad to see Act 4 has a good start without the time gimick...errr..."mechanic."
 

taxalot

I'm a spicy fellow.
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Codex 2013 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
I went through an "interactive movie" marathon last month. I played, in that order, Game of Thrones (the Telltale one), Tales from the Borderlands (also the Telltale game), and Life is Strange.

Game of Thrones, I had some real trouble not falling asleep. Both the character development and the general storyline were uninspired. Tales from the Borderlands, on the other hand, by the same studio in the same era was done perfectly right. It made you feel like your choices had consequences (although that could be ruined by a second playthrough), and had a cast of likable characters in some kind of adventure rollercoaster.

I pretty much feared Life is Strange would be another Game of Thrones, not making it for me because the setting and characters would be uninteresting for me. Well, how wrong I was ! Life is Strange was a very very pleasant surprise. The story was not so boring as I feared it to be, and the characters were actually well developped. I'm pretty much as anti-hipster as one can be, and I thought the game was their target, but no, there's a real mystery that's actually involving. Act 4 ending managed to surprise me.

I wish however the references to other cultural products were not so obvious. This game has Twin Peaks written all over it. Literally. "Have you seen this man" posters, "TWNPKS" car plates, I seem to remember an allusion to the red room. Finding an invoice for a building from "Howard Roark" felt utterly ridiculous to someone like me who's actually reading The Fountainhead these days. Chloe and Max talking about Blade Runner and Deckard was... unecessary ? But the worse was actually her blue hair which was a totally not so subtle way to hint at the slightly lesbian relationship those two have, and a direct reference to a french movie from two years ago (game studio is Parisian). I wish games would grow up about all this name dropping shit, but it looks like even movies are starting to do it these days.

All in all, it's a pretty smooth experience. There are a bit more puzzles than in Telltale's games. I think they got the formula better than Telltale. It's still an "interactive movie", but it places some puzzles at some point that are just hard enough to keep you from falling asleep. I am eagerly waiting for a season 2 and I hope the characters are going to come out as good and as interesting than the first one. It's really what makes or breaks these games, it seems.

Now about the ending...

Act 5 was nice and spooky in a David Lynch way. I especially loved the bit where you see dead whales in the school courtyard. I found that spooky and was glad when they disappeared from that looping hallway.

And there was the giant pigeons.

I was a bit disappointed still, in the final choice. It felt really imposed on you, in spite of all sense. How did Max came to the realization that the tornado was caused by her saving Chloe ? She had the vision of the tornado before what happens in the bathroom ! Even in the ending when you sacrifice Chloé, Max makes a ton of changes to the universe. I understand it's a clear "butterfly effect" thing, but seriously, that felt so forced it was not credible. So I saved Chloé and fucked the town. The whole game is about saving her, come to think of it. Renouncing it in favor of these characters you don't give a shit about felt like not an actual option, even if yes, it's probably the right thing to do.
Still, no sane mind would have equated the tornado with Chloé being alive or not.
 

SausageInYourFace

Angelic Reinforcement
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Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit. Pathfinder: Wrath
I wish however the references to other cultural products were not so obvious. This game has Twin Peaks written all over it. Literally. "Have you seen this man" posters, "TWNPKS" car plates, I seem to remember an allusion to the red room.

Although it would be wrong to say that I was disappointed I kinda think that some more similiarity to Twin Peaks would have done the game good. I thought that the plot would get more sinister and take that direction but even though it adresses a lot of really dark themes, it never really gives you the disturbing Twin Peaks vibe. All in all the atmosphere in Arcadia Bay is just too pleasant for that, so the game never gets scary or mysterious. Thats not a problem in itself but all the references and obvious similiarities made me expect this.

About the ending.

The whole game is about saving her, come to think of it.

That is a very good point.
 

Daedalos

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
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So is this worth getting?

What other adventure games can it be compared to in terms of style, art and setting?
 

Ivan

Arcane
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Jun 22, 2013
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California
I'm in the penultimate chapter and I wouldn't say it's been worth it. It feels like Gone Home, had Tell-Tale made it. Pretty awful dialogue (more so during first chapters), lip sync, obnoxious characters. Thankfully there is real character development. It's not bad. Buy it for 5 bucks if you run out of "good" games to play.

Feels like: Twin Peaks, Alan Wake, Gone Home.
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
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Sep 20, 2014
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13,465
Do I have to use a controller? It looks like a more laid-back TV screen experience than a tied to M&KB one.
 

Lemming42

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The Satellite Of Love
Replayed this despite only beating it for the first time a few weeks ago. Lots of fun to replay. Found some things I missed the first time, like
being able to speak to Victoria when you're both in the Dark Room, which results in a genuinely heartbreaking conversation

I liked the ending first time around, this time I see why people ripped on it so much.
It's kind of a pisstake that nothing you did ultimately mattered in the end and all the friendships you made never happened, and it's also pretty lame that the ending is literally just the twist from City on the Edge of Forever, but it still got to me the first time I played so can't really complain.

Does Max remember anything that happened at the ending? It's hard to tell.
 

Bliblablubb

Arcane
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Mar 1, 2014
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Copium Den
The game is definitely worth playing, after it gets budgeted tho. I would lie if I deny having an emoshunal engaging time playing ep 1-4.

The irony about the ending is, it was pretty much what most people guessed after the first episode. But it was deemed "unlikely" because it was so cheap and obvious and people expected something more clever from those ambitious developers, with all those symbolism stuffs (that were just red herrings). Then it turned out to be the real ending and people were bitching.
A company like Bioware would have hastly rewritten the game to get another ending, most likely a worse one. And people would be bitching too.
Although in this case only "rocks fall everyone dies" or "it was all just a dream" would be worse...
no wait, technically those ARE the 2 ending choices. Meh, let the town burn, friendship is magic!

Whatever. These days players are used to shitty endings and it's more about the ride until then. Life is strange indeed.

Come to think of it, can't remember the last time I finished a game, switched off the computer and thought "fuck yeah!"... maybe Twichter 3 if you did it right.
 

Ivan

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Jun 22, 2013
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Finished

As a total package the last two episodes really saved the game. I would score the episodes as follows:
5=4>2>3>1

So, it does get better as it goes, specifically with EP 3's ending. Eps 1-3 (before the ending) were mostly a chore, mainly because I felt it was p. bull how there wasn't much permanence to your choices. I did however like how as the game went on you had less agency and less control over which situations you could and couldn't "take back." I did enjoy how the main characters are given particular attention in how they develop and how they cope with their problems as the game goes on, particularly Chloe and Daniel (who stole the show imo in EP 5). I was most engaged with the narrative in Ep 5 when the Silent Hill/Twin Peaks influences really come to the forefront. The nightmare had distinct callbacks to the Red Room from TP, I felt like I was playing Heather from SH3. I think if the story embraced weirdness/otherness more it would be right up my alley. I didn't enjoy the spic nerd, the fat girl with the typecast VO, almost all the side characters are vacuous. I was hoping each would have some dark secret or some shit like in TP. Regardless, my disdain for the townsfolk make the final choice a no brainer for me. As per the ending, I think it packed as much punch as the one where we had to say goodbye to Clem.

During EP 5 it dawned on me how cool it would be to have a Silent Hill type game. Silent Hill has always resonated most as a grotesque adventure game to me and I think this type of game suits that gameplay. As others have mentioned, gameplay is a problem in the series. The detective puzzle in EP 4 was the highlight and I wish there were more of that.

All in all, struggle through the first EPs cuz it does get better.


Edit: for all the shit flung at EP 5 for its resolution, am I the only one who loved the surreal bits?
giant squirrels, text messages from a dog, the birds crashing against the classroom window, I was hoping that at any point a fucking whale would break through the scenery for a jump scare.
756746E93EA3E0E97D7EC4B04222C68C10B14C52
I'd love them to take a stab at a psych-horror game a la SH.
 
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opium fiend

Augur
Joined
Dec 30, 2006
Messages
546
I may be a soppy old cunt, but I feel a desire to replay this game. Not for the ending, though, as I know many of the choices go down the drain...
If you fail to save Kate, does she still appear at Chloe's funeral? if so, fuck
, but for the mood. The rain, the sentimentality, I don't know, I like this thing. I wish ep 5 was a much better work than it is.
I've also missed talking to the old beggar woman, who's supposed to be Max from another universe/timeline

Also, look, I feel the need to ask this. Isn't the game's premise pointless from the start? Since every time Max (or anyone) snaps their fingers a new universe is created where that decision didn't happen, what's the point? Am I missing something, I don't think Max can alter timelines, she can just plane hop. Which means.... she can do nothing and everything will happen simultaneously.
 

Ivan

Arcane
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Jun 22, 2013
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California
I really liked the original music for the game. Most of the licensed stuff sounded way too samey to make an impression. Many of the original songs reminded me a lot of Silent Hill 1's music, particularly:



Damn I want/need a new Silent Hill game.
 

opium fiend

Augur
Joined
Dec 30, 2006
Messages
546
Since every time Max (or anyone) snaps their fingers a new universe is created where that decision didn't happen, what's the point? Am I missing something, I don't think Max can alter timelines, she can just plane hop.

What even gives you this idea?

Stephen Hawking.

Seriously, even in game, there are parallel worlds that split off when Max does something drastic, like when she
makes the dad lose his car keys
, so I'm assuming that even in universe there's no difference between drastic and mundane and that everything one does just creates a parallel world and that they exist simultaneously. I've no idea how that would result in the tornado and apocalypse and twin moons and shit. I know less about physics than the nerd who crushes on Max, though, so don't take me seriously.
 

Lemming42

Arcane
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
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The Satellite Of Love
She didn't create a parallel world when she stopped Chloe's dad dying, she just fucked up her own timeline and then un-fucked it by going back again.

There's the dream at the end of Episode 5, though, where the dream-Max says you created a bunch of different timelines, but that could be just a representation of Max's guilt over doing stuff like crippling her best friend.
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
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Sep 20, 2014
Messages
13,465
I noticed that there's a boxed limited edition coming out next week with the soundtrack and an art book. I might get that.
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
13,465
I noticed that there's a boxed limited edition coming out next week with the soundtrack and an art book. I might get that.

:updatedmytxt:

:D And now I noticed, that this was already announced one page earlier.

The final reason I decided that I'll probably get it, was taxalot 's assessment, that the game isn't as hipster as it looks. And apparently DRM free.
 
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