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    Life Is Strange | [S1 E5] One of the most heart-wrenching moments to me. [By me. @Alcihem on IG]

    August 26, 2020

    Life Is Strange | [S1 E5] One of the most heart-wrenching moments to me. [By me. @Alcihem on IG]

    [S1 E5] One of the most heart-wrenching moments to me. [By me. @Alcihem on IG]

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 04:51 AM PDT

    [NO SPOILERS] Welcome to my domain - LIS BTS

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 07:13 AM PDT

    [ALL] What’s on your mind, Chloe?

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 09:50 AM PDT

    [NO SPOILERS] Seacob. - Fanart by Chibikinesis.

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 09:49 AM PDT

    [S1] This game took me completely by surprise

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 09:51 AM PDT

    I had never heard of Life is Strange. I found it when I searched for Steam games listed by user rating, and it was near the top. The first episode was free so I downloaded it.

    When I first played the game I initially found it quite underwhelming and wondered what all the fuss was about. I thought it was just a run-of-the-mill teen drama. But as I played through the first episode I started to enjoy it more and more, and by the end of the episode I was hooked. I immediately downloaded the rest and played the whole thing over the weekend. I have never before felt that it was necessary to talk about a game after playing it, but with Life is Strange I have genuinely found it quite difficult to move on. I feel like writing and sharing my thoughts about it might help me to do that.

    So, here are my thoughts. There's no suggestion here that any of this is correct, or that anyone has to agree with any of it.

    Something that immediately comes to mind is that Life is Strange is not the best game I have played, but it is the best experience that I have had playing a game. I think there are a number of problems with the game. Speaking technically, though the game is visually quite beautiful overall, there are some suspiciously low-resolution textures here and there. The problem with lip-synching has been commented on before. But those things are not important to me. What would normally be a bigger issue for me in a game is unrealistic or clichéd/corny dialogue, and I think there is a fair amount of that here. What also seems to me to be an issue is the way in which decisions made by the player during conversations seem to manifest so immediately in such extreme ways. My experience of interacting with people in real life would seem to suggest that people generally have a fairly fixed idea in their mind already, and that they are interpreting everything that is said to them from their pre-existing position, which makes it relatively unlikely that saying a particular sentence to a person will cause them to immediately abandon their current position and adopt another one. Minor characters in Life is Strange seem to be unnaturally manipulative; they will do a complete 180 and give you what you want as long as you say the correct words. However, I accept that that is the nature of the game, and that to make those conversations pan out in a realistic way would require them to be much longer and considerably more nuanced, and would involve making dozens of consecutive correct decisions, which isn't feasible.

    The amazing thing about this game is that none of its problems seem to matter. The issues I have mentioned didn't really bother me at all when I played it; I came to accept them as just a part of the whole. They didn't prevent me from enjoying the game.

    In a way I think it is more difficult to talk about why this game is so incredible. It is truly more than the sum of its parts. There is a particular atmosphere that seems to give the entire game cohesion: something a bit melancholy, reflective and nostalgic. When I played it I had no sense of wanting to get on to the next bit. I wanted to savour every moment in that world and to look at every single object. The times when you had the opportunity to sit and reflect and take in what had happened were some of the most beautiful moments in the game. I also want to say that the soundtrack is one of the best soundtracks I have heard in a game - not just because the music is nice to listen to, but because the song chosen for each scene always seems to complement it perfectly. I think that is one of the game's real strengths: there is the sense that someone has had a real top-down view over the whole process. It isn't a bunch of separate things put together; it feels like the result of real vision and imagination.

    I think the core of the game's appeal lies in its emotional content. What really stunned me about Life is Strange is the way in which we come to identify with the characters on a deep level. I think this is something that is really rare in games. When I first played it I felt like it didn't really "get going" until the end of episode two, but now my feeling is that it's very significant that the necessary time is taken to establish the characters in a way which doesn't portray them as black and white, or good/bad. The payoff for the slow build comes later, and when it does come it is more than worth it. I've seen some people say that they found Chloe's character annoying, and on a certain level I can understand this. Chloe's behaviour is unreasonable at times - like when she chastises Max for answering Kate's phone call - but that isn't a criticism. She is simply suffering. It is the very fact that she isn't a "perfect" character that gives the game depth. We are so used to out-and-out heroes in video games. Characters tend to be the same as each other precisely because they are so flawless. It is much more interesting and more real to see a relationship pan out between two people who are struggling with their own issues.

    I would like to talk a little about the ending. I understand that my view may not be the view of the majority - particularly in this subreddit. That's fine with me, and again I would say that there is no suggestion here that this is what is "correct", and no attempt to convince anyone of anything. In my opinion, the more "complete" or fulfilling ending is to sacrifice Chloe. Here are the reasons why I feel this way:

    • Max's choice is essentially a matter of her getting what she wants or putting others first. Her sacrificing Chloe doesn't put Chloe through any additional suffering because Chloe will not be able to suffer if she is dead. Chloe is not "missing out" on anything by dying because she isn't aware that there is anything to miss out on. Saving Chloe is not something that Max would be doing for Chloe; she would be doing it for herself. On the other hand, she would be allowing many more people to die and the loved ones they leave behind to suffer. Much is made throughout the game of Max becoming a hero. Ultimately what is most heroic for Max is for her to take the pain of losing Chloe upon herself and to save the rest of the people in Arcadia Bay. It is for her to suffer so that others don't have to.
    • The emotional consequences of Max deciding to sacrifice Arcadia Bay would likely be devastating for both Max and Chloe. Max would have to live with the knowledge that she had allowed many people to die so that she could have what she wanted. Chloe would have to live with the pressure of having been saved at the expense of many other people's lives. It would also put enormous pressure on their relationship to succeed. At the first sign of conflict it would likely become very difficult from both of their perspectives. ("I let all those people die for you and you treat me like this?"/"I never asked for this; I told you to go back and save everyone.") Chloe will have to live with the feeling that she owes Max a debt that she can never repay, and Max will have to live with the feeling that she has invested too much into their relationship to ever leave, even if things don't work out the way they had hoped.
    • One of the most important themes which the game raises is the question of whether or not we truly know what is good for us. We are only able to predict the consequences of our actions in the immediate future, and beyond that we cannot be certain. Life is Strange shows us this in several different ways. Central to the development of the plot is the idea that everything in the universe is inextricably linked. Any one thing is the way it is because everything else is the way that it is. We cannot separate one thing from everything else in order to change it in isolation. We see this when Max goes back in time to hide William's keys, thereby resulting in an entirely different chain of events in which Chloe ends up becoming paralysed. Max's power to rewind time allows her to "play God" with the world, but despite her best intentions, what happens in the game shows us that our perspective is too limited to play God. Her choice at the end of the game is a choice between trying to derive happiness by manipulating the world to get it the way we think it needs to be, or instead accepting things the way they are. Some people have said that sacrificing Chloe means that everything that happens in the game is pointless, but that isn't true. The most significant thing that happens in the game is that Max grows up. Her power is a gift precisely because it allows her to come to the realisation that trying to struggle in the world is ultimately futile. The beauty of her journey is in the recognition that we can never bring about the "perfect" life circumstances and that happiness is the result of an internal attitude, and not brought about by acquiring a particular object or experience. The choice to sacrifice Chloe is the choice to get into accord with the flow of life and to allow it to unfold as it does.

    I've seen some people say that we can't be certain that sacrificing Chloe will prevent the tornado. I think that is technically correct, but I respectfully disagree. I think it is made quite clear in the game that the unusual weather conditions are the result of Max's artificial manipulation of reality. I think most people would agree that the other strange events (snow on a sunny day, the eclipse, birds dying, beached whales, two moons) occur as a result of the distortion of the timeline. A case could be made that the tornado is separate from these other events, but I personally think that's unlikely, and not what's being implied.

    Okay, I think I've managed to exorcise most of my feelings here. Maybe if I spend another couple of days crying I will be able to get on with my life.

    submitted by /u/CeleryPuree
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    [S2] Super Wolf Faith. - Fanart by Geliobe-5.

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 09:53 AM PDT

    [NO SPOILERS] Have any of you guys read the comics for life is strange?

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 11:12 AM PDT

    'm about to start reading them but I want to know you opinion. No spoilers tho.

    submitted by /u/BreezyBandit363
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    [ALL] To All of You Hits Differently

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 04:36 AM PDT

    Especially when walking down a school hallway. Aw, the nostalgia of both the soundtrack and this game...

    submitted by /u/DanielSan_5992
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    [NO SPOILERS] Life is Strange/Trinkets Relation?

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 07:11 AM PDT

    I started watching Trinkets today on Netflix and I cannot stop myself from thinking about Life is Strange so I decided to do some googling and found people posted last year about it. I never got the vibes from season one but I sure have in season two. As I am thinking about it and watching episode one I can't help but notice looking at a bus it says ARCADIA on the side. Any of you guys notice anything in season two? I thought I was crazy haha.

    submitted by /u/Miles6Ago
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    [NO SPOILERS] School trip (by me)

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 04:50 AM PDT

    [NO SPOILERS] Arcadia Baes by Ikimaru

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 02:04 PM PDT

    [ALL] update from my vacation. Thank you subreddit for helping me out!

    Posted: 25 Aug 2020 06:36 PM PDT

    [ALL] Understanding Chloe: Life is Strange (Part 2)

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 10:04 AM PDT

    [NO SPOILERS] I still don’t know what the red writing says, but I think I know who wrote it...

    Posted: 25 Aug 2020 06:54 PM PDT

    [NO SPOILERS] The playlist containing the songs from the first game got changed. Anyone know what’s going on?

    Posted: 26 Aug 2020 12:07 AM PDT

    [NO SPOILERS] Realistic Portraits of S1 with Artbreeder

    Posted: 25 Aug 2020 01:56 PM PDT

    [NO SPOILERS] Songs like the Life Is Stranve OST

    Posted: 25 Aug 2020 06:25 PM PDT

    I just finished life is strange (a bit late I know) and I absolutely fell in love with everything about it... including the music. I don't know what about it it is but I love the OST. Maybe It's that nostalgic feeling of songs like Santa Monica dream or Obstacles. Or the upbeat style of Something Good and All of you that makes me want to do something productive in the morning. Whatever it is I want more!!!

    So please! If you have any music recommendations or playlists that would fill the emptiness please tell me! Thank you

    submitted by /u/Potato_Miner
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    [NO SPOILERS] LIS 2 CE on sale!

    Posted: 25 Aug 2020 09:34 PM PDT

    Just thought I'd let y'all know that the CE for LIS 2 is on sale for an extremely good price.

    https://store.na.square-enix-games.com/en_US/product/593101/life-is-strange-2-collector-s-edition-ps4

    submitted by /u/Sil3ntGoon
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