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Life is Strange | Spoiler Thread

No they are all dead you monster. Poor Joyce? Dead. The best character Kate? Dead( or was already dead). Also awesome Dana? Dead. The schmuck Alyssa? Dead. Wonderful Warren? Dead. Awesome science teacher? Dead.

All for muh girlfriend or friend depending on choices Chloe. Should've had a TellTale " You conscious will remember that"
in black at the end.

Well, if you go with the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending, I think Warren, Joyce and Victoria are certainly dead. But Kate and Alyssa? I'm not so sure. You can save a few characters on the way to the Diner and they had time to escape after that. But it is never confirmed they managed to, so of course they could be dead too.

Still, I don't really agree it was just for Chloe.
 
The optional pictures in this episode were all pretty cool. In particular the skeleton in the reverse world where you take it by opening the menu! Very clever stuff.
 
I watched the Sacrifice Arcadia ending on youtube and it doesn't work for me at all. It's absurd to have an almost "happy riding into the sunset" ending when a whole town with all their friends and family just has been destroyed.
I wouldn't really call that a "happy ending", for me it was somewhat gut wrenching. Gut wrenching, given the fact that Max & Chloe (and by extension, yourself) just let all these great characters die for ultimately is a very selfish reason. And you see Chloe & especially Max wrestling with that fact as they drive through what little remains of the town. It wouldn't hit me as hard if the characters that we can safely assume are dead weren't so well written.

With that said, it really reminded me of Spec-Ops: The Line, where like with Walker, Max wanted to be something she wasn't, a hero. She ignored the signs, continuing to leave a trail of destruction behind her. In the other ending that theme, the theme of being an "everyday hero" resonates more with Chloe & her character arc. Going for selfish to selfless, sacrificing herself for the greater good.
 
You can save a few characters on the way to the Diner and they had time to escape after that. But it is never confirmed they managed to, so of course they could be dead too.

Didn't all that occur in a separate timeline from when you made the choice since to save Chloe or Arcadia Bay? After you save them Max goes back in the photo so she never has to go from the dark room to the Two Whales in the final timeline.
 
Didn't all that occur in a separate timeline from when you made the choice since to save Chloe or Arcadia Bay? After you save them Max goes back in the photo so she never has to go from the dark room to the Two Whales in the final timeline.

You are probably correct, actually, since after Max travels through Warren's photograph they bust Jefferson without ever going to the Dark Room and she never goes to the Two Whales diner. So there's really no telling where anyone is in that ending.
 
Didn't all that occur in a separate timeline from when you made the choice since to save Chloe or Arcadia Bay? After you save them Max goes back in the photo so she never has to go from the dark room to the Two Whales in the final timeline.

I thought about that too, but with the non-linear nature of time and considering that saving a few of these people are shown in the final summary of choices, I wonder what happened there.
 
Didn't all that occur in a separate timeline from when you made the choice since to save Chloe or Arcadia Bay? After you save them Max goes back in the photo so she never has to go from the dark room to the Two Whales in the final timeline.

Yeah, everything between entering the party and meeting Chloe at the beach didn't happen.

Did we ever get an explanation for why various people were stocking up on survivalist gear?
 
I picked sacrifice Arcadia on my first choice, but it seems that after looking back that sacrificing Chloe is the intended "good" ending.
 
I thought about that too, but with the non-linear nature of time and considering that saving a few of these people are shown in the final summary of choices, I wonder what happened there.

Well they may still be saved if Max was jumping between timelines rather than altering a single reality. If not she was kind of wasting her time with anything she did on her way to get the photo from Warren unless she needed to do it to clear her conscience and convince herself she really was using her powers to help people. Who knows which it is though?

Did we ever get an explanation for why various people were stocking up on survivalist gear?

Must have been listening to the crazy guy with the radio show Max was listening to in Jefferson's car.
 
All I want to say is

I really hope the ending doesn't turn out to be Max going all the way back to the bathroom and letting Chloe die. Not because that would be a bad ending, just because it would be cliche.

Damnit it Dontnod. You did the cliche thing.

EDIT: And some of y'all say that there would be no way they'd do that. You were wrong, I tells ya!
 
I think the choice would've been even more intense if you wouldn't choose Arcadia Bay as a faceless mass, but between Chloe and Kate and under time pressure without chance to rewind.
 
Awesome that DontNod chose Spanish Sahara as the finale song for
the kill Chloe ending
. Having seen Foals live 5 times that song is even more haunting live at a show.
 
All I want to say is



Damnit it Dontnod. You did the cliche thing.

EDIT: And some of y'all say that there would be no way they'd do that. You were wrong, I tells ya!

Did people really think that? I felt like it was the most obvious thing, especially with how unlucky Chloe was.
 
All I want to say is

Damnit it Dontnod. You did the cliche thing.

I understand that but I think sometimes it's better to do a safe (or cliche) ending than to introduce a last minute twist thing just for the sake of having a twist.
For me it was the only logical conclusion to make it round and I liked it in this case.
 
I thought it was a great episode and a good ending. Chose to sacrifice Chloe, "the needs of the many...", you know. A bit predictable, but it doesn't matter. Loved it.
 
I understand that but I think sometimes it's better to do a safe (or cliche) ending than to introduce a last minute twist thing just for the sake of having a twist.
For me it was the only logical conclusion to make it round and I liked it in this case.
I was hoping for a cthulhu-esque cult twist where the prescotts were doing human scarifies to summon an Old One and another gave Max the power to prevent that. I am also mad that the Stella theory is void.
 
I think the choice would've been even more intense if you wouldn't choose Arcadia Bay as a faceless mass, but between Chloe and Kate and under time pressure without chance to rewind.

It seems clear to me that Max as a character is better friends with Chloe, so her picking Kate over Chloe wouldn't fit.
And for a game that is about a character who can rewind time, having it be a time pressure choice would be really weird.
 
You can save a few characters on the way to the Diner and they had time to escape after that.

But escape to where? People were holed up in the diner because it was one of the only structures standing with minimal damage, and they made a huge deal about the fact that Max actually drove out in the storm, that just walking around outside was extremely dangerous. They considered the diner the safest place to be. So no, all those people are dead, unless Max warned folks beforehand.
 
EDIT: And some of y'all say that there would be no way they'd do that. You were wrong, I tells ya!

Wonder who thought that. I saw it coming a mile away, I even said as such in this thread back in the Ep. 4 days. But that's perfectly alright to me because that's the way I felt it always had to end.
 
I was hoping for a cthulhu-esque cult twist where the prescotts were doing human scarifies to summon an Old One and another gave Max the power to prevent that. I am also mad that the Stella theory is void.

Going from teenage drama and time powers to Bloodborne would've been hype.
 
Wonder who thought that. I saw it coming a mile away, I even said as such in this thread back in the Ep. 4 days. But that's perfectly alright to me because that's the way I felt it always had to end.

Yeah, I imagine the developers would have anticipated that being the popular predicted ending. Which is fine since I think they embraced it -- that moment didn't feel cliche, just inevitable.
 
It seems clear to me that Max as a character is better friends with Chloe, so her picking Kate over Chloe wouldn't fit.
And for a game that is about a character who can rewind time, having it be a time pressure choice would be really weird.
We had pressure on the roof with Kate, I liked that. It was super intense and after all the time manipulation I felt super helpless. Was amazing.

And that's the thing. You value Chloe more, but others would rather let things go as they were supposed to go than killing Kate.
 
Fuck Warren. He ain't shit. You motherfuckers kissing him...smh. I contemplated giving him a hug, but fuck it, I didn't want him to CONTINUE to get the wrong idea.
 
Fuck Warren. He ain't shit. You motherfuckers kissing him...smh. I contemplated giving him a hug, but fuck it, I didn't want him to CONTINUE to get the wrong idea.
I didn't even hug him. Friendzoned him so hard, he now would rather asks Frank for kiss for a higher chance of success.
 
Fuck Warren. He ain't shit. You motherfuckers kissing him...smh. I contemplated giving him a hug, but fuck it, I didn't want him to CONTINUE to get the wrong idea.

Pshh. My Max and Warren might as well be married. They are gonging to Go Ape together and have a kid named Chloe.
 
Playing through the last 3 episodes in just 3 days was definitely the way to do it.

Last episode wasn't perfect, the back and forth felt a bit overused after a while. But I still really liked it and would probably give it a 9/10 right now.

I saved AB because that felt like the right choice to me and I don't regret it and as of now it was pretty damn even between the two for worldwide stats (48/52).

That whole ending sequence was very emotional and I did tear up a bit during the funeral scene, that's like the second game that has ever done that to me (To the Moon was the first)

Probably gonna come back to this game in a year or something and do stuff differently (mainly to save Kate ;_;) and go with the other ending.
 
I was kinda shocked that the "kiss Warren" choice percentage was so high -- something like 61% late last night. Has it moved at all?

It was at 68% on PC sometime last night. I was stunned at how many people are lonely ass motherfuckers.

Yeah, I kissed Chloe but it ain't like that. I'm not looking for that. It was just something bffs do.
 
We had pressure on the roof with Kate, I liked that. It was super intense and after all the time manipulation I felt super helpless. Was amazing.

And that's the thing. You value Chloe more, but others would rather let things go as they were supposed to go than killing Kate.

Even with Kate there was not a time pressure on what you said.
I fell like it really isn't needed in this situation, the one with Kate was cool because if you had your rewind powers everyone would keep Kate alive.

With Chloe and Kate, I meant that Max obviously likes Chloe more.
It seems obvious that no matter what your choices are, Max considers Chloe her best friend and would do almost anything to keep her alive.
For example, if Kate dies in your game Max is upset but she doesn't go through a bunch of alternate realities to save her like she does with Chloe.
 
Even with Kate there was not a time pressure on what you said.
I fell like it really isn't needed in this situation, the one with Kate was cool because if you had your rewind powers everyone would keep Kate alive.

With Chloe and Kate, I meant that Max obviously likes Chloe more.
It seems obvious that no matter what your choices are, Max considers Chloe her best friend and would do almost anything to keep her alive.
For example, if Kate dies in your game Max is upset but she doesn't go through a bunch of alternate realities to save her like she does with Chloe.
Let's up the ante than. Let's say the only way to save Chloe is to kill Kate for whatever reason. Actively killing more difficult and morally questionable than just let it happen.
 
Fuck Warren. He ain't shit. You motherfuckers kissing him...smh. I contemplated giving him a hug, but fuck it, I didn't want him to CONTINUE to get the wrong idea.

Warren was an ok dude, he just needed to be reminded not to try and leave the friend zone.

tumblr_nqymkdG0LN1un8do3o1_400.gif
 
I got the impression that the game was building towards Max either seriously harming herself or that she'd lose the ability to use her power. The last decision would have been more interesting if either you stayed there with Chloe or Max going back to stop the storm and let Chloe die also fast tracks her death. It doesn't feel like there's much at stake picking Chloe or the town, most picking Chloe because they wanna buck the trend and others picking the town because it's the right, logical thing to do. Max's life being at stake would have made it a lot more difficult. Let's be honest, Chloe is mostly an abrasive asshole. Now Max, everyone likes Max. The final choice was too easy.
 
But escape to where? People were holed up in the diner because it was one of the only structures standing with minimal damage, and they made a huge deal about the fact that Max actually drove out in the storm, that just walking around outside was extremely dangerous. They considered the diner the safest place to be. So no, all those people are dead, unless Max warned folks beforehand.

I was referring to the ones in the street, not on the Diner, haha.
 
Let's up the ante than. Let's say the only way to save Chloe is to kill Kate for whatever reason. Actively killing more difficult and morally questionable than just let it happen.

I feel like Max could actually do that though.
I don't think Max would ever kill Chloe to save Kate though.
 
I don't dislike the endings, but I don't like that there are just two of them and that you can choose both regardless of what you did previously. It's anticlimactic.

The nightmare sequence was too big. It could have gone without the recap and stealth sections. So just the hallway and diner scenes.

If the game had a smaller nightmare sequence and a handful of well executed endings, which became available based on your previous decisions, the game would have been perfect.
 
I don't dislike the endings, but I don't like that there are just two of them and that you can choose both regardless of what you did previously. It's anticlimactic.

The nightmare sequence was too big. It could have gone without the recap and stealth sections. So just the hallway and diner scenes.

If the game had a smaller nightmare sequence and a handful of well executed endings, which became available based on your previous decisions, the game would have been perfect.

*nods*
 
I was hoping for a cthulhu-esque cult twist where the prescotts were doing human scarifies to summon an Old One and another gave Max the power to prevent that. I am also mad that the Stella theory is void.
This is also what I would have preferred.
 
Thinking on it the choice stay with Chloe is more a representation of you living with the consequences of your actions rather than exclusively picking Chloe and going back is the idealistic choice. Just one more do over to make it right. From a moralistic stand point the ability to manipulate time and in addition the agency of others, optimising and manipulating their perceptions to gain specific results from them is wrong. They try to push that idea with Alternate Max but the idea of the natural order being the way things have to go down to avert disaster isn't pushed outside of Chloe having to die. Max's meddling is a net positive when it doesn't involve Chloe. The game doesn't completely go one way other the other on whether or not Max's power are a good thing. Ignoring the storm, it's a resounding yes. The mixed messaging is odd. Max doesn't really pay for what she's done which is the MO in this type of fiction.
 
I was hoping for a cthulhu-esque cult twist where the prescotts were doing human scarifies to summon an Old One and another gave Max the power to prevent that. I am also mad that the Stella theory is void.

Honestly, that's the least thing I wanted to see.
The game was never about Max' powers or the tornado, so suddenly squeezing in some dumb supernatural twist would have ruined the game for me.
 
Now that I've had a night to digest the endings... I like them. Both of them. But for very different reasons and almost from two different interpretations.

I feel like the Save Arcadia Bay ending is the most conventional. It fits the time travel storyline well and has a great emotional impact. Chloe develops over the game into someone who accepts her death and it's all very circular and neat, tying the story up with a bow.

But I want to argue that the #FuckArcadiaBay ending was good too.

Because I think from one interpretation, Arcadia Bay being destroyed may have been the *reason* that Max got her powers in the first place. We hear in game that it's a decaying town on its way out and there's a lot of mysticism and symbolism that implies that there's some presence that wants the town to be destroyed. I don't think it's necessarily true that everyone dies either (though probably a lot of them do). And while that ending is a bit shorter, I don't actually think that's a bad thing. It says what it needs to say. Max and Chloe are just exhausted and take a moment to look at the consequences and then take off somewhere else. I don't really think much lingering on the scene was necessary. It's a very open ending both in terms of the trajectory of those characters going forward as well as exactly how bad the destruction of the town was in terms of loss of life.

I don't really blame Max for letting the town be destroyed. Like she says, she never asked for her powers and were given them at a time when the choice to use them was obvious. Whatever force gave her those powers clearly intended for her to use them and the fact that she could jump through that first picture back to the beginning and undo it all seems like almost more of a loophole than anything. There's something thematically appropriate about letting the consequences of her time manipulation happen rather than try to undo them by going back in time once again.

I think there's something to be said that there are two endings in this game that both are so thematically different but both fit with the story being told. Both pretty much work I think, but require you to think about the story in different ways.
 
Loved it. I thought it worked. Chose Chloe, utilitarian yo, and got a little blub out of it.

For me it was not about the powers and the mysteries and all that, it was about the characters, which is saying something for a game.

Also: loved being able to friendzone Warren again, poor guy.
 
Now that I've had a night to digest the endings... I like them. Both of them. But for very different reasons and almost from two different interpretations.

I feel like the Save Arcadia Bay ending is the most conventional. It fits the time travel storyline well and has a great emotional impact. Chloe develops over the game into someone who accepts her death and it's all very circular and neat, tying the story up with a bow.

But I want to argue that the #FuckArcadiaBay ending was good too.

Because I think from one interpretation, Arcadia Bay being destroyed may have been the *reason* that Max got her powers in the first place. We hear in game that it's a decaying town on its way out and there's a lot of mysticism and symbolism that implies that there's some presence that wants the town to be destroyed. I don't think it's necessarily true that everyone dies either (though probably a lot of them do). And while that ending is a bit shorter, I don't actually think that's a bad thing. It says what it needs to say. Max and Chloe are just exhausted and take a moment to look at the consequences and then take off somewhere else. I don't really think much lingering on the scene was necessary. It's a very open ending both in terms of the trajectory of those characters going forward as well as exactly how bad the destruction of the town was in terms of loss of life.

I don't really blame Max for letting the town be destroyed. Like she says, she never asked for her powers and were given them at a time when the choice to use them was obvious. Whatever force gave her those powers clearly intended for her to use them and the fact that she could jump through that first picture back to the beginning and undo it all seems like almost more of a loophole than anything. There's something thematically about letting the consequences of her time manipulation happen rather than try to undo them again by going back in time too.

I think there's something to be said that there are two endings in this game that both are so thematically different but both fit with the story being told.

One thing I never thought of, and it was never really pressed to me that it's important, but I never once tried to figure out WHY Max had those powers. She just did. I never acknowledged any sense of purpose. I played as someone who cares about what's in front of her.

Good perspective.
 
I thought the last episode was pretty damn great. My only complaint is that many of us correctly predicted the "the universe is out to get Chloe" plot twist so it wasn't much of a surprise

I first went with the "save Chloe" ending, but it didn't do much for me - it didn't really make me feel bad for the destruction that was caused to Arcadia because of my actions, and Max and Chloe seemed rather untouched/optimistic given the circumstances. The "sacrifice Chloe" ending on the other hand is executed absolutely perfectly in my opinion, in combination with the dream memory walk up to the lighthouse. Dem feels were real

I also find it kind of funny that Max's time travel powers had absolutely nothing to do with Rachel Ambers. Begs the question why she even got those powers when the universe didn't want her to save Chloe in the first place

all in all I absolutely loved Life is Weird and I'm really looking forward to what Dontnot is brewing up next. Probably my game of the year and I'm glad that I discovered this gem through GAF
It was at 68% on PC sometime last night. I was stunned at how many people are lonely ass motherfuckers.

Yeah, I kissed Chloe but it ain't like that. I'm not looking for that. It was just something bffs do.
I friendzoned Warren throughout most of the game but the dude really did a lot to help us and in that moment it felt kind of appropriate. Plus there's always the chance that you leave him behind to die in an alternate universe
 
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