March Community Playthrough - Life is Strange

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Please, before giving up the game, complete Chapter 3. I'll just say that. The rewind mechanic can be used as a crutch, but there are certain points where having that rewind will allow you to uncover crucial information, but hide the fact of how you obtained it. It's not just a way of reversing your decision.

My roommate loved the game, and played through Episode 3 before stopping the game, but I'd personally like to see how the game ended one day.

[singlebanana]

No plans to give up on the game at all. I think the story is interesting enough to keep me going and besides, I like to finish games unless the difficulty is too high.

[Pam]

I'm also really not a fan of the music. And I think the dialogue is a product of middle aged French men trying to write American teenage girl dialogue. It is quite grating in episode 1 though I did find that it got better.

As for the characters... I find Max to be quite milquetoast. Chloe gets better though. In chapter 3 you finally get to see them having fun together and you can see the basis of their relationship.

[douglie007]

To speak to the music, I think it is a good fit for the game, but sometimes it seems a little forced in to a scene.

[Crabmaster2000]

I'm late to the game and playing catch up right now. Just started the game today and am going to try and keep pace with the rest of you soon.

[Fleach]

I think Bil might be reading too much into the "this action will have consequences" notice. I didn't water the plant in the first episode and in the next episode Max got a text from her mom reminder her to water the plant. So maybe the consequences aren't all big and ominous. But, as we've all been saying, "we'll see".

I actually like the music, it's appropriate for Max at least since she identifies as a geek. But I'm going to have go with Pam on the milquetoast remark.

As for the rewind mechanic it's very useful in gaining information on events without divulging how you got that info. I've only been using it in the more point-and-click adventure game moments and never during the branching dialog scenes. I will say, though, that the rewind thing complements Max's character though. She's very unsure of herself and very doubtful of herself and the option to replay a scene differently communicates that anxiety she feels.

What does everyone think of Warren? I don't mind him, he seems like a nice guy. I almost hope they don't become an item because he's just to nice - the kind of nice, fun guy who's just a friend and nothing more.

I really like Kate though. She's very sweet but probably too innocent and naive. Kind of like a lamb being brought to the slaughter.

[Pam]

I'm happy to say the time rewind mechanic is getting more interesting as I play. It's turning into more of a method for puzzle solving as opposed to a way to second guess your choices.

[singlebanana]

I'm happy to say the time rewind mechanic is getting more interesting as I play. It's turning into more of a method for puzzle solving as opposed to a way to second guess your choices.

I agree with this. Also, there are times when this rewind feature doesn't work, which kind of forces you to evaluate your decisions a bit more. This is more of the type of gameplay I was looking forward to.

I finished Chapter 2 last night and do feel that the story is getting better. I'm definitely looking more forward to playing the game.

As I mentioned to the hosts in a PM, I think there are a few characters who seem good on the outside, but their roles may be surprising as this mystery unravels. I sort of feel the opposite will occur with some of the characters who seem like bad seeds in the beginning. Just a hunch, but no proof yet.

[Untrod Tripod]

I finished the game, so my opinion might be colored by that, but overall I don't have a huge problem with the fact that all of the characters are flawed. The bad slang gets a little grating, but on the other hand the characters are mostly teenagers. Most people that age aren't poets, and I found the cringy dialogue to be close-ish to the way actual teenagers talk. Closer than a lot of games/books/movies I've encountered have been, anyway.

Regarding the douchey characters, it's always an issue for me when every character in a game or movie is some kind of paragon of virtue or avatar of evil. There's a lot more grey area in this game (although it does seem like a lot of characters are jerks just for the sake of it). I dunno, I appreciate the flawed characters. It's also nice that your dialogue options aren't always 1. Lawful good 2. True Neutral 3. Chaotic Evil. It seems like there's a lot of grey area and room for roleplaying.

As for problems I have though...

- it's a fairly atmospheric game in presentation but adventure game collectathon mechanics take you out of the experience
- I agree with what people have to say with regard to how the rewind mechanic makes your choices less organic, but I just made a pact with myself to only use the rewind to do puzzle solving (there are a few minor puzzle solving segments that use the rewind mechanic)
- oh my god the ~emotional~ half-crying voice. oh my god. kill me.
- I think that, no joke, 10-15% of the total dialogue is emotional pep talks. it's ridiculous.

[Crabmaster2000]

After playing a few of these decision based games lately (Walking Dead, Until Dawn, Heavy Rain, Beyond) I've found that if I stop playing them like a "game" I enjoy them a lot more. I played Heavy Rain first and loved it...... then I played it again making different decisions and eventually got the Platinum trophy. It really diluted the experience for me. When I picked up Beyond I played through it just once and loved it so much, and then just left it to sink in. I'm so much more happy with that overall experience.

That got me thinking about how I'm tackling these story heavy games and I decided to try something. With Batman Arkham Knight I played the game as if I was Batman. Is someone's life in jeopardy? That takes priority. Cool sidequest where you get to track down Man-Bat, that's gonna have to wait until I stop an mysterious serial killer. Made the game a lot more fun for me.

This is how I'm approaching Life is Strange. I'm Max so how would I act in each of these situations. I'm having a lot of fun role playing with her. I'm the new kid at school so I'm unsure of my place and trying to please a lot of the other students (even Victoria ). I'm exploring new enviroments looking for photo opportunities since that's something I'm obviously very passionate about, but not spending a ton of effort talking to strangers on the street or exploring familiar places like my Dorm or Classroom. This "rewind" power is new and interesting so I'm going to explore it and see what kind of uses I can get out of it. Maybe it'll eventually become normal and I'll feel less urge to exploit it, but for now I feel the need to test my boundaries with it.

I really feel like if you approach this game more like a pen and paper RPG than a video game some of you may get a little more enjoyment out of it.

[singlebanana]

While I agree with how you describe approaching the game, I think that in some instances (as I've already seen, and as you will soon see), the game demands that you pay closer attention to the environment and all of the things in it (i.e. dorm rooms, talking to NPCs, etc.)  Without doing so, I think you may miss out on some of the story and it may also prevent you from outcomes that you may desire.  So, to put it mildly, the game does kind of force your hand a bit into exploring a bit more, especially if you have a certain role (chaotic, neutral, lawful, etc.) that you want to play. My understanding is that you are finishing Chapter 2 today, so you will soon see what I mean.

[wildbil52]

I like where your head's at Crabby.  In a perfect world I would prefer to play the game as if I were the person in the main role as opposed to systematically walking through every room and examining every single thing in order to get the best result but Rich is totally right.  Many games will punish you for not turning over a certain rock.  I'm kind of OK with that, though.  I'm totally with you on Heavy Rain.  Playing through the game once and living with your choices, experiencing YOUR story is what makes that game great.  Replaying to see every possible outcome sounds like it would destroy the point of that game: To have a unique experience, not EVERY experience possible, but you gotta get that Plat, right;)

People keep saying the rewind mechanic gets more interesting as the game goes on so we'll see.  I should be able to finish up Chapter 2 tonight or tomorrow.

[Crabmaster2000]

Just finished chapter 2 this morning.

It sounds like you guys are assuming I have a goal in mind for the games ending. I'm not playing with the intention of a "good", "bad" or "neutral" ending. I'm very content just playing as if I was Max and seeing where that leads. If it means I'm missing things that's gonna flavor my experience and hopefully the overall story arc.

During the first two episodes I felt Max would want to explore and test her boundaries with her new power. With the nosebleeds and fainting spells that started occuring near the end of chapter 2 I'm definitely going to be using it more sparingly going forward. Saving it for moments like with Chloe getting into life threatening situations or if another situation like Kate on the rooftop arrises. Definitely won't be using it to see if the science teacher is happy with me or not. But I'm also a young kid and may make exceptions based on inexperience or emotion depending on the situation.

I wasn't able to save Kate and that's gonna greatly effect my decisions going forward.

I'll also echo that the soundtrack is a big downer for me

[singlebanana]

I'm not trying to be argumentative by any means, but my point wasn't that you were playing with the "intention of [getting] a "good", "bad" or "neutral" ending."  I was referring to the alignment of your character in terms of chaotic, neutral, lawful, etc. I think that anytime you play a role playing game that allows alignment options, you  have in mind how you want to play it (example: being a hard ass or a more sympathetic character like in Wolf Among Us). This alignment could be based on your general personal nature, or some opposite role you don't condone in the real world. Saying that you weren't able to save Kate and that it's going to greatly effect your decisions going forward proves that you prefer to attribute a certain alignment on your character.  Though you say you may not have an outcome you desire, I think you still would like an outcome(s) that prevents harm to others.  With that said, I think these sort of things go hand in hand sometimes in a game and I think that paying more attention to the "details" in this game and making appropriate alignment decisions will probably result in a "brighter" outcome if you will.

This brings up a good point about the game. While it seems that Chapter 1 was a more introductory chapter with very little consequence, the stakes certainly get higher in Chapter 2. It will be fun to see where it goes from here.

[singlebanana]

By the way, I just want to add that we are having some great discussion on this game. This is what we hosts have always envisioned for these playthroughs. Thank you all for the comments!