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Life is Strange | Spoiler Thread

game_boy said:
Right, the sacrifice Arcadia Bay option doesn't erase your choices, but my main issue with it is how that ending is the same, generic, unsatisfying cutscene no matter what choices you made.
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Yeah, I suppose. At least there's the implication that whichever choice you make, life will go on. The ending might have been too sparse, but it at least doesn't preclude Max from moving on with her life, whether with Chloe or with her other friends. So even if the ending showed too little (some kind of epilogue would have been nice, for instance), we still know that things will keep going. I dunno, I kind of like that it just sort of left open the possibilities of Max's future...even if a bit more sendoff for the cast would have been nice. So no, it's not a perfect ending, but I thought it worked just fine for the most part.
 
The initial scene with David played out almost exactly as I predicted.

vpMGWq.gif
 
I don't get the Warren hate. He's clearly a nice, but awkward teenager who's just trying to do the good thing. It's surprising to me that people on a video game forum don't have more sympathy with him, considering that likely half of the guys posting here were about as awkward as him when they were a teenager. :P Or maybe that's exactly the reason a lot of people don't like him, I don't know.
 
wrowa said:
I don't get the Warren hate. He's clearly a nice, but awkward teenager who's just trying to do the good thing. It's surprising to me that people on a video game forum don't have more sympathy with him, considering that likely half of the guys posting here were about as awkward as him when they were a teenager. :P Or maybe that's exactly the reason a lot of people don't like him, I don't know.
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I think it's that scene where he's creeping on Max through her window that gains him most of the ire that he does.
 
Baldwin_the_First said:
And that's the point of her returning to that point in time ... But then you know there's that little montage of pictures being burned and created and the new reality coming into play. What's to say she still has them afterwards? She's never unlocked them in that reality in the first place, so what's to say it wasn't that exact point in situation that made her unlocked them. I don't know i'm just spouting shit up and I guess she would remember it all in the end, yeah.
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But the thing is, she goes back to the initial starting event (Chloe getting bopped) and knows she can't rescue her which is why she breaks down. So she knows she had powers, but purposefully didn't use them when she back, so theoretically, she still has them? Again, I'm in the same boat. Theories and stuff.

Dick Justice said:
I think it's that scene where he's creeping on Max through her window that gains him most of the ire that he does.
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Wait, when was this?
Dick Justice said:
The initial scene with David played out almost exactly as I predicted.

vpMGWq.gif
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The act it's also a gif works with how many times I tried that scene XD
 
game_boy said:
Wow, the reactions here vs the reactions on /r/lifeisstrange are so different. I'm surprised at how many people here liked the ending.

I didn't hate the ending, but I thought it was very mediocre and could have been much better. Here are my thoughts on Episode 5:


  • Definitely my least favorite episode, but I still enjoyed it as a whole

  • Some of the writing and camera angles in the dark room when you're talking back and forth with Jefferson seemed low quality. There were lots of visually interesting scenes in the game, but a lot of the back and forth with Jefferson where you're just waiting for the cutscene to finish were visually boring, with the camera just cutting back and forth for what seemed like forever.

  • I liked going to San Francisco

  • I really loved the nightmare scenes because of how bizarre and scary they were.

  • I'm really disappointed that, after the nightmare scene hinted so much at meeting Rachel or something big like that, all we got was... nothing, really. There could have been so much more to add meaning to everything, and the part in the nightmare where you're going through the dorms over and over again really teased at some kind of twist or at the very least meeting a new character, but no, it was all just buildup with no payoff.

  • I really hate how none of my choices mattered. I see a lot of people saying it doesn't mater because the journey is more important than the destination, etc. but goddamn it, the destination is pretty important too. What made the journey so meaningful to me was thinking that my actions mattered. I was forced to pick between two bad endings, and all my actions were meaningless (other than having had the memory of doing them).

  • I totally get that the ending makes sense thematically, since the game had been hinting the whole time at the idea that Max can't truly change destiny, but I don't think that's an excuse for it sucking. The writers wrote themselves into a corner IMO, and because they didn't want to add complexity, length, and substance to the part of the game after the nightmare sequence, they just chose the predictable, unsatisfying ending.

  • I chose to let Arcadia Bay get destroyed. Throughout all the prior episodes, the game really hammered the viewpoint that Arcadia Bay is totally f'ed up; however, as it progressed, we did see a lot of redeeming qualities in a lot of the characters. Ultimately, though, I couldn't choose the option that negated everything I'd done, and I really cared about Chloe, so I chose to sacrifice the town.

  • The ending if you choose to save Chloe is just sloppy. After it finished, I was just like, this is it? Seriously, that's all?

  • Furthermore, I don't buy that saving Chloe means the tornado kills everyone in the town. Maybe I didn't look closely, but in the final cutscene, the Two Whales looks the same as it did when I was there earlier with Warren, Joyce, etc. If they were inside it the whole time, they would totally have lived. But the final cutscene doesn't even tell us or show us anything. It is useless.

  • I don't think they needed to tie up all the loose ends. I don't think they could have explained her powers in a satisfying way, but they could at least have given us a little more information on how Rachel is involved/etc. after all that hinting and buildup in the dream sequence. If they'd gone a bit deeper, then it wouldn't feel so anticlimactic.

Overall, I really liked Life is Strange. It has its flaws, and the ending is it's biggest flaw, but it told a powerful story.

Also, why why why would you kiss Warren? I mean, I don't have anything against the guy, but I felt absolutely zero attachment or interest toward him the entire game. I didn't hug or kiss him in the Two Whales.
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This is pretty much how I feel. I feel that f(kill Chloe) = kill tornado is far too convenient especially when they don't explain how the tornado is formed when Max uses her powers. Does it scale to how much Max messes with the timeline?

I also chose the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending. Mostly because of the following:

1. At least to me, it didn't seem like they knew 100% if killing Chloe would make the tornado go away. I was worried that it was going to end up in an ending where Chloe is dead and Arcadia Bay is destroyed anyway.
2. Max seemed like she was at her edge with using her powers...so I thought I'd avoid using her powers like that again.

With that being said, that ending is pretty disappointing :/
 
BumblebeeCody said:
But the thing is, she goes back to the initial starting event (Chloe getting bopped) and knows she can't rescue her which is why she breaks down. So she knows she had powers, but purposefully didn't use them when she back, so theoretically, she still has them? Again, I'm in the same boat. Theories and stuff.



Wait, when was this?


The act it's also a gif works with how many times I tried that scene XD
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myMZYWD.jpg
 
BumblebeeCody said:
But the thing is, she goes back to the initial starting event (Chloe getting bopped) and knows she can't rescue her which is why she breaks down. So she knows she had powers, but purposefully didn't use them when she back, so theoretically, she still has them? Again, I'm in the same boat. Theories and stuff.
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If she loses them at all, it would be because she decided not to use them at all in this reality at the exact point in time and situation where she unlocks them in the first place is what I'm saying. But then again, she does use them in the class beforehand so the more I think about it, the more it's bogus. So I guess Max is stuck with her powers knowing fully well that she'll never be able to use them unless she wants to unleash a freaking tornado again. lmao

edit: no wait, if she returns at the exact point in time where she unlocks them, she couldn't possibly have used them in the class beforehand, so it still sticks.

Dick Justice said:
myMZYWD.jpg
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LOL holy shit, that has to be photoshopped, right?
 
I'm glad the Saving Chloe ending is so poor, you deserve it for picking the wrong option.
 
The Warren thing is mostly just a comic easter egg. It's not like he'd actually be able to see anything. I took it to mean he's just staring at the building waiting for her to come out.

Which is still a bit weird. But isn't outside the realm of things you'd see a romcom or sitcom character do for their crush, pretending to run into them casually when they planned it.
 
Dick Justice said:
I think it's that scene where he's creeping on Max through her window that gains him most of the ire that he does.
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He's awkwardly waiting for her to come outside. I guess you can look at it as him trying to peep on her, but I don't think that was his intention. Wasn't that the same scene where he spams her with messages, asking her why it takes her so long to come out?

It's definitely awkward behavior, but nothing that really strikes me as uncommon or particularly creepy. I know a lot of guys who wasted hours of their lives waiting somewhere to "accidentally" meet their crush. If he was a 30 year old guy, I'd agree that it was creepy, but an inexperienced teenager who just doesn't know how to handle the situation better? Eh.
 
wrowa said:
I don't get the Warren hate. He's clearly a nice, but awkward teenager who's just trying to do the good thing. It's surprising to me that people on a video game forum don't have more sympathy with him, considering that likely half of the guys posting here were about as awkward as him when they were a teenager. :P Or maybe that's exactly the reason a lot of people don't like him, I don't know.
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I don't hate Warren. I just think he occasionally does some really creepy shit, which to an extent is normal...ish... for a guy his age, and I'm really not into the whole Max x Warren thing. I gave him a hug to show I thought he was a cool dude and a good friend. But kissing him? Ehhhhhhh

Also I kiss Chloe because she dares me to and it just seems like a silly little moment, and then suddenly at the end of ep 5 we're lesbians? Seems a bit...sudden...but I guess I should have seen it coming when it gave me that choice in the first place.
 
CMojicaAce said:
I sacrificed Chloe even though I didn't want to. Just couldn't justify letting that many people die.

Plus, if it's Chloe 's destiny to die (not from natural causes), what's to stop another vortex from showing up?
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newspaper headlines of the next day:

"Dozens of fatalities reported after Oregon coastal town was wiped out by a sea storm"

further down

"One killed, one injured in freak car accident involving a spirit deer"
 
You can look at the Warren kiss in two ways.

First if you decide to sacrifice Chloe IT NEVER HAPPENS. He got his snog and then the Time Commander erased it. Take that creepy stalker.

Or you can take the more positive view. If you kiss him you get to do Empire Strikes Back but with a reverse Solo.
 
Hellwarden said:
Hey, for the people who chose to sacrifice the town. It's fine. It's finnnnnnne.

Lots of cool people have chosen to make others suffer so it would be easier for them.

Like
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This is why Chloe and I left together. We don't need to make that sacrifice. The Band of the Hawk can be happy forever.
 
Dick Justice said:
myMZYWD.jpg
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YO WTF!?

Baldwin_the_First said:
If she loses them at all, it would be because she decided not to use them at all in this reality at the exact point in time and situation where she unlocks them in the first place is what I'm saying. But then again, she does use them in the class beforehand so the more I think about it, the more it's bogus. So I guess Max is stuck with her powers knowing fully well that she'll never be able to use them unless she wants to unleash a freaking tornado again. lmao

edit: no wait, if she returns at the exact point in time where she unlocks them, she couldn't possibly have used them in the class beforehand, so it still sticks.
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Yeah....pretty much. I guess that does make sense. I would guess that when she went into the photo, she lost her power and just had to suffer the consequence as a result. As I was saying earlier though, it seems like this entire game was a torture test for Max. If you think about it: She's not a horrible person, she didn't do anything wrong and she ended up with a cool power which forced her to suffer the loss of her friend or the entire town. What seemed like a cool gift was actually some "deity" fucking around to make a happy person miserable. Maybe I'm looking too much into this, but in retrospect, Max has been horribly fucked over for no real reason.

What's worse is Chloe died with a mess of a life. She never made peace with David, never found out what happened to Rachel Amber and never saw Max return. She died in a miserable state.

Violet_0 said:
newspaper headlines of the next day:

"Dozens of fatalities reported after Oregon coastal town was wiped out by a sea storm"

further down

"One killed, one injured in freak car accident involving a spirit deer"
Click to expand...
On a lighter note:
GOOOOOOOOOOO OTTERS!
 
BumblebeeCody said:
If you think about it: She's not a horrible person, she didn't do anything wrong and she ended up with a cool power which forced her to suffer the loss of her friend or the entire town.
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She suffered the loss of a good that she spent a week with reconnecting and catching up on eachothers past.

Instead of suffering the loss of a good friend that she ditched 5 years ago and never actually met again. Oh hey guess who that person that got shot in the bathroom was! It was your best child hood friend that you left 5 years ago and never talked to again!

Edit:

BumblebeeCody said:
What's worse is Chloe died with a mess of a life. She never made peace with David, never found out what happened to Rachel Amber and never saw Max return. She died in a miserable state.
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Yeah the ending is not about Chloe, it's about Max. It's about Max coming to terms with what happened to Chloe in the time they haven't seen each other, and learning to let her go and live with the choices she made. The end of childhood, the end of innocence.
 
BumblebeeCody said:
What's worse is Chloe died with a mess of a life. She never made peace with David, never found out what happened to Rachel Amber and never saw Max return. She died in a miserable state.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a pretty terrible situation, but those circumstances are part of what make that final choice a choice at all. I mean, if she were able to die after she had come around and stopped hating the world, or if it had been some rando instead of Chloe, it would have been a lot easier to choose to sacrifice her instead of an entire town full of people. It's all those circumstances stacked on top of each other that makes the player even consider saving Chloe instead.
 
Chose to save Chloe. No way i'm killing of the only likable character in the game besides Max. Overall kind of weak finish to a really really great game. But for me the the game was at it's best when it was grounded. Focusing on the relationship between Chloe and Max and using the rewind power in mundane ways. Would have been a better game without the tornado nonsense i feel.
 
BumblebeeCody said:
Yeah....pretty much. I guess that does make sense. I would guess that when she went into the photo, she lost her power and just had to suffer the consequence as a result. As I was saying earlier though, it seems like this entire game was a torture test for Max. If you think about it: She's not a horrible person, she didn't do anything wrong and she ended up with a cool power which forced her to suffer the loss of her friend or the entire town. What seemed like a cool gift was actually some "deity" fucking around to make a happy person miserable. Maybe I'm looking too much into this, but in retrospect, Max has been horribly fucked over for no real reason.

What's worse is Chloe died with a mess of a life. She never made peace with David, never found out what happened to Rachel Amber and never saw Max return. She died in a miserable state.
Click to expand...
Nah, what I'm saying is she stilll had her powers at that point in time, but choosing not to use them would make it so it would rewrite history and then it would do the usual "cut to montage" of the pictures being burned and others being created until she's thrown into her new reality.

So then what I'm wondering is if that whole epilogue is what we usually would have seen in pictures of the montage. But then, why would she be reacting so happily to the blue butterfly coming onto the coffin if her true self isn't supposed to be "concsious" while the montage happens until she's thrown into her new reality ...

3464ed38fb8a580ceaa88c6114b42e43_400x400.jpeg

I've been hitting the vape a bit too much today, this game is playing way too much with my mind. xD
 
Hellwarden said:
Hey, for the people who chose to sacrifice the town. It's fine. It's finnnnnnne.

Lots of cool people have chosen to make others suffer so it would be easier for them.

Like
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Yo. Yoooooooo.

For anyone that's not familiar with the person in this image but chose Chloe over saving the city, just know that you got ice burned and leave it at that.
 
Staf said:
Chose to save Chloe. No way i'm killing of the only likable character in the game besides Max. Overall kind of weak finish to a really really great game. But for me the the game was at it's best when it was grounded. Focusing on the relationship between Chloe and Max and using the rewind power in mundane ways. Would have been a better game without the tornado nonsense i feel.
Click to expand...

I would agree with this, the game was at it;s best when it was about the charcters and some of that was lost in this Ep.

I did like the ending, and the episode, a lot though.
 
Lostconfused said:
She suffered the loss of a good that she spent a week with reconnecting and catching up on eachothers past.

Instead of suffering the loss of a good friend that she ditched 5 years ago and never actually met again. Oh hey guess who that person that got shot in the bathroom was! It was your best child hood friend that you left 5 years ago and never talked to again!

Edit:


Yeah the ending is not about Chloe, it's about Max. It's about Max coming to terms with what happened to Chloe in the time they haven't seen each other, and learning to let her go and live with the choices she made. The end of childhood, the end of innocence.
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Said like a true Mr. Jefferson. You sick...

I agree.
 
I want to commend Dontnod for the quality of their characterisation and writing. Saving Arcadia Bay was the more sensible choice but I just couldn't let Chloe die. As mentioned above, Chlow had a miserable life. I couldn't let her die in that bathroom having not reunited with Max or solving the mystery behind Rachel's disappearance. This is the first game I've played in a long time where I actually cared about the characters in it.
 
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