LiS2 has been sitting on my PS4. I should probably get around to playing it before the deluge of big 2020 releases.
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Life is Strange Community Thread: Arcadia Baes
- Thread starter Pirate Bae
- Start date
I know I'm extremely late to the party for that, but here are my episode 1 impressions:
I was immediately surprised about how nicer the graphics are looking. It's not necessarily a night and day difference, but the game definitely has more depth visually than LiS 1/BtS.
I would have liked to go to that party and interact with Sean's friends a bit. But maybe it would have been too much like LiS 1.
It was surprisingly political. And it was very well done on that front. I liked it.
It was so cool to go back near Arcadia Bay! In my case, everything was destroyed...
Like in LiS 1, so far the supernatural aspect is not too distracting, and doesn't take too much place in the experience. I hope it stays that way.
That was a long episode. I hope the others are also of similar length.
I would have liked to go to that party and interact with Sean's friends a bit. But maybe it would have been too much like LiS 1.
It was surprisingly political. And it was very well done on that front. I liked it.
It was so cool to go back near Arcadia Bay! In my case, everything was destroyed...
Like in LiS 1, so far the supernatural aspect is not too distracting, and doesn't take too much place in the experience. I hope it stays that way.
That was a long episode. I hope the others are also of similar length.
Just to touch on the non-spoilery stuff, yeah, I think the animations especially are really improved, but the graphics overall are great too.
The episodes are all pretty similar in length, yeah.
Thanks for sharing your impressions, looking forward to more! :)
LiS2 is undoubtedly a big upgrade over LiS1 but that was always guaranteed given the move to UE4 plus the use of motion capture. BtS didn't benefit much from moving to Unity but at least it had motion capture.
While I would love to see LiS1 remake in UE4 along with motion capture, no way would DONTNOD be on board. That's setting aside whether or not SE would greenlight it. Though with the game's 5th anniversary being this year, they may announce something.
Edit: I was wrong, LiS1 had motion capture. It just didn't have facial performance capture.
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Well Life is Strange 1 & 2 also have motion capture (done in Quantic Dream's motion capture studio).
Fun fact: the actress who has done Chloe Price's motion capture in the first Life is Strange is the actress who plays the android Chloe in Detroit ;)
i don't think Before the Storm has facial performance capture.
I corrected myself up above when I found out that LiS1 had motion capture. Huh, that's an interesting fact.
BtS has more expressive facial animation than LiS1 for key scenes, but I guess that could have been have been hand animated. I do know Deck Nine has their own motion capture studio. Looking online for a bit, I see they had a job posting for a Faceware tech post BtS, so it appears their next game may have it.
Couldn't find an OT for the second game specifically, so you're all stuck with my thoughts now that I've beat LiS2.
Hugely disappointing as someone that loved the first game and the prequel.
Wow, I really did not like that game. For a game that decided to put an emphasis on the brothers, it frequently went out of its way to have the relationship between the two feel forced for the sake of the narrative. It made the relationship between them feel hollow - with Daniel basically always going to lose control and hurt people.
Speaking of, the focus on the brothers led to almost every other character and relationship in the game feeling hollow. So few of them had any time to build. It led to me just not giving much of a shit about them, which when coupled with how my feelings on the brothers soured led to me just disliking everyone.
It also honestly felt like the game very much by the end wanted to paint you as the 'bad guys' no matter what choices you made leading up to that point. I thought the game would have a much bigger focus on the injustices minorities face, and while it did touch on those topics, by the end your choices are basically live shattered lives with the noble police having done their jobs by putting the bad Mexican killer behind bars or become super villains and go on a killing spree. Just felt very gross to me.
Speaking of, the focus on the brothers led to almost every other character and relationship in the game feeling hollow. So few of them had any time to build. It led to me just not giving much of a shit about them, which when coupled with how my feelings on the brothers soured led to me just disliking everyone.
It also honestly felt like the game very much by the end wanted to paint you as the 'bad guys' no matter what choices you made leading up to that point. I thought the game would have a much bigger focus on the injustices minorities face, and while it did touch on those topics, by the end your choices are basically live shattered lives with the noble police having done their jobs by putting the bad Mexican killer behind bars or become super villains and go on a killing spree. Just felt very gross to me.
Hugely disappointing as someone that loved the first game and the prequel.
Once again, a wild Natiko appears in one of my community threads lol. :P
The thing here is, when you say stuff like:
Now, as for the other points, I disagree about the brothers' relationship feeling hollow, but I do agree on the side characters not having much draw to them. I think there was some Meta involved in that though, just in that I knew the structure of this particular episodic narrative adventure game meant that these characters I was meeting were not going to be coming back in any meaningful way, so it made it hard to force myself to care too much when I knew they'd be replaced by a new face in the next episode.
These are both things that have to do with your choices and how you raised Daniel. In my playthrough, Daniel was not always losing control and hurting people, and he did not kill anyone or choose to cross the border with me at the end of the game even though that's what I chose to do, so no being super-villains together either.
Now, as for the other points, I disagree about the brothers' relationship feeling hollow, but I do agree on the side characters not having much draw to them. I think there was some Meta involved in that though, just in that I knew the structure of this particular episodic narrative adventure game meant that these characters I was meeting were not going to be coming back in any meaningful way, so it made it hard to force myself to care too much when I knew they'd be replaced by a new face in the next episode.
Hi friend :P
Then the way it calculates what can happen seems really off. I dissuaded Daniel from telling people about his power and I virtually always told him not to use it when given the opportunity. The only times I diverged were the times someone was in danger (cougar, grandpa, and Merrill). Yet somehow by the end he's fucking everyone up in this police station to get to me. I also tried to go out of my way to be nice to him and do what he wanted, but in episode 3 and 4 he still basically seemed to hate me anyways. I didn't have him do the heist, I refused to join when we caught up to them, but none of that factored in because I had him use the power when people were in dangerous situations and needed help? Just seemed bogus.
So you had him kill the cougar with his power, use his power to move a shelf off their grandpa's leg, and used it to attack Merrill? I didn't have him kill the cougar, I had us all use our hands to lift the shelf, and I can't quite remember what I did at the end of episode 3, that was all a blur, but I don't think it involved powers except the incident at the very end of course.
He was definitely being a shit in episode 3 regardless, pretty sure that was just a pre-written thing, but I didn't feel that way about him in episode 4, that was more like he's been brainwashed and in the end he got over it and we got out. Did you have him hurt anyone at the end of episode 4 by the way? I did not, the cult lady survived.
It sounds like you had a back and forth playthrough, or there was a disconnect between how you viewed the situations and what choice you wanted to make versus which ones the devs considered to be the "good" and "bad" choices. I do think the bigger choices are probably weighed more heavily than the smaller ones, but I don't know for sure how that is all determined, a lot of the interactions between them can add to it either silently or obviously.
He was definitely being a shit in episode 3 regardless, pretty sure that was just a pre-written thing, but I didn't feel that way about him in episode 4, that was more like he's been brainwashed and in the end he got over it and we got out. Did you have him hurt anyone at the end of episode 4 by the way? I did not, the cult lady survived.
It sounds like you had a back and forth playthrough, or there was a disconnect between how you viewed the situations and what choice you wanted to make versus which ones the devs considered to be the "good" and "bad" choices. I do think the bigger choices are probably weighed more heavily than the smaller ones, but I don't know for sure how that is all determined, a lot of the interactions between them can add to it either silently or obviously.
Correct, and I only had him use his power when Merrill had us all on our knees and he was walking towards us with a shotgun - I don't recall if there was a chance to do it earlier than that. I did not have him use his power to hurt anyone at the end of episode 4, besides the ones that happened automatically like me being thrown a bunch and the assistant guy getting tossed when he had the gun to my head. Everyone lived as we fled the burning church. I guess I just stumbled into a series of choices that the game interpreted a very different way than I did, but it didn't leave me feeling like I had a lot of options. And even ignoring my issues with how the game interpreted my choices, none of the endings make me feel less gross about the way the game paints the protagonists vs. the police.
All that said, I'm glad others could connect with the story even if I couldn't. I'll still be there for their future games as well.
Seems like for some people it made sense how Daniel acted given the choices they made, and for others, including myself (though I only played eps 1 and 2) it felt like the game was throwing darts at a board, and the game felt unsatisfying as a result. I think Dontnods ambition far exceeded its grasp with the story they tried to tell here. In any event, they did not nail the execution of the central premise that you shape Daniel's behavior in a logical, coherent way.
Daniel using or not his power is also highly linked to his morality. Did you allow him to think that stealing was OK? Lying was OK? Repressing his power isn't always the answer here, as he'll grow extremely frustrated at you if you always repress him no matter what, and it'll hinder your relationship with him and your opportunities to help and influence him positively. It's all in the subtlety of teaching him the difference of whether it's good and ok to use powers for a good cause, and whether it's actually totally not OK at all.
In my play-through, I allowed Daniel to kill that cougar, which was also a good way to make him feel how his powers could have grave consequences if he didn't learn to control them, but at the same time, I never allowed him to steal, and I tried to set as good of an example as possible. He didn't end up killing anybody at all throughout my play-through, and when I told him to stop playing with the scorpion on Episode 5, he agreed to stop because he had learned that it wasn't cool to do so. He wasn't perfect, and he did some stuff I wasn't happy with (He lied to Chris about his powers and never told him the truth even when I vividly asked him to), but in the end, he knew better, and always used his powers as a very last resort where all other options failed, and when he did so, it would always be in a non-lethal way.
A kid is not a dog ;)
Daniel is a human being.His has his own personality,and he's 9.((he's not 5 or 15 but 9.A very specific age for a kid).
Of course he will sometimes do things on his own ,but all the choice are cumulative.And a lot of choice have an impact on him,not only the major ones.
After you've finished episode 4 :"You have so far had 50 opportunities to mold Daniel into the kind of person you want him to become - 16 of those already appearing during Episode 1 "
Yep,in the first episode there are already 16 choice that will affect Daniel.
Also,if you have played the game (the first four episodes at least), you can read the official article about Daniel's behaviour:
Daniel is a human being.His has his own personality,and he's 9.((he's not 5 or 15 but 9.A very specific age for a kid).
Of course he will sometimes do things on his own ,but all the choice are cumulative.And a lot of choice have an impact on him,not only the major ones.
After you've finished episode 4 :"You have so far had 50 opportunities to mold Daniel into the kind of person you want him to become - 16 of those already appearing during Episode 1 "
Yep,in the first episode there are already 16 choice that will affect Daniel.
Also,if you have played the game (the first four episodes at least), you can read the official article about Daniel's behaviour:
Also, the way Sean & Daniel interact is so important as well. Do you always keep pranking him and chose the sarcastic options while talking to him? Or do you protect him, act kind towards him and make sure to always be understanding and supportive while talking to him? Do you end up respecting him and acknowledging him as his own person and making him feel included, or do you keep sidelining him with strict authority until the end of the game? Do you spend time teaching him stuff, encouraging him, having fun with him no matter how silly it might look, and just spend time with him whenever he requests it? So many little choices matter in this game, so much so they can sometimes outweigh the bigger ones.
Because you sneezed at the wrong time that one time. Daniel noticed that shit. Doesn't matter if you always told him it's okay to use powers to help people.
What if
PLOT HOLES. I'm going to make a Youtube.
Daniel meets David
David tells Chloe
Chloe tells Max
Max time travels to when Daniel was 5
Max causes massive trauma to Daniel, maybe by shooting his dad, and Daniel's powers manifest early
Max takes Daniel to Arcadia Bay (he obeys her because she is a terrifying dadkiller) and he mindmoves the tornado away
David tells Chloe
Chloe tells Max
Max time travels to when Daniel was 5
Max causes massive trauma to Daniel, maybe by shooting his dad, and Daniel's powers manifest early
Max takes Daniel to Arcadia Bay (he obeys her because she is a terrifying dadkiller) and he mindmoves the tornado away
PLOT HOLES. I'm going to make a Youtube.
I never stole, nor did he. I told him to keep his powers a secret for safety. I wasn't sarcastic to him and tried to spend time with him too. Somehow that turned into murder fest lol
Nice interview here (And spoilers OBVIOUSLY)
with some post mortem analyses from the creators:
with some post mortem analyses from the creators:
After all of the pressure, all of the expectations, the worry over if fans would accept Sean and Daniel, the rocky release schedule, and everything else—how did he, and the team, think Life is Strange 2 turned out in the end?
"That's a really good question, one that I'm not sure I've thought about," Koch said with a chuckle. Letting his guard down a little, he admitted that the game may have been too ambitious at times, both in its length and in the events that happened with the brothers. Unlike the original's consistent two months between chapters, Life is Strange 2's episodes took far longer to arrive, and when they did, the wait between them wasn't always even. Koch explained that the game's content simply took far longer to create than the team had originally expected, and that the side effect of an extended schedule was that players had a harder time staying invested in the characters and their stories. He also talked about how he wished there had been more time to develop some of the secondary elements, such as Lisbeth and her cult, who ended up feeling a bit too one-dimensional without a deeper look into how she truly cared about the people in her community.
"That's a really good question, one that I'm not sure I've thought about," Koch said with a chuckle. Letting his guard down a little, he admitted that the game may have been too ambitious at times, both in its length and in the events that happened with the brothers. Unlike the original's consistent two months between chapters, Life is Strange 2's episodes took far longer to arrive, and when they did, the wait between them wasn't always even. Koch explained that the game's content simply took far longer to create than the team had originally expected, and that the side effect of an extended schedule was that players had a harder time staying invested in the characters and their stories. He also talked about how he wished there had been more time to develop some of the secondary elements, such as Lisbeth and her cult, who ended up feeling a bit too one-dimensional without a deeper look into how she truly cared about the people in her community.
I'll read the whole thing shortly, but it's interesting to see them reflect on the release schedule and how that affected people's investment in the story and characters, definitely something I've thought about.
And yeah, that makes sense with the cult, it was there and gone again within an episode and definitely just seemed to be a standard (and also homophobic) cult without much nuance to it. Would have been interesting to see that get explored more if they had been able to.
Yeah, that was a good article. Here's some non-spoiler quotes that I thought were interesting:
On fan reactions to LiS 1:
On the idea of bringing back Max and Chloe for the sequel:
About choosing to have Daniel be the one with powers:
On fan reactions to LiS 1:
On the idea of bringing back Max and Chloe for the sequel:
About choosing to have Daniel be the one with powers:
I finished playing all 5 episodes of LiS 2.
Now that it's over, though, it kind of left a void. These games are so emotional, I love it. But now I don't know what else to play that would be as great an experience.
It was good, I really liked it. Dontnod are really master at storytelling.
Some random thoughts:
- I liked the political aspect of the game, it was very well done. It doesn't make me want to go to the US very much, though.
- The relation of the two brothers felt believable to me.
- The few references to the first game were great. When I realized who David was in episode 5, I was so happy! It was so great to get news about what Chloe and Max became!
- My favorite episode was definitely episode 3. To me, Life is Strange is at its best when there's a lot of interaction with people, and ep. 3 was all about that. I loved learning about the life of everybody. It was great. Seeing Daniel getting more and more distant was also interesting. I romanced Cassidy during the episode because I thought she was an interesting character. I heard you can also romance Finn, and I wonder how. I'll try to do it in my next playthrough.
- In contrast, I didn't really like episode 4. It wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't really grab me. I was glad when the episode was over.
- The part with Chris in episode 2 was super cool. It was great meeting him again and seeing some of the choices made during the demo carry over.
- If I had to rank the episodes, I think it would be like so: 3 > 2 > 5 > 1 > 4
- The ending I had was Sean forcing his way through the border, and Daniel jumping out of the car at the last moment. I liked the ending.
- Even if I really liked it overall, the story of LiS 2 didn't leave as strong an impression as LiS 1/BtS, though. Maybe it's because you're more isolated (physically and emotionally) most of the time. And like I said above, I like Life is Strange more when there is a lot of interaction with people.
Some random thoughts:
- I liked the political aspect of the game, it was very well done. It doesn't make me want to go to the US very much, though.
- The relation of the two brothers felt believable to me.
- The few references to the first game were great. When I realized who David was in episode 5, I was so happy! It was so great to get news about what Chloe and Max became!
- My favorite episode was definitely episode 3. To me, Life is Strange is at its best when there's a lot of interaction with people, and ep. 3 was all about that. I loved learning about the life of everybody. It was great. Seeing Daniel getting more and more distant was also interesting. I romanced Cassidy during the episode because I thought she was an interesting character. I heard you can also romance Finn, and I wonder how. I'll try to do it in my next playthrough.
- In contrast, I didn't really like episode 4. It wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't really grab me. I was glad when the episode was over.
- The part with Chris in episode 2 was super cool. It was great meeting him again and seeing some of the choices made during the demo carry over.
- If I had to rank the episodes, I think it would be like so: 3 > 2 > 5 > 1 > 4
- The ending I had was Sean forcing his way through the border, and Daniel jumping out of the car at the last moment. I liked the ending.
- Even if I really liked it overall, the story of LiS 2 didn't leave as strong an impression as LiS 1/BtS, though. Maybe it's because you're more isolated (physically and emotionally) most of the time. And like I said above, I like Life is Strange more when there is a lot of interaction with people.
Now that it's over, though, it kind of left a void. These games are so emotional, I love it. But now I don't know what else to play that would be as great an experience.
Hey, thanks for posting your impressions!
Yeah, the David cameo was a really fun way to bring in some more closure on the first game's endings, I really liked how they did that, and it was so heartwarming to hear about Chloe and Max being together still.
Episode 3 was my favorite as well, for mostly the same reasons. It is possible to romance Finn, yes. I believe you need to talk to him at the party and there will be some romantic dialogue options that you can choose.
I also got the same ending as you did, and yeah I really liked it too. I had always been playing as Sean being really determined to get to Mexico, so it felt right for him to not want to give up, but it also felt right for Daniel to not want to go along with the plan anymore by that point. They do get split up, and we don't know for sure what either of their lives are like, but at least based on that ending montage they both seemed to be happy with how their lives turned out in my opinion.
Episode 3 was my favorite as well, for mostly the same reasons. It is possible to romance Finn, yes. I believe you need to talk to him at the party and there will be some romantic dialogue options that you can choose.
I also got the same ending as you did, and yeah I really liked it too. I had always been playing as Sean being really determined to get to Mexico, so it felt right for him to not want to give up, but it also felt right for Daniel to not want to go along with the plan anymore by that point. They do get split up, and we don't know for sure what either of their lives are like, but at least based on that ending montage they both seemed to be happy with how their lives turned out in my opinion.
I suspect Deck Nine's next game with SE may release this year too, depending on the scope.
I think I'm gonna do a replay of the first Life is Strange. But it has been so long, I'll probably end up doing the same choices as the first time, lol!
Edit: Wow, my oldest game save from LiS dates back to 2015. Has it been nearly 5 years already?! Holy shit!
Edit: Wow, my oldest game save from LiS dates back to 2015. Has it been nearly 5 years already?! Holy shit!
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Yeah they are probaby working on a new narrative game (maybe a new IP),but ths year ? i am not sure about this.(the BTS game director left the studio few month ago).
I'm much more interested in what Decknine is doing than Dontnod. I've lost faith in their ability to tell a story with any kind of nuance, and writing a story about a trans person without hiring any actual trans people... no thanks. I already know that this is gonna be tragedy porn by and for cis people. I'm good. Decknine has, by and large with few exceptions, shown a sensitivity and subtlety that Dontnod never had with their blunt approach. As well as actually hiring diverse voices for their writer's room, which isn't just nice for diversity's sake, but leads to better quality writing.
wow cool meme very original thanks for the reply. you have anything of interest to say or nah?
Didn't hear about that, though it seems co-director Webb Pickersgill is still there. Though going by job postings on their website, they either have two projects in the works or are having trouble behind the scenes.
Edit: For anyone else following the comics, it's getting a new "season" entitled Life is Strange: Partners in Crime. https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-01-22-a-new-season-of-life-is-strange-comics-begins-in-april
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Speaking of the comics, I just finished Volume 2 and I really dug it! The first volume I was kinda lukewarm on, but I really appreciated how Volume 2 finally moves past tragedy and also follows up on Before the Storm in some neat ways. And honestly I'm just really excited that they meaningfully brought back
That's awesome to hear they're releasing more issues! The close of Volume 2 already makes for a better ending than the games ever had, I think, but considering how well the comics have handled the story so far, I can't wait to see where they go next.
Rachel, and had her and Max get along rather than trying to manufacture some trite romantic rivalry thing over Chloe. The three of them have more than earned some happiness together, so I'm pretty thrilled that the writing seems to be pushing in that direction.
That's awesome to hear they're releasing more issues! The close of Volume 2 already makes for a better ending than the games ever had, I think, but considering how well the comics have handled the story so far, I can't wait to see where they go next.
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I'm hoping the comic series concludes with a big finale for the 5th anniversary of the last episode later this year.
I'll echo all of this. The comics have been a wonderful extension of the game. My only issue continues to be that the rest of the supporting cast has barely been mentioned at this point.
Strangely LiS 1 feels older to me than 5 years. Maybe because it was so important to me and I've spent way too much time thinking about it. And also because I'm literally a different person completely than I was back then.
It doesn't feel old to me since I played it last year for the first time 😅 and fell in love with Max and Chloe.