It took me awhile to get around to playing this, but they did such a good job. Feels like there were more genuinely funny moments in just the first episode than the entirety of Life is Strange.
I love that Chloe's special power is sassing authority figures, her journal-not-a-journal is way better than Max's, and the way
Rachel crashes into her life like a whirlwind (ha!)
is just perfect.
Hints of something supernatural at the end, maybe? When Rachel is screaming at the fire?
Some bits were clunkier than others, particularly the opening, but overall it was hella smooth. Oh, and the way
So torn on Before the Storm. I haven't bought it, because it's all going to end in tears and my life is dreary enough already, thank you.
On the other hand, kinda digging the Adventures of Chloe('s Bad Decisions).
Episode 1 was awesome, I don't think I've ever seen a prequel done by another company that captures the source material so well.
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pyromaniac221this just might bean interestin YTRegistered Userregular
I was apprehensive about Before The Storm at first but I’m glad to hear that the first episode at least does justice to the original game. I’m still gonna hold off until the whole thing is out since I can’t do the whole indefinite-gap-between-episodes thing but the wait is getting more difficult
Soooo what's the rule on discussing Episode 2 since it leaked early for Xbox users (btw: it leaked early for Xbox users, you can go download and play right now... since Friday I think?)
EDIT: To be clear, since leak is a strong word... it's available to download and play the normal way on Xbox, but only due to some sort of fuckup at either Microsoft or SE. Go in game, click purchase/install on Episode 2 et voila
Clearly mark any episode 2 spoiler as such, obviously?
Well yeah, but some places such as the LiS subreddit aren't even allowing that. I mostly wanted to make sure that it doesn't go against the forum's "no talking about piracy" rule because while it's clear *to me* that this isn't piracy, the distinction about playing content early that you aren't supposed to be is kind of muddled.
Okay, I did get clarification from a mod (thanks Bobkins Flymo!) that it's allowed as long as they are carefully marked and tagged soooooo here we go:
Before the Storm Episode 2 Early Release and original Life is Strange Ending spoilers:
So this is shaping up to REALLY reinforce my decision to choose the Bae ending in LiS. Having Chloe and Rachel share a series of passionate kisses shows that they likely *did* have a real, mutual relationship instead of the "well Chloe definitely liked Rachel but we have no idea if Rachel reciprocated her feelings" that we were left with in LiS. And that means that Rachel's hook ups with Frank and potentially Jefferson are actually the betrayals that Chloe makes them out to be.
Her whole life she's been having people choose other people/things over her. William "chooses" to die, Max "chooses" Seattle, Joyce chooses David, Rachel chooses Frank and Jefferson. So in the end, I just can't choose Arcadia Bay over Chloe.
A final betrayal.
There's still the distinct chance that Rachel is playing Chloe in an attempt to get out of Arcadia Bay and if so, that's gonna be even more heartbreaking. I suppose it would make sense because she could see Frank's RV as a way of leaving and Jefferson as a way to get to LA for a modeling career.
Finished Episode 2 of Before the Storm, and it was really good. Some thoughts:
Good god was Samuel's voice actor terrible, from both an emulating the voice standpoint and from just the quality of his lines.
Steph is my favorite new character, she's da bomb.
Sorry Drew, I'm gonna pay Frank to pay Damon.
I find it funny that in the first Life is Strange, I somehow stumbled my way into having Max and Chloe being an item, but couldn't get Chloe and Rachel together so far. I got her to give me the bracelet, but apparently not having Chloe dive headfirst into Rachel in Episode 1 made the kissing Rachel option unavailable. Lame.
I have some slightly batshit theories for this game, for which I took a lot of screenshots:
Rachel's Neighborhood, BtS E2:
These can't be Rachel and Chloe's footprints: Footprints #2 and #3 cross over the road, but R&C stayed on the street lamp side of the road the whole way. And the ash wasn't falling long enough for them to make footprints. The footprints that should be Sera's vanish before they reach her, and she doesn't leave a footprint when she moves her foot.
Some of the opening shots in Rachel's neighborhood. They appear to be from the POV of a stalker. Footprints #1?
Rachel's Neighborhood and Outside the dorms, BtS E2:
Even foreshadowing a stalker? He is taking a ground level shot, from behind cover, from the same location relative to the walkway that the stalker would be in.
Also notice that the shovel sticking out of the ground is the same one leaning against the fence from above.
Each seed pile has arrows pointing to all paths the bird can take, including one to the Tobanga.
Chloe showing us what her footprints look like, as opposed to the ash footprints.
Various locations, BtS and LiS:
Bicycle in opening shot of Rachel's neighborhood
Probable location of the bike in Rachel's neighborhood
Chloe's house
Outside the front doors of Blackwell
LiS, alternate timeline
LiS, main campus
LiS, Blackwell parking lot
The only bicycle in the entire game, AFAIK, which has a fancy paint job instead of a single color. Footprints #3?
A pink bike on the other side of the same driveway as the green & orange bike. Footprints #2?
Lis, Blackwell parking lot
Where I think the footprints came from.
Rachel's neighborhood, BtS E2:
Possibly brand new version of Chloe's swing set, in the backyard of the bicycle house
Front view of the bicycle house, with same mailbox as Chloe's. There is one other mailbox visible in Rachel's neighborhood, which is also 44.
Which suggests they were just super lazy and reused Chloe's mailbox for everything, except...
Chloe's house, BtS E1:
The mailbox at the house across the street from Chloe has the same mailbox, but mirrored. If you watch awhile, a little yellow breasted bird will perch on top of it.
Chloe's swing
The Overlook, BtS E1:
The sign by the totem claims that the raven's face grinning face betrays its trickster spirit. The bear is grinning, not the raven (ravens can't grin).
The tree that Rachel burns down
A disturbing sketch of the tree from Chloe's dream journal
The sign by the viewfinder claims this is an Oregon white oak formed into a trail tree. The Oregon white oak has very different bark and leaves, and is fire resistant. It doesn't really look like a trail tree, either.
It looks a lot more like an arbutus/madrone:
During a great flood, the Salish anchored their canoes to a great arbutus tree, so they would not lose them. To thank the arbutus for helping in their time of need, the Salish will never use it for firewood.
The arbutus is also said to be the Tree of Knowledge, as it always knows which way to bend and twist to find the Sun. The Salish even teach that its roots are responsible for holding the world together. They warn that if the arbutus trees should ever disappear, the Earth would be utterly destroyed.
The arbutus is very susceptible to fire.
Anyone else want to get in on this crazy yarn wall?
I really had no idea how it was all going to shake out. Other than poorly. I had a pit in my stomach throughout most of it.
Good finale! I told Rachel the truth and there's no doubt in my mind that it was the right call.
Rachel met her mother - 5%
8-)
And then Max went back in time and saved everyone! Right? Right?
...right?
Yeah, I'm sure that's how the first game went.
Fuck Arcadia Bay btw
+1
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jakobaggerLO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTOREDRegistered Userregular
Was episode 3 shorter? It definitely felt that way to me.
Thoughts on episode 3:
So far I'm maybe a little ambivalent about it. Not in the way I was with LiS itself, where I basically loved it but got quite frustrated by the ending. The ending choice is BtS seemed fair and had a reasonable connection to what the rest of the game had been.
I think it might be that I partially wanted the game as a whole to be something else - what I really love about this series is the way it takes it time and kind of just lets you live in a place - but BtS sometimes was in too much of a rush for that. And the main plot it was rushing just felt quite disconnected from LiS (which is fine, tell different stories etc, but honestly I think it did make me care a little less about it). I would have liked more time of just Chloe and Rachel being adorable together. I also wouldn't have minded answering a few more of the minor mysteries/plot points about Rachel from LiS - her and Frank, her and Jefferson, for example. - but I can see why that could be inadvisable, like the Lion-Crab said life needs a little mystery.
All in all I think i just wanted more, and in particular more Amberprice fanservice.
But if my main complaint is that there wasn't enough of a thing, I must have liked that thing quite a bit.
But I would say, this is probably the weakest of the three episodes. For me, at this moment, it goes 2,1,3 I think.
Super curious to see what the Farewell episode is going to be about.
Sirialisof the Halite Throne.Registered Userregular
edited January 2018
I'm dealing with a flu and basically beat Before the Storm over a couple of days, pretty intense, looking forward to LiS 2 and the Farewell Episode.
Told Rachel the truth... The game felt like it was trying to convince me that a sweet lie is better than a bitter truth at the end, I dont quite agree.
I wanted Rachel to meet her mom, despite everything she seemed okay but whenever I hinted that I wasnt going to lie to Rachel, she started drifting further away until she just left.
One thing that came out of nowhere for me was Eliot, yeah I noticed he probably had a crush on Chloe but not that he was a real stalker about it, he got expelled in the end.
The D&D campaign was great, Barb and Elamon killed Whatshisname by severing the arm and leaving him without his fire resistance gauntlet.
The Tempest play was also pretty fun, when you are in the flashback with your father roasting marshmallows your phone gets texts from Shakespeare offering to trade Rachel for your father, even the crow sends a text.
I'm still unsure how much of Rachel Amber is genuine... Knowing what happens in LiS her fury over her father "cheating" seems ironic. I cant shake the feeling that Eliot had a point with her being fake and just using people, we are even praising her great acting abilities several times and she hints early on that she isnt afraid of manipulating Chloe.
I kept wondering if those foggy lines that appears randomly had any meaning.
The Deluxe T-Shirts were a letdown, never used them, used Firewalk, Rorschach and Dragon which looked much better.
I'm dealing with a flu and basically beat Before the Storm over a couple of days, pretty intense, looking forward to LiS 2 and the Farewell Episode.
Told Rachel the truth... The game felt like it was trying to convince me that a sweet lie is better than a bitter truth at the end, I dont quite agree.
I wanted Rachel to meet her mom, despite everything she seemed okay but whenever I hinted that I wasnt going to lie to Rachel, she started drifting further away until she just left.
One thing that came out of nowhere for me was Eliot, yeah I noticed he probably had a crush on Chloe but not that he was a real stalker about it, he got expelled in the end.
The D&D campaign was great, Barb and Elamon killed Whatshisname by severing the arm and leaving him without his fire resistance gauntlet.
The Tempest play was also pretty fun, when you are in the flashback with your father roasting marshmallows your phone gets texts from Shakespeare offering to trade Rachel for your father, even the crow sends a text.
I'm still unsure how much of Rachel Amber is genuine... Knowing what happens in LiS her fury over her father "cheating" seems ironic. I cant shake the feeling that Eliot had a point with her being fake and just using people, we are even praising her great acting abilities several times and she hints early on that she isnt afraid of manipulating Chloe.
I kept wondering if those foggy lines that appears randomly had any meaning.
The Deluxe T-Shirts were a letdown, never used them, used Firewalk, Rorschach and Dragon which looked much better.
I don't think that, outside of episode 1, Rachel is manipulating Chloe that much, or at the very least in an overt way. In episode 2, the throwing her into a play was both shitty but also really fun for both of them, especially if you nail the lines.
For episode 3, Rachel really doesn't have much chance to manipulate Chloe. Chloe coming upstairs to talk to her is all Chloe's decision, as is to spend so much time and effort to comfort her. Rachel's plea by Chloe to find her mother is born as much out of desperation as anything else.
I also think scenes like in the beginning of episode 2 where Rachel is willing to throw herself under the bus to help Chloe not get expelled shows genuine care as well.
My personal feelings on the whole thing are that Rachel just (after the events of Before the Storm, as I told her the truth), her desperation to leave Arcadia Bay is informed by her relationships with Chloe (who says she wants to leave but doesn't put much effort into leaving, ironically because of Rachel) and Frank (who seems mostly fine being the local drug dealer).
She also very well could have developed feelings for Frank while with Chloe, and, being young and without the best role models, makes some poor decisions about it.
I also came away from the game with real mixed feelings about Frank. He saves Chloe's life from Damon twice, and Rachel's once, when he really had no reason to. He also has a lot of genuine and affection for his dog. He also deals shit ton of hard drugs to kids, including the drugs used by Nathan and Jefferson in the first game. He also, as a thirty some year old man,
enters into a relationship with a 17-18 year old girl, which is really skeevy.
If you just finished the prequel - life is strange itself is now on iOS, soon to be released on Android, with touch controls of course.
The perfect time to buy it again and play it again after the prequel, which is what I'm going to do :snap:
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pyromaniac221this just might bean interestin YTRegistered Userregular
Just finished this.
I liked most of it quite a lot. Some qualms, but the game justified its own existence by building a believable and moving relationship between Chloe and Rachel that made me want to jump into the original immediately just to soak in the ways that it reframed and deepened some elements, which is good enough (seeing the missing persons posters fucked me up exactly as I expected and wanted them to).
Prequels are a conceptually weird enterprise and the ending in this game felt sort of abrupt and simple and lacking in impact and the most surprising thing was how little that bothered me. Knowing where it all ended, I wasn't looking for startling development from Chloe so much as the satisfaction of seeing how she became the person I know her as, and the final choice in the last episode worked on that frequency. It was sort of weird to see how even the split was between the choices, but I respect the rights of people to be wrong in how they play their video games.
What bothered me most about this game was the odd cruelty of the resolution. I'm sure no one went into this game not knowing Rachel's ultimate fate, but the last image that the game gives you feels exploitative in a way that the rest of the game smartly avoids. Maybe I'll feel differently about that after having slept on it, but the sudden offhandedness with which they acknowledged Rachel's murder felt a bit lazy and incomplete.
A minor point I guess, but Eliot's whole character felt like a first-pass idea that they liked and insisted on including even after the final treatment didn't really have a place for him. The showdown at the Amber house just didn't work for me. In that vein, a lot of the side characters and really all of the newly-introduced characters feel like they got shorted by the script. Mostly Steph and Mikey, I really liked their characters and they made an immediate impression and then almost completely calcified. Would have liked to see more with them but I get it was a shorter game and they needed the screentime for other things.
Presentation wise, I was impressed with the framing of some of the pivotal images, and the voice actors actually did a better job than I was expected after hearing about the strike. Especially Rachel. Really everything about her character was the major triumph of this game.
That's all I got for now. Definitely ready to go back to the original game and see how it changed things. My biggest takeaway is that it completely justified my choice at the end of the original and I am a smart correct person who has never done anything wrong.
I liked most of it quite a lot. Some qualms, but the game justified its own existence by building a believable and moving relationship between Chloe and Rachel that made me want to jump into the original immediately just to soak in the ways that it reframed and deepened some elements, which is good enough (seeing the missing persons posters fucked me up exactly as I expected and wanted them to).
Prequels are a conceptually weird enterprise and the ending in this game felt sort of abrupt and simple and lacking in impact and the most surprising thing was how little that bothered me. Knowing where it all ended, I wasn't looking for startling development from Chloe so much as the satisfaction of seeing how she became the person I know her as, and the final choice in the last episode worked on that frequency. It was sort of weird to see how even the split was between the choices, but I respect the rights of people to be wrong in how they play their video games.
What bothered me most about this game was the odd cruelty of the resolution. I'm sure no one went into this game not knowing Rachel's ultimate fate, but the last image that the game gives you feels exploitative in a way that the rest of the game smartly avoids. Maybe I'll feel differently about that after having slept on it, but the sudden offhandedness with which they acknowledged Rachel's murder felt a bit lazy and incomplete.
A minor point I guess, but Eliot's whole character felt like a first-pass idea that they liked and insisted on including even after the final treatment didn't really have a place for him. The showdown at the Amber house just didn't work for me. In that vein, a lot of the side characters and really all of the newly-introduced characters feel like they got shorted by the script. Mostly Steph and Mikey, I really liked their characters and they made an immediate impression and then almost completely calcified. Would have liked to see more with them but I get it was a shorter game and they needed the screentime for other things.
Presentation wise, I was impressed with the framing of some of the pivotal images, and the voice actors actually did a better job than I was expected after hearing about the strike. Especially Rachel. Really everything about her character was the major triumph of this game.
That's all I got for now. Definitely ready to go back to the original game and see how it changed things. My biggest takeaway is that it completely justified my choice at the end of the original and I am a smart correct person who has never done anything wrong.
Ending
I agree on the post-credits stinger. It was a cheap and unnecessary inclusion. Before the Storm was the story of how Chloe and Rachel met, now how Rachel vanished, so it had no place as the ending to the story they just told.
+2
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scherbchenAsgard (it is dead)Registered Userregular
So I just saw the Bonus chapter playthrough on youtube (I did not get the prequel myself) and it was beautiful, short, heartbreaking and sweet and it renewed my love for this gem.
Also Ashly Burch is back as Chloe which you can tell immediately, which alone raises the quality tbh. Also, also, she apparently wrote the thing so that blew me away.
Almost tempted to buy the prequel now just because of the bonus chapter.
So I just saw the Bonus chapter playthrough on youtube (I did not get the prequel myself) and it was beautiful, short, heartbreaking and sweet and it renewed my love for this gem.
Also Ashly Burch is back as Chloe which you can tell immediately, which alone raises the quality tbh. Also, also, she apparently wrote the thing so that blew me away.
Almost tempted to buy the prequel now just because of the bonus chapter.
Ashly Burch wrote all of Chloe's lines in the prequel. The quality of BTS is great and you shouldn't let the lack of Burch as the VA hold you back from playing it.
+2
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firewaterwordSatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered Userregular
I need to play the second episode of before the storm, but the end of the first one pissed me off so much for kinda silly reasons.
Seeing Rachel pointlessly burn down that tree right when Sonoma, Napa, and Santa Rosa were all on fire like 30 minutes north of me really irritated me at the time!
So I just saw the Bonus chapter playthrough on youtube (I did not get the prequel myself) and it was beautiful, short, heartbreaking and sweet and it renewed my love for this gem.
Also Ashly Burch is back as Chloe which you can tell immediately, which alone raises the quality tbh. Also, also, she apparently wrote the thing so that blew me away.
Almost tempted to buy the prequel now just because of the bonus chapter.
Before the Storm is kind of rough at times, but the good far outweighs the bad in the game.
The bonus episode, farewell, was superb. I was choking back tears a couple of times, and still remember
the sinking feeling in my stomach when my guess of it taking place on the same day as Chloe's dad's death was confirmed when I found the photo on the counter. Just, fuck.
I need to play the second episode of before the storm, but the end of the first one pissed me off so much for kinda silly reasons.
Seeing Rachel pointlessly burn down that tree right when Sonoma, Napa, and Santa Rosa were all on fire like 30 minutes north of me really irritated me at the time!
Been long enough that I'm over it but still.
I'm not. I live in Coffey Park and stuff like that is kinda triggery. I was thinking of playing this, but maybe now I'll skip it.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is not Life is Strange 2, but it does connect to it in multiple ways. This is the first step into the diverse world of Life is Strange beyond Arcadia Bay where you will find secrets and hints as to what to expect in Life is Strange 2. In addition to this, choices & actions you make in Captain Spirit will carry over to Life is Strange 2.
Posts
I think your second spoiler is 100% the case.
On the other hand, kinda digging the Adventures of Chloe('s Bad Decisions).
(This series is some hilarious, dumb shit.)
Hey I listened! I've only just started with the second chapter though.
unless you are implying we're not friends
Episode 1 was awesome, I don't think I've ever seen a prequel done by another company that captures the source material so well.
EDIT: To be clear, since leak is a strong word... it's available to download and play the normal way on Xbox, but only due to some sort of fuckup at either Microsoft or SE. Go in game, click purchase/install on Episode 2 et voila
XBL: Sans Gravitas, Steam, Destiny, Twitch
Destiny Raid Groups: Team NATBurn, Team Fourth Meal (Disbanded)
Well yeah, but some places such as the LiS subreddit aren't even allowing that. I mostly wanted to make sure that it doesn't go against the forum's "no talking about piracy" rule because while it's clear *to me* that this isn't piracy, the distinction about playing content early that you aren't supposed to be is kind of muddled.
XBL: Sans Gravitas, Steam, Destiny, Twitch
Destiny Raid Groups: Team NATBurn, Team Fourth Meal (Disbanded)
Before the Storm Episode 2 Early Release and original Life is Strange Ending spoilers:
Her whole life she's been having people choose other people/things over her. William "chooses" to die, Max "chooses" Seattle, Joyce chooses David, Rachel chooses Frank and Jefferson. So in the end, I just can't choose Arcadia Bay over Chloe.
A final betrayal.
There's still the distinct chance that Rachel is playing Chloe in an attempt to get out of Arcadia Bay and if so, that's gonna be even more heartbreaking. I suppose it would make sense because she could see Frank's RV as a way of leaving and Jefferson as a way to get to LA for a modeling career.
XBL: Sans Gravitas, Steam, Destiny, Twitch
Destiny Raid Groups: Team NATBurn, Team Fourth Meal (Disbanded)
Steph is my favorite new character, she's da bomb.
Sorry Drew, I'm gonna pay Frank to pay Damon.
I find it funny that in the first Life is Strange, I somehow stumbled my way into having Max and Chloe being an item, but couldn't get Chloe and Rachel together so far. I got her to give me the bracelet, but apparently not having Chloe dive headfirst into Rachel in Episode 1 made the kissing Rachel option unavailable. Lame.
Rachel's Neighborhood, BtS E2:
These can't be Rachel and Chloe's footprints: Footprints #2 and #3 cross over the road, but R&C stayed on the street lamp side of the road the whole way. And the ash wasn't falling long enough for them to make footprints. The footprints that should be Sera's vanish before they reach her, and she doesn't leave a footprint when she moves her foot.
Some of the opening shots in Rachel's neighborhood. They appear to be from the POV of a stalker. Footprints #1?
Rachel's Neighborhood and Outside the dorms, BtS E2:
Even foreshadowing a stalker? He is taking a ground level shot, from behind cover, from the same location relative to the walkway that the stalker would be in.
Also notice that the shovel sticking out of the ground is the same one leaning against the fence from above.
Each seed pile has arrows pointing to all paths the bird can take, including one to the Tobanga.
Chloe showing us what her footprints look like, as opposed to the ash footprints.
Various locations, BtS and LiS:
Bicycle in opening shot of Rachel's neighborhood
Probable location of the bike in Rachel's neighborhood
Chloe's house
Outside the front doors of Blackwell
LiS, alternate timeline
LiS, main campus
LiS, Blackwell parking lot
The only bicycle in the entire game, AFAIK, which has a fancy paint job instead of a single color. Footprints #3?
A pink bike on the other side of the same driveway as the green & orange bike. Footprints #2?
Lis, Blackwell parking lot
Where I think the footprints came from.
Rachel's neighborhood, BtS E2:
Possibly brand new version of Chloe's swing set, in the backyard of the bicycle house
Front view of the bicycle house, with same mailbox as Chloe's. There is one other mailbox visible in Rachel's neighborhood, which is also 44.
Which suggests they were just super lazy and reused Chloe's mailbox for everything, except...
Chloe's house, BtS E1:
The mailbox at the house across the street from Chloe has the same mailbox, but mirrored. If you watch awhile, a little yellow breasted bird will perch on top of it.
Chloe's swing
The Overlook, BtS E1:
The sign by the totem claims that the raven's face grinning face betrays its trickster spirit. The bear is grinning, not the raven (ravens can't grin).
The tree that Rachel burns down
A disturbing sketch of the tree from Chloe's dream journal
The sign by the viewfinder claims this is an Oregon white oak formed into a trail tree. The Oregon white oak has very different bark and leaves, and is fire resistant. It doesn't really look like a trail tree, either.
It looks a lot more like an arbutus/madrone: The arbutus is very susceptible to fire.
Anyone else want to get in on this crazy yarn wall?
https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstrange/comments/7939vq/all_is_chloe_dante/
It's continued in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstrange/comments/79gp93/bts_e2_dantetheory_continued_chloe_and_cars/
https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstrange/comments/7c18ia/all_elemental_numerology_in_the_ravens_time_maze/
It's mostly about episode 2 but with a ton of speculation and predictions, so don't read if you want to go into episode 3 blind
I think the most important part of this trailer is
Thoughts:
Good finale! I told Rachel the truth and there's no doubt in my mind that it was the right call.
8-)
And then Max went back in time and saved everyone! Right? Right?
...right?
Yeah, I'm sure that's how the first game went.
Fuck Arcadia Bay btw
Thoughts on episode 3:
I think it might be that I partially wanted the game as a whole to be something else - what I really love about this series is the way it takes it time and kind of just lets you live in a place - but BtS sometimes was in too much of a rush for that. And the main plot it was rushing just felt quite disconnected from LiS (which is fine, tell different stories etc, but honestly I think it did make me care a little less about it). I would have liked more time of just Chloe and Rachel being adorable together. I also wouldn't have minded answering a few more of the minor mysteries/plot points about Rachel from LiS - her and Frank, her and Jefferson, for example. - but I can see why that could be inadvisable, like the Lion-Crab said life needs a little mystery.
All in all I think i just wanted more, and in particular more Amberprice fanservice.
But if my main complaint is that there wasn't enough of a thing, I must have liked that thing quite a bit.
But I would say, this is probably the weakest of the three episodes. For me, at this moment, it goes 2,1,3 I think.
Super curious to see what the Farewell episode is going to be about.
I wanted Rachel to meet her mom, despite everything she seemed okay but whenever I hinted that I wasnt going to lie to Rachel, she started drifting further away until she just left.
One thing that came out of nowhere for me was Eliot, yeah I noticed he probably had a crush on Chloe but not that he was a real stalker about it, he got expelled in the end.
The D&D campaign was great, Barb and Elamon killed Whatshisname by severing the arm and leaving him without his fire resistance gauntlet.
The Tempest play was also pretty fun, when you are in the flashback with your father roasting marshmallows your phone gets texts from Shakespeare offering to trade Rachel for your father, even the crow sends a text.
I'm still unsure how much of Rachel Amber is genuine... Knowing what happens in LiS her fury over her father "cheating" seems ironic. I cant shake the feeling that Eliot had a point with her being fake and just using people, we are even praising her great acting abilities several times and she hints early on that she isnt afraid of manipulating Chloe.
I kept wondering if those foggy lines that appears randomly had any meaning.
The Deluxe T-Shirts were a letdown, never used them, used Firewalk, Rorschach and Dragon which looked much better.
For episode 3, Rachel really doesn't have much chance to manipulate Chloe. Chloe coming upstairs to talk to her is all Chloe's decision, as is to spend so much time and effort to comfort her. Rachel's plea by Chloe to find her mother is born as much out of desperation as anything else.
I also think scenes like in the beginning of episode 2 where Rachel is willing to throw herself under the bus to help Chloe not get expelled shows genuine care as well.
My personal feelings on the whole thing are that Rachel just (after the events of Before the Storm, as I told her the truth), her desperation to leave Arcadia Bay is informed by her relationships with Chloe (who says she wants to leave but doesn't put much effort into leaving, ironically because of Rachel) and Frank (who seems mostly fine being the local drug dealer).
She also very well could have developed feelings for Frank while with Chloe, and, being young and without the best role models, makes some poor decisions about it.
I also came away from the game with real mixed feelings about Frank. He saves Chloe's life from Damon twice, and Rachel's once, when he really had no reason to. He also has a lot of genuine and affection for his dog. He also deals shit ton of hard drugs to kids, including the drugs used by Nathan and Jefferson in the first game. He also, as a thirty some year old man,
enters into a relationship with a 17-18 year old girl, which is really skeevy.
The perfect time to buy it again and play it again after the prequel, which is what I'm going to do :snap:
Prequels are a conceptually weird enterprise and the ending in this game felt sort of abrupt and simple and lacking in impact and the most surprising thing was how little that bothered me. Knowing where it all ended, I wasn't looking for startling development from Chloe so much as the satisfaction of seeing how she became the person I know her as, and the final choice in the last episode worked on that frequency. It was sort of weird to see how even the split was between the choices, but I respect the rights of people to be wrong in how they play their video games.
What bothered me most about this game was the odd cruelty of the resolution. I'm sure no one went into this game not knowing Rachel's ultimate fate, but the last image that the game gives you feels exploitative in a way that the rest of the game smartly avoids. Maybe I'll feel differently about that after having slept on it, but the sudden offhandedness with which they acknowledged Rachel's murder felt a bit lazy and incomplete.
A minor point I guess, but Eliot's whole character felt like a first-pass idea that they liked and insisted on including even after the final treatment didn't really have a place for him. The showdown at the Amber house just didn't work for me. In that vein, a lot of the side characters and really all of the newly-introduced characters feel like they got shorted by the script. Mostly Steph and Mikey, I really liked their characters and they made an immediate impression and then almost completely calcified. Would have liked to see more with them but I get it was a shorter game and they needed the screentime for other things.
Presentation wise, I was impressed with the framing of some of the pivotal images, and the voice actors actually did a better job than I was expected after hearing about the strike. Especially Rachel. Really everything about her character was the major triumph of this game.
Ending
Also Ashly Burch is back as Chloe which you can tell immediately, which alone raises the quality tbh. Also, also, she apparently wrote the thing so that blew me away.
Almost tempted to buy the prequel now just because of the bonus chapter.
Ashly Burch wrote all of Chloe's lines in the prequel. The quality of BTS is great and you shouldn't let the lack of Burch as the VA hold you back from playing it.
Before the Storm is kind of rough at times, but the good far outweighs the bad in the game.
The bonus episode, farewell, was superb. I was choking back tears a couple of times, and still remember
https://captainspirit.square-enix-games.com/en-us
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
“Preload Captain Spirit before it releases on june 26. Captain Spirit is a completly (their spelling error, not mine) free demo”
Why would you even need to spell out that a demo is free...?
Edit: Their own developers said the game is free during Squares conference, I guess that settles it.
"Time is like a thread, Max. One tug and it all can unravel."
It's good! Definitely check it out.