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[Blues1990]

I just completed Chapter 5. Here are my overall thoughts on the game & characters:

• I felt it would've been wrong for Max & Chloe to hook up, given that she deeplys cares for Rachel & was devastated to find her body in the episode "Dark Room". Also, most friendships that transition to relationships rarely go swimmingly, & it doesn't help that Rachel's death would've cause continuing grief for Chloe, as well as possibly cause discomfort for Max if it was brought up continuously. Besides, I wanted Max to not only make up for lost time, but to make up to be a genuine friend again for Chole's rather messed up life.
  
• Rachel was an enigma in this series. Aside from the Missing Posters and information that we have gotten from Chloe, Frank, and the staff/students from Blackwell, we truly don't know who she was. She wasn't present in the alternative timeline, and aside from a random text message during Max's nightmare-fulled reality trip & reincarnating into a spirit animal (the blue butterfly) to give Max the ability to manipulate time to save Chole, she remains the games biggest mystery.
  
• Kate was my personal favourite of the cast of characters in 'Life Is Strange,' & it had broken my heart to see how the excessive bullying had worn her down, both mentally and emotionally. If it weren't for her conservative views, then it would be her religious background & stances on sex & consuming alcohol. The fact that Max was the only one who was concerned for Kate & wanted to help/care for her says a lot about her former friends Alyssa & Stella, who did jack shit during and after the Vortex Party. The moment in Episode 5 when Max had gone to comfort Kate (after warping back to the start of the game) was my favourite moment in the series, second only to when Max talked her out of committing suicide. I liked that Max had taken responsibility for looking after Kate's rabbit, which says a lot for their friendship.
  
• When she isn't acting like a bitch or trying to cover up her insecurities, Victoria was a pretty cool cat. Have to give her credit for admitting that she admires Max was for not caring what others think of her, and she came across as genuinely sincere (especially in Episode 4) for regretting all the horrible stuff she did to Katie.
  
• Warren is my second favourite character. To be honest, I find it ridiculous that people keep calling Warren a crazy stalker, just because he doesn't know how to handle having a crush on a girl. At his core, the guy is just an enthusiastic dork that also happens to be socially awkward. It doesn't help that Max would be his first crush, and given that he's the youngest character in the cast, he hasn't developed those social cues to know what (and what NOT) to do, which is something we all had to learn at one point in our lives. Also, in Episode 1, I thought Warren checking up on Max was perfectly reasonable, especially since Nathan had grabbed her by the throat and wanted to pop her head off like it was a grape. The guy probably wanted to make sure that she was alright.
  
• Alyssa seems to attract unfortunate incidents (that are caused by other people) like a magnet, which became pretty comical by the time you had to save her in the fifth episode. I did like that she was willing to stand up for her friends when people talk behind their backs. Outside from that, she seemed cool.
  
• Brooke didn't leave a good impression on me during my playthrough, aside from being a bit boorish and semi-rude to Max. She insults anyone's intelligence, and seems to have a bit of a jealously streak when Warren is brought up.
  
• Stella came across as being a grumpy twat, and I'll admit, I didn't pay attention to her during my playthrough & had completely forgotten about her until she made an appearance during Max's nightmarish hallucinations.
  
• Taylor wasn't too interesting, but I liked that she thanked Max for comforting her, with regards to her mother's upcoming surgery.
  
• Out of all the side characters, Dana is the most developed & is very likable. I was a bit bummed that she didn't play a vital role to the story, as she was one of the few female characters that wasn't hostile towards Max & had made a physical appearance in almost all the episodes. It helps that she thinks very highly of Max during their heart-to-heart talks, and she was more than happy to have Max snoop in Victoria's bedroom to help her out with her situation with Juliet.
  
• Samuel the janitor is a sweetheart, but I can't be the only one who finds it weird that this guy seems to know about everything that is happening in the game. How does he know so much about Max & her spirit animal, especially when he uses the phrase "body" when discussing about Rachel's whereabouts?

I'll continue with this list later, as I'm getting pretty tired.

 

[A-V-B]

Yeah. The almost total absence of Rachel and Samuel seemed weird. They seem like important characters the whole season, and then they're basically non-entities.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Alright, done. Have to say I really love this episode. I just love the mindfuckery going on.
I also was really happy to see that they gave you a choice in the end, going back in time and killing Chloe was what I always thought will happen.
So fuck that. Didn't choose it and I'm satisfied with what I got. I watched the other ending too and it seems obvious the "scarifice" ending is what they intended to be the ending (just by the amount of effort put into it compared to the other one) but not on my watch.

The way I see it (if I want to dabble in the game's logic a bit) is that it's not Chloe who is supposed to die but the town. Why else would Max got the time powers? Oh yeah, I'm REALLY glad they didn't bother and try to explain those, that could have only ended badly.

Anyway, overall this was a great game. Glad I was along for the ride. Well done Dontnod, well done.

 

[justjim89]

I hate how the entire episode guilted Max for using her time powers. Like, she got them by accident. I also would've liked more permutations of the ending. That last choice is fucked up and arbitrary and not in a good way. Either kill your best friend or let literally everyone else die. That's what happens if you go back right? Everything turns out ok except Chloe is dead?

 

[HelloMeow]

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.

Yes. Instead of the weird lighthouse and diner part of the nightmare, there should have been something with Rachel.

When you're stuck in the dorm hallway, you actually get to go back to when Rachel was still alive. If you pay attention to the map, you can see that for one instance it has a couple of different names, including Rachel.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

I hate how the entire episode guilted Max for using her time powers. Like, she got them by accident. I also would've liked more permutations of the ending. That last choice is fucked up and arbitrary and not in a good way. Either kill your best friend or let literally everyone else die. That's what happens if you go back right? Everything turns out ok except Chloe is dead?

Pretty much.
I didn't chose that ending though. I hate, HATE the "And now nothing ever happened" ending in pretty much all forms. Fuck. That.

 

[Roussow]

There's spoilers for The last of Us in this post, so I've tagged it.

Spoiler

This might be a stretch, but I just finished The Last of Us: Remastered after wrapping up The Nathan Drake Collection, and there are a few parallels between the sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending and the ending of The Last of Us, it's core tenant is simple, it's a selfish choice to save the person you (potentially) care about most (Chloe/Ellie), instead of sacrificing them to potentially save many people. Not stopping the tornado is comparable thematically to not letting a cure be developed from Ellie's brain.

 

[justjim89]

Pretty much.
I didn't chose that ending though. I hate, HATE the "And now nothing ever happened" ending in pretty much all forms. Fuck. That.

Yep. Fuck it. Max got powers to save Chloe, not learn some damn lesson about Destiny. So I saved Chloe.

Although if I'm being a stickler, Chloe getting shot in the gut shouldn't meant instant death, and even with a tornado that big, some people would surely still be alive. It shouldn't be so black and white. There should be some survivors coming out of the rubble when Max and Chloe drive out. Did no one else even think of going to the light house?

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

Made me laugh.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Yep. Fuck it. Max got powers to save Chloe, not learn some damn lesson about Destiny. So I saved Chloe.

Although if I'm being a stickler, Chloe getting shot in the gut shouldn't meant instant death, and even with a tornado that big, some people would surely still be alive. It shouldn't be so black and white. There should be some survivors coming out of the rubble when Max and Chloe drive out. Did no one else even think of going to the light house?

I didn't really interpret it as "Everybody is dead now" tbh.
In a game I will always choose the "I like this more" option over the "this is what a good person does" ending.

Obviously the biggest flaw in all of it is, well, time travel. Max could just travel back in time, save Chloe and then convince a bunch of people to go to the lighthouse or leave town or whatever.

Anyway, nagging aside I still really liked the series overall.

 

[danm999]

Just finished. Thoughts in no particular order;

• I liked the almost title drops. I was worried they were going to say "life is strange" at one point, but they only ever said "life is weird" or "life isn't easy".
• Dug the jokes about keycode puzzles and collecting bottles.
• Made me feel a bit more sympathy for Nathan which I didn't expect. David too.
• Made the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay choice. I'm a monster I know.
• Good to see Larry David working as a Minister in between seasons of Curb
• Pompidou has good texting skills.

 

[Bittercup]

Finished the episode and loved it and the ending.
I really like how they handled the choices. It's always difficult for games with multiple choices through the game how to fit them into an endings.
I assume the blue butterfly is Chloe's spirit animal who tried to prevent her death. And in the end it's more about Chloe accepting that she has to die, not about Max picking the 'right' choices to get the best ending where everything plays out perfectly.
The choices she does still matter though because they shape the experience and it was always interesting to see how scenes played out differently based on what you do. Just in the bigger picture it wasn't about Max.

In the end I did sacrifice Arcadia Bay. It seemed like the obvious bad ending and Chloe made the decision that she had to die but Max went to much trouble to save her over and over. I'm not letting her die again even if she wants.
Sad ending, but I like it.

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

Man, Nathan was kinda tragic. How might he have turned out if he hadn't been groomed by such a weird family?

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Just finished. Thoughts in no particular order;

• Good to see Larry David working as a Minister in between seasons of Curb

Lol, I thought the exact same thing. Almost word for word

 

[benicillin]

I unpacked a lot more from that finale before going to bed last night and man there's a whole lot to go through, so maybe eventually I'll type out all my thoughts, but I'm glad GAF for the most part seems to get the ending and the point of the game. I had to stop going on the subreddit entirely because folks keep talking about ME3 and wow they just have no idea what they're talking about.

 

[Chariot]

Hahaha, I am so sorry, David!

 

[Skux]

Fantastic. One of the best stories in a video game.

I love how the scope expanded hugely. Instead of simple rewind puzzles you were jumping between photographs and fixing certain things in each little bubble which would let you stop Jefferson and save Arcadia Bay, but every 'happy' ending was eventually thwarted. You knew there was no way to fix everything because something else would screw up because of you.

I always had a feeling that someone would have to be sacrificed to prevent everything from happening. I was thinking it was Max that would have to die, but the mindfuck part of the episode made me realise that everything started with Chloe.

I sacrificed Chloe.

Loved the little meta nods during the 'dream' sequence. Those fucking bottles!

Pretty much.
I didn't chose that ending though. I hate, HATE the "And now nothing ever happened" ending in pretty much all forms. Fuck. That.

Erasing the "true" timeline doesn't suddenly make everything meaningless. Max carries the memories of her week with Chloe. You, the player, get to keep the memory of playing the game and experiencing its story.

 

[duckielein]

This last episode was completely disappointing and 'destroyed' the whole game for me.

Way too much 'back in time, back in future' oh, fucked up -> 'back in Time, back in future' oh, srsly, WAT AM I DOIN' -> 'back in time' for 2/3 of the episode.

And this "recap" was senseless. Same goes for the "nightmare". Only Mention was 'Am I in a Timeloop?' and that was all ..

all comes to an "uhm, maybe ... Chloe should die... but I don't want to. Naw, fuck off. And fuck off Rachel, no need to mention her again'.

Goddamn ... So upset right now.

 

[ArjanN]

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 don't think that's an improvement per se, it's just a different design choice. In those other games they clearly wanted the consequences of a choice to be vague or surprising at times. Honestly I think these games are better if you just pick something and live with it instead of trying to metagame it too much.

 

[toastyToast]

Erasing the "true" timeline doesn't suddenly make everything meaningless. Max carries the memories of her week with Chloe. You, the player, get to keep the memory of playing the game and experiencing its story.

Chloe says as much. Everything happened despite whatever the true timeline is.

 

[Skux]

And why did she get her powers, if she was suppose to let Chloe die.

That's an interesting argument. On one hand the game argues for chaos theory and "Life is Strange" because weird shit happens and you get time rewinding powers for no reason and you don't know why, but then on the other hand it argues for "you can't mess with time because bad things will happen" which is based more on the idea of destiny, that there's a set path that things will take and you can't change that no matter how hard you try, or you can change it but there are severe consequences.

Chloe says as much. Everything happened despite whatever the true timeline is.

Exactly.

That wrenching feeling in your gut when Chloe asks you to euthanise her.

Kate's suicide/attempted suicide and the fallout from that event that permeated all of the following chapters.

All the touching moments you shared with Chloe, and the awkward ones with Warren, all the drama with Victoria and her friends, and all the cool little scenes with your photography buddies.

How can you suddenly say none of that was "real" because the story didn't end that way? You felt those moments. They're like memories. They were real then and they still are.

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

I think chaos theory makes the most sense as to why Max got powers for pretty much no reason. Well not no reason, cos in the new timeline Nathan and Jefferson get found out and what not, but still. Just random stuff.

I really liked the kiss. It's very understated, which was the right decision for me.

 

[danm999]

That's an interesting argument. On one hand the game argues for chaos theory and "Life is Strange" because weird shit happens and you get time rewinding powers for no reason and you don't know why, but then on the other hand it argues for "you can't mess with time because bad things will happen" which is based more on the idea of destiny, that there's a set path that things will take and you can't change that no matter how hard you try, or you can change it but there are severe consequences.

There's kind of an interesting contrast at the end.

You can use your powers one final time to negate their impact throughout the entire game;

Or you can refuse to use your powers again to sustain their impact throughout the entire game.

The nightmare sequence isn't just wacky shit for the sake of wacky shit. It's basically Max looking inward and trying to figure out whether she's been having a good impact or bad on people throughout the entire game. It's her carrying the guilt and consequences of how she's conducted herself even if she didn't give herself the powers.

On the one hand, she seems very conscious that every single time she's made what seems like a short term positive decision, it has had far reaching negative impacts. Saving Chloe caused the storm. Saving William caused a horrible alternate reality. Saving herself from the Dark Room caused Arcadia Bay to be destroyed while she was in San Francisco. She concludes that using this power is a thing she seems bad at and that she should probably stop it.

On the other hand, there's the idea floated that when the time comes, she'll make the "right" choice. Which seems to be some sort of utilitarian pitch to save the town and let Chloe die. This is pretty interesting as a moral concept because the nasty, pragmatic version of herself Max meets, or Dark Max, which is what I'm calling the doppleganger at the diner, seems to ridicule your choices and tell you Chloe doesn't give a shit about you and you should let her die. All the while the inhabitants of Arcadia Bay plead for their lives with you. All of this suggests that subconsciously Max already knows the choice she'll be presented with in a few minutes, but is too afraid to confront it.

It's a very interesting ending in that it basically allows you to define a moral code to work backwards through the game. One life is meaningless in the face of many, or that we should stop trying to meddle with things we don't understand or can't control.

 

[epmode]

Did anyone else get the notion that the escalating environmental disasters were symptoms of a global apocalypse? Not just Arcadia Bay problems. I mean, the whales and birds were bleak but the two moons in episode 4 had me thinking some cosmic shit was going down.

So sacrificing Chloe wasn't much of a choice for me.

But now I see that only Arcadia Bay was at risk and much of the town would have survived if I chose otherwise. Did they pull back at the last second or was I misreading the last few episodes? 3 and 4 really felt like the end of the world.

 

[benicillin]

If we had to assign any reason for Max getting her powers, I've given it some thought and am of the belief that if the blue butterfly is either Chloe's spirit animal or somehow related to Rachel Amber, that Max got time travel powers to save Chloe and help her find out what happened to Rachel but that Chloe staying alive would have consequences because of what happens when you mess with time/space.

That's just my theory though, and the fact that they didn't explicitly explain it is probably for the best. Time travel rarely gets explained away satisfactorily. The game takes a lot of cues (at least for me) from Donnie Darko's ending, i.e. a storm that threatens to destroy the town (or in Darko's case, the universe) if changes in the primary timeline aren't averted.

 

[Salty Catfish]

If we had to assign any reason for Max getting her powers, I've given it some thought and am of the belief that if the blue butterfly is either Chloe's spirit animal or somehow related to Rachel Amber, that Max got time travel powers to save Chloe and help her find out what happened to Rachel but that Chloe staying alive would have consequences because of what happens when you mess with time/space.

Since saving Chloe seems to have completely unhinged time and space, is it possible that the powers were given to Max solely to catch Jefferson? That's a pretty huge alteration -- surely he was going to capture and kill many more girls -- but it didn't tear at the seams of reality like saving Chloe.

I thought the ending was an example of how even a predictable conclusion can be pulled off if you give it enough meaning. Having a chance to hit the big undo button at the eleventh hour was not surprising at all but it still absolutely killed me to do it, especially after that amazing sequence in the dream where you walk through all of your memories with Chloe.

 

[Heimbeck]

Since saving Chloe seems to have completely unhinged time and space, is it possible that the powers were given to Max solely to catch Jefferson? That's a pretty huge alteration -- surely he was going to capture and kill many more girls -- but it didn't tear at the seams of reality like saving Chloe.

I thought the ending was an example of how even a predictable conclusion can be pulled off if you give it enough meaning. Having a chance to hit the big undo button at the eleventh hour was not surprising at all but it still absolutely killed me to do it, especially after that amazing sequence in the dream where you walk through all of your memories with Chloe.

I doubt Max got her powers to catch Jefferson.
If you sacrifice Chloe then in that same timeline Nathan tells the cops about Jefferson, leading to his arrest.

 

[benicillin]

Since saving Chloe seems to have completely unhinged time and space, is it possible that the powers were given to Max solely to catch Jefferson? That's a pretty huge alteration -- surely he was going to capture and kill many more girls -- but it didn't tear at the seams of reality like saving Chloe.

I thought the ending was an example of how even a predictable conclusion can be pulled off if you give it enough meaning. Having a chance to hit the big undo button at the eleventh hour was not surprising at all but it still absolutely killed me to do it, especially after that amazing sequence in the dream where you walk through all of your memories with Chloe.

From what I can tell I'm pretty sure that Jefferson would have gotten caught with no intervention from Max at all the day Chloe died - when Nathan shoots Chloe he gets caught by David and then gives up Jefferson as a result. If we want to give meaning to Max getting the powers as anything other than chaos theory then it seems to me like the purpose was to help Chloe find out what happened to Rachel because otherwise she'd die without ever knowing.

 

[KingBroly]

The moral of the story:

Spoiler

Time Powers Bad, Chloe dying good

 

[Seth Balmore]

Spoiler

They said something like they sided with Chloe on every choice? I can't seem to find the comment to clarify.

Spoiler

I had Max kiss Chloe back in ep. 3, but I certainly didn't side with her on EVERYTHING. Decided to stand up for David for instance, and Chloe gave Max crap about that constantly. I still got the kiss at the end of ep. 5. I wonder what triggers it exactly...

I agree with everyone on the ending being predictable, but I still enjoyed the closure. I'll miss the characters, although it seems we might get more Life is Strange in the future? I did spot "Life is Strange - Season 1" in one of the messages at the end...

I'm honestly only disappointed with the

Spoiler

sacrifice Arcadia Bay

ending. Warning, rant:

Spoiler

Not only was the length disappointing compared to the 'true' ending, but I also believe Dontnod failed at hammering in the magnitude of the consequences of Max's final choice. I mean, WTF is wrong with Max and Chloe in that scene as they drive away from Arcadia Bay? They look around the devastation which they indirectly caused and just smile as they drive away? Am I supposed to interpret that nobody died and it's just the town itself that got trashed by the tornado? And even so, does Chloe not give a shit about her mother anymore, for example?

Seeing the way the scene was playing out in the beginning, I was convinced that by sacrificing the town, Max just decided she was tired of this entire ordeal, tired of trying to fix everything and was happy to just let go and die up there in the storm with Chloe (and, well, the rest of the town I guess). I was pretty surprised when they were shown leaving their devastated town behind, all smiles to boot.

I don't know. I'm not sure what Dontnod were trying to do with it, but the execution felt very awkward in my opinion.

Yeah, I know this is a spoiler thread but it's still weird to post all that without spoiler tags. Sorry.

 

[Chariot]

Ha, that's a nice one.

Urgh, but I feel so worn out now

 

[Salty Catfish]

I doubt Max got her powers to catch Jefferson.
If you sacrifice Chloe then in that same timeline Nathan tells the cops about Jefferson, leading to his arrest.

From what I can tell I'm pretty sure that Jefferson would have gotten caught with no intervention from Max at all the day Chloe died - when Nathan shoots Chloe he gets caught by David and then gives up Jefferson as a result. If we want to give meaning to Max getting the powers as anything other than chaos theory then it seems to me like the purpose was to help Chloe find out what happened to Rachel because otherwise she'd die without ever knowing.

Oh that's true, I completely forgot that Nathan gives up Jefferson in the unaltered timeline. I like the idea that it was for Chloe to -- at least in one timeline -- find closure on Rachel.

 

[wrowa]

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.

That wasn't about literally meeting Rachel, but about Max dying. It was a "see you soon, because soon you'll be as dead as me" sort of thing.

I never actually considered that meeting Rachel would ever be on the cards. I think it was quite established already that Max never had the possibility to actually save Rachel. Despite having control over time, Max just found her limit there. It was already in episode 4 that Max and Chloe needed to come to terms with the fact that her rescue mission had failed.

Now, what could Rachel have added to the story in episode 5? I feel like everything she could have said would just be cheesy. I think I prefer Rachel as the goal that is just not reachable however hard you try.

 

[--R]

The Nathan voicemail... It really touched me. I really really liked this episode, overall was worst than the last one but it had pretty good moments. GOTY for me, at least.

 

[His Majesty]

This last episode was completely disappointing and 'destroyed' the whole game for me.

Way too much 'back in time, back in future' oh, fucked up -> 'back in Time, back in future' oh, srsly, WAT AM I DOIN' -> 'back in time' for 2/3 of the episode.

And this "recap" was senseless. Same goes for the "nightmare". Only Mention was 'Am I in a Timeloop?' and that was all ..

all comes to an "uhm, maybe ... Chloe should die... but I don't want to. Naw, fuck off. And fuck off Rachel, no need to mention her again'.

Goddamn ... So upset right now.

I kinda agree. All the jumping from one timeline to another sort of disconnected me from the story. I loved the previous episodes because the time travel was a rather light element. This episode on the other hand was completely focused on time travel and much less on character development. So yeah, pretty disappointed in a lacklustre finale to a great game.

I chose for 'sacrifice Arcadia Bay' in the end, although I saw it more like stop trying to fix your mistakes and live with the consequences. Choosing to use your powers one last time to save everything seemed like a dumb idea to me. Ending sequence was a bit...abrupt I guess? At least compared to the sacrifice Chloe ending.

 

[delSai]

Finished the episode as well, liked it. Great game even though i'm a bit disappointed by the ending. Only thing that hella sucked was the sneaking bulllshit.

 

[Trick_GSF]

Amazing game, great episode. Ending left me feeling a bit cold and disappointed. It doesn't help one ending obviously got much more effort put into it than the other.

 

[carlsojo]

Still digesting it but hopping through time and space via different photographs was everything I wanted for the finale. The nightmare was like an awesome bonus.

 

[carlsojo]

So what happens if you don't warn Victoria? In the opening scenes she basically tells you she ran to Mr. Jefferson because she was scared of Nathan.

 

[wrowa]

I agree with everyone on the ending being predictable, but I still enjoyed the closure. I'll miss the characters, although it seems we might get more Life is Strange in the future? I did spot "Life is Strange - Season 1" in one of the messages at the end...

By all accounts, Life is Strange seeems to have been a great success for both Dontnod and Square Enix, so I'd be very, very surprised if we don't get a second season. In fact, I'm sure they already started pre-production on it a while ago. However, they said in the past that a second season would likely feature a new cast of characters.

I'm honestly only disappointed with the

Spoiler

sacrifice Arcadia Bay

ending. Warning, rant:

Well, let's be real here: There is only one ending. The other one is just for people who refuse to face reality. As such, I wasn't surprised that it did feel relatively rough. After all, it just goes contrary to the game's morale (and, yes, sacrificing AB was my first choice as well. Because fuck you, I won't let Chloe die after all I've been through, that's why! )

As for the smile, it's just there to show that Chloe and Max are happy to have each other, even when everything else is ruined. It's the positive spark in an otherwise completely desolate situation.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

There's spoilers for The last of Us in this post, so I've tagged it.

Spoiler

This might be a stretch, but I just finished The Last of Us: Remastered after wrapping up The Nathan Drake Collection, and there are a few parallels between the sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending and the ending of The Last of Us, it's core tenant is simple, it's a selfish choice to save the person you (potentially) care about most (Chloe/Ellie), instead of sacrificing them to potentially save many people. Not stopping the tornado is comparable thematically to not letting a cure be developed from Ellie's brain.

Spoiler

Choosing the Save Arcadia Bay option was like being able to rectify the terribly selfish choice Joel made in TLoU, it felt so good, especially seeing as how it fixed literally everything else

Like everyone else, I'm super bummed they never explained Max's time powers. Rachel was also underused - I get that she was a red herring, but it felt more disappointing than anything when she turned out to be nothing too special. Ghost doe was never explained either. I feel like Dontnod had ideas for the writing that never got used or replaced with other ideas, because it certainly feels that way. All the hints at the ancient Native American culture in Arcadia Bay, Rachel being some sort of teen girl Jesus to everyone, Samuel's weird knowledge of spirit animals... it all seemed to be putting together puzzle pieces to another story Dontnod decided not to tell. Nathan's sudden heel turn at the end felt kind of forced too (although, don't get me wrong, it was a very emotional scene, perhaps one of the best in Episode 5). I also don't think the Max/Chloe dynamic was played very well in this episode, which I understand was written the way it was for the big choice to have more impact, but Chloe and Max's friendship felt more genuine in every other episode... here it felt like deep love, or worship, even, which was not the vibe I got from earlier eps. I liked the best friend thing they had going on. Still like the ending and the episode, but it's not what I necessarily wanted from the story.

 

[Shion]

I was very nervous about the ending but, thankfully, Dontnod delivered.

I can now safely say that Life is Strange is the best narrative-driven game ever created for me.

And why did she get her powers, if she was suppose to let Chloe die.

To trigger the journey that would, ultimately, help Chloe make peace with her "destiny".

 

[Shinjica]

Well, let's be real here: There is only one ending. The other one is just for people who refuse to face reality. As such, I wasn't surprised that it did feel relatively rough. After all, it just goes contrary to the game's morale (and, yes, sacrificing AB was my first choice as well. Because fuck you, I won't let Chloe die after all I've been through, that's why! )

I dont agree with that. If you make a two way ending, they have to be both of them good. Simply say "there is only one ending" is a cheap excuse for the developer to not put work something important.

We are speaking about the ending, not a small choice during the game.

 

[wrowa]

I dont agree with that. If you make a two way ending, they have to be both of them good. Simply say "there is only one ending" is a cheap excuse for the developer to not put work something important.

We are speaking about the ending, not a small choice during the game.

I'd be surprised if the vast majority of people didn't immediately jump to episode 5's last chapter again after getting either ending to see the other one, so I don't think that's really much of an issue. Even before I chose to sacrifice AB I knew that it was the selfish, wrong thing to do and I think the ending reflects just that.

 

[JonathanNemo]

I don't like going into threads just to say how much I hated a thing, but I don't have anything else to add at the moment. Man, episode 5 just felt like a mess of poorly done, cheaply made weird bullshit for its second half.

Shame that Dontnod went for more of a Telltale choice, two endings that conveniently mostly remove whatever consequences your actions had with the rest of the game. But I guess they didn't have that much of a budget to work with from the beginning so...

...

I feel I would be less disappointed if the games I played between this and ep 4 were not OFF (second time through), Undertale, and Mizzurna Falls. The first two do a great job of breaking the player's expectations and stitching things back up into something more than the sum of its parts for some really neat revelations in the last phases of the game. Mizzurna Falls is an incredibly janky, open world game with Twin Peaks influence and a remarkably well done script, its true ending is so well done and ties up nearly every loose end in the game, going in a tragic direction that made me like the game so much more.

The nightmare sequence adds nothing, really, just pads out the gameplay a bit and telegraphs the Chloe versus Arcadia Bay choice in a very hammy way. And most of the cast just kind of... disappears, really. Victoria's practically a non entity, after a big deal is made in the last episode about warning her

I really liked the writing for the first four episodes. This, eh, lost steam.

I'll probably like it more if I came back to it in a few months. Right now, I'm just pissed that I stayed up super late for an ending that leaves me with nothing.

I'll get over it!

 

[Anteater]

The moral of the story:

Spoiler

Time Powers Bad, Chloe dying good

 

[TranceKuja]

I went for the Save Arcadia Bay ending because I felt like the game was teaching me this entire episode that going back in time only ever makes things worse, so this felt like the right time to stop time travelling and just let whatever bad things happen because of the storm, happen.

And I'm okay with that ending, but after watching the 'good' ending on YouTube I do think that would've been way more of a punch in the gut if I'd experienced it in the game. So I kind of also wished I went that route to have the most emotional experience possible.

If only we could rewind time, eh? ;D

 

[Chariot]

Guys, what's the name of the song in the scarify Chloe ending again? I don't think it's in the spotify playlist or I misremembering.

 

[alekth]

Heh, nightmare can time out. Had collected three bottles, was in the area they are displayed. Phone rings and I just sat her on the coach, and then three minutes later I come in and Max is back in the Dark Room seeing things.

Overall I feel sort of bleh about the final episode, I didn't mind the time mess and the dreams, but sadly once again in these games it's one big decision at the end, with everything before that just a sneak-in detail. They could at least have had more than two endings.

 

[TranceKuja]

Guys, what's the name of the song in the scarify Chloe ending again? I don't think it's in the spotify playlist or I misremembering.

Foals - Spanish Sahara