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Life Is Strange |OT| Rewinder Me

This episode was fantastic on so many levels. I hope we get episode 5 much sooner because in the words of everyone else....

43758510.jpg
 

statham

Member
*enters thread, quickly backs out* sounds like a excellent episode. don't quote me, because I won't see it until Thursday. trying to stay blacked-out until after I beat it.
 

jediyoshi

Member
My end results for episode 4.
http://i.imgur.com/HbLcSFF.jpg

I like how uncomfortable the opening Chloe scenes felt. Wouldn't have guessed it go down the euthanasia route.

Wasn't expecting another full on scene with Kate. Can't imagine the alternate scene that happens if she doesn't make it, I'm guessing there's nothing considering how much production went into it.

I wonder if the game will account for not leaving evidence of breaking into David's locker or Nathan's room, seem like easy things to overlook.

Surprised how many branches the Frank scene had. Felt like one of the most nuanced conversations so far having to account for really specific logic from last episode. Eventually settled on having Chloe put the gun away and Frank close the door for the stabbed leg. Also surprised how tiny the percent was that killed him since that was the easiest result to get. It bugs me a bit the arbitrary nature of this part, nothing should be stopping Max from getting the account book after he dies and then rewinding while holding onto it.

Loved the detective bits, all of it came together really naturally.

Would never have guessed Rachel would simply be dead. On one hand it feels a little anticlimactic for her whole arc, on the other it grounds the story in a way completely removed from pretty much all theories so far.

Just didn't see any of the ending coming at all, the super ominous post credits scene is the craziest tease we've gotten for anything.

Time to go back and read through the journal
 
That's weird, I actually didn't get a post-credits tease. And actually, the length of the credits made it feel like the credits for the end of the whole thing, not just episode 4 (but I'm pretty sure it said "episode 4" at the start so I'm probably just imagining it).

I'm fine with this, though. I'm not sure I want to be spoiled at all for the final episode.
 
Music Question. Only click if you have beaten episode 4.
Anyone know the song that was played during the scene where Chloe and Max went to look for Rachel's body? Really liked this song and would love to hear in its entirety. Music was on point again for this episode. Also loved the use of "Brenton - Get Well Soon" during the party.
 

kubus

Member
Damnit I keep coming back in this thread but I shouldn't. All of your reactions are making me so hyped...

I guess I could play it here on my laptop... But at 20 fps and graphics on low, I guess I'm better off waiting till August when I have my PS4 and gaming pc.

So glad to hear Dontnod is still kicking
Telltale's
ass! It's weird how each episode keeps getting better... I haven't played episode 4 yet but still I'm already looking forward to see what they will pull off in episode 5 :D
 
Music Question. Only click if you have beaten episode 4.
Anyone know the song that was played during the scene where Chloe and Max went to look for Rachel's body? Really liked this song and would love to hear in its entirety. Music was on point again for this episode. Also loved the use of "Brenton - Get Well Soon" during the party.

It's called "Mountains" by Message To Bears.

Holy shit. This chapter.

GIGANTIC CH. 4 ENDING SPOILERS:
I KNEW Jefferson was a fuckboy. I KNEW IT. RIP Chloe.
 

carlsojo

Member
Damnit I keep coming back in this thread but I shouldn't. All of your reactions are making me so hyped...

I guess I could play it here on my laptop... But at 20 fps and graphics on low, I guess I'm better off waiting till August when I have my PS4 and gaming pc.

So glad to hear Dontnod is still kicking
Telltale's
ass! It's weird how each episode keeps getting better... I haven't played episode 4 yet but still I'm already looking forward to see what they will pull off in episode 5 :D

I keep coming back too -_- I get off work in 5ish hours, but I'll probably have to sleep afterwards so I can get full enjoyment out of Chapter 4.
 

Venom Fox

Banned
Wow, what? (Spoiler!!!)
Mr Jefferson?
So it's Jefferson and Nathan working together? What is going on? is Chloe really dead?
I'm so angry and amazed at the same time!
 

CheesecakeRecipe

Stormy Grey
DONTNOD continues to outdo themselves with every episode, and 4 is no exception. I can see where the Metro review's complaints about pacing would have some merit, but I feel like the work it does once the gears start moving more than make up for it. Pretty much the opposite of a "disappointing" episode.

Wasn't expecting another full on scene with Kate. Can't imagine the alternate scene that happens if she doesn't make it, I'm guessing there's nothing considering how much production went into it.

Kate died for me and I never got a scene. There's evidence pointing toward possibly attending her funeral service, but it's a scene I didn't get if it does exist. I'm a little sad we weren't given that degree of closure.

It bugs me a bit the arbitrary nature of this part, nothing should be stopping Max from getting the account book after he dies and then rewinding while holding onto it.

This was the very first thing I thought of after my first run of that sequence. Why doesn't Max just grab what they need, rewind time, and be done with it? Or take a picture of it if there's some sort of esoteric timewarp rule that would stop the paper from travelling back with her.


Would never have guessed Rachel would simply be dead. On one hand it feels a little anticlimactic for her whole arc, on the other it grounds the story in a way completely removed from pretty much all theories so far.

Had a feeling she was going to be dead from the get-go because of the little hints and connections between her character and Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks. Just way too many little things, including the two sharing a birthday, that pointed towards her destiny being 6 feet under. Unfortunate that it was true, though. ;-;
 
Just finished Ep 4.

This episode left me feeling drained and uncomfortable. Great storytelling but holy shit I can't handle this stuff.
Also finally feeling vindicated being one of the 7% that originally blamed Jefferson.
 
That was easily my favorite episode so far. In terms of twists and turns it easily outdid the last 3. While I really appreciated the slower character building of the first three eps, this one needed to turn the plot into overdrive and god damn did it deliver.

That ending though. Fuck. I can't believe we're going to need to wait another 2 months to get closure on that.

Srs spoilers do not click if you haven't finished episode

I think it's good that Rachel is just dead. She was such a fantastical figure in the story so far, having it end like that for her just makes everything so gut wrenchingly real. We'll see if that develops further... I'd guess all these girls being killed are somehow the source of Max's power (with the deer most obviously being Rachel).

I'm glad to be vindicated in my choice earlier to blame Kate's attempted suicide on Mr Jefferson. I *knew* he was just too fishy. I suspected he was somehow involved with the Prescott family all along and my suspicions only grew as I explored the bunker and found all that photography equipment.

I really liked the party section toward the end. I love clubs and dance parties in games that really commit to the atmosphere and that was one of the better ones. I was actually surprised how many unique dance animations they were able to come up with. It was nice to feel like I connected with Victoria at the end there. Hoping that choice to warn her plays out in the last episode.

I don't know if I can deal with Chloe being dead for real. She was basically the heart and soul of the game for me. I'm holding on hope that for as much timey whimey magic as this series has shown, Max is going to be able to save Chloe yet again in ep5. If she's dead for good... well it's definitely going to alter the entire tone of the story for me.
 
Wow that first choice you know something is great and powerful when it takes you 30 minutes to decide what to do. This may be kind of a dumb post but wow that is probably one of the if not the most difficult choices in this game so far.
 

Anteater

Member
Wow that first choice you know something is great and powerful when it takes you 30 minutes to decide what to do. This may be kind of a dumb post but wow that is probably one of the if not the most difficult choices in this game so far.

I love that choice due to its context of the player knowing
they're going to be leaving this timeline
, so they're not afraid to let you choose.
 

lumi7890

Member
I just have to say, the ending was the best ending I have seen in an episodic game, it was just so perfect. if you been paying attention up to this point, dontnod has been using music in their endings, thus given a tv drama kinda of feel to their endings. the ending in episode 4 is more of a cold ending then the others, it's an ending that gives impact and leaves it self lingering with the player, just a fantastic way to end an episode. also a brilliant way to leave the player wanting more.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Ending:
I KNEW HE WAS FISHY WHEN HE FUCKED WITH KATE.
 
It's his birthday 0829

I tried it the other way 3 times lol

Man I'm still processing

while I didn't expect Jefferson the dark room operation was way too sophisticated for Nathan on his own. I put it down to some twisted Prescott ritual shit. I knew I should have blamed Kate's attempted suicide on his bitch ass. Does the ending change if you don't earn Victoria? I'm guessing no since at least one person would have mentioned a different ending by now.
 

Sober

Member
Already jonesing. Anyway, that was really good, a few thoughts on Episode 4.

Alternative title:
Where is Nathan Prescott?

because holy fuck how many times did I ask that question in this episode

DONTNOD continues to outdo themselves with every episode, and 4 is no exception. I can see where the Metro review's complaints about pacing would have some merit, but I feel like the work it does once the gears start moving more than make up for it. Pretty much the opposite of a "disappointing" episode.
I read the review, I think their complaints about pacing are valid. It's always an issue with games, episodic especially because you can never know how exactly how players will interact with certain scenes which might, for them, drag while others blow past them. I don't know if there'll ever be a silver bullet, but I did have a few issues such as
there didn't feel like any urgency during the party. don't know if they wanted to justify putting the work into setting it up or something but after the Rachel Amber reveal into the End of the World Party, it felt really odd that Max was doing something other than trying to scramble to see if anyone had seen/go find Nathan or maybe warn Victoria. It was a little jarring that she practically sat down with all the named students to have a chat about sometimes deeper things in their lives, all the while there's UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ dance music in the background. Don't get me wrong, the whole scene was well animated, definitely one of the cooler environments they did but again, the urgency seemed to just evaporate from that scene until the game makes you move on.
.

Kate died for me and I never got a scene. There's evidence pointing toward possibly attending her funeral service, but it's a scene I didn't get if it does exist. I'm a little sad we weren't given that degree of closure.
I think that's actually something I have to give DONTNOD props for
with just straight up not having really much of a scene in response to a certain choice. Maybe something smaller, but either way it's perfunctory. Again, it's something I think is an artifact inherent in both episodic games and choice/consequence writing and design priorities.

This was the very first thing I thought of after my first run of that sequence. Why doesn't Max just grab what they need, rewind time, and be done with it? Or take a picture of it if there's some sort of esoteric timewarp rule that would stop the paper from travelling back with her.
That bothered me a bit as well, it seemed like maybe that scene was supposed to be designed a certain way and then it got changed to what we saw here. More thoughts on that below.

I also sort of agree with the Metro review that some scenes seemed perfunctory or at least at the moment they do. It's gonna be a helluva wait to see if it mattered at all or not.

One of those obviously being
the alternate universe with quadriplegic Chloe. Best guess is that either tying into the alt timeline will be used again in episode 5 somehow, or it just is there for thematic purposes and will be there to hammer home the fact that Max will never be able to save Chloe completely. The whole alt universe I don't think was ever expressly intent to address issues like euthanasia if that Metro review is implying that but death of the author and all that...

Also just completely half-hearted resolution to alt Chloe dying either way as you peace out, but again, not sure where it leads, but right now it really didn't do much. But at least the scene with younger Chloe and Max after William leaves was pretty heartbreaking.

The details where alt Max is a super bitch to everyone, lol.

Coming out of the first scene though, I do have some criticisms
because there seems to be a bit of some weird continuity issue. Assuming Max snaps out of alt universe into Chloe's room ... it's the next day later, so how did she wake up, read Chloe's text, hop over to her place, bring up the picture board in the backyard up to her room (there's a photo of it while it's transitioning back) and the evidence board comes up ... how does that happen? That bothers me more thinking about it, so I have to assume maybe timeline jumping will not be a thing that Max does to either get out of trouble if it looks like only her consciousness moves and not her whole self or whatever that is supposed to me (which is fine by me). I think I would've preferred Max snapping out of it to waking up in her dorm, seeing the text and her meeting Chloe outside as they apologize for their fight yesterday in the previous episode over learning about Rachel and Frank/Chloe mad about her father dying.

Another thing I didn't like was
Max's insistence throughout the episode that she wanted to keep using her powers to a minimum. I would've been even more on the edge if Max just straight up refused to use her rewind powers short of an actual emergency this episode. I think it would've just made puzzle/clue solving that much more involved and wouldn't really require too much redesign, especially the barn puzzle even if she refused to use her powers short of being attacked by Frank/Pompidou and being in immediate danger. I would assume they thought about it and decided against it though, especially with the huge Frank encounter. I think that would've been really ballsy if they decided for an episode that you just flat out aren't allowed to use the rewind powers short of hitting a "game over" screen in the metaphorical sense.
.

The F
rank encounter seemed like a huge send off for those sets of events involving him the past few episodes, but it seemed really heavy handed at times because it was where all your previous choices with regards to Frank seemed to converge. Doubt we'll seem him again. Again, it would've been interesting if the only way to reverse out o that situation was Chloe/Max in immediate danger rather than groundhog day'ing so much with Frank to get the result you wanted; that felt really game-y to me because I could sense both the immediate result and any delayed result weren't going to really matter. Prove me wrong, DONTNOD.

Of course, the actual detective work was the highlight of the episode. Probably some of the best I've seen in games to date. Murdered: Soul Suspect did a bit of it but never really did much with it than be a perfunctory mechanic. I liked it here because after going about and collecting the evidence,
first you had to separate the wheat from the chaff (what is relevant) then you then had to actually look at the stuff and divine the right details from it. I see so little of this being done despite the fact that specificity with evidence is how detective work is supposed to work. That's what now I realize pissed me off with Murdered: Soul Suspect, was that you did do the step where you were asked which clues were relevant but then the cutscene took over and the game told you exactly what you needed to know. Talk about a slap in the face.

The only thing I wish they did was separate the evidence board material from the rest of the Price household "viewables", especially if you forgot the slip of paper with all the numbers on them - the bunker code is on it - and there's no other way to review the past evidence since you don't have a copy on you in the character sense if someone runs into trouble trying to figure it out. It's just a lot of scrolling as it's a combined collection through 4 episodes now.

Ending spoilers:
I'd be surprised if they didn't just flat out reverse the ending like they did. It would be ballsy as fuck if Chloe just stayed dead - to hammer home the parallel of Max being able to not save Chloe either way. But I imagine Chloe is too big a player to keep dead past the first set of scenes in episode 5 anyway. Call me a cynic, I guess. Just like episode 3's end, it seemed like a cliffhanger of the sake of a cliffhanger to keep people hyped. Again, I have to say, I won't know the extent the alt universe timeline might play in episode 5 if they want to pay it off (cause right now it just seemed like an interesting aside unless it has some other plot/thematic purpose to it) and it seems like this might be the same.
 

Reedirect

Member
To you guys that say you saw the ending coming: How? I guess I got swept up by the story, but I would not have predicted that!

Well, it was somewhat expected that Max would be the next target of whoever was behind the drugging/kidnapping stuff and when I successfully warned Victoria, it was pretty much a done deal. And then Jefferson appeared at the party and something about that just gave it away to me. Never thought he would simply shoot Chloe like that though.

Max will probably somehow rewind (through Warren's photo maybe?) and save her. Honestly, I don't think that folks at DONTNOD have the balls to kill her off like that and not have her live in at least one of the multiple endings.

Also, some fantastic music was playing at the
EOTW party.
Hope it appears somewhere.
 
I told you guys
:'(

I really like and yet hate that there's clearly not going to be a happy ending. Chloe's dad and Rachel are dead, with no way back, and Chloe seems destined to die. I have faith they'll pull off a satisfying one though. Can't wait for Episode 5.
 

Sober

Member
I told you guys
:'(

I really like and yet hate that there's clearly not going to be a happy ending. Chloe's dad and Rachel are dead, with no way back, and Chloe seems destined to die. I have faith they'll pull off a satisfying one though. Can't wait for Episode 5.
Short of the plot going full on Metal Gear Solid stupid at the drop of a hat (lol username quote) I really don't think the specifics of how episode 5 unfolding or ending could honestly really sour the entire experience.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Theory time:

So I think Max will try very hard to save Chloe, but the drugs in her system will interfere with her rewinding power, leading to overlapping timelines and whatnot whose echoes we've been seeing all game with the weird shit.
 
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