8 cool things we learned about Life is Strange 2 from its creator

hello Johnny from Eurogamer here and this is life is strange too if you've had an eye on the channel this week you'll have seen the ether sat down with Michel Coe he's the co-creator of life is strange and Coe game director on life is strange too there's a whole hour of them playing through the game and talking about the design decisions that shaped it so if you've got the time to spare I highly recommend you check it out some of the things Michele revealed during the recording was so interesting though I decided to pull them out and make this eight cool things we learned about life is strange - spoilers ahead obviously so if for some reason you haven't played life is strange - you'd better stop watching now first let's get the unpleasantness out of the way first it's time to talk about mushroom from the moment Daniel uncovered the adorable little puppy in the back of Brody's car in Episode one we knew we were in love with mushroom but we were also terrified that something bad might happen to her lo and behold in Episode two the worst occurred and a cougar killed Daniel's beloved pet like a lot of the life estranged community we were devastated but we also couldn't help asking why having a young dog with you when you're on the run from the police and also a child yourself isn't really practical sure but did she really have to die according to Michelle yeah pretty much the idea behind the heartbreaking scene was to demonstrate the destructive capabilities of Daniels power not just to us but to the boys themselves as well remember that Daniel has no memory of the incident at the start of the first episode that saw his father Esteban shot dead and Sean's view of what was going on at the time wasn't exactly crystal clear either with that in mind it was important the Diaz brothers be afforded the opportunity to see just how dangerous this power can be according to Michelle in order to really bring that scene home they needed something big to happen Daniel needed to be provoked enough that he consider turning his powers on another living creature and the players needed to be provoked enough that they'd consider letting him do it and so mushrooms death came to be Daniels reaction is roar enough that he'd consider killing something and with it being an animal rather than a person there's every chance the player might consider Daniels revenge justified even if they know deep down is the wrong thing to be teaching him at that moment it's still a harsh scene and don't get me wrong I am still not over mushrooms death but it's nice to know a good amount of thought went into it and for the record I am so glad we spared the Cougar I went back to see what would have happened if we hadn't come Daniel down and well it's pretty brutal next up while we're talking about Daniels powers did you know they directly influenced the game's soundtrack while the licensed tracks in life is strange too were chosen partly to reflect Sean's music taste and set him apart from the super indie bopping max Caulfield the music composed specifically for the game is much more electronica influenced than it was in the first season the composer is the same but Michelle told us the music was pushed in a new direction partly to reflect how different Daniels powers are to Max's while Max's power is very calm and floaty allowing her to rewind time and take herself out of the moment Daniels power is much more immediate and as we've already seen considerably more violent in terms of its impact on the world around him so if you ever thought life is strange - sounded familiar but somehow different well now you know why while Shaun and Max may differ in terms of their music tastes mind you they still share some pretty fundamental similarities not least as we found out how they were created in the first place even though max is a very cautious individual by nature whereas Shaun like smoking weed tagging walls and going to parties don't not actually made these two characters in the same way the trick we were told is to give them a personality but to make sure it doesn't take up too much space in other words while we do get a sense of these characters and what they stand for there still needs to be room for player choices that's not to say these characters are vacant of course I think it's more the case that players build up an idea of who their version of these people are through the choices they make in the playthrough Aoife and I are doing for example Shaun is governed more by his head than his heart for all it's worth though I think the balance is a bit better this time round max at times could be a bit too much of a blank slate in the first life is strange so it was nice to see Shaun asserting himself a bit more in the sequel talking of the decisions Shaun makes have you ever felt like life is strange - makes it hard to be the nicest big brother you can be while also teaching Daniel the importance of doing the right thing it's not just your imagination don't nod is deliberately messing with you as a way of highlighting the tensions involved in trying to raise a child while living life on the run the game systems deliberately play being the good brother off against teaching Daniel the right thing meaning if you overindulge him then he's likely to take liberties but being too harsh we'll make him stubborn to be honest we suspected this one might be the case it was just good to have it confirmed don't not can be so cruel sometimes the next item on our list is all about hotdog man who of course makes an appearance in the motel in life is strange two's second episode but who was first introduced in the original life is strange interestingly we found out hotdog man was never intended to be such a big deal but don't not underestimate it just how much fans would like him see originally hotdog man appeared in the alternate timeline in life is strange as an action figure in Chloe's bedroom and on a t-shirt in one of Max's selfies and fans really really latched on it's so much sour in fact don't not decided to feature him a bit more and a bit more until he's one of the most instantly recognizable things from the life is strange universe the benefits of releasing an episodic game and paying attention to your audience I suppose of course making hotdog man more prominent isn't the only work that goes into life is strange between releases indeed the a I was really stepped up between the first life is strange and life is strange to see whereas he spent vast chunks of life is strange walking about by yourself sean is almost always flanked by younger brother Daniel the places he goes the things he says and the actions he takes are directly influenced by what it is you're doing and all of it is done on a scale we've not really seen from the series thus far sure there were similar scenes in life is strange like when Chloe and Max were snooping around in Frank's RV or when Max is assembling Clues on the board in Chloe's room but Chloe is always sitting down in those instances she's a static point around which the rest of the action happens Shawn and Daniel on the other hand are always on the move the things Daniel notices and the way he reacts to them depend on what you're doing from one moment to the next and apparently it was a lot of work to get the games AI into a state whereby that would work as fluidly as it needs to classic Daniel really he's a sweet kid but he sure does make things more difficult for others just two items left on our list and the first is about the plains near the start of episode 1 while sitting on Shawn's porch Lyla talks about the planes flying low over their neighborhood saying she knows she ought to hate them and their noise pollution but that she feels she missed them if she ever moved away apparently these planes and this very specific type of neighborhood was inspired by a road trip Michelle and other don't not employees went on as they commemorated the end of life estranged season 1 and began thinking about the second specifically it was some neighborhoods next to Seattle under the flight paths out of Tacoma Airport they're very distinctive neighborhoods where the houses are expensive and the team felt like they were good inspiration for the source of family atmosphere they wanted to portray with Lila with the Diaz brothers and of course with their father Esteban they also hoped it might be a treat for the people familiar with those neighborhoods themselves which is pretty sweet last and most importantly we finally got a definitive answer on Brody in life is strange - and no he is not based on me ever since the trailer first emerged people have been telling me I look like this particular character leading to this moment during our place yes I'm aware that there's a character that looks like me come on what did he say this guy looks like a freaking stalker Eva asked Michelle directly and he said it was just a coincidence even though it is a surprisingly strong resemblance so there we go we can finally put that one to rest unless they're just saying that to avoid paying royalties in which case I'm going to kick off anyway that'll about do it eight cool things we learned about life is strange - hopefully you learned something interesting don't forget you can hear all sorts of good stuff about life is strange - in the full interview which is live on our channel now hopefully you enjoyed this video if you did we've got loads more for you to watch including full playthroughs of life is strange life is strange before the storm and life is strange too so far some of them should be on screen now so do give one of those a click do you like subscribe and ring the bell icon so you don't miss anything else from your game over but most importantly thank you very much for watching and have a lovely day

Channel: Eurogamer

Views: 6,797

Rating: 4.9308643 out of 5

Keywords: life is strange 2, life is strange 2 gameplay, life is strange 2 design, life is strange 2 secrets, life is strange 2 walkthrough, life is strange 2 facts, life is strange, life is strange mushroom, life is strange hot dawg man, life is strange sean, life is strange brody, life is strange trivia, eurogamer johnny, johnny chiodini, eurogamer aoife, aoife wilson, michel koch, michel koch dontnod, michel koch interview

Id: 50Ay7zct__Q

Length: 10min 40sec (640 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 20 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/alientraveller]

This is a cliffsnote's version of the video here: https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstrange/comments/befj6v/all_eurogamers_aoife_playthroughcommentary_of/