Life is Weird (Gaming)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Saturday, October 24, 2015, 15:04 (3117 days ago)

Spoilers.

The final episode of Life is Strange was amazing, gut wrenching, mind boggling, disappointing, and a triumph all at the same time. There was a ton of just hella awesome stuff in this episode:

• Max in the Dark Room. All the scenes were disturbing but so so well done.
  
• Time jumping to escape captivity.
  
• The long strange dream sequence. Yes it was weird but parts of it were extremely well done like the walk through the frozen memories.
  
• The fight between Mr. Jefferson and David Madison. It was impressive how well choreographed and animated that short scene was. And how many ways it could end. It had several obvious bad endings but also more good endings than I apparently found!
  
• The art gallery. It was a small set but it just felt right and good.

And then there's the endings. In some ways having just two choices which both largely negate everything I did over the series should make me furious. On the surface, it's even worse than Mass Effect 3's ending... but I can't seems to stay mad at it. I think it's because Mass Effect 3's ending was just completely out of left field straight up bonkers while Life is Strange's was at least heavily rooted in everything that came before. That said, I don't think Life is Strange's ending did the series the justice it deserved. There were a couple of things I was hoping for from the story that would have greatly affected the ending:

• I was really hoping Rachel Amber was also a time traveler. Throughout the series its said that she was popular with everyone and friends with everyone and good at everything. I was hoping she was like Max but not shy and had been using her powers here and there to accomplish her dreams and thought she was invincible and then finally got in over her head and found out she wasn't.
  
• I was really hoping that the tornado of doom wasn't simply the "don't mess with time" tornado. I wanted it to be drugged Dark Room Max's out of control range and hate and loss and fear and anguish made manifest. Not something she was trying to do, but something that came from all the horrible events she'd had to live through over the past week combined with being trapped and helpless and barely awake. It could be a tornado that stretched across multiple timelines but preventing Max from being captured, like in the art gallery line, would also prevent the tornado.
  
• Lastly, I was hoping for a little more explanation behind Max's time travel powers. There were some small hints it was indian burial ground type magic for instance. It didn't need to be fully explained but it ended be not explained at all. Why did Max get these powers? Why get them at all if using them only causes disaster? Does she still have them in the end and can she use them for small things without dooming everyone all over again? (Also, is the blue butterfly evil?)

Now... the ending choices themselves:

The sacrifice Chloe ending was good. Except for two things. 1. I had Max kiss Warren before jumping into his picture. It would have been a nice gesture if they'd held hands at the funeral. There were standing right by each other after all. And 2. Maybe it's just breaking time and defying fate in a different way, but I kinda wish Max had been able to just step around the corner and yell: "Hey!" when Nathan came into the girls bathroom thus breaking up the shooting confrontation before it even began. Would fixing things without messing with time work? Max still knew everything, right? She could have put the bad guys away without ever rewinding...

The sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending was, to me, just too extreme. I liked the spirit of it but having every single person die? Again, just too extreme. Instead of killing everyone, I would have liked to see the destruction of the town be emphasized without the total loss of life. What if, instead, Max and Chloe had lead a significant portion of the town to safety up by the lighthouse? Max would get to be heroic one more time which could have been neat. Then, up there, surrounded by most of the characters, they could be in their own little world among the crowd, struggling to make the decision to sacrifice Chloe or not. Imagine Joyce lamenting the destruction of the Two Whales, the students watching their dorms and school get blown away, others in shock as their livelihoods too were being destroyed by the tornado. There could be comments too about loved ones and friends who are still down there and didn't manage to escape.

Amongst all that you'd have Max and Chloe knowing more, knowing what was really happening, knowing that Max could save dozens more live. That she could save the town if she'd only go back and let Chloe die. It still wouldn't be a fun or easy choice for Max and Chloe would still urge her to make it, but at least she wouldn't be choosing between killing everyone and letting her friend die. There would, perhaps, be more balance to the choices and it would have preserved all the choices you made throughout the series. That, and I like the idea of Arcadia Bay being something of its own character to be saved.

In the end Life is Strange was phenomenal. Yes, it probably fell into the time travel / your decisions matter trap that lead it to stumble and fall instead of sticking the landing, but I forgive it. The combination of strong characters, incredible voice acting, tough decisions, and overall a strong story have easily put the series into Game of the Year territory for me. DONTNOD came up with an interesting and beautiful world for their first game, Remember Me, but almost every part of that game had significant flaws. Life is Strange, being only their second game, had some lackluster graphics but man oh man it almost pulled every single other thing off! It was very easily my most emotional game of the year. I'm very glad I got to play Life is Strange I can't wait to see what this studio does in the future!