Now that you mention it, I remember seeing something about EP5 ending in a hospital in EP1/2 files, but not much more than that.
Some other interesting stuff came from that. It's been months now, so I don't remember the details, but I'm pretty sure there was a mention of bulimia being one of the other topics the game was supposed to tackle, with the possibility of Max herself suffering from it.
I really wish that there was a way to "earn" a happy ending. If you were a completionist, or made all the right choices, you'd get rewarded for your good work. I'd pay for the option.
I really wish that there was a way to "earn" a happy ending. If you were a completionist, or made all the right choices, you'd get rewarded for your good work. I'd pay for the option.
Bonus props for the ambient sounds as well. It really hit me when I was walking around in the boy's dorm at school and you could hear muffled sounds coming from behind each door. The stoner was playing video games and the game sounded legit along with his reaction to playing. The jock was watching a football game that sounded like a real broadcast (I swear I heard Al Michaels & Cris Collinsworth commentating) along with the student cheering & groaning along with the plays. Again, it just came off as crazy authentic with an attention to detail that goes the extra mile.
Does anyone know anything about this? I heard someone mention that there was even a Saturday and Sunday schedule for watering Lisa. It could just be cut content... but could it also be DLC?
Does anyone know anything about this? I heard someone mention that there was even a Saturday and Sunday schedule for watering Lisa. It could just be cut content... but could it also be DLC?
That actually makes a ton of sense considering all those ominous letters
from Nathan's father about his plans coming to fruition soon
. I just assumed they were red herrings, but they fit better as the remnants of cut plot threads. Thanks, I'm going to go through these when I get a chance.
Does anyone know anything about this? I heard someone mention that there was even a Saturday and Sunday schedule for watering Lisa. It could just be cut content... but could it also be DLC?
Supposedly the endings (at least one of them, we all know which one) were also rushed due to budgetary and time constraints. The individual episodes weren't selling as well as they needed to, too many people were just watching on Youtube, so Square forced their hand. They mentioned that they were considering adding variations on the truck scene depending on Max and Chloe's relationship but just didn't have the resources.
I really wish that there was a way to "earn" a happy ending. If you were a completionist, or made all the right choices, you'd get rewarded for your good work. I'd pay for the option.
My first tought was something like that after finishing the game, but it wouldn't make sense as a conclusion to the arc of Max imho.
Ep. 5 sporilers (!)
In the nightmare section she admits it through the other Max that besides her good intentions she really abused her powers for her own personal benefits.
So by letting the town die she learns to accept her choices as a grown up, or in the other ending she becomes the non-hypocrate supermax who puts the community's interest above hers becoming a responsible individual of society aka. a grown up.
Supposedly the endings (at least one of them, we all know which one) were also rushed due to budgetary and time constraints. The individual episodes weren't selling as well as they needed to, too many people were just watching on Youtube, so Square forced their hand. They mentioned that they were considering adding variations on the truck scene depending on Max and Chloe's relationship but just didn't have the resources.
That actually makes a ton of sense considering all those ominous letters
from Nathan's father about his plans coming to fruition soon
. I just assumed they were red herrings, but they fit better as the remnants of cut plot threads. Thanks, I'm going to go through these when I get a chance.
Supposedly the endings (at least one of them, we all know which one) were also rushed due to budgetary and time constraints. The individual episodes weren't selling as well as they needed to, too many people were just watching on Youtube, so Square forced their hand. They mentioned that they were considering adding variations on the truck scene depending on Max and Chloe's relationship but just didn't have the resources.
Actually, it sold really well, but the initial budget wasn't big to begin with. Also, individual episodes were only sold on consoles (with the exception of episode 1). They were able to expand it a little bit (and you can see that as the season goes on), but not too much. Before episode 1 was released, they were already working on episode 5.
If anyone here saw the Extra Life stream from yesterday and today, you will remember Alejandro saying the cut content was due to creative decisions and what we got is what they wanted. While I do believe some was cut due to budget/time, I don't think three other episodes were among those. I believe that was early in development. LIS began pre-production in April of 2013 and we don't see references to those episodes (story related) in the files.
As for what we do see in these videos, well, we can only speculate the reasons. I believe most of due were cut because of creative reasons and feedback from playtesters (like in episode 2, when
80% of them failed to save Kate, so they made it a bit easier
). Alejandro also confirmed that Nathan's story was always imagined the way we got it. There were a few details there that we didn't get, like
the involvement of the Prescott family in the storm
, but his
fascination with Jefferson and how he ended up being used by him
were always there, so I think that, in the end, it doesn't matter that much.
As for the ending itself, we know for sure that they wanted to do more there, but again, we got what they decided that was good with the resources they had. And it was something that they were happy with, as well as players (I just saw the statistics on PC: 46% with the shorter ending, 54% with the other one, which is VERY close -- plus, 58% chose the shorter ending on Twitch today). I don't think they even started developing these additional scenes. There are a few extra lines from
Chloe just before the final decision, but after it
that we didn't get. These lines were:
Cue_E5_7A_Cliff_CHChloe_Phase01_Chloe_001="You have to choose Max..."
Cue_E5_7A_Cliff_CHChloe_Phase01_Chloe_002="Save me, or that filthy town."
For me choices did matter in the end. Choices i made in episodes shaped my experience and in a way influenced my ending choice. But best thing this game did is that i didn't felt emotional playing episodes, i liked atmosphere, music and exploring etc. But when ending choice came i realized what game did to me. Game was crawled under my skin silently with all of those characters that i talked with, i knew their backgrounds and i got to know them. I had feeling that i really know Arcadia Bay and their residents. And that made me really emotional when end came and i had to choose. It was really hard choice for me and for those 15-20 minutes i really had an issue to swallow (literally my throat shrinked and got sore) how hard ending hit me.
Dontnod did awesome job in my opinion wit this game for reasons i mentioned above.
So, post-series depression is actually a thing. Finished the season last night (started Ep1 on Monday) and now it's all I can think about. I hadn't even paid LiS any attention until just recently (hardly knew anything about it) and now it's possibly one my favourite games of all time.
(Spoilers for all episodes below)
This game just destroyed me. It's usually pretty easy for me to become invested in a story and to be moved by events, but I've never had so many feels
so sorry to use that word
from a game before. From the incredibly intense, hyper-emotional moments such as
Kate's suicide/attempt
, to the quiet, reflective scenes where Max just sits and ruminates on the past and/or her current situation, every moment just felt...right. Like everything had been planned meticulously in order to inspire feelings in the player, but the emotion never actually felt forced or manipulated. That's a fine line to tread, and Dontnod pulled it off brilliantly, IMO. The emotional moments felt genuine and not manufactured, which really helped me to form a connection with the characters and plot.
Speaking of characters, Max is now one of my favourite protagonists ever. Yeah, she pretty much fucks things up at every turn and is a huge dork, but she feels like a real person. The other characters are all well-written and acted, and I loved how those who were initially hostile towards Max all showed a different side if she took the time to get to know them better and showed an interest in their lives. The game really makes that "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about" inspirational quote ring true.
Even a disgusting little shit like Nathan had me unexpectedly feeling sorry for him with his voicemail to Max towards the end, making me wonder how differently he would have turned out had he received the right treatment for his mental illness, had a better relationship with his family, and hadn't been manipulated by Jefferson
.
And Chloe. One of the best characters ever, I think. I went from initially DESPISING her (She's an entitled brat who refuses to take responsibility for her actions! She constantly guilts Max for abandoning her, then uses the guilt to drag her into dangerous situations! She parks in disabled spaces! Fuck Chloe!) to
crying when she asked Max to euthanise her in the alternate timeline. And again at the end
. I still don't think she's likeable a lot of the time, but she does mature over the course of the game and we do get an insight into why she behaves the way she does. She's incredibly well-written.
I generally dig time-travel stories, even though they tend to make my head hurt if I think about them too much, but Max's powers just made the story delicious. Rewinding after each conversation and event, either to see how the other dialogue options play out or to use information gained in the future, is simply inspired as a gameplay mechanic. It actually made me feel uncomfortable at times, given that Max was essentially abusing her gift in order to improve her social standing (before things got serious and she HAD to use her powers), but I think that was the intended reaction. The game makes the player feel like the most powerful being in the world through their mastery of time, and then pulls the rug out from under them at the most inopportune moments, like
Kate on the rooftop
. I don't think I've ever felt so tense when making decisions in a game, purely because the security blanket the game had encouraged me to rely upon had been snatched away. Just an awesome design choice.
Man, the soundtrack. I hadn't heard any of the licensed tracks but I instantly bought them all upon hearing them in the game for the first time. Every song was just perfect for the context and moment it was played in.
I know reactions to Ep5 and the endings have been mixed, to say the least, but I just loved it.
Right from the outset, everything felt so intense, and I was on the edge of my seat when Max kept getting dragged back to the Dark Room no matter what she did and had to keep going into various pictures to try to fix things. After Jefferson broke my heart at the end of Ep4 (I hadn't suspected him at all, he just seemed like a genuine cool teacher and I played Max as having a huge crush on him), he became such a chilling, disgusting villain...even thinking about the Dark Room and his fetish makes my skin crawl. I adored the nightmare sequence, though I initially didn't know it was a dream; I assumed Max had completely fucked up the universe with her constant meddling and time-hopping and that all the various realities were starting to bleed into each other, creating all the impossible spaces and fucked-up imagery. I liked how the lighthouse became this constantly visible beacon that was always just out of reach - it reminded me of a similar section in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, but I think LiS did it better.
Still processing how I feel about the ending. (I say "ending" and not "endings" because there's only one possible ending to me. As sad as it is, Chloe having to make the ultimate sacrifice, and Max learning to let her go, fit thematically and was built up over the five episodes, as well as being executed much better than the "LOL I've just condemned your mom, everyone we know, and hundreds of other innocent people to die, but hey, we've got each other!" ending.)
Having said all that, there are a few plot points/unresolved threads I'm scratching my head about:
What was the deal with Samuel and the homeless woman? Samuel knew WAY too much about spirit animals and Rachel's disappearance (I'm sure at one point he literally told Max her spirit animal would guide her to Rachel's body) but he just seems to get dropped as a character. Same with the homeless lady by the diner; she clearly knew a lot more than she was letting on, but we never find out who she actually is. Max mentions how she never asked her name, which made me believe she was going to be, like, a future version of Max from another timeline or something.
Is there any hint to who, or what, gave Max her powers? If it was deliberately left vague and up to the player's interpretation, I respect that, but just wondered if I'd missed some information. Speaking of Max's powers, we're told she causes the tornado by manipulating time, but she doesn't actually use her powers until after her first vision of the storm, right? Plothole, or just wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff?
What was the deal with Nathan's family? I initially assumed it was being built up that they orchestrated the storm somehow. Nathan makes a comment about "the whole town getting an enema soon", plus there was that weird remark from Kate about the Prescotts being evil and somehow involved with death. Can't recall the exact quote, but she definitely said something along those lines when Max visited her in the hospital. But no, they're just a bunch of rich bastards, and that's it?
Is it ever revealed whether Jefferson actually killed his other "subjects", or was Rachel the first (and an accidental death, at that)? I think he made some comment to Max that implied he'd killed numerous times before, and there were a LOT of binders in that cabinet, but surely if he was killing the victims, there would have been talk of more missing girls from Arcadia Bay? And if he was killing them, was Nathan aware of it, or did he just think the girls were being drugged, photographed, and then released, like with Kate?
All in all, just a fantastic experience. Life is Strange sets a new bar for narrative-based games, and I've rarely ever been so invested and engaged with a story in any medium.
Finished episode 4. I love certain aspects about this game but it's not grabbing me as much as I thought. I find it hard to care about any of the characters, let alone like them.
Having said all that, there are a few plot points/unresolved threads I'm scratching my head about:
What was the deal with Samuel and the homeless woman? Samuel knew WAY too much about spirit animals and Rachel's disappearance (I'm sure at one point he literally told Max her spirit animal would guide her to Rachel's body) but he just seems to get dropped as a character. Same with the homeless lady by the diner; she clearly knew a lot more than she was letting on, but we never find out who she actually is. Max mentions how she never asked her name, which made me believe she was going to be, like, a future version of Max from another timeline or something.
an unfortunate/lower class person has key innate wisdom on supernatural matters, but said character is of minor importance to the narrative.
Is there any hint to who, or what, gave Max her powers? If it was deliberately left vague and up to the player's interpretation, I respect that, but just wondered if I'd missed some information. Speaking of Max's powers, we're told she causes the tornado by manipulating time, but she doesn't actually use her powers until after her first vision of the storm, right? Plothole, or just wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff?
where an extremely upsetting event provokes super powers. Also the blue butterfly is referencing chaos theory.
What was the deal with Nathan's family? I initially assumed it was being built up that they orchestrated the storm somehow. Nathan makes a comment about "the whole town getting an enema soon", plus there was that weird remark from Kate about the Prescotts being evil and somehow involved with death. Can't recall the exact quote, but she definitely said something along those lines when Max visited her in the hospital. But no, they're just a bunch of rich bastards, and that's it?
they unfortunately had to cut out a segment of the plot where its revealed that nathan's father knew all about the storm somehow and planned to profit from it. Presumably this would have meant he also had some kind of supernatual power and it really would have complicated the plot. Wouldv been cool if they had the time/money to put it in.
Is it ever revealed whether Jefferson actually killed his other "subjects", or was Rachel the first (and an accidental death, at that)? I think he made some comment to Max that implied he'd killed numerous times before, and there were a LOT of binders in that cabinet, but surely if he was killing the victims, there would have been talk of more missing girls from Arcadia Bay? And if he was killing them, was Nathan aware of it, or did he just think the girls were being drugged, photographed, and then released, like with Kate?
Finished episode 4. I love certain aspects about this game but it's not grabbing me as much as I thought. I find it hard to care about any of the characters, let alone like them.
If they do a Season 2 (which they will, since they were throwing ideas around 10 months ago and the game is a huge success), it will be with different characters. They already said that.
i want telltale to play this, and see how they can get back on the right track to making good games.
And rumors have been flying for a while that LiS2 is already in development. Im nervous for them, but they certainly could do another great game.
I just saw the credits roll for episode 5. FULL SPOILERS AHEAD
I chose to save the people in the town. When I realized where the game was headed and what the final choice was, I begged Chloe not to make a strong case to save arcadia bay. But she did. And I had to see the incredibly cruel ending, knowing that all my attempts to fix everything had been void.
I have a lot of problems with this game. I think it starts weak (I actually didnt play episode 2-5 until months after episode 1), the dialogue can be very awkward, it's not always clear what triggers a new scene and autosave, the nightmare sequence at the end went on for way too long, sometimes the game is too eager to show you the results of your choices and breaks the illusion, etc. But god fucking damnit does this game hit at full force when it needs to. There are a lot of moments that will stick with me for a loooong time. GOTY.
i want telltale to play this, and see how they can get back on the right track to making good games.
And rumors have been flying for a while that LiS2 is already in development. Im nervous for them, but they certainly could do another great game.
i dno man i think telltale still makes great stuff and their writing is fantastic. where really LiS puts them to shame is in the engine department but i dont know if they can afford to drop their shitty engine due to the fact that they can sell their games on any platform known to man.
i dno man i think telltale still makes great stuff and their writing is fantastic. where really LiS puts them to shame is in the engine department but i dont know if they can afford to drop their shitty engine due to the fact that they can sell their games on any platform known to man.
But it feels like telltale is moving away from interactive environments and puzzles. The two examples of what iv played recently: wolf among us and game of thrones. Both are extremely puzzle-sparse and practically dont have any exploration. LiS was filled to the brim with fun interactive environments and a good variety of puzzle stuff.
It's a French site that seems legit. Season 2 is pretty much an open secret at this point. There was this from the official charity stream a couple days ago.
It's a French site that seems legit. Season 2 is pretty much an open secret at this point. There was this from the official charity stream a couple days ago.
Okay just finished episode 5. Strong ending even if the chapter ran a little with some trippy stuff.
I was very surprised to see the world percent split on the choice between Chloe or Arcadia Bay. I guess the game relies a lot of the player liking Chloe's character, but I never really connected with her. I despised her early on and felt more indifferent about her towards the end. There are times I would just roll my eyes with some of her dialogue. It was an easy choice for me and removes so much of the gut punch that I think they were going for.
Okay just finished episode 5. Strong ending even if the chapter ran a little with some trippy stuff.
I was very surprised to see the world percent split on the choice between Chloe or Arcadia Bay. I guess the game relies a lot of the player liking Chloe's character, but I never really connected with her. I despised her early on and felt more indifferent about her towards the end. There are times I would just roll my eyes with some of her dialogue. It was an easy choice for me and removes so much of the gut punch that I think they were going for.
Okay just finished episode 5. Strong ending even if the chapter ran a little with some trippy stuff.
I was very surprised to see the world percent split on the choice between Chloe or Arcadia Bay. I guess the game relies a lot of the player liking Chloe's character, but I never really connected with her. I despised her early on and felt more indifferent about her towards the end. There are times I would just roll my eyes with some of her dialogue. It was an easy choice for me and removes so much of the gut punch that I think they were going for.
Hey guys I dunno if this has been mentioned or not but I'm having a problem... When I try to downscale from 4k to my screen res I get A LOT of tearing, I'm using an ASUS ROG SWIFT G sync monitor so I'd rather not turn on v sync for this.
