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Life is Strange | Spoiler Thread
- Thread starter Dr. Buni
- Start date
Yeah and I've always found that odd. I never got creeper from Warren at all. A bit awkward, sure but not uncomfortably so.
I was also certain we would get a time travelling Rachel twist. Every time Max asked people about Rachel they had only good things to say about her. I assumed she had just abused her power to get everyone to like her, just like Max was doing.
I'll have to go ly dow and give myself some time to digest it, the ending left me feeling empty and depressed, I chose to nuke arcadia bay and it's the choice I already made in my head back when people predicted this possible scenario, so I went with it.
I'm hella depressed now, part of it could be the subject matter of the game, part of it could be that it's all over after following the game for the past 9 months, and it could be because I killed every characters I do care about at the end, or maybe I chose the wrong day to play this on.
Anyway I'm going to have to play zestiria or something to cheer myself up later.
I did enjoy the Warren scene, I'll definitely miss the dude.
I'm hella depressed now, part of it could be the subject matter of the game, part of it could be that it's all over after following the game for the past 9 months, and it could be because I killed every characters I do care about at the end, or maybe I chose the wrong day to play this on.
Anyway I'm going to have to play zestiria or something to cheer myself up later.
I did enjoy the Warren scene, I'll definitely miss the dude.
WrenchNinja
Member
I really don't get why they even bothered to give you a choice at the end. I mean saving Chloe is pretty clearly a bad ending. It especially shows in how boring it as an ending, like there's hardly anything shown.
Episode 5: Went full Homura, no regrets. Fuck destiny right in the bum.
Probably my favorite episode out of the whole series, kudos to dontnod for doing such a cool job with the finale.
You must be pretty jaded if an entire ruined town full of dead people is "boring".
Probably my favorite episode out of the whole series, kudos to dontnod for doing such a cool job with the finale.
You must be pretty jaded if an entire ruined town full of dead people is "boring".
Heh, they credited that Syd Matters song backwards in the credits.
Quick edit: I saved Chloe first but immediately back peddled after thinking about how cliche and boring that'd be. I let that town buuuuuurn.
It's 7am and I've been up all night so that's all I have to say for now. I feel ill and need sleep. Good night.
Double edit: wait what you can avoid giving David a scar during the fight? How?
Quick edit: I saved Chloe first but immediately back peddled after thinking about how cliche and boring that'd be. I let that town buuuuuurn.
Both endings were pretty meh. Doesn't stop the game being amazing though.
It's 7am and I've been up all night so that's all I have to say for now. I feel ill and need sleep. Good night.
Double edit: wait what you can avoid giving David a scar during the fight? How?
Alot of complaints of that ending seems to be because they dont show anyone dead. Just random construction needing to be done.
Well...yeah. They're gonna be under the wreckage, not out in the street so much. I think I did see one dead body covered up.
It's not like the game needed a crazy twist or would even be better for it, but it really did set one up with the nightmare stuff at the end. What was really the entire point of that section? It was thought provoking sure, especially when you're talking to "time" aka yourself at the end, but it didn't really go anywhere after that.
GuitarGuruu
Member
Just finished,
Wow what an incredible game, GOTY contender. The final episode certainly wrapped things up nicely.
Interesting to go through multiple time phases to save Chloe only to have sacrificed her in the end for the greater good.
I really love the way the story played out and brings you back around to the beginning making the moment Nathan kills Chloe that much more meaningful. The funeral scene at the end was a perfect end, although not sure why Frank would've been there. Maybe for Rachel?
Anyway I feel in the end saving Arcadia Bay was the right choice that Max would have made on her own. She kept stating she's going to "do the right thing from now on".
For real though that nightmare dream was trippy as hell though.
Wow what an incredible game, GOTY contender. The final episode certainly wrapped things up nicely.
Interesting to go through multiple time phases to save Chloe only to have sacrificed her in the end for the greater good.
I really love the way the story played out and brings you back around to the beginning making the moment Nathan kills Chloe that much more meaningful. The funeral scene at the end was a perfect end, although not sure why Frank would've been there. Maybe for Rachel?
Anyway I feel in the end saving Arcadia Bay was the right choice that Max would have made on her own. She kept stating she's going to "do the right thing from now on".
For real though that nightmare dream was trippy as hell though.
I didn't think about it from the start as anything more than a nightmare sequence. Max is guilty about manipulating others, letting people get hurt/die/etc, and pushes through it. I saw that whole sequence as her being confronted by her guilt and either ignoring it or getting past it, which is why I thought of the "Save Chloe" ending as the obvious choice. She's already been confronted with the thought of everyone dying, and she walked right past them. Even if it hurts, she isn't going to stop.
Well, I guess the nightmare sequence might feel like a fat load of bullshit if you didn't see it that way though, or already guessed the obvious sacrifice Chloe/sacrifice everyone else setup and wanted to make the "sacrifice Chloe" choice.
Lostconfused
Member
I actually have some emotions associated with the ending of this game, that aren't irreverence or apathy. That puts it above most of the things released this year. I'll need some time to process it emotionally though.
WrenchNinja
Member
I don't know, driving through a ruined town (how is Chloe's truck even in tact?) quickly playing the same song from episode 1 seems pretty boring. If they had shown more of the aftermath like with the good ending, like maybe showing how letting her live wasn't totally an evil thing to do, maybe it would be interesting.
GuitarGuruu
Member
Two great moments I wanted to point out that stuck with me for some reason as highlights of episode 5 were:
Having David kick the table into Jefferson and his reaction I thought was really hilarious for some reason even if it didn't work..
And while in the nightmare when Chloes father texts you saying how he says to say hi to Chloe and Joyce and how we let him die. Wow.
Having David kick the table into Jefferson and his reaction I thought was really hilarious for some reason even if it didn't work..
And while in the nightmare when Chloes father texts you saying how he says to say hi to Chloe and Joyce and how we let him die. Wow.
I'd also like to add that by the time I was halfway through episode 5 after all the repeated time jumps, I really didn't care anymore about trying to get the "best" outcome for everyone I came across. I still saved Evan and Alyssa, but I let Jefferson get shot and stay dead, and I let the fisherman get electrocuted because at that point it was like "don't got time for this shit". Far from being a bad thing, I think that made the ending resonate more strongly with me. You slowly give up on saving everyone you meet, and from there it's a short step to just not saving anyone if it means giving up on Chloe.
I'm super satisfied with the "sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending, to the point where I'm not even sure if I care about looking up alternate scenes/the alternate ending on Youtube.
I'm super satisfied with the "sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending, to the point where I'm not even sure if I care about looking up alternate scenes/the alternate ending on Youtube.
You literally had all of the time for that shit.
I know, it's brilliant! You can totally choose to just let a person straight up stay dead, even though you don't have to! It's not even a case like in episode 4 where you can kill/save Frank or not, because it's entirely possible that by the time you get there you have little to no chance of doing so, and he can attempt to kill you. In this case it's just sheer apathy building up from the repeated time jumps, and I love that. After two minutes I went "nah fuck this, you're cool fisherman dude but I don't know when this power will give out or my brain will leak out of my nose, bye".
Karak
Member
I did the exact same thing. But its because I absolutely had lost all interest by that point.
That being said the titles prior were dramatically better and hold up the series almost on their own. Aome games people should check out if they haven't.
Lostconfused
Member
There is one flaw in the ending. The game establishes that time travelling through a photo has serious limits and boundaries on it. I guess you can just kind of accept that "butterfly effect" takes care of everything. But for the sacrifice Chloe ending to work Max really needs to retain everything she experienced through her time travel shenanigans.
Karak
Member
This is actually why I am excited. Not to save Kate but to mess around in the world and in those first 4 games a bit more.
AlphaDragoon
Member
I felt like much like everything in this game, it was a choice. My Max seemed pretty happy to be able to express her feelings for him after kissing him. Not like it was a reward, but like something she wanted to do to let him know, "hey even though stuff sucks right now, I feel the same way you do and maybe you might get some comfort from knowing that".
WrenchNinja
Member
I will say I did like the nightmare. How does this scene play out if you hadn't kissed both of them?
Blood Diamonds
Banned
Fuck Arcadia Bay, Chloe and Max 4 life
I hope they do a season 2. With a different cast, of course. But I also hope it's connected, it's crazy that they let the supernatural aspect unresolved. I hope if there is a season 2, they address the "you're part of something bigger" and actually tell us what's giving teenager supernatural powers.
I hope they do a season 2. With a different cast, of course. But I also hope it's connected, it's crazy that they let the supernatural aspect unresolved. I hope if there is a season 2, they address the "you're part of something bigger" and actually tell us what's giving teenager supernatural powers.
Rats Off To Ya
Banned
I enjoyed the ending. I had to lose Chloe, even though I've been pining for Max to end up with her in the end. It really wasn't even a hard choice; selfishly sacrificing an entire town isn't something Max or Chloe would have wanted. "Ending B" is pretty lame, as well.
I'm not really bothered about the other choices not mattering. These kinds of games are always about the journey for me.
Also not bothered about no explanation for Max's power. Not really the point of the story, IMO.
Anyway, I only got around to playing the other episodes a few weeks ago, but Dontnod has a fan for life. Very few video games have affected me the way this one did.
I'm not really bothered about the other choices not mattering. These kinds of games are always about the journey for me.
Also not bothered about no explanation for Max's power. Not really the point of the story, IMO.
Anyway, I only got around to playing the other episodes a few weeks ago, but Dontnod has a fan for life. Very few video games have affected me the way this one did.
The Dear Leader
Banned
Is there anyway to go back and change the ending without replaying the whole episode and with my previous choices intact?
Jawmuncher
Member
Select the final chapter and play it in collectible mode
Also glad im not the only one who saw larry david
Blood Diamonds
Banned
Honestly, the sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending is actually so wild. It's literally Max and Chloe saying "Fuck it, I'll let my mom and step dad die to be with you" and "Fuck it, I'll let my parents think I died in a storm to be with you." The sacrifice Chloe ending is exactly what you'd expect and very predictable. Both are really good though, I'm just glad that the endgame for both endings is Chloe and Max.
Jawmuncher
Member
My problem with the sacrifice arcadia bay is that there's not enough weight for the action.
Yeah the town is destroyed and that's pretty bad. But the fact that we don't see them really react to the choice kills it for me. They seemed pretty nonchalant driving through the town. I feel it could have been handled better.
Even if the sacrifice chloe ending is more typical. You get the full closure more or less on that one when the two are compared.
I liked the nonchalant reaction, they both were kind of shutting out the consequences, it's literally because of Max that the town is fucked, but she see's it as justifiable to save Chloe, Chloe matters at this point, not the town or it's inhabitants. Or maybe she's incredibly guilty, she's not looking at Chloe during this ending from memory, she's just looking out the window of the car at the destruction, maybe she doesn't even want to look at Chloe anymore, Chloe is a living reminder of the towns sacrifice, every time she looks at her, she's reminded of the guilt.
I liked the ending, there's some depth if you go digging, but it's very simple on the surface.
Jawmuncher
Member
I guess I can see that.
I have been one to always prefer the big stuff on the table. Rather then the digging myself.
Rockin' Ranger
Member
Max's parents live in Seattle so there was no consideration like that for her.
Dana may have died though, which is the most tragic part of the sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending. Maybe she was out of town visiting someone...
The Dear Leader
Banned
Cool, thanks.
InfiniDragon
Member
Yep, fuck that. Kate lives, no other option is acceptable, you gotta go Chloe.
Hell, I'd have killed Max off to save Kate if the game had forced that choice. She was the innocent in all this while most of the other players made choices that led them where they were, particularly Max.
Actually no, Max and Chloe is a choice like any other in the game; they can end the game as friends (my brother's game ended that way).
My brother said it better than I here. When I said they earned up on that kiss, it was because they had an actual relationship in our play through due to the choices made. It was the payoff for the two awkward teenagers that couldn't find the time until it was damn near too late.
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
As soon as the priest walked on screen, my first thought was, "Hey, Larry David's still gettin work!" Made it sooooo difficult to keep it together during the funeral scene.
Being a fan of artistic expression, use of striking, surreal imagery and the advantages interactive media can offer, I loved the nightmare sequence. The cuts, the corruption of familiar scenery in subtle and direct detail, it was a lot to soak in visually and made for an excellent ramp-up to the ending choice. Some particularly fun bits I noted included
voices playing forward if you rewind and the entire photo-taking process being reversed - including the popping of the photo achievement occurring first
text messages from everyone condemning you for your actions in various timelines, including Pompidou,
I did, however, find myself cringing at some of the hamfisted touchy-feely writing and rushed voice acting. It's possible the VA crew just weren't feeling the scripts they were given. For example, David's sequence in the dark room felt devoid of a lot of the depth he appeared to have in episode 4's delivery. Mr. Jefferson, Chloe, and of course Max, all killed it
(pun about death not intended)
The last minute choice between saving Chloe and saving Arcadia Bay felt like a total nonchoice for me. Even though I did grow to appreciate Chloe as a character and had set up Max & Chloe to be more than just friends, it felt thematically appropriate to end it the way we started. The universe wanted Chloe to die, and the Save Arcadia Bay ending didn't really feel like it earned itself even if the game spent significant portions of the nightmare sequence beating Max over the head with every character in town to attempt to enforce weight on the final choice. Honestly, in my head, the game only ever had one ending. Though, my initial headcanon ending played out more like The Mist where
Chloe would be shot in the bathroom, Max would break down into tears, only for it to be revealed that Chloe survived the encounter anyways so the entire journey was a huge waste of time and emotional energy for an entirely different reason.
I'm not too upset at our choices being retconned at will, something which I felt was going to be obvious given the type of plot device DONTNOD let us play with over the past 5 episodes. It's the illusion of choice that tends to matter in these Telltale style adventure games, and that's where it excelled. My thoughts have changed regarding TWD S1 and other Telltale games over time, so we'll see if I still feel this way in a year, but I'd say that DONTNOD have outdone Telltale there. Though Episode 5 may not have been the strongest, Season 1 still manages to stand up tall.
Just finish it. The ending was completely expected, but it didn't need to be a shock to be emotionally effective. Just, damn. I haven't felt this shookup about a game in a good long while. Probably not since Persona 3 (I played it after 4. 4 also got me in sort of the opposite way).
I chose to sacrifice Chloe and I'm pretty happy with that ending. The other one feels kinda rushed and wraps up way too quickly without explaining much (although Obstacles is a nice touch).
I feel like it also doesn't close Max's character arc very well. Game is filled with coming of age themes, learning to be comfortable with yourself and not having the power to change the outcome of every situation that comes in your way in life. Just saying fuck it and letting the town get destroyed seems totally odd to me in regards to Max's character and everything she was supposed to learn throughout the game. I'm glad that the ending is there, it needed more than one after all, but can't shake the feeling it's there mainly to please the fandom, who so desperately wanted Max and Chloe to be together in the end in some capacity.
Anyway, great episode for a fantastic game, my GOTY for sure.
I feel like it also doesn't close Max's character arc very well. Game is filled with coming of age themes, learning to be comfortable with yourself and not having the power to change the outcome of every situation that comes in your way in life. Just saying fuck it and letting the town get destroyed seems totally odd to me in regards to Max's character and everything she was supposed to learn throughout the game. I'm glad that the ending is there, it needed more than one after all, but can't shake the feeling it's there mainly to please the fandom, who so desperately wanted Max and Chloe to be together in the end in some capacity.
Anyway, great episode for a fantastic game, my GOTY for sure.
TheVampire
Banned
I chose to sacrifice the town.
I finished the final episode a bit ago. My thoughts:
The episodes went a bit more "out there" with the long dream/reality breaking down sequence then I was expecting for the episode. That whole segment reminded me a lot of Alan Wake's DLC. I also found the text messages you get during the dream sequence and your conversation choices with Mr Jefferson to be pretty funny. I found the text message from Pompodou to be particularly funny, I took a screenshot of it.
I went into the episode not expecting them to reveal how Max got her powers and then during the episode when they said multiple times that they may never know how she got her powers I was starting to kinda think maybe they would reveal it but I guess it's not to be. It would probably be hard to come up with a good reason for the powers anyway.
I decided to save Arcadia Bay and not Chole. It was a tough choice and I had to spend awhile thinking about it but I kept coming back to the words of Mr Spock "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". Plus I figured even if I did save Chole it's possible the universe would keep trying to kill her.
Overall I thought Life is Strange was great. I hope we get a second season in the next year or two.
I went into the episode not expecting them to reveal how Max got her powers and then during the episode when they said multiple times that they may never know how she got her powers I was starting to kinda think maybe they would reveal it but I guess it's not to be. It would probably be hard to come up with a good reason for the powers anyway.
I decided to save Arcadia Bay and not Chole. It was a tough choice and I had to spend awhile thinking about it but I kept coming back to the words of Mr Spock "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". Plus I figured even if I did save Chole it's possible the universe would keep trying to kill her.
Overall I thought Life is Strange was great. I hope we get a second season in the next year or two.
Like yeah, I mean the ending for the finale was basically Save Chloe or Save Arcadia Bay but the more important thing other than the result (which is worth criticizing too) is why did you choose either one. You spent all 5 episodes to arrive at your conclusion; you didn't make that final choice in a vaccuum and neither were all the choices that led to your final decision.
I think both DONTNOD and Telltale fully understand this too but I think in that respect DONTNOD just edges out Telltale at the own game by a slim margin and does quite a few other things considerably better in other respects too.
Game of the fucking year! I will say this, they made the right call by not explaining everything. That is something bioware did, writing themselves into fucking corner. Also two other comments, the priest looked like that gif that is posted around here a lot. And why did she get her powers, if she was suppose to let Chloe die. Or maybe it was Arcadia bay that was suppose to die. Anyone read the text from Racheal?
The core mechanic of the game (the rewind powers) fix a lot of the problems in stuff like Mass Effect and Telltale games, by letting you see the immediate effect of all choices before locking them in -- and making narrative sense about it. There have been many times where the short descriptor and actual spoken dialogue have been inconsistent, leading to unforeseen consequences. With LiS, even if their are disconnects, you can immediately back up, and play it out differently -- you also get to see more variations and learn more about characters in your core playthrough than you would if you locked in only one answer for each conversation -- it helps you take risks by giving you a safety net, I doubt anyone would have fired the gun at Frank if they couldn't immediately back it up, for example -- the game even has a narrative reason for taking away the safety net, and it ratchets up the tension in scenes like Kate's suicide attempt. It's ingenious, really.
I wasn't expecting a plot twist or a lore dump, but I was expecting to actually meet Rachel, just once. I felt like the series was building up to that happening. There's even the IM that says "we'll meet, soon" and some kind of time fracture would've been the absolutely perfect place to do it. But I guess that was just more taunting.
It's a good series, and they went real deep with all the mind-bendy visuals and I appreciate that. Still thought it could've amounted to more, but it's not a disappointment. Absolutely worth playing.