Life is Strange

[Sméagol]

Episodic adventure game featuring time travel.

 

 

Along with Dreamfall: chapters, Tales from the Borderlands, and Game of thrones, 2015 looks to be the year of episodic gaming for me. I'll pre-order this after the holidays.

[Ganepark32]

Ah, yes. I was wondering where this game has gone. Remember reading about it a couple of months back so nice to see its surfaced again and shouldn't be too far away.

 

It does look a little rough around the edges visually in places, going off of the trailer, but my interest was piqued after reading up on it as impressions seemed to suggest it did a really good job of creating a setting and narrative (if I remember correctly) so it's simply whether the gameplay will match that.

 

I was a fan of Dontnod's previous game, Remember Me, even if it underplayed the memory thing a bit too much and the combat quickly got monotonous. Hopefully they've learned from that and are going to spread out and include more of the time travel stuff. It's just how they handle that part of the game. Will it be like Ghost Trick and show you a future that you can change through a Heavy Rain-esque gameplay style or will it be something else entirely. Guess we'll find out soonish.

 

Anyway, definitely interested and something I'll be looking to give a go when a release date is announced (along with a possible episode pass).

 

Edit: First episode is released on January 30th, will cost £3.99 for the episode on its own. Season pass is £15.99 for all 5 episodes but apparently if you buy the first episode on its own and then decide you want the rest of the episodes when they're released, there's a separate season pass for that to get episodes 2-5 for £13.99 which is a nice little touch I think, especially if you aren't sure about the game and want to try it out with the first episode before committing.

 

And the blurb from the website gives us this:

 

"Life is Strange is an episodic, narrative driven adventure game which tells the compelling story of Max; a Senior photography student who suddenly discovers she is able to rewind time. She uses her power to save the life of Chloe, her childhood friend, whom she has not seen in five years. For Chloe it’s been a turbulent time and she’s been drifting off course since her father’s tragic death.

 

The reunion will turn their lives upside down, as increasingly strange events plague the small town of Arcadia Bay both teenagers find themselves involved in a grim investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a high school student."

Edited December 18, 2014 by Ganepark32

[Ganepark32]

A dev diary about various aspects of the game, courtesy of IGN:

 

 

Really liking the look of it. And nice to hear a bit more about the rewind mechanic, though I do hope they limit it a bit as just being able to constantly rewind at will whenever we want will quickly dilute the whole point of choices have consequences that the game is aiming to get at. Already set on picking up the season pass for it so roll on the 30th and fingers crossed that it can be as captivating and enjoyable an experience as other episodic games over the last couple of years.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Ganepark32

[Sméagol]

I don't want to spoil the game, so I'm not watching any more videos.

 

But about the rewind aspect, I can't remember where I read it, but it was a conscious decision. I suspect the limit is that you can only rewind the previous action, and not one you made a lot earlier in the game. You can see the immediate outcomes of all options, then choose the best one. It's similar in that regard to choosing a previous save (or the rewind function of Telltale games), except in this game it's part of the story and your playthrough. The point is that eventually, you have to commit to your decisions, and what the best course of action is, is relative, and not always clear as this is an episodic game.

[flameboy]

I don't want to spoil the game, so I'm not watching any more videos.

 

But about the rewind aspect, I can't remember where I read it, but it was a conscious decision. I suspect the limit is that you can only rewind the previous action, and not one you made a lot earlier in the game. You can see the immediate outcomes of all options, then choose the best one. It's similar in that regard to choosing a previous save (or the rewind function of Telltale games), except in this game it's part of the story and your playthrough. The point is that eventually, you have to commit to your decisions, and what the best course of action is, is relative, and not always clear as this is an episodic game.

 

Yes I heard something similar, results will still play out and if things go terrible you can rewind only so far to resolve these issues. I'm really hoping this proves to be more than the likes of Telltale games and Mass Effect where choice is actually just an illusion and nothing more than a divergent path towards the same end.

[flameboy]

I've picked up the full season, going to go home and play me the first episode tonight.

[Sméagol]

I'll elaborate later, and post my choices then as well, but I just want to quickly say I "finally" got to play this last night, and thought it was great.

[Tales]

Downloading the demo but unless the demo surprisingly disappoint me I'll probably buy the season pass anyway.

[Sméagol]

[..]

Really liking the look of it. And nice to hear a bit more about the rewind mechanic, though I do hope they limit it a bit as just being able to constantly rewind at will whenever we want will quickly dilute the whole point of choices have consequences that the game is aiming to get at.

[..]

Now I've played it, I can say it's exactly as I predicted in my earlier post. You can only rewind a little bit, once you go to the next location, your choice is set. And you'll have to live with the consequences. Max will have a comment wondering if she shouldn't pick the other option, but she does so for every option, so it's up to you to choose and commit to one. It's of course to early to tell, but the major choices have potential to have far reaching consequences.

 

Anyway, like I said, I think it's great. I absolutely love the highschool setting, and I really love playing as a teenage girl who's also a photography nerd. Max is adorable. Especially when she's drooling over camera equipment . Just like Dreamfall, this is heavily influenced by the Telltale design of episodic games with consequences (or whatever you call this genre ). Complete with a warning beforehand telling you your choices have consequences, and with a stats screen afterwards. It has more in common with Dreamfall though. It's very light on actual gameplay. There are some light puzzles, but I suspect if you're rushing through the game to reach the ending, you can do that in a half hour. But I spent nearly 4 hours with the first episode, just taking everything in. Just like Dreamfall, they spent a lot of effort in world building. Locations aren't as big as in Dreamfall, but there's plenty to do. You can talk to all your classmates, hear Max's comments on a multitude of things, and there's the optional collectible sidegame, where you can take pictures of objects. There's even this handy collectible mode to quickly grab the pictures you missed without affecting your "canon" choices. I just did that, and noticed various things I missed the first time around. Anyway, like I said, I love the setting, and the relaxed vibe the game has in general, and I had fun playing this first episode. Can't wait for the second one to come in March.

 

Apparently, I went with the majority for most of them

 

Major choices:

- Reported Nathan

- Comforted Victoria

- Helped Kate

- Came out of hiding to intervene

 

Minor choices:

- Didn't let Daniel draw my portrait (completely missed this)

- Didn't sign the petition

- Helped Alyssa

- Didn't erase Kate's slate (missed this one as well)

- Watered the plant

- Didn't touch the pregnancy test

- Didn't mess up Victoria's photos

- Didn't write on the RV (missed)

- Let the bird die (missed.. No clue)

- Didn't break the snowglobe (I did, but undid it)

- Didn't leave any evidence (checked everything out, but undid it)

- Read David's files

 

 

And here all the videos that have been posted, and the spotify link.

 

Official launch trailer:

 

 

Dev diary 1

 

 

Dev diary 2

 

 

Dev diary 3

 

 

[Reddit AMA]

 

[spotify playlist]

 

[Youtube playlist]

[Tales]

Good game, sad it ended so quick, excited to see what happens next. Especially with Kate, she was so sad in the end...

 

My choices

 

Major decision

 

Reported Nathan. I knew it could affect her scholarship but I think informing the prinicipal about a madman with a gun was more important.

 

Made fun of Victoria. I decided early on I would use my powers, and not necessarily for the greater good. She does remove her picture if you comfort her, but I didn't want to forgive her as she shouldn't have posted it in the first place or should have removed without me having to make her to.

 

Intervened to help out Kate. I suspected the photo could be useful as evidence later on but I could't handle Kate being so disappointed in me.

 

I stayed hidden. Don't want to know about the gun, and since I do know, at least ignorance is bliss since Chloe never showed it to me.

 

Minor decision.

 

I let Daniel draw my portrait. Why not? I'm surprised 49% refused. Why?

 

Didn't sign the petiton. It could have helped Kate as Max said. About this, when I rewinded and spoke to the teacher again, I was brought right to the option to sign or not sign. I wanted to choose the other options too, like mentioning how it might have helped Rachel if the school had cameras and then hear the teacher's defence.

 

Didn't help Alyssa. Who was this again? The one that got it by a rugby ball? It was mean not to help her, but no one can know or suspect my powers.

 

Erased the insults on Kate's slate. She clearly is going too much right to have to read this too.

 

Didn't water the plant. Didn't even noticed it. Reminds of the cactus that died because I forgot to water it.

 

Didn't touch Dana's pregnancy test. Like the last, didn't notice. I didn't rush through the game. I was 100% sure I read everything in the game.

 

Reorganized Victoria's photo's. It was fun.

 

Wrote on the dirty RV

 

Saved the bird of course! Always save the bird if you have powers. Shocking that 50% of the players let the poor bird break it's neck.

 

Didn't break Chloe's snow globe. Rewinded time to avoid that.

 

Didn't leave any evidence.

 

Read David's files

 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2015 by Tales

[flameboy]

Major choices:

- Reported Nathan

- Laughed at Victoria

- Helped Kate

- Didn't hide and took the blame for Chloe (I actually re-winded here and didn't like how Chloe reacted when I didn't help her and her step dad still seemed to blame me either way)

 

 

Looks like with regards to Victoria I was very much in the minority but hey any chance to get one back on a mean girl and the way it played out was really funny.

 

I think Max is brilliant and without going down the gender in gaming too much I would say she is easily the best female playable character in a game ever. I felt I could instantly relate to her and not particularly because I have anything in common with her. However her character is well crafted and had hooks for me to able to latch onto.

 

The time travel mechanic is perfect; easy to understand, easy to use and also the "localized" way it works is superb. I cannot wait for March to roll round, genuinely feel this could be a game of the year contender if they keep this up.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I'll be picking this up when all of the episodes have been released. Looks lovely.

[flameboy]

I'll be picking this up when all of the episodes have been released. Looks lovely.

 

Is there a particular reasoning behind this? Just I think the anticipation we are now all experiencing as a result of the cliffhanger adds to the enjoyment.

 

It's a common argument with TV that I guess has somewhat eroded with the Netflix binging we now all indulge in, so if it's purely that then it totally makes sense!

[Magnus]

Playing a video game I enjoy for only two hours at a time, six weeks apart, over the course of six months goes against everything I know and believe in. How are you supposed to remember anything about the first few episodes by the end?

 

The game looks interesting, though.

[James]

Playing a video game I enjoy for only two hours at a time, six weeks apart, over the course of six months goes against everything I know and believe in. How are you supposed to remember anything about the first few episodes by the end?

 

The game looks interesting, though.

 

Play it again?

[Magnus]

.. Or just wait and play it once?

[flameboy]

Playing a video game I enjoy for only two hours at a time, six weeks apart, over the course of six months goes against everything I know and believe in. How are you supposed to remember anything about the first few episodes by the end?

 

The game looks interesting, though.

 

How bad is your memory?! Do you have the same problem TV series from year to year?

[Fierce_LiNk]

Is there a particular reasoning behind this? Just I think the anticipation we are now all experiencing as a result of the cliffhanger adds to the enjoyment.

 

It's a common argument with TV that I guess has somewhat eroded with the Netflix binging we now all indulge in, so if it's purely that then it totally makes sense!

 

Multiple reasons really. @Magnus raises good points and I agree with him. I'm not really one for watching an episode a week, let alone over 6 weeks or however long it is between each one in this instance. Some may be able to deal with it, but it'll kill my anticipation or excitement as it's a bit too long.

 

I'm more of a boxset person than a tv person. I'd rather have the whole lot there that I can go through at my own pace. It's what I do with the Walking Dead game. I may not have played it for a few weeks, but I know when I have that urge to play it that it's there. I have the choice.

 

Taking all of that into account, I've got too much other stuff to play, so I can also quite easily wait without getting hooked into it now. It looks great.

[Ganepark32]

For those who picked up the season pass, or tried the first episode and are interested in more, the second episode, Out of Time, is out today.

 

Trailer:

 

 

Looking forward to playing it. Gonna have to look back at my decisions from the first episode to get myself up to speed on things before jumping in but certainly looks interesting.

[Tales]

Played the first couple chapter this morning before work. I'm liking it so far as expected Going to see if I can finish up the episode tonight.

 

Episode 2 finished Sucks it's another 6-7 weeks to the next one

 

My choices

 

Major choices

 

Told Kate to wait for more proof. I know it made her upset, and it bit me in the ass later, but after me telling that Nathan had a gun and the principal didn't believe, he certaintly wouldn't believe me now.

 

Answered Kate's call. Of course I answered her. I have no idea what's going with her, but I feel so bad for her.

 

Didn't try to shoot Frank. I rewinded time to see if Max would shoot in the air, but when it turned out there were no bullets and I couldn't tell if she would actually shoot him, I rewinded again so that she didn't shoot at all.

 

I saved Kate's life....Almost. I was so close, but me telling her not to go the police made her upset(every other choice I have done went in my favour in saving Kate's life), and then I made the mistake of telling her that her mom loved her. I never noticed any letter from her mom, but I did see one awful from her aunt. And at my last choice, I must have quoted the wrong scripture because Kate jumped. So I clicked the start menu and reloaded from the checkpoint. Cheating I know, but I'm supposed to have time powers and I wasn't letting her die. I wonder if she will die soon anyway like in Walking Dead.

 

Blamed Nathan. I don't know what's up with the teacher, but it's probably just unrelated schoolwork. It will probably bite me inn the ass messing with Prescot family, again.

 

Minor choices.

 

Did water my plant this time around. Didn't see it last time. The butterfly icon popped. Maybe something will happen if you always remember/forget.

 

Didn't help Alyssa. Like last time someone threw something at her, I can't risk revealing my power for small things like this.

 

Erased the link to Kate's video. No discussion.

 

You were friendly with Taylor. I don't see why not.

 

Accepted Warren's invitiation. Again I don't see why not.

 

I wrote a message. But I'm not sure what message the game is talking about.

 

I didn't tamper with the railtracks. Once I saw the fuse box, I was fixed at saving her that way. Didn't know there were other options. Good for the train I guess.

 

I didn't help Warren. I didn't? I went through all the options, and since nothing seem to give him what he wanted I just went with the biggest explosion. He seemed impressed with that.

 

Told on David to Mr Jefferson.

 

 

 

[Ganepark32]

Next episode of this out later today. Trailer below for it:

 

 

Really, really looking forward to seeing what's away to happen in this episode. The last episode was brilliant, particularly that ending, and from the looks of that trailer, things are set to pick up pace even more. Will be interesting to hear/see how people's games play out differently, especially after how the second episode ended.

 

I managed to save Kate as I'd remembered the picture/letter in her room so it didn't seem as difficult as it was going to be in talking her down. Though I still feel bad about telling her to wait before going to the police. But perhaps in this episode, the evidence we're looking for will start to make an appearance, though having blamed Nathan at the end in my save, I'm thinking things might not go as smoothly as wanted.

 

But yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how things pan out for those who didn't save her. Definitely going to be watching a play through on youtube to see that half of the story.

 

 

Too many games to play today with this, The Witcher 3 and the Destiny content. Not enough time [/first world problems]

[Sméagol]

Haven't posted in a while, but I just had to command you all to play episode 3 right now. The cliffhanger is on par with the last one. This should get a TV show (or well, mini series). Oh but my poor plant died..

[Tales]

Good episode, but I hope the alternative timeline isn't permanent. The Kate/Rachel mystery isn't solved yet and I rather not every choice I have made so far mean nothing.

 

My choices

 

Major choices

Stole the money. Need money to pay Frank. There's enough trouble as it is.

 

Of course I made them kiss!!

 

Sided with Chloe. What kind of dick sides with David..

 

Kept the dog from harm. Don't like dogs but I don't like roadkill either.

 

Chloe has David's gun. Amends made

 

Minor choices

 

Lisa is alive. Who?

 

Didn't help Warren with his exam. Didn't know I could.

 

On the Vortex Club part list. Found the list in the pool, but didn't know I added myself.

 

Didn't chance the Vortex Club party list. Again I didn't know I could. The option probably appear after I have checkedd the item in the first place, but by then I have already left.

 

Erased the cop's answer phone message. We don't need more trouble.

 

Didn't help Alyssa. Who? The girl who get bullied all the time? If I had seen her, same as always.

 

Didn't warn the homeless woman. Can't tell everyone about my secret power.

 

Took a photo in the past. Trophy.

 

Didn't leave a mark in the fireplace. Not going to mess up my best friend's house.

 

[ThePigMarcher]

Another fantastic episode in what has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the year.

 

Good episode, but I hope the alternative timeline isn't permanent. The Kate/Rachel mystery isn't solved yet and I rather not every choice I have made so far mean nothing.

 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the last photo, taken in the past, is the key to being able to switch timelines in the future episodes. I hope not because I didn't take it, I spent ages looking for the right angle except I'd forgotten that Max wouldn't have had her camera at that point (Epic Fail:blush:)

 

That said, I suppose you could argue that any previous photo could also take Max back to the original timeline although it could be telling that this last picture has been the only one noted in the choices made.

 

I will go back and grab that photo but only under the Collectibles option in the chapter replay as I've promised myself that I would stand by my original choices, however bad, until I do a full replay after completing the final episode.

 

[drahkon]

Now that there are three episodes out I bought it

 

Really looking forward to it. I don't know anything about Life is Strange other than there is timetravel in it. And I love the idea of timetravel so this seems right up my alley.

 

 

I also have The Wolf Among Us and the first season of The Walking Dead to play.

 

Think I'll set up a plan to play one episode per week. Starting with Life is Strange

 

Edit:

 

 

 

I stopped playing. Not because I don't like the game or because it's bad, but simply because I can't decide...

 

I'm already so invested in everything that's going on and wondering what I should do. I'll think about how to decide.

Edited May 21, 2015 by drahkon