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SCHUEY F1 · Feb 7, 2016

shinobi602 said:
Just finished Episode 2.

Jesus christ I'm in love with this. I managed to

save Kate

thankfully! That was one of the most intense scenes I've ever played in a game. Goddamn. The relationships Max has with everyone in the game continues to feel so genuine and authentic, with Kate and especially with Chloe. One of the few times where I'm smiling all the time because each scenario feels so well thought out and feeling like it could happen in reality.

The soundtrack continues to fucking tug at my heart strings. The main plot has me hooked, Arcadia Bay's apparent seedy undercurrent is extremely tantalizing. Can't wait to see where it all goes. Intense! And people keep telling me Episode 3 is even more wild...I can't handle this!

Definitely my 2015 goty

QuantumDerp · Feb 7, 2016

Finished the game...regarding the end

I chose to save Chloe. Because throughout the game, I was making choices and the game constantly reminding me that Chloe is the one important. All of the sudden to have decision to just let her die...Hell no. I honestly could not give a damn about Arcadia, too many issues underneath it. Better for it be rebuild fresh, if there is an off chance of it. The presschot family really did numbers on it.

shinobi602 · Feb 7, 2016

Holy FUCK I KNEW IT. Episode 4

I knew Jefferson was a shady motherfucker.

I can't stop now. HOLY FUCK.

Benzychenz · Feb 7, 2016

I'm at what I assume to be the final decision in the game and...

I can't decide this shit my god what the fuck.

Edit:

I chose to keep Chloe, she's my number 1 <3
But now I'm thinking about Joyce, and Warren, and Dana, and everyone that I sacrificed for her, and man, that shit sucks :\

Bashtee · Feb 7, 2016

Just finished the game yesterday, my god, all those fucked up decisions.

Chose Chloe at the end without much thought, but the jump back to the time where we saved her father, just to see her in a fucking wheelchair. Not to mention that we have to make a decision to kill her or let her live.

This game left me with a hugh vacuum, similar to The Last of Us and The Walking Dead S1, just like after reading a really good book. I don't know what to do with my life anymore.

Benzychenz · Feb 7, 2016

Regarding the ending:

I kept Chloe alive and it seemed like a bittersweet ending, but wouldn't that just fuck shit up even more? I thought the storm appeared because she was meant to have died, but then wouldn't surviving that just make something even worse happen next? Maybe I just don't understand the timey wimey stuff, but who cares my babe Chloe is alive.

Also went into collectible mode to see the ending where she dies, and they kiss before Max goes back <3 <3 <3 I assume they just hug or something if you didn't choose to kiss her earlier on?

I teared up too when Max was sitting there in the bathroom just letting her get shot, so fucking heartbreaking.

Card Boy · Feb 7, 2016

wow at that Ep 4 ending.

Voyevoda · Feb 7, 2016

Benzychenz said:
Regarding the ending:

I kept Chloe alive and it seemed like a bittersweet ending, but wouldn't that just fuck shit up even more? I thought the storm appeared because she was meant to have died, but then wouldn't surviving that just make something even worse happen next? Maybe I just don't understand the timey wimey stuff, but who cares my babe Chloe is alive.

Also went into collectible mode to see the ending where she dies, and they kiss before Max goes back <3 <3 <3 I assume they just hug or something if you didn't choose to kiss her earlier on?

I teared up too when Max was sitting there in the bathroom just letting her get shot, so fucking heartbreaking.

If you only kiss Warren in the diner or kiss both Warren in the diner and Chloe in her bedroom, yeah, just a hug; if you only kiss Chloe, other kiss on the Cliff

Benzychenz · Feb 7, 2016

Voyevoda said:
If you only kiss Warren in the diner or kiss both Warren in the diner and Chloe in her bedroom, yeah, just a hug; if you only kiss Chloe, other kiss on the Cliff

Oh that reminds me, over 70% of people kissed Warren, hella gross. That creep was lucky to get a hug from me.

somotodsyo · Feb 7, 2016

Voyevoda said:
If you only kiss Warren in the diner or kiss both Warren in the diner and Chloe in her bedroom, yeah, just a hug; if you only kiss Chloe, other kiss on the Cliff

Not necessarily. I kissed both, got the kiss in the ending. There are more factors that have to do with it, like whether you answer Kate's call, support Chloe or David during the argument, etc.

Voyevoda · Feb 7, 2016

somotodsyo said:
Not necessarily. I kissed both, got the kiss in the ending. There are more factors that have to do with it, like whether you answer Kate's call, support Chloe or David during the argument, etc.

Oh? I really thought this was the only factor. Good to know.

Replicant · Feb 7, 2016

So I recently completed this recently.

I'm in two minds about it. On the one hand, the story sort of got me but mostly because it parallels to my own recent RL friendship, which is also fraught with its own problems. On the other hand, I feel that the characters could have been vastly improved and therefore despite what I said before, I have a slight disconnect to the game's story.

The game was actually fun in the beginning when options where plentiful but it became a bit disappointing as the game winds up and funnels you into one of its two endings. I feel that there should have been more than 2 ending variations. I also think that Episode 5 jumped off the shark and didn't enjoy its pseudo-Evangelion moments.

In the end, I ended up choosing

Chloe, mostly because she reminds me so much of my friend and my choice purely because of that connection sentimentality more than anything else. Also, i didn't feel as connected to the rest of the characters.

RedAssedApe · Feb 7, 2016

oh god...ending to episode 3 and the beginning of chapter 4. my heart.

Fuu · Feb 7, 2016

(ending spoilers)

I find it interesting how so many people

choose to let Chloe live

. For me it just goes against what the game is trying to say. I'll copy what I said in another thread:

The game is big on the message of

being able to let go. The whole idea of "trying to preserve the perfect moment in time" with photography mirrors Max's focusing so much on the past in her internal monologues until she's able to grow out of it and move on to the future. Her relationship with Chloe encapsulates that a lot of times too, with Max thinking about how she wishes things could go back to how they were.

Hell, a rewind power by itself fits the theme perfectly. There are also the smaller moments like when the game

leaves the choice of getting out of Chloe's bed in your hands and so on. Almost everything is about wanting to make things perfect, to freeze a moment in time, and how ultimately futile this notion can be.

Looking at it this way, choosing Chloe in the end is emotionally stunting for both Max an Chloe herself. Chloe was choosing to sacrifice. By the end she had grown out of her selfish ways and the fact that she chose to die to save her mother, her stepfather and the city was a big deal.

And even if you don't agree with this interpretation,

if we assume that cheating Chloe's death was what brought the tornado and was killing animal life, choosing her can also mean they'll inadvertently keep fucking up the entire world.

I'm kind of ambivalent that they even had that as a final choice with how everything was framed through the episodes.

It seems that even the devs think so when you look at how the Chloe lives ending is so lackluster when compared to the Chloe dies one.

Benzychenz · Feb 7, 2016

Fuu said:
(ending spoilers)

I find it interesting how so many people

choose to let Chloe live

. For me it just goes against what the game is trying to say. I'll copy what I said in another thread:

The game is big on the message of

being able to let go. The whole idea of "trying to preserve the perfect moment in time" with photography mirrors Max's focusing so much on the past in her internal monologues until she's able to grow out of it and move on to the future. Her relationship with Chloe encapsulates that a lot of times too, with Max thinking about how she wishes things could go back to how they were.

Hell, a rewind power by itself fits the theme perfectly. There are also the smaller moments like when the game

leaves the choice of getting out of Chloe's bed in your hands and so on. Almost everything is about wanting to make things perfect, to freeze a moment in time, and how ultimately futile this notion can be.

Looking at it this way, choosing Chloe in the end is emotionally stunting for both Max an Chloe herself. Chloe was choosing to sacrifice. By the end she had grown out of her selfish ways and the fact that she chose to die to save her mother, her stepfather and the city was a big deal.

And even if you don't agree with this interpretation,

if we assume that cheating Chloe's death was what brought the tornado and was killing animal life, choosing her can also mean they'll inadvertently keep fucking up the entire world.

I'm kind of ambivalent that they even had that as a final choice with how everything was framed through the episodes.

It seems that even the devs think so when you look at how the Chloe lives ending is so lackluster when compared to the Chloe dies one.

Bae over bay

Replicant · Feb 7, 2016

Fuu said:
(ending spoilers)

I find it interesting how so many people

choose to let Chloe live

. For me it just goes against what the game is trying to say. I'll copy what I said in another thread:

The game is big on the message of

being able to let go. The whole idea of "trying to preserve the perfect moment in time" with photography mirrors Max's focusing so much on the past in her internal monologues until she's able to grow out of it and move on to the future. Her relationship with Chloe encapsulates that a lot of times too, with Max thinking about how she wishes things could go back to how they were.

Hell, a rewind power by itself fits the theme perfectly. There are also the smaller moments like when the game

leaves the choice of getting out of Chloe's bed in your hands and so on. Almost everything is about wanting to make things perfect, to freeze a moment in time, and how ultimately futile this notion can be.

Looking at it this way, choosing Chloe in the end is emotionally stunting for both Max an Chloe herself. Chloe was choosing to sacrifice. By the end she had grown out of her selfish ways and the fact that she chose to die to save her mother, her stepfather and the city was a big deal.

And even if you don't agree with this interpretation,

if we assume that cheating Chloe's death was what brought the tornado and was killing animal life, choosing her can also mean they'll inadvertently keep fucking up the entire world.

I'm kind of ambivalent that they even had that as a final choice with how everything was framed through the episodes.

It seems that even the devs think so when you look at how the Chloe lives ending is so lackluster when compared to the Chloe dies one.

I don't think of it that way. I see it more like "After all of the things that I did for her, it'd be a waste of my time, a waste of my energy, a waste of what I truly wanted" and all for the sake of people that I don't even know that well or even care that much of? NOPE.

Morever,

Max as a character has never been a selfish person. She always does thing for the sake of other people. So I think it's about time that in the end, she finally does something for herself. Going for what she really wants. Something she has fought for right from the start.

Admiral Woofington · Feb 7, 2016

Replicant said:
I don't think of it that way. I see it more like "After all of the things that I did for her, it'd be a waste of my time, a waste of my energy, a waste of what I truly wanted" and all for the sake of people that I don't even know that well or even care that much of? NOPE.

Morever,

Max as a character has never been a selfish person. She always does thing for the sake of other people. So I think it's about time that in the end, she finally does something for herself. Going for what she really wants. Something she has fought for right from the start.

Well while I agree with your assessment my only comment is that Max most definitely has been

selfish prior to letting you control her in this game. She left town on no power of her own but knowing your best friend is going through a painful experience and cutting off all contact is fucked up. And when she returns she returns to advance her career and knowledge. There is nothing wrong with this as we're all selfish but she didn't even try to see Chloe asap to set things right she kept pushing it off until Chloe found her. Then Max basically spends the entire game stealth complaining how Chloe has all of these really emotional shit that shows a closeness with another girl their age, and she acts jealous even though this is largely on her. She helps Chloe partially on feelings of guilt for so often.

Max is a trooper but she isn't a saint.

protonion · Feb 7, 2016

So I'm finally playing this. Bought the nice retail version.

Just wanted to add another HOLY SHIT at episode 3.

Playing this game feels like you are in another world. So captivating.

Humdinger · Feb 7, 2016

Agreed. Very well done. Hope there's a sequel, or at least another similar game from Dontnod.

Voyevoda · Feb 7, 2016

Anderson DL said:
Agreed. Very well done. Hope there's a sequel, or at least another similar game from Dontnod.

Season 2 more or less confirmed. Also confirmed that it'll be a new cast of characters, in a new town, around a whole new story. Max/Chloe/Arcadia Bay is over with Season 1.

16BitNova · Feb 7, 2016

Benzychenz said:
Regarding the ending:

I kept Chloe alive and it seemed like a bittersweet ending, but wouldn't that just fuck shit up even more? I thought the storm appeared because she was meant to have died, but then wouldn't surviving that just make something even worse happen next? Maybe I just don't understand the timey wimey stuff, but who cares my babe Chloe is alive.

Also went into collectible mode to see the ending where she dies, and they kiss before Max goes back <3 <3 <3 I assume they just hug or something if you didn't choose to kiss her earlier on?

I teared up too when Max was sitting there in the bathroom just letting her get shot, so fucking heartbreaking.

Regarding keeping Chloe alive making things worse, no not necessarily. This all had to do with the universe restoring Arcadia Bay. The serial killer, the Prescotts (if you remember they were expanding into real estate too, there was talks around town and billboards), basically all the evil corrupt shit. If everything went according to plan and you didn't have your powers, Chloe dies. With her death comes Nathan Prescott getting caught and that ruins the Prescott's name. Problem solved. Also Mr. Jefferson gets caught, problem solved. Arcadia Bay is good again. But! since you ruined natures course by saving Chloe, nature had to find another way, hence the storm destroying everything. One way or another the universe and nature was gonna run its course and life will go as planned.

Slyfer · Feb 7, 2016

Finished the game for the first time, and I'm surprised so many here didn't

choose to save Arcadia Bay over Chloe. I feel the whole point of the game was to avoid the hurricane which was created by Max corrupting the original timeline where Chloe was meant to die. The only tangible thing Max gained from the whole time travel was discovering who Jefferson really was and expediting his capture.

To all of you who chose to save Chloe, it feels you didn't pay attention at the numerous times she almost died or even died in the story. So even if you let the hurricane destroy Arcadia Bay, Chloe was still destined to die and you only delayed the inevitable. Not to mention you created a world state that killed far too many people that weren't supposed to die from the hurricane.

Benzychenz · Feb 7, 2016

16BitNova said:
Regarding keeping Chloe alive making things worse, no not necessarily. This all had to do with the universe restoring Arcadia Bay. The serial killer, the Prescotts (if you remember they were expanding into real estate too, there was talks around town and billboards), basically all the evil corrupt shit. If everything went according to plan and you didn't have your powers, Chloe dies. With her death comes Nathan Prescott getting caught and that ruins the Prescott's name. Problem solved. Also Mr. Jefferson gets caught, problem solved. Arcadia Bay is good again. But! since you ruined natures course by saving Chloe, nature had to find another way, hence the storm destroying everything. One way or another the universe and nature was gonna run its course and life will go as planned.

But it felt like every step of the way Chloe was supposed to die. Nathan kills her in the bathroom, she gets hit by a train, in an alternate timeline her respiratory system is failing, Jefferson shoots her.
To me it just feels like, why would that stop there? They might crash 2 minutes after the ending lol.

Frederik · Feb 7, 2016

Slyfer said:
Finished the game for the first time, and I'm surprised so many here didn't

choose to save Arcadia Bay over Chloe.

Max: "I'll never let anyone hurt Chloe."

;_;

Deleted member 80556 · Feb 7, 2016

Love hearing all the different interpretation you guys and gals have of the ending.

Anung · Feb 7, 2016

Just finished this there.

I'm really glad I managed to avoid spoilers as when I started this I genuinely didn't know we were getting Juno meets

Twin Peaks

and that really resonated with me.

Episode 3 and 4 were episodic gaming bliss and was emotional-gut-punch roller coaster. Episode 5 has plenty of excellent moments too and while the ending doesn't quite stick the landing it didn't undo all the great times I had with the experience. Some lame writing and one dimensional characters aside I really loved what LiS was trying to do and it felt so real being immersed in these characters world with some very human writing shining through the over-written teen dialogue. That coupled with a great art-style , genuine surprises and some cool music make this a winner for me. Mechanically its about what you'd expect from the genre but Dontnod played to their strengths with the rewind mechanics.

I thought I was maybe getting tired of Telltale style games but I think this confirms that I'm just tired of Telltales way of doing it. The choices while also an illusion feel at least variable enough that the illusion holds up. Obviously that because you can rewind at any time so they need to make it seems like branching dialogue actually changes something. It's a damn sight better than Telltales approach of nothing meaning a thing.

In fact, Telltale releasing Game of Thrones in a post-Life is Strange world just shows they're not putting enough effort in for my taste.

As for the ending SPOILERS

I chose to let Chloe live as I felt the town was worth sacrificing for our friendship. I immediately regretted this choice as I feel I probably chose the wrong or weaker ending but I guess that was the point of the game in a way. Living with choices as being able to remove the weight of those choices leaves us empty.

Spinifex · Feb 8, 2016

So I have a key for Life is Strange Episodes 1-5 (the entire game)

What's the fairest way to give it away? I'd love to see it go to someone who really wants to play it but can't spare the money, or something.

LurkerPrime · Feb 8, 2016

Yeah, it's great reading everyone's take on the ending--always interesting stuff. Personally, my mind was so scrambled I could barely think after the ending, let alone articulate what was on my mind; it took a while for me to form anything coherent to say.

Also FYI, there is a spoiler thread for more in-depth, black bar-free discussion.

Spinifex said:
So I have a key for Life is Strange Episodes 1-5 (the entire game)

What's the fairest way to give it away? I'd love to see it go to someone who really wants to play it but can't spare the money, or something.

NeoGAF actually has an automated way of giving stuff out (and its pretty flexible too), via Modbot. This way anyone that's interested can enter and Modbot will randomly select a winner and give away the prize. Just be sure to read the instructions on how to do use it first to avoid mistakes. Also--and this is important--if you're giving it away outside of the Steam Community thread you'll need to link ModBot to your thread of choice first.

Or you could make some crazy giveaway contest and give it away to your hand-picked winner. Those are always fun.

Not sure about the best place to give it away, though. That's up to you.

Spinifex · Feb 8, 2016

Thanks! I'll just do a raffle in this thread, I think. (Hopefully I've done this right)

ModBot said:
Instructions for participants:
I am giving away a Steam key. To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line from the message below containing the game you want to enter for. Confused? Watch this GIF tutorial or ask for help.

ModBot Basics:
- This is a giveaway for the thread url: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=982496.
- I really appreciate thank you messages, but please send them to me (Spinifex, not ModBot!) via PM instead of in thread.
- Do not trade keys you win off-site to enrich yourself. Don't try to claim games you have no interest in collecting or playing. Don't claim games to give them to friends off-site.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two.

Rules for this Giveaway:
- This giveaway is a raffle. The winners will be selected by random draw 24 hours after the draw was created. Any games not claimed after that point will be given away first come first serve.

Life is Strange (Complete Season) -- ~~MB-EA21A983B250143A~~ - Taken by Red Hood. 6 entrants total.

barneystuta83 · Feb 8, 2016

Oh my.

It is pushing 2am in the UK and I am need to be up and awake in 5 hours for work.

All I can think about is starting episode 4. Dat episode 3

ending.

Wow.

When this game first came out, I played the first hour or so. Think it was a demo if I remember right? Anyway, I was intrigued. But, my backlog got the better of me.

Fast forward to the Christmas just gone and I finally dipped in. The recognition and positive reaction from press and Gaf made this a must try.

I am delighted that I did.

I don't want to say much more right now. Feels like I should finish it off before venturing in here again.

RDreamer · Feb 8, 2016

Finally finished this today (the last few minutes I played during halftime!).

Overall it was such a great game. Really awesome experience playing with my fiancé watching, too. She was really invested and it felt like we were playing together. Great characters and writing (obviously some missteps here and there, but largely I thought it was pretty good). Liked the art style and the music choices were great.

It also felt really refreshing to play a game that wasn't trying to cater to me or my demographic so much. The girl protagonist and heavily female based relationships were really cool. I kind of hope they go with that again for any Life is Strange Season 2. Lord knows we aren't seeing that much anywhere else.

As for the ending:

I chose to sacrifice Chloe. As some others here seem to have said on this page even, that seems to be the running theme. Chloe almost dies or actually dies all throughout the game. She's the catalyst. She's supposed to. It made for a great story with that ending, too. In the end it parallels Max trying to help William and in the end pulling helping Chloe got out on her terms after one more day with Max (I went that route in my game). It mirrors the fact that she couldn't really change things for the better there, like she couldn't in the end with Chloe's initial death.

Also it means the game feels kind of like Chloe's mind unraveling trying to come to grips with the senseless violence that killed her friend there. Like it could be all created in her brain in the aftermath when dealing with how powerless she was to stop it all.

It's interesting there doesn't seem to be a lot of love for Episode 5, but I really liked it as an ending for everything.

TheMan · Feb 8, 2016

picked this up since it's on sale, finished episode 1 today. I like the art direction and the voicework is ace. Gotta say though, i'm not sucked into the story yet; the teen melodrama isn't really doing it for me. I guess some potentially intriguing story threads were set up, so i'll keep playing in case I get hooked later.

RSB · Feb 8, 2016

Just finished it.

The game is pretty great overall. Episodes 1 and 2 are pretty good

(saving Kate felt amazing)

and Episodes 3 and 4 have some of the best (and most emotional) moments I've ever experienced in a videogame.

About Ep 5:

It's definitely the weakest episode, and unfortunately, both endings are pretty terrible.

The sacrifice Chloe ending sucks because it basically undoes all you've done, just to "copy" the ending of that shitty Ashton Kutcher movie (I would say I saw it coming from a mile away, but honestly, it was so obvious that I didn't think they would do it) If they really wanted to copy an ending, they should have copied Donnie Darko IMO.

The sacrifice Arcadia ending sucks too because, first, pretty much zero effort was put into it (just a small scene of them driving around the ruins, seriously?) and second, it doesn't make much sense (shouldn't Chloe be like super angry at Max for letting her mother die or something?) Considering how lazy and stupid this ending is, I think they shouldn't even have bothered offering it as an option.

The only redeeming quality about the endings is that last kiss they share in the sacrifice Chloe ending (I guess all that shipping was not completely in vain, LOL) So yeah, pretty weak conclusion to a fantastic game. Still love it though.

ZombieSupaStar · Feb 8, 2016

post game thoughts

Man I wish the endings were better. Even if you had to work for a super happy conclusion it would have been nice, as it now the last episode/ending bring it from an A+ to B series for me. I dont know if they ran out of money or this is how the wanted it to end, but both endings just feel unfulfilling. Maybe showing Max / Kate becoming friends on the sacrifice chloe ending would have made it better #TeamKate

Still I double dipped and bought the PS4 limited edition after already owning it on steam.

Anustart · Feb 8, 2016

So as a somewhat former Telltale fan (Couldn't even finish Game of Thrones), I blind bought this based on gaf hype. Am I in for a treat? I know nothing of the game!

We shall find out!

katsubento · Feb 8, 2016

Anustart said:
So as a somewhat former Telltale fan (Couldn't even finish Game of Thrones), I blind bought this based on gaf hype. Am I in for a treat? I know nothing of the game!

We shall find out!

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