Life is Strange 2

[Boleskine]

 

[Mortmal]

Part of the appeal of LiS was the inherent escapism of basically living inside a young adult coming off age novel. Particularly the setting of going to a Hogwarts style boarding school in a Twin Peaksean town. And the mundane but realistic stuff like getting text messages, meeting bullies, meeting your friends for coffee, dealing with love and family issues. The magic realism added into the mix was just added little extra. Its this realistic and cute little microcosm that you inhibit and which made this game much more immersive to me than any zombie crap or whatever. Not sure the sequel will manage to hit those exact spots again for me. I haven't played the prequel yet.

Prequel is already not as good, nothing horrible, , but it's missing something.Probably that magic touch.

 

[taxalot]

Part of the appeal of LiS was the inherent escapism of basically living inside a young adult coming off age novel. Particularly the setting of going to a Hogwarts style boarding school in a Twin Peaksean town. And the mundane but realistic stuff like getting text messages, meeting bullies, meeting your friends for coffee, dealing with love and family issues. The magic realism added into the mix was just added little extra. Its this realistic and cute little microcosm that you inhibit and which made this game much more immersive to me than any zombie crap or whatever. Not sure the sequel will manage to hit those exact spots again for me. I haven't played the prequel yet.

Prequel is already not as good, nothing horrible, , but it's missing something.Probably that magic touch.

The Prequel has the charm of Chloe but that's about it. It adds nothing to the story that is not really known, there is nothing holding your breath, no mystery to solve. The dynamic between Chloe and Rachel isn't as interesting as Chloe & Max. The game basically tries to be Fire walk with me (the first scene actually alludes to this !) without reaching its appeal. It was a story that didn't really deserve to be told, and it was even hampered by the impossibility to make choices considering the story is of course railroaded in a direction.

None of these issues will trouble LiS2 (although it might have othes), and DontNod have proven themselves to be quite competent storytellers. Captain Spirit actually shows they haven't lost their touch so far.

 

[Boleskine]

 

[taxalot]

So, tornado like power. Funny. Is the end going to be about unforeseen and unexpected time travel ?

 

[orcinator]

I don't know if I hate this more than the first game, I mean they haven't shown Chloe so far, even though they made saving her the canon choice.
It's definitely worse than Captain Autism, at least he was autistic and not straight up retarded.

Edit: Actually now that I watched the first episode to the end I think iit's even worse than the first one. Devs probably shouted Si Se Puede or however that slogan went as they wrote the 10nth boring scene that doesn't matter and only serves to show the MC is a retard.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

they haven't shown Chloe so far, even though they made saving her the canon choice.

What makes you believe that?

 

[orcinator]

they haven't shown Chloe so far, even though they made saving her the canon choice.

What makes you believe that?

Well the town certainly wasn't saved.

 

[taxalot]

The game asks you at the beginning if you sacrificed Arcadia bay. I think I have seen some hints here and there at the tornado destroying the town and a place being affected by strong winds ; I am not sure there will be more references to the first game than that. If you expected a direct sequel to LiS1 you are very retarded.

I played through Ep1. I loved it. Man, the feels in that game

 

[SausageInYourFace]

The game asks you at the beginning if you sacrificed Arcadia bay.

Interesting, I wouldn't have expected them to attempt that kind of continuity. Maybe there will be a Max & Chloe cameo if you went with Bae ending.

 

[taxalot]

The game asks you at the beginning if you sacrificed Arcadia bay.

Interesting, I wouldn't have expected them to attempt that kind of continuity. Maybe there will be a Max & Chloe cameo if you went with Bae ending.

I am thinking there might be a cameo, but so far the only continuity seems, since the game is based on the same area, did a massive storm fuck up Arcadia bay and the surrounding areas or not. For example, there was a path blocked in the forest (fallen tree due to huge storm) in Episode 1 that I'm thinking might not have been blocked otherwise.

I am thinking it will all be minor details and nothing really too important story wise. I could be wrong though. Note how the two characters are "on the road", pretty much like Max & Chloe are at the end of LiS in one of the endings. We will see.

Also this can apparently be seen in Sean's sketchbook

 

[Latelistener]

 

[Bocian]

https://invidio.us/MJkJs2pmi64?

 

[taxalot]

So these dudes were making a Let's Play of Life is Strange 2 when suddenly

(video starts at the appropriate part)

 

[Outlander]

(video starts at the appropriate part)

I think the timestamp didn't stick.

 

[taxalot]

Strange. Watch from 2:08:50.

 

[Martyr]

Strange. Watch from 2:08:50.

that was hilarious ! who doesn't want to have their appearance mocked in a video game ?! :D

 

[taxalot]

I have a hard time thinking it's a coincidence.

 

[Martyr]

I have a hard time thinking it's a coincidence.

is that guy well known?

 

[taxalot]

I have a hard time thinking it's a coincidence.

is that guy well known?

No idea. Maybe he's known for having made a LiS1 playthrough and they made a small jab at him for fun ?

Too lazy to check.

 

[Life of the Party]

Life is Strange 2 is an intimate portrait of the Trump era

We leave the time-traveling past for a powerless, political present

Life is Strange 2’s first episode begins as one story and ends as another.

Compared to the opening act of the first season, which involved time-traveling powers, the intro of Dontnod Entertainment’s latest teen adventure seems domestic, even quaint. Sean Diaz is a 16-year-old boy whose biggest concerns include hookups, booze and college applications. His best friend is Lyla, whom he’s tethered to by snarky texts and Skype calls.

When we meet his younger brother, Daniel, and his dad, Esteban, everyone is loving, if not a bit humdrum. Daniel is obsessed with chocolate; Esteban is a nonjudgmental, proud dad; the Diaz boys are a happy group, a relatable trio in suburban Seattle.

And then, 30 minutes into the episode, called “Roads,” the trio is ripped apart. Perhaps it’s no shock that Life is Strange 2 is not the good-natured, low-stakes story it initially feigns to to be. To discuss the story is, in some part, to spoil it, so consider yourself warned.

The Diaz family’s lives change when Sean takes on a bigoted neighborhood teen who’s bullying Daniel. A cop arrives on the scene, and Sean and Daniel’s father is shot in the commotion. Sean’s little brother unleashes an inexplicable torrent of psychic energy, killing the officer in the process.

The game is pointedly set in October 2016, with direct references made to the mounting anxiety of the U.S. presidential election. Sean and Lyla vent over text about the anti-immigrant stances of one particular candidate while watching the debates. Sean spies a strongly worded letter from another hateful neighbor on the kitchen counter. Esteban becoming the victim of a situation he was trying to mediate is a tragic, familiar result, reflecting the United States’ disturbing and ongoing inability to prevent police shootings of unarmed people of color.

Dontnod emphasizes the racial politics at play in Sean and Daniel’s situation, and how they mirror the traumas and challenges of the real world. The struggles that come with their identity are hurdles we rarely see in video games — because most video games star white men who don’t face these problems.

Their race and their deceased father’s immigration status aren’t the entirety of their story, but they are part of it. Life is Strange 2’s first episode quickly jolts in fantastical directions, all the while grounded by the non-fantastical realities of its leads.

The antagonism experienced by the Diaz family isn’t limited to singular life-changing moments. It’s captured in a constant rhythm of discomfort, one experienced by Mexican-Americans who live with daily hostility from white neighbors, co-workers and strangers. The bulk of episode one involves Sean guiding Daniel out of their hometown, traveling throughout the Pacific Northwest as they head south toward Mexico. There, they’ll find peace and safety, Sean thinks. Because in the idealized version of Mexico that he’s hoping to escape to, no one is hissing at him about how excited they are for a president who will put up a wall along the border.

The political divide forces almost every crucial moment of “Roads,” but Life is Strange 2 is still, like its predecessor, built upon player choice. As Sean, the player can decide whether or not to steal from a gas station, which will only give the white owners an even worse impression of him and his brother. They can also accept help and safety from a friendly white face, a traveling, boho blogger named Brody, with gratitude or consternation. Yet it’s sometimes futile to make what feels like the right choice. No matter which path we want to guide Sean down — ideally an honest one, in which we protect Daniel as a replacement father figure, not a selfish older brother — we can’t change how he’s seen by the myopic people around him, who judge his accent, skin color and last name.

It doesn’t matter if the player decides not to have Sean steal anything from inside or outside the gas station. The owner still beats up Sean after pegging him for that Seattle murder suspect; he still uses slurs and threatens to call ICE if Sean doesn’t stay quiet and comply until the cops come, so that the owner can collect his bounty. The creators leverage the limitations of story-driven games — that choice is often illusory, that there is often no right way out of a situation — to portray the daily challenges of the Diaz family in America.

This battle against bigotry is a far cry from the elder Life is Strange’s beautiful, if less believable story. The young women at the heart of season one explored their sexuality and reckoned with their tragic pasts. Impactful as it was to assume the role of a young woman looking for self-actualization, their story existed in a version of our world unconcerned with some of our biggest problems.

The Life is Strange universe in 2018 — or fall 2016, where Sean’s story begins — has moved forward, reflecting a society we immediately recognize. Life is Strange 2 asserts that games are ready to expose and interrogate the wounds left on our country by institutional racism, a contentious government and steadfast ideological differences. One episode in, season two seems ready for the job.

 

[boobio]

I did not know how deep this game was!

 

[taxalot]

Dont Nod just announced that episode 2 won't come before january.

 

[taxalot]

New episode is out and I just finished it.

I will say it felt pretty boring.

edit

Spoiler

It is very uninspired. Most of the gameplay felt like chores : prepare the cooking, do the dishes, get some water, etc... Nothing much happens and I don't feel closer to any of the characters than I was after the first episode.
They also try to go from some cheap shock value :
-They kill the dog in the first 30 minutes of the new episodes, after they made a big fuss about forcing said dog to go with us in the last episode. What the hell ?
-The little boy from Captain Spirit is back and is as depressing as ever. Except he died (probably?) in my game, because of consequencs that had little to do with my choices. Yeah, I made him think he had superpowers so that he could smile a little in his pathetic life and because of that he threw himself in front of a car thinking he could stop it. Yes, he couldn't. What the hell ? Am I supposed to feel some guilt over that ?

It's just sad. We waited 4 months for this and they actually had so little to tell that they went for cheap emotion grabbing like that.

And there is even worse from a storytelling point of view : I'm supposed to take decisions but the game is withholding major information from me. Something is wrong with the kid's mother, but we don't know what. I thought she was dead but now she is actually alive ? The two kids know perfectly what happened yet refuse to talk about it between them or to their relatives and only make vague allusions. What the hell ? The character you are controlling withholding vital information from the player can be a good concept, but not this time.

 

[vonAchdorf]

So it's time to short Dontnod shares again?