Thread 544502215

Stranger Things Have Happened edition

Previous thread: >>543479271


>Life is Strange
(LiS) - An episodic narrative adventure game by developer Don’t Nod (DN). Set in the fictional coastal town of Arcadia Bay, Oregon, it follows Max Caulfield, a shy, awkward photography student who discovers she can rewind time and—perhaps more urgently—that she’s very, very gay. At the heart of the story is Max’s reunion with her estranged best friend, the rebellious, blue-haired Chloe Price. Their bond becomes the game’s pulsing queer core as they unravel the mystery of Rachel Amber’s disappearance. What begins as a teenage reconnection blooms into a messy, tender queer odyssey about grief, desire, and the impossible choices we make for the people we can't truly live without.

LiS Series Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/36149206


Discussion of other LiS games, Don't Nod's Lost Records, the TV show and other similar games is welcome!

>>544502291
fpbp

>>544502291
hot

>>544502837
Oh no, Max, stop! You were written by too horny devs!!

>>544503529
>Max violates consent of a person to romance her other available self
>makes no sense given Max's supposed lesson learned in LIS1 and makes her look like she's willing to abuse her powers to get into relationships
>gets called out but with the game equivalent of a slap on the wrists and Amanda asking her to win her back
>if you don't romance her at all, she will say she dodged a bullet
What they were thinking?

>>544504067
Thinking?

>>544502215 (OP)
LR is not a Life is Strange game, stop encouraging off topic discussion.

>>544502215 (OP)
>it follows Max Caulfield, a shy, awkward photography student who discovers she can rewind time and—perhaps more urgently—that she’s very, very gay
I must’ve missed the part of LiS when Max has a story arc about her sexuality.

>>544507948
It is optional to be honest, choosing to be only a bff to Chloe seemed very natural

>>544507597
Don't worry lmao, since LR is considered by DN to be a disappointment it will not be mentioned for a looong time

>>544507597
>>544509182
You seethe

>>544509182
Oh you wish

>Never believe that the anti Chloe trolls are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge.
>But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Chloe have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors.
>They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.

>>544509182
which is why they bailed on that game and latched onto the Netflix gig instead

>>544509802
I mean, its not the worst thing ever, if they get to work on a Stranger Things based game at least we'll have an unofficial Lost Records entry given the similarities

>>544509526
>seethe
Remember when LRfags made a new thread because their off topic game wasn’t in the OP?

>Be Deck Nine
>Get a contract with Square Enix to make LiS games
>Make Before the Storm, a prequel centered around the popular character of Chloe Price and her relationship with Rachel Amber as told by the first game
>It respect Chloe's character, with even a bonus DLC episode with her and Max as kids
>Successful enough to grant them other works and grow as a company
>Make Double Exposure, a sequel long requested by Square to cash on Max's nostalgia
>Shat on Chloe's character development and her bond with Max, trying to replace her with D9's shallow OCs
>It bombs so badly it starts a domino effect leading to D9's downfall as a gaming company
>still contractually obligated to push out a DE2 despite crunch, lack of manpower, constant layoffs and the looming shutdown of the company

>>544510032
oh, we do remember

>>544510154
>>544510032
DEfags really are a breed of obsessed 12 year olds aren't they?

>>544510817
LRfags really are a breed of crying shippers aren’t they?

>>544504067
>Max violates consent of a person to romance her other available self
Max is romantically involved with the version of Amanda who actively wants that relationship. There’s no issue of consent here — Safi is alive in that timeline, boundaries are clearly communicated, and mutual understanding is reached. Max, after discovering the parallel timeline, is operating from a similar emotional context: in her world, Safi is also alive — Max just hasn’t yet figured out how to merge the timelines and make that reality consistent.
>makes no sense given Max's supposed lesson learned in LIS1 and makes her look like she's willing to abuse her powers to get into relationships
Max’s motivation for jumping between timelines isn’t romantic manipulation. She’s not abusing her powers to pursue a relationship. The romance is a consequence, not a goal.
>gets called out but with the game equivalent of a slap on the wrists and Amanda asking her to win her back
That's what love often looks like. Forgiveness, second chances — even when things go wrong. Amanda’s response just reflects emotional complexity.
>if you don't romance her at all, she will say she dodged a bullet
That line is meant to highlight how Max’s powers — a tool for saving others — have become a barrier to her own happiness and normalcy. Her friendship path with Amanda flows more smoothly than the romantic one, precisely because it avoids the emotional friction caused by Max’s supernatural burden. The consequences of her powers have shifted from external (as in LIS1) to deeply personal.

>What they were thinking?
The writing could’ve been tighter, but in this particular case, I don’t see any major issue. The emotional logic holds

>>544510950
>Max is romantically involved with the version of Amanda who actively wants that relationship
Anon, if I refused a relationship because I didn't felt like it and wanted things slow, and then learned the other person had powers who granted them the ability to rush into another version of me behind my back because they couldn't wait, I would rightfully have some trust issue, and wondering if this person truly cares about me or they only want a quick bone or go on their own terms regardless if it is respectful or not.
Massive red flag, and goes against what Max should have learned by LIS1 already

>That's what love often looks like. Forgiveness, second chances — even when things go wrong. Amanda’s response just reflects emotional complexity
This is an answer made by Chat GPT lmao

>I don’t see any major issue. The emotional logic holds
No it doesn't, and falls apart if you took time to think about it in the context of LiS1 and the way they talked about consent, consequences and the abuse of powers

Max is so dum dum in DE, I hope it's the fake auto one. Girl, just google that occultist guy instead of abusing your powers. And hide that stupid photo when that cop turns his back, come on now.
That Max is a photoshop, a deepfake maybe, I don't know man.

>>544510154
an instant classic

>>544510950
>Amanda’s response just reflects emotional complexity.
Her being surprisingly mature about the whole thing is great. You can argue that it's because they wrote her that way but it's also so very easy to write her as someone very emotionally immature that starts lashing out at Max for the rights and wrongs she did during the game's events. Amanda deciding to come to grips first before making an informed decision is a good piece of writing on D9's part.

>>544516634
The real instant classic will always be this one, DEfags are a cancer and I'm happy the franchise is in the gutter because of them

>>544517641
But the only thing that happened is that DE didn't sell well.

>>544517195
Where did that glazing of that bland character comes from? She's not that complex really, the way she's written is because D9 wanted the most sandpapered uncontroversial love interest possible, but that doesn't make her a unique or interesting character
If she was also a mature person, she would have said that Max needs to check herself out if she think she can switch time just to get a quick bone

>>544517930
On Q1 barely making 400.000 copies over a 30 million dollars budget, excluding taxes and refunds, and with the negative word of mouth it got? Its a disaster that would have killed many other franchises even for less

>>544518110
Sure, pull up numbers and all that but it doesn't refute the other points made.

>>544518301
Which were?

>>544518398
Oh, geez louise.

>>544517195
>good piece of writing on D9's part
i'll tell you why. Amanda and pretty much everything tied to that romance is one of the rare things that actually made it into the game untouched, like almost exactly how it was originally written. no chopping, no ten rewrites. there's a few other bits like that, but they're buried under SE's rewrite hell

>>544524983
Well, at least it explains why it is so shallow. But how do you claim to know that?

>>544526696
>how do you claim to know that?
because I do my research

>>544527913
Source your research anon

>>544502215 (OP)
And so the OP becomes about as it should be. Keeps everything else in mind but focuses on the OG.

>>544527987
you'll need more than that

>>544529142
This OP would be acceptable if an off topic game wasn’t mentioned.

>>544533287
anon, i was here in spring when i tracked down Hannah in broomfield. posted the hotel they crash at for VO sessions, dropped some irl game spots. i think i can handle digging up info just fine. so unless you've got a reason i should care, take the wheel yourself

>>544509939
"Unofficial".

Have some dignity and stop coping. This will not give you any satisfaction

>>544537285
Sp you are the geoloc anon, my bad though you were one of the larpers

>>544537285
alright, how bad the next game going to be in terms of story? ladydev said her part, you know too

>>544502291
Best kiss in the whole franchise

Also, just imagine feeling her breath like that...

>>544502364
pricefielders are delulu

>>544550635
>I hecking LOVE slop! Gluck gluck gluck

>>544502291
Faggot with no taste

>no posts for hours
>thread's on page 10
>someone posts Amanda/DE
>pissfielders start seething immediately
Every fucking time

>>544555946
They got so triggered by a fictional ship

Why are people dickriding Double Exposure? Don't they realize that DE killed Deck Nine?

Did they post anything for DE first anniversary?

>>544560845
No one gives a shit about D9, anon. Everyone knows it was just a contractor with zero agency. Only Pricefielders still cling to it, but they're always obsessing over the least relevant things anyway

>>544563779
>nobody gives a shit about the studio that kept developing bad games as part of a franchise I like
I care.

After playing BtS and having a long chat with you yesterday I decided I might as well replay the original game after ten and some years.
I wonder what my new non adolescent perspective will make it feel like, and I'll definitely miss the threads as the new episodes came out.
I think now that I'm at this age I've appreciated BtS more than I would have if I'd played it when it came out, so I hope I'll be able to say the same about the original.
I've read everywhere that the remasters are riddled with bugs and some face models have been updated while some have been left as they were in the original, is that really the case?
Or is the remastered version worth it?

Anyway, I'll be back with strong opinions in a week or two.

>>544564227
Like everything else, studios and devs will milk a franchise dry despite it being past its expiration date. They should’ve stopped after LiS2.

>>544565501
>after LiS1

>>544565619
Well yes, but LiS2 should’ve been the max they went to.

>>544565272
Play the OG. The remasters look better in some areas, but yes, full of bugs.

>>544563779
>zero agency
Yeah no, they were spineless and never actively stood for a better LIS

>>544569940
the thing you call better LIS isn't actually better LIS, anon

The girl don't give a fuck
Image don't contains the word fuck 128 times :(

>>544578490
Seek help, schizo

>>544565272
Only get the remastered if you can't get the original, which is such a silly thing to say come to think of it.

Why do LiS character resonate with me so much?
I never really got the "he's literally me" meme about Ryan Gosling's characters, but god fuck Chloe is LITERALLY me.

>>544580083
Explain how

>>544580083
pathetic

>>544580083
It finds you, that's simply it

When were the scenes for DE2 shot?

>>544585276
Depends

>>544586209
Between 2023 and 2025 I guess but the main ones?
If they were constantly rewritting the story for the first game already, wouldn't it be stupid to shoot scenes for the sequel so soon?

life is stranger on page 10

>>544589092
looks like most of the rewrites happened cause they chopped the game in half. doubt the actors were affected much, they usually hop in when the messy bits are sorted

>>544581180
Until they broke up

>>544605613
they were never a couple in a first place

>>544605613
Corporate fanfiction that kill their studio shouldn't be taken seriously

>>544619943
you seethe

>>544623530
Truth hurts

>>544561083
Completely ignored, even by D9.

>>544580439
I was a rebellious teenager with striking hair, didn't get along with my parents, grew up just next to Nowhere and felt like nothing was ever there for me...
As a teenager I was pretty cynical and never really found anything so important that was worth getting expelled for or even crying over, though playing BtS last week it felt pretty liberating when Chloe started destroying stuff at the junkyard and then broke down screaming.
I guess a lot of people feel this way to an extent, though the main thing for me is how Chloe is such a troublemaker and she has no qualms about telling anyone to fuck off if she thinks they should fuck off, and so she's a bit of a reject, has next to no friends... but behind that she's a good person who really wants someone to understand her and be there for her.
In a sense I also identify with Rachel, because in my last years of high school I was very popular even with people who didn't know me at all and I had this unrealistic reputation, but I was never as used to it as Rachel was, so while I might have taken advantage of it at times, and there likely is at least one person who sees me as "the popular one who got into my life by accident and brought me out of my shell", I was never as irresponsible as her about it.
All that caused even more of a misalignment between how people saw me and how I really was, or at least how I felt like I was.
Like that improvised line in The Tempest that goes "I prefer to know thou still cared for my plainest self".
Let's say Chloe's three quarters literally me and one quarter power fantasy.
>>544581740
You're pathetic.

>>544633248
Seek help

>>544619943
>fanfiction
Holy cope

>>544633668
Its a spite fanfiction written by someone who believed to be better than the original creators, while also copypasting elements from LIS1. You might call it cope but that's how DE writing feel like

>>544634971
>Its a spite fanfiction written by someone who believed to be better than the original creators

>>544634971
>spite fanfiction
And it’s just a girl who didn’t work out with her high school relationship

>>544637305
I played bay Max and that story was still shit. Completely misses the point of the first game and regresses Max's character development. Superficial and borderline insulting.
I can tolerate that in action games, not in narrative ones.

>>544643431
>Completely misses the point of the first game
Always funny hearing that from people who didn't get the first game at all themselves and just latched onto whatever they made up in their heads

>>544644092
Max accepts she can't have everything and learns to let the past go in the first game. She smiles at the end, in both endings.
Sorry but that Max would never try to change fate again. Shit happens sometimes, gotta move on.
And DE giving her everything at the end is a spit on the face of LiS1. That's not development, that's stupid Disney magic.
It's stupid and brings more stupid consequences. If she's so powerful now, what's stoping her to go back again and fix the shit that happened in Arcadia Bay? She broke her no more using power rules once, why not do it again? Apparently, she can do what she wants now, if the story needs it.

>>544645467
>If she's so powerful now, what's stoping her to go back again and fix the shit that happened in Arcadia Bay?
that's exactly the part Square chopped off and saved for Part 2

>>544647023
It's dogshit writing that completely undermines the end of LIS1. There's even less reason for Max to walk into the tornado in DE than there was to trust Warren's idea for stopping the storm in 1. They don't even bother explaining it. And it says that both options in 1 were wrong because Max could actually fix everything with no consequences all along and it isn't even a matter of her gaining more control of her powers or anything like that.

>>544647023
That feels more like course correction for a problem they created themselves.
Safi and Diamond have nothing to do with Arcadia Bay, I don't think the plan was to go back there yet.

Though I give you that Kuan said in the day one press release that Max would have to face her past post DE. My interpretation was 'not in part 2, but in a later game', Who knows. Some people in London probably.

>>544647023
Good luck getting people interested in a part 2. If Square goal was to have all people hyped up for part 2 with that MCU style ending, they obtained the opposite reaction, and a bad one at that

>>544502215 (OP)
Why does this entire OP paint LiS like a romance game. Shippers are so annoying

>>544658569
They thrive in delusion. Anything outside their imaginary bubble makes them uncomfortable

>>544663937
You seem very bitter anon, maybe you should touch grass a little

>>544647023
>that's exactly the part Square chopped off and saved for Part 2
is that what the timeline mall leftovers was all about from DE?

>>544671414
what?

>>544633663
>having feelings and being aware of them is cause for seeking help
Huh.
>>544658569
Possibly because it's a narrative game in which you can pursue romantic relationships, in which other important characters seem to have been involved in romantic relationships with one another, and that was largely successful because of those plot points.

>>544686410
you can't pursue romantic relationships in lis1

>>544686410
>Possibly because it's a narrative game in which you can pursue romantic relationships
Optional is the key word and the OP paints a picture that it’s a queer romance narrative

>>544694394
Nobody cares.
Sorry you published an iconic gay game, SE.

>>544633248
Essay is not what I expected lmao.
But at least this seems to be genuine, so all I can is "cool"

>>544695727
Wrong.
Things being "optional" are quite essential to choice driven games. And here it didn't seem like devs punish players for any choice

>>544698090
The only choice that mattered in LiS 1 is Kate's fate. The rest, not really.

>>544698090
Choice driven games are an illusion. Choices in these games are often detrimental to the story and characters.

>>544698090
This. Romance is completely option in LiS. It is up to the player whether or not Max chooses to pursue Chloe, Warren, or neither, and even if you choose romance it’s not prominent in the story.

>>544694394
>OP paints a picture that it’s a queer romance narrative
It’s not, and OP’s just seething