You should definitely finish it, the story is really memorable to me.
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Life Is Strange |OT| Rewinder Me
- Thread starter kubus
- Start date
You should definitely finish it, the story is really memorable to me.
one thing that bugged me about the
sacrifice chloe ending. Even if she did go back and not use her power in the bathroom and thus in turn prevent the tornado, why couldn't she warn Chloe about Nathan's gun. She doesn't have to use her power then to save Chloe. She can just scream "watch out hes got a gun!" as soon as she steps in the bathroom. This still makes no sense why she just sat down and cried and let her best friend die.
That *would* have been using her power. By going back and letting events play out naturally, she wasn't altering the natural course of events, and as such, wasn't setting the universe on fire. If she had prevented the death in any way, the tornado and chaos would have once again occurred.
affleck1981
Member
Finished this last night and it felt like three and a half episodes of a really great, fantastic game with the other one and a half being good. All the stuff about Max and Chloe's friendship I really, really enjoyed - particularly around the end of episode 3 and start of episode 4. However, whenever it veered to much to be hunting down what happened what happened to Rachel Amber - basically
from when you piece together the clues on the board in Chloe's room to getting out of the dark room I just didn't care as much.
Also, did anyone else notice that when you went to the junkyard to dig up Rachel's body, Nathan (I assume) had scrawled 'Rachel is here' over the graffiti? Nice touch. I also saved the town - my rationalisation was that Chloe would hate you - you told her about what happened with William and allowed her mother to die? I think she's going to end up despising you for that at some point...
Also, did anyone else notice that when you went to the junkyard to dig up Rachel's body, Nathan (I assume) had scrawled 'Rachel is here' over the graffiti? Nice touch. I also saved the town - my rationalisation was that Chloe would hate you - you told her about what happened with William and allowed her mother to die? I think she's going to end up despising you for that at some point...
Dr_Boris_Goltz
Banned
I just finished it and holy shit was that a powerful game.
Ending spoilers:
Ending spoilers:
I sacrificed Chloe and jesus did it hit me HARD when they showed the pictures of your friendship burning away.
Correction: Nathan, not Warren.
somotodsyo
Member
Yeah that's the worst (/best?) part.
All those memories being "replaced" together with the music playing was probably the saddest moment in the game for me. Saw it a second time on YouTube recently and it hit me just as hard as the first time...
I actually loved the ending choices and the way mine played out. The only complaint I have about the final episode was
. That made very little sense and I was stuck too long despite there being no real challenge.
What a great game though, I let my niece play over Christmas and she gobbled it up on the family's new PS4 - she's the same age as the protagonists. I don't know if that makes it more special for her, but I'm super happy that this was her entry into the adventure game genre and the console. Since then she has been playing some of my Telltale games so the PS4 has already seen more use from her than I would have hoped. I'll double dip on the physical special edition because this game is shelf worthy for sure.
the Jefferson labyrinth section
What a great game though, I let my niece play over Christmas and she gobbled it up on the family's new PS4 - she's the same age as the protagonists. I don't know if that makes it more special for her, but I'm super happy that this was her entry into the adventure game genre and the console. Since then she has been playing some of my Telltale games so the PS4 has already seen more use from her than I would have hoped. I'll double dip on the physical special edition because this game is shelf worthy for sure.
Wait till you play 5 then, hah.
Hasphat'sAnts
Member
lol this game ruined Spanish Sahara for me.
Manny Calavera
Member
After reading all these new positive impressions makes me want to play the game again from the start for the third time. Just not sure if I'm up to again the emotional toll the game takes on me.
I actually don't mind how the ending plays out - I genuinely like it.
The binary choice doesn't feel like nearly as much of a cop out as something like Mass Effect 3 because to me, the overriding message of this game was the idea that you have to let go of the past. So many players here have said "well Fuck, of course I'm going to save Chloe because otherwise the entire game would have been a waste." To me, that just means you're not quite picking up that message. That's what Max is obsessed with for the entire game: Keeping Chloe around at all costs. Are you still so driven to save her that you'll destroy everything else in the town? Even if you've spent the time to really open up and listen to everyone else's stories?
So much of the game is about Max establishing connections with the world around her: her classmates, her teachers, even the "minor" characters like the creepy janitor (hell, even the town drug dealer gets a good side via his love of dogs!). She starts the game as this somewhat mopey loner who shuts the world out with earbuds and is still obsessed over the past via Chloe - and, at least in my version of the game, ends by coming to terms with having to say goodbye to a past that she ultimately can't change. It's closure.
The "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending changes that entirely - it now becomes a story about how Max is so driven to fight to cling to the past that she'll literally let the world burn around her to keep the things she loves. The more you poke around into the world and lives of the townies, the "harder" it becomes to actually make that choice. It's even done against Chloe's wishes; she's okay with bring sacrificed because she's finally owning up to having to face consequences for her actions. And in a sense, the "nuke the bay" option means this is Max owning up to the consequences of her actions too.
Why I don't mind the A or B nature of the ending is that it tests the player: What do you value more after a dozen hours worth of investment? The more you want to absorb yourself into the world of Arcadia Bay, the more painful that decision becomes. Either it's barely a choice at all (of course A or of course B), or it's a genuinely difficult decision since you're pulled between two things you like. Your reaction speaks volumes to your own experience: either you're okay with closure or you're okay with facing the music. There's no "right" answer; it's just a natural conclusion to the way you played the game.
So much of the game is about Max establishing connections with the world around her: her classmates, her teachers, even the "minor" characters like the creepy janitor (hell, even the town drug dealer gets a good side via his love of dogs!). She starts the game as this somewhat mopey loner who shuts the world out with earbuds and is still obsessed over the past via Chloe - and, at least in my version of the game, ends by coming to terms with having to say goodbye to a past that she ultimately can't change. It's closure.
The "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending changes that entirely - it now becomes a story about how Max is so driven to fight to cling to the past that she'll literally let the world burn around her to keep the things she loves. The more you poke around into the world and lives of the townies, the "harder" it becomes to actually make that choice. It's even done against Chloe's wishes; she's okay with bring sacrificed because she's finally owning up to having to face consequences for her actions. And in a sense, the "nuke the bay" option means this is Max owning up to the consequences of her actions too.
Why I don't mind the A or B nature of the ending is that it tests the player: What do you value more after a dozen hours worth of investment? The more you want to absorb yourself into the world of Arcadia Bay, the more painful that decision becomes. Either it's barely a choice at all (of course A or of course B), or it's a genuinely difficult decision since you're pulled between two things you like. Your reaction speaks volumes to your own experience: either you're okay with closure or you're okay with facing the music. There's no "right" answer; it's just a natural conclusion to the way you played the game.
RedSparrows
Member
Once the LE arrives, then it's third time through.
Cannot wait to have the BGM on my phone. God it's good.
Even though I chose to sacrifice Arcadia Bay (and still would!) I agree with this. I also feel that people focus too much on everything past that choice being "the ending" while forgetting everything in chapter five that led up to that point. I'd say a big part of the last chapter can be considered the ending and that's why I personally wasn't disappointed with the short cutscene that played after my choice.
Great post, made me think about the ending in a different way.
Anyway, it's a good thing the limited edition is coming out, because of that release I got an invitation to go visit the studio in Paris... Timing couldn't be better since I just finished the game. Looking forward to it.
Rollo Tomasi
Member
I'm going to grab the Limited Edition when it comes out on PS4 next week. I've heard a lot of great things about this and can't wait to play.
SeeNoWeevil
Member
I don't think I've ever been quite so angry at a game's designer as I was
. Truly, truly awful. My good feelings towards the game absolutely dropped off a cliff at that point. Who honestly thought an
was a good idea. Grrrr.
during the maze at the end with Mr Jefferson
insta-death stealth scene in the dark with invisible walls between you and your goal
It's really easy with how you can just rewind constantly anyway.
somotodsyo
Member
Well,
if you manage to get too close or run out of rewind time you get placed back at the start, which can be really frustrating.
Damn, didn't even know that was a thing. I only had to rewind a couple of times and didn't really run into issues. Glad I didn't because I can definitely imagine that taking you out of it.
Hasphat'sAnts
Member
Wonderfully articulated. Great job putting all of that in a way that resonates
Speedy Blue Dude
Banned
Was on the Amazon page for the Limited Edition for Life is Strange about to order it, when this part of the description caught my eye.
What should have been.
What should have been.
i interpret saving chloe as also saving arcadia bay. it's a fucking huge tornado, and i don't think everyone's going to make it out okay (i also don't think everyone dies). with that said, i think that over the course of the week you do a lot to 'save' the people there. sacrificing chloe undoes everyone's development and reverts them back to a point of lesser understanding of themselves and the world around them (at least, the way i played). and i'll operate under the idea that i don't know what the fuck is causing the wacky weather, since i had time travel powers for no reason. there is a good chance that i could go back in time, watch chloe get shot, and then the tornado happens anyway. i know max could test this theory herself, but at the point of the decision, there's actually no way of knowing for sure what would happen. sacrificing chloe just seems like giving in to guilt over nothing, which is a regression of max's character who had at that point developed out of her meek and withdrawn self. i figure she's able to make bold decisions now. in that way it's also an admittance that she doesn't have to go back and always fix the past, and can finally move forward into the future.
So yesterday, a (very) little meeting/event was held in a bar-café in Paris, with Jean-Luc Cano as a special guest, Life is Strange's lead writer (who came with the original story, before Christian Divine wrote the dialogue).
The presentation was basically a discussion about storytelling in video games, how it evolved, where it is going, and, the example of Life is Strange.
First, about Remember Me, Cano confirmed (being in the writing team) what Alain Damasio (lead writer, before he left his place for Stéphane Beauverger) had already said in podcasts and interviews. Out of the 1000 or so pages in the original backstory written for Remember Me, Beauverger gave a letter to Damasio containing the only part they kept in the final game, which he opened after the game was released (which turned out to be as he feared): "Nilin is the main character". Basically 1000 pages down the drain.
When talking about Remember Me 2, he basically said that there wasn't anything going on at Dontnod, but during the evening, he uttered the sentence "I can't talk about it." more than once, so...
Moving on to Life is Strange. As many may know, it was meant to be named "What if...", and the first episode would have been "Life is Strange" (named after a T-Rex song that Cano really enjoys).
Life is Strange was originally born from 4 people. After Remember Me, Dontnod gave carte-blanche to this small team, seeing their talent and motivation, to write a new game with one single restriction: they have to use the rewind from Remember Me's memory remix. So Cano and his colleagues, all raised up on 90s, mostly American, films and series, got to work on this.
They pitched the game to about 10 big publishers (including Sega, for example), and he said that, of all the publishers, Square Enix was the only one to sign on the project as it was, not changing a thing, whereas all others, apparently, would have asked to change Max into a guy, or give Chloe bigger tits (he insisted that pitching a game with a female protagonist is hell[a]). They insisted that Max should remain a girl. Nice little info, after Remember Me, Dontnod pitched many games to publishers which had a more "sellable" premise than a teenage girl story in Oregon, all failed, except Life is Strange, showing that a female protagonist can work just as well.
He originally had the idea of making the game taking place during a single day, with three characters, the actions of one affecting the other two, like locking a door with the first character would keep another character from entering in another episode, and change the whole perspective of the following episode, if one action is made impossible or one way made unaccessible by the first action of locking that very door.... So, yeah, basically hell to develop, it was dropped.
Then he started to write the game we know today. Of course, there were a few changes: the characters were supposed to be a few years younger, but it had to be upped to 18, because of some issues addressed (sex and abortion, for example, to suit the majority, which is the American audience), and some characters couldn't make it, or multiple characters merged into one.
The Vortex Club was original called the Club XIII, and Arcadia Bay was Aurora Creek.
Episode 4 spoilers here
He also had the idea of making 5 or 6 intermediary endings, such as [EPISODES 4 AND 5 SPOILERS]
. He insisted that the ending was intended this way, knowing that some people wouldn't like it and that you can't please everyone, but it made sense in the grand scheme of things. He also said, giving the example of Mass Effect, that in the end, the ending doesn't matter, if you've enjoyed dozens and hundreds of hours (the trip's what's important, not the destination).
He reaffirmed that Max and Chloe's story is finished. A potential second season would mean something entirely new. Speaking of, when talking about "Life is Strange 2", Cano said "Maybe one day, I don't know" followed by a cheeky "Ican'ttalkaboutit...".
When the time for Q&A came, he also basically killed my secret fantasy of a second season outside of the U.S.A, especially in France. I told him that, where Japan and the U.S can make a game for Japan and the U.S, in Japan and in the U.S, other countries had to "americanise" their pitch, that where we can see modern and contemporary French movies (Audiard), French books (Damasio) and French shows (Astier) that feel and look authentically (not only in a fantasised and cliché'd way) French, we don't see that in video games. I asked if he had ever thought of writing about that, to which he answered that he had, but that no one would care about a small city in France but us, whereas "everyone knows the U.S" [he has a point, I get that idea, but I think that even though we do know it - possibly in a erroneous way - we haven't lived it, we see from the outside, and it would be nice for us to see what we actually know, and for others to see us as we have seen them, before, simply to bring more variety; anyway, aside over].
Video-games being financed mostly by world-wide companies, we can't do something as big in a more intimate context, the only alternative is indie games, or games financed by National origanisations (such as OSome's White Night, financed by the CNC - Centre National du Cinéma).
So yeah, right now, that's basically all I can remember. Feel free to ask questions, in case I recall the answer, provided it was answered yesterday.
The presentation was filmed, I think, so it might be online in the following weeks. If it is, I'll post it here (even though it might not have subtitles) and rewatch it to answer some more questions or update my infos.
The presentation was basically a discussion about storytelling in video games, how it evolved, where it is going, and, the example of Life is Strange.
First, about Remember Me, Cano confirmed (being in the writing team) what Alain Damasio (lead writer, before he left his place for Stéphane Beauverger) had already said in podcasts and interviews. Out of the 1000 or so pages in the original backstory written for Remember Me, Beauverger gave a letter to Damasio containing the only part they kept in the final game, which he opened after the game was released (which turned out to be as he feared): "Nilin is the main character". Basically 1000 pages down the drain.
When talking about Remember Me 2, he basically said that there wasn't anything going on at Dontnod, but during the evening, he uttered the sentence "I can't talk about it." more than once, so...
Moving on to Life is Strange. As many may know, it was meant to be named "What if...", and the first episode would have been "Life is Strange" (named after a T-Rex song that Cano really enjoys).
Life is Strange was originally born from 4 people. After Remember Me, Dontnod gave carte-blanche to this small team, seeing their talent and motivation, to write a new game with one single restriction: they have to use the rewind from Remember Me's memory remix. So Cano and his colleagues, all raised up on 90s, mostly American, films and series, got to work on this.
They pitched the game to about 10 big publishers (including Sega, for example), and he said that, of all the publishers, Square Enix was the only one to sign on the project as it was, not changing a thing, whereas all others, apparently, would have asked to change Max into a guy, or give Chloe bigger tits (he insisted that pitching a game with a female protagonist is hell[a]). They insisted that Max should remain a girl. Nice little info, after Remember Me, Dontnod pitched many games to publishers which had a more "sellable" premise than a teenage girl story in Oregon, all failed, except Life is Strange, showing that a female protagonist can work just as well.
He originally had the idea of making the game taking place during a single day, with three characters, the actions of one affecting the other two, like locking a door with the first character would keep another character from entering in another episode, and change the whole perspective of the following episode, if one action is made impossible or one way made unaccessible by the first action of locking that very door.... So, yeah, basically hell to develop, it was dropped.
Then he started to write the game we know today. Of course, there were a few changes: the characters were supposed to be a few years younger, but it had to be upped to 18, because of some issues addressed (sex and abortion, for example, to suit the majority, which is the American audience), and some characters couldn't make it, or multiple characters merged into one.
The Vortex Club was original called the Club XIII, and Arcadia Bay was Aurora Creek.
Episode 4 spoilers here
About the pool party which many thought ridiculous and unsafe: Cano did too, but budgetary constraints forced him to merge the pool from Episode 3 and the "party location" originally intended for Ep 4 into one, so, yeah, pool party.
He also had the idea of making 5 or 6 intermediary endings, such as [EPISODES 4 AND 5 SPOILERS]
Ending the game at episode 4 depending on the choice, or Max carrying on as an artist in SF, after the art gallery, and not coming back to Arcadia Bay, indicating to the player that this was an ending, and that they could rewind to make it to the "end of episode 5" if they wished, but even offering this mid-way ending would have meant losing a certain audience, which wouldn't buy Ep 5 obviously (always money issues)
He reaffirmed that Max and Chloe's story is finished. A potential second season would mean something entirely new. Speaking of, when talking about "Life is Strange 2", Cano said "Maybe one day, I don't know" followed by a cheeky "Ican'ttalkaboutit...".
When the time for Q&A came, he also basically killed my secret fantasy of a second season outside of the U.S.A, especially in France. I told him that, where Japan and the U.S can make a game for Japan and the U.S, in Japan and in the U.S, other countries had to "americanise" their pitch, that where we can see modern and contemporary French movies (Audiard), French books (Damasio) and French shows (Astier) that feel and look authentically (not only in a fantasised and cliché'd way) French, we don't see that in video games. I asked if he had ever thought of writing about that, to which he answered that he had, but that no one would care about a small city in France but us, whereas "everyone knows the U.S" [he has a point, I get that idea, but I think that even though we do know it - possibly in a erroneous way - we haven't lived it, we see from the outside, and it would be nice for us to see what we actually know, and for others to see us as we have seen them, before, simply to bring more variety; anyway, aside over].
Video-games being financed mostly by world-wide companies, we can't do something as big in a more intimate context, the only alternative is indie games, or games financed by National origanisations (such as OSome's White Night, financed by the CNC - Centre National du Cinéma).
So yeah, right now, that's basically all I can remember. Feel free to ask questions, in case I recall the answer, provided it was answered yesterday.
The presentation was filmed, I think, so it might be online in the following weeks. If it is, I'll post it here (even though it might not have subtitles) and rewatch it to answer some more questions or update my infos.
Yep, heard this. They tweeted that a while ago. Shocking but unfortunately true. This is the reason why SquareEnix has raised on my scoreboard.
UpperCaseN
Member
I just saw this on an episode of The X-Files last night, intentional? S01E22, I tweeted them but am pretty bad at twitter
Lord of Castamere
Member
Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Wish we could move beyond this shit.
RedSparrows
Member
Yup. So stupid. LiS has clearly been a hit too, relatively speaking.
Shotgun Kiss
Member
Really disappointed with the last chapter.
I still enjoyed the whole experience; I just wish they had stuck the landing.
It felt like it was trying way too hard to be "deep" with all the nightmare stuff, when it was trivial and didn't serve the plot in any way.
Jefferson was also poorly utilised as the big bad (I don't mind that it was him; he just could have been used better).
Too much stuff felt irrelevant as you kept going back and undoing it all anyway. And on that note, the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending just made the events of the *entire game* (all episodes) completely irrelevant. For that reason, I feel like the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending is the "true" ending, but that was really weak, as it felt like a happy ending, which I doubt was the intention. All we saw was a bunch of destroyed buildings. We should have seen dead bodies or funerals of other main characters. That would have given the decision more weight, and made the choice of who to sacrifice not so black-and-white.
Jefferson was also poorly utilised as the big bad (I don't mind that it was him; he just could have been used better).
Too much stuff felt irrelevant as you kept going back and undoing it all anyway. And on that note, the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending just made the events of the *entire game* (all episodes) completely irrelevant. For that reason, I feel like the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending is the "true" ending, but that was really weak, as it felt like a happy ending, which I doubt was the intention. All we saw was a bunch of destroyed buildings. We should have seen dead bodies or funerals of other main characters. That would have given the decision more weight, and made the choice of who to sacrifice not so black-and-white.
I still enjoyed the whole experience; I just wish they had stuck the landing.
RedSparrows
Member
An official Life Is Strange mobile media kit has been released. Features wallpapers, sounds and a soundboard for iOS/Android/Windows phones:
https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstra...official_life_is_strange_mobile_media_kit_is/
https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstra...official_life_is_strange_mobile_media_kit_is/
Cuban Legend
Member
So physical version of the game (limited edition comes with developer commentary in addition to more things), I'd like to buy the Soundtrack on separately, but is there anyway to get the Developer Commentary as DLC for the Season Pass version of the PC version? Has this been talked about? Id like to support the limited edition of this.
Thank you, it was interesting.
By the way, for french speaking persons, the video called "Le jeu vidéo a-t-il peur du noir ?" on Arret sur Image (for those who have access to it) had one of the writer of Remember Me in it. He said many interesting stuff on how it was difficult to have a girl (or a black person) as a protagonist among other things.
Finished this a couple of weeks ago after getting it Digital on XB1 Sale, ive played games since the ZX days and whilst some bits annoyed the heck out of me (looking at you dark locker room scene) it is one of the few games stories that has actually sat with me after i finsihed, more so than any big budget game. Clunker worded it brilliantly in his reply further up this thread and i agree with all his points, I see this as a story first and game second, i must have looked at almost every interactive element you could just to help build and understand my view of the world that had been created, some excellent touches like
were small but so effective. Still got a couple photos to grab so will have to revisit to pick them up, but from soundtrack to ending, bar some small frustrating bits, I loved it.
the view from the snowlglobe
nadnerb 64
Neo Member
This game was a massive sleeper hit for me. I bought Episode One on launch and it sat on my console for about 3-4 months (other episodes were coming out.) Eventually I began to clear out my backlog and went and played episode one, While the story began as kinda meh and the teenage writing being cringworthy at time, I instantly went and bought the other episodes that were out. I found my self thinking about what was going to happen next to Max and the rest of the cast. This defiantly, if ranked made my top 5 games of the year. I stepped away and tried to convince all of my Destiny Bros to play to which they mocked the shit outta me. This game has great characters, a good mechanic for a game in the Telltale style and it works. A must play for sure.
fluffydelusions
Member
Square Enix Releases Bullying Prevention Video Featuring 'Life Is Strange' Actor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao2PTDCiRxU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao2PTDCiRxU
If anyone is interested in playing the game in Japanese, or at least how it sounds like in another language...
https://youtu.be/eCRvW6p5YfI
The Japanese version includes both English/Japanese voice overs. Not sure if they will include English subtitles though.
I finished the game over the weekend. I share many of the opinions mentioned here. However, I wouldn't put it GOTY 2015, but it's definitely in the top 5. When they do a season 2, I hope it's different characters, locations, etc. with similar themes.
https://youtu.be/eCRvW6p5YfI
The Japanese version includes both English/Japanese voice overs. Not sure if they will include English subtitles though.
I finished the game over the weekend. I share many of the opinions mentioned here. However, I wouldn't put it GOTY 2015, but it's definitely in the top 5. When they do a season 2, I hope it's different characters, locations, etc. with similar themes.
According to the support page, the Japanese voice over and subtitles should be a free update to the Steam version:
　※日本語版については、2016年3月3日(木
Extra Sauce
Member
I noticed that. Crazy to think that some people are going to watch that PSA
without knowing that the guy bemoaning bullying is a serial killer.
It's like an incredibly subversive easter egg.
Lord of Castamere
Member
Man, that opening to episode 2 was akward. Hard to focus on the story and not Made nice butt. This game continues to reaffirm how weird I am.
I don't even care. This game is a master of casual sexuality. From the animations to the clothing choices. It captures it perfectly.
I don't even care. This game is a master of casual sexuality. From the animations to the clothing choices. It captures it perfectly.