A Critique of Life Is Strange

i need a serious timeout in the bathroom splash water on my face and make sure i don't look like a total loser i hate that class it's so [ __ ] boring she's so [ __ ] shy it's not you it's me you see it's not love or passion there's something desperately wrong with me [Music] those three words are the truth but thanks to this remarkable game you can utter them anywhere online and be overcome with the wildest of reactions some may think the very mention is set up for a joke to then be surprised by others unwavering adoration consensus exists but there are two it's terrible it's beautiful how can a game universally panned for its writing hold overwhelmingly positive reviews wrong you got hella cash why is it that even those who hate this game by every mechanical measure can still love it why does that same truth extend to those who don't like this genre or those who have never played a game before in their life why can't i go on for hours about how much this game sucks and still recommend it to anyone this is the mystery we are here to solve and we start in blackwell academy welcome to class that's mark jefferson a famous photographer now teaching in a high school they're paying him a lot well you are it's a private establishment that comes with the baggage over there's victoria chase as rich as can be and as entitled too she's made a hobby of bullying kate marsh who had an explicit video leak online fake what's how she thinks max's pastime meanwhile is a bit more personal she likes taking selfies i believe max has taken what you kids call a selfie a dumb word for a wonderful photographic tradition are you starting to see why opinions split max's other interests include being nosy acoustic guitar and controlling the fourth dimension which is convenient because there's a dead girl in the bathroom whoa what the [ __ ] this is the story's inciting incident the school's rich kid nathan prescott puts a gun to a girl's belly and pulls the trigger in max's shock she discovers her power and prevents the murder from ever taking place she can rewind time this isn't a dream this is no hallucination this is real this is where things start getting interesting what's going to happen next well of course as one would expect you describe your experience as and i quote then go on with your school life that weed's not going to smoke itself surprised get used to it believability is in the eye of the beholder but since most people watching this video are in fact human beings we can come to a reasonable average judgment that upon learning they have power over time and space one would not concern themselves with returning some muppets usb stick perhaps you'd try to calm yourself down to question reality but to focus on what you know this is betrayed and then nothing your mind would be ablaze with why with how with who else might have it with what could be done and what is even real everything you ever knew about science you would doubt or reject instantly your understanding of existence itself and your place in the world shattered max's lack of ambition can be explained by who she is for both her gifts photography and time her self-doubt fails to let them blossom the photo that would have won her rewards is torn up in the bathroom but a total lack of cognition that's inexplicable life is strange continues under the expectation that you will just accept this and eventually you will if you don't it's because you quit and i wouldn't blame you the game has made its core power nonsensical and stomped on the believability of the protagonist in the first five minutes but in the hours to come it will get so much worse than that a conflict between what should be happening and what is happening is a monstrously destructive weight upon all of episode one unlike max i've got a good idea about what to do with his power let's turn back the clock to the hallway round two is a little different because this time i'm not going to do what the game wants this time i'm going to do what every other player did on their first run when max wanted to escape to the bathroom and drown out the noise just like she said oh hi juliette how are you doing ah sorry getting bullied daniel yo they have this many awards the most you'll hear from max will be her thoughts on whichever item you've chosen to inspect i'm good to flow thanks nearly every environment in the entire game is seeping with these voice lines like clues in a detective game except without the insight and a whole lot more empty predictable rambling this girl must have been popular she's everywhere what incredible [ __ ] commentary this is good because max isn't a detective a little awkward on the outside slightly more lively on the inside she is who she is and who she is is believable but what she isn't is you and you aren't her what results is a severe conflict between player action and character motivation here we are in the very intro max's express intent is avoidance escape and yet the hallway is replete with items 9 out of 10 players will be compelled to interact with not only had the previous room tutorialize the mechanics and the value of thorough inspection but the player has never seen this hallway are people not programmed to examine new places are they not likely to when information is put on display like a candy shop the result is max wanting to get to the bathroom but the player doing everything but max wants to avoid other people but the player wants to closely approach all of them because you have to for the button prompt this problem is pervasive from the start of the game to the very end don't nod copied telltale who copied quantic dream but unlike the designers of the much acclaimed walking dead don't nod had no experience whatsoever remember remember me no neither do i but what you should know is that their first project was about kicking ass in neo paris it's don't nods express manifesto to reinvent themselves with every game they make and aside from life is strange too they've done that but the problem should be clear am i to expect with no prior experience that they'd improve upon the telltale format clearly it isn't as easy as it looks victoria is a weapons grade [ __ ] and to that end she and her simps have decided to block your pathway into the dorms then respectfully ask that you go [ __ ] your selfie mad respect vicky one might at first glance think of this as a puzzle so take it away how do you think we might be able to remove the cast of mean girls without hiring a hitman oh technically all we have to do is get past her once then rewind to essentially teleport by we've got two jocks playing football could say she tweeted that they had a whatsit for a penis or something could distract her and then run past unless we assume she's going to suplexus could even use that paint to do it yeah nice ideas but like the game said go [ __ ] your selfie what we actually have to do is interact with the only two objects that have prompts all of a sudden because apparently orbital striking her with a can of paint and framing innocent samuel in the process is the smartest option here there are no interesting decisions to be made you simply experiment until the correct sequence of painfully slow events occur which is doubly painful because the mechanic that could have made for hundreds of interesting puzzles instead sees fewer than five mildly engaging uses over the 15 hour run time one of those is a memory test i can praise don't nod for the multiple occasions remembering a bit of offhand information can save you a great deal of time but these are exceptions on the regular you'll be tasked with finding something in an area which in real life would involve logical choices but in life is strange involves pressing buttons on all the items available until the obvious solution reveals itself what shocks i think beyond any other failing of gameplay is the way performing a specific action will invariably have the same negative outcome no matter how many times you rewind getting a box down from chloe's shell for example breaks her snow globe you'd think after the first 18 times max would stop being such a dumb ass but apparently not why is it destiny oh man i'll always make them fall probably not a great idea to vocalize problems with the game design max kind of breaks the immersion to what benefit are any of these items included the snow globe contributes nothing but a break in believability in a similarly unimmersive fashion there's an inherent unbelievability to max's action in the presence of nearly any other npc well chloe's high as k2 so she may be the exception but max is strange far more so than life something everyone she's ever lied eyes on should be swiftly convinced of as she rummages around their personal belongings like a drugs bust right in front of them or behind them if it makes noise it counts what's important is that the environments aren't bad because of these issues but the gameplay within them is needlessly worse than it should be and what's interesting is that i try to fix all but the first in the exact same way simulating an environment with lifelike complexity is a task i would never expect any developer to achieve the albeit in perfect trick lies in the presentation don't show me prompts in puzzles design areas with player observation in mind then allow interaction upon close approach you'd be attracted to what stood out and deduce solutions there on alternatively have prompted interactables act like clues then locate the unprompted solution based off gathered information games even in this genre have been doing that for decades now you can have decision making in the decision making game and at least for the first method max doesn't look so invasive despite being an introvert life is strange's debut effectively introduced every character in the game and kick things off without a hitch but the game makes such a clown of itself i couldn't believe what i was seeing i couldn't believe that i wanted to see more yo what's that coming over the bay is it a giraffe is it a giant twister ready to wipe out arcadia no silly it's a surf shark cat good thing too because without them i'd be busking out with the a4 trap trying to get a job in nando's when i'd be in gcse media studies i'm gonna go out on a limb and say you might have spent a lot of time at home recently you're on netflix you're probably scraping the 6.0 imdb score part of the barrel i got tufam with surfshark simply swap over to one of their superfast servers abroad and you'll be watching avatar the last airbender on us netflix in no time like i am right now of course there are also numerous other benefits to making yourself harder to track in the modern world big brother i honestly don't get what the big deal is about a thought police but i much prefer using little brother as a footstool and i sure [ __ ] don't want anyone reading my internet history surf shark's as good a deal as it gets with my link you'll get a colossal discount and three months on the house all for 37 squid that's 27 months for the same price a lot of people are paying for full still not convinced well there's a 30-day money-back guarantee so don't sweat it go to surf shark dot deal white light down in the description for the best vpn deal you can dream of and to help this channel surf above the sharks [Music] okay the writing is bad and the gameplay is worse this equation isn't adding up but clearly there's an answer what did you get it's snowing while the sun blazes and the moon isn't alone where max is so devil may care regarding her life-changing powers that the devil would actually care more this is not a problem that extends to her friends chloe is written honestly here she wants proof beyond doubt and then some fun it's been five years since these two last met here they are reconnecting with each other and arcadia bay are you this place is described as nostalgic by its designers there's something familiar about it imparted by the media no doubt and also something inherently new breathe it in life is strange's visuals are a very interesting case every single texture is hand painted in an impressionist style sometimes that impression is one of frankly [ __ ] graphics and other times it's of dazzling artistic beauty out of arcadia you could mistake max's face for a piece of crap ps2 character but in it blocky hair and entirely smooth skin come alive can the same be said for the view outside mr jefferson's class window you can paint every texture but sometimes brush strokes simply look like compressed pixels thank god attention is never drawn to the times this game could be mistaken for transformers ds not sure that goes for the way don't nod handle images though anytime max observes a photograph she sees the real thing but you see a contracted version so as to not break artistic consistency it works most of the time i know the game's about hipsters but whatever brand of weed gets you inadvertently concepting a horror movie must be some primo [ __ ] that is such a sweet shower of chloe the game can make a joke of itself that way daniel decosta gets bullied a lot forgive me but i'm gonna have to join in he's supposedly an incredible talent for him to sketch you with a pencil is a true privilege but then you take a look and it's a microsoft paint piece of crap what do you mean best portrait ever fam that sucks hella dick small but hilarious caveats in an otherwise thoroughly beautiful game cinematography has a great role to play in that you've seen the examples but even as you peruse the environment you may suddenly break into a different shot when i say hipster what do you think because what i think is art student in autumn with a polaroid camera and a beanie bursting to tell whoever sits next to them on the bus about 1950s film techniques and memes i think the game's ticked enough boxes but we've yet to see the big one we've heard it instead i love this soundtrack who wouldn't it's so easy to make fun of the music and life is strange which is good because i'm afraid i'm joining in what would you call this genre death stranding featured it too and i am eternally grateful to hideo kojima for introducing me to the truly mesmerizing low raw life is strange though is so hip it'd make my arthritic grandma jealous so naturally there's demand for a musical montage every corner you turn unfortunately don't nod did not have access to kojima spotify they had to make do with maxes and it turns out all you have to do to get a place on that list is have a voice like a constipated cat the musical talent to pluck at three notes on an acoustic guitar and the creativity to sing about a random girl you saw at the burger king drive-through give me five minutes a can of helium and a ukulele i'll have the next life is strange soundtrack whipped up before you can say you've just gotta open your mind bro i bet you just listened to taylor swift what do you want from me making fun of the things i love is my job if life is strange didn't already emanate the smell of the devil's lettuce you can also find what i call hipster moments scattered about arcadia they're optional musical montages that back incredible scenes such as sitting on a bed and sitting on a tree stump it can come across as a little too much at times not everything has to be about vibing while acoustic guitar [ __ ] plucks at the same three notes but can you have too much of a good thing if it's cheesecake just ask alyssa but if it's this game's infectious atmosphere maybe not my point is life is strange radiates arcadia bay it drips with addicting cliches it bleeds it when it needs to spirit animals only you can see paranormal forces of nature and endless mysterious forests with an orange sun sitting in the sky like a silent god it's twin peaks for teenagers you know i've never actually watched twin peaks so it might actually be already for teenagers huh or dark souls for hippies were the world so stylistically rich a connection is inevitable perhaps one you can relate to i've long wondered why the supernatural fits so well with stories about the young perhaps because it's scary it's the one thing parents can never protect their children from not what lurks in the dark but the dark itself but that's not life is strange max is no child not anymore perhaps it's because the sense of something sinister an unstoppable concept you can only ever see out of the corner of your eye is such an effective parallel for the secretive and harsh nature of the adult world something you don't know but you know is coming for you peeling back the veil of the lies of childhood and staring blankly at the inescapable truth is something every one of us has to do it's the first of life is strange's two core themes it's snowing in the heat of oregon's autumn the fish are disappearing the birds are dying it's subtle but it's coming closer this horror affected me earlier than any word on don't nod script any word until kate no oh god she can't die she can't kate is the human encapsulation of this theme she's likable and innocent and her innocence was taken from her don't be shy i think it's awesome you set a tongue record on video [Laughter] we're going to be sorry someday don't you sometimes wish you could go back if you have a sibling don't you wish you could see their innocence again kate is a little sister in that regard a fact the writers presumably intended by letting us play that role nearly immediately don't you wish you could make whoever did this to her pay closer to earth i also think the angle of a high school drama especially an american one is something it seems everybody who ever lived enjoys even when it isn't done particularly well look at riverdale surprisingly i didn't go to american high school i grew up in london where the kids say you're done though suck your nine in it blood batty boy ting bruh so often is american schooling presented with a fun or heartfelt story to us foreigners high school musical diary of a simpy kid even the spider-man movies can't think of many people who won't be able to relate we all went to school and school affected us all embarrassment bullying being a good friend or a bad one the chance to relive these things is special for some we're living anytime before adulthood is the connection is enhanced to a fever pitch through numerous immersive qualities the most obvious of all is the flip side of what we've covered arcadia bay though being split into scarce sets is unexceptionally bursting with information and detail from the diner to the campus even the most mundane thing there'll be multiple believable npcs with full conversations letters lying about graffiti sprayed onto bathroom walls a fisherman a trucker a canadian or a jukebox a native american totem or a message from ross geller like i said gameplay sucks but not the environments for a game that so heavily features photography i suppose how much don't not get out of angles is no surprise it's not just the detail it's what environments are chosen and when sets are unfortunately reused very often budgetary restraints no doubt but don't not circumvent this issue with time here we are in the girls dormitories wow last time i said that i was arrested but this time it's in the morning and a while later it'll be at night it's perspective it's why hbo's chernobyl is a masterpiece taking a shower getting breakfast as all the morning dorm drama plays out could only draw you in hearing a vulnerable girl open up about something you did can be just as impactful as actually doing it by don't nod's own admission your classmates are stereotypes that comes with negative connotations but the clear advantage is the air of nostalgia yes i actually think having the [ __ ] archetype and the jock archetype but in arcadia bay and with donald's depth allows the game to siphon energy from atmospheres you've experienced before the negative connotations are unwarranted stereotype doesn't guarantee unbelievable nor does it equate to shallowness though ironically that is what teenagers are stereotyped to be many and many is an understatement were put off this game just by the horror of hearing victoria speak now you're totally stuck in the retro zone sad face now why don't you go [ __ ] your selfie vocalizing emojis selfies no get it away doesn't get much more subjective than speech patterns but i think hearing teenagers speak like an abbey and the chief character is funny who knows if it's accurate slang is regional and arcadia bay isn't even real besides trust me heller and wowzer and bizarro are a [ __ ] sight better than pogchamp like oh my god victoria your new dress is like so totally poggers stop it you're gonna make me cry kappa you thought shallow that's one stereotype what's the other social media but first let me take a selfie if you've watched my death stranding video you know my thoughts on that but life is strange doesn't have twitter so problem solved i guess at the very least it saves me the pain of watching warren end up on struggle tweets no we're going back to the retro zone when all the cool cats used myspace or failing that just texted in the middle of almost anything max can be messaged relative to the choices you made beforehand there's a lot to read about a person from the way they text it's another language entirely so seeing the characters written honestly in that dimension is even greater an angle than a morning or a night watching warren endlessly pine for your attention says more about him than anyone else's opinion but just by simply being a relatable reminder that these characters truly exist that their world goes on when max isn't looking unexpectedly receiving a text is a remarkably immersive thing there are times you'll wish someone had texted rather than spoke but there are far more times you won't of all life is strange's immersive qualities among the greatest is also among the most obvious it's the acting it doesn't get much better than ashley birch the charisma she brings to chloe is the character's greatest asset i pledge allegiance to max and the power for which she stands her mother joyce is brought to life by the award-winning [ __ ] jones very good save and step douche david is done by don mcmanus so you better figure out what side you're on famous for his role in the 2015 video game life is strange where he voiced hayden i have to get my chemical on and study that's quite a range what troubles me is the direction it's hard to ignore the frequency of unnatural inflections and stresses that crop up throughout the game listen this is when you ask brooke about the snow and they both stress the same words in the same way did you see the freak snowfall yesterday i was riveted by that weird snow flurry yesterday nobody in actual conversation does this but separated actors would if there was a problem with the direction a theory evidenced even more so by how incorrectly some of the lines translate into the game when you speak to justin in the diner he says of course i'm baked so i'll laugh at anything the way he actually says of course i'm baked implies max had asked him if he was baked but the context and the meaning of the sentence should have resulted in of course i'm baked again during warren's science experiment you'll be a scientist yet here obviously yet should have been stressed but it isn't and the sentence is totally off this is a very easy mistake to make when you're reading off a script because you'll start speaking before you've actually processed the meaning of what you're saying believe me i'd know by far the biggest surprise the acting had to offer was the imdb page i'll do you the mercy of not putting it up on screen but it is unbelievable the amount of characters played by the same actor in this game alyssa and kate speaking of whom time for a checkup after having nearly been turned into dolmio by a freight train chloe drives max back to blackwell for class where victoria puts the arse in class kate puts the arse in assassin's creed she's gonna do it she's gonna leap of faith with no hay bale aliens in the [ __ ] andromeda galaxy could see this coming with a naked eye what with her absence in class and torment without end i am surprised no one thought this was a likely outcome but regardless what we have here is what i'd call the entire game's most memorable moment it's also the game's most contrived somehow max gains the ability to freeze time and then loses all of her powers the instant she makes it onto the roof that's real slick don't nod yeah i don't think anyone noticed from rubbing mean messages off mirrors to accepting her phone call the ways you can make kate's life just a little better do end up mattering to the tens of possible conversations you can have here that's rewarding goes without saying but easily its most impressive element is how your memory of kate's beliefs and family impact your ability to talk her down it's only in a single postcard that you learn of her loving father it's only on a note squashed between pages of a disused bible that you learn of her wisdom being rewarded for paying attention for showing that you actually do care is as satisfying as it is immersive this is what i call gameplay even though it's the story look the lines of blood unfortunately though the writers struggle to hide the mechanics behind kate's thoughts every time you say something correctly kate overtly replies something like that makes me feel better as if she were an algorithm instead of a person we also run into a couple conflicting processes when you affirm your determination to find proof of nathan's crimes she promises to help then not three seconds later she's telling you to stand the [ __ ] back or she's gonna make ezio auditore look like a [ __ ] amateur it's flawed deeply but it's also among the most rewarding moments i've ever had in a story-driven game i like kate i do not want her to die and i can make that a reality by proving i care believably i think we're ready now we've seen enough to answer the question oh the writing may be bad and the gameplay may be worse with rare exception but that won't stop anyone from loving life is strange it won't stop me from liking it it as if it were doubted all comes down to subjectivity does the air of rapidity that one might associate with selfies or emojis immediately turn you off can you relate to the characters or to the themes does this atmosphere touch you clearly the chances are high life is strange is one of a kind for this medium few games tackle more down to earth personal problems like suicide and grief but next to no games tackles so wide an array by merely exploring a theme believably one can receive a similar experience to opening up about their troubles and having someone else listen in an astoundingly accessible format this game tackles tough relatable issues with decent relatable characters in a rich immersive world life is strange cast a wide net anybody can play this game whether you've got a computer a console or just a phone anybody can play it because it's simple in design and when anybody can relate to it too perhaps the mystery of life is strange isn't so strange after all [Music] kate looks like chloe wants something and hey max is taking care of kate's bunny what a legend life is strange gets full marks for juggling its endless themes plots and characters without once feeling forced or unnatural despite being about literally everything and having so many characters i can't count them every time you watch one develop or run into the opportunity to have a conversation what's key and consistent is believability taylor upset in the bathroom at night i buy that and i buy weed with no ease try to shift the conversation to what's troubling her only a minute later principal wells is seen drunkly stumbling outside his accommodation clearly he's struggling to cope with the immense burden of leading so severely trouble the school and a minute after that mr jefferson exits the academy with victoria of course she's sucking up to the teacher for better chances in the everyday heroes contest seems like she's willing to take sucking up more literally too which jefferson responds to with feigned ignorance continue this trend with rare breaks in the believability throughout the game and it's no surprise life is strange avoids boredom so consistently yeah characters may display infrequent lapses but the plotting never does apart from the bottles and when there's no stakes kate isn't something we can just move on from we can't make like chloe and act like it didn't happen what it calls into question above all is how life is strange handles stakes sometimes the game will magically invent them out of thin air by stripping away your admin powers sometimes the game will fabricate them in a far more frustrating manner and other times there are simply no stakes at all i can't say how much inspiration life is strange took from breaking bad but however much it was it all comes down to the confrontation with frank he knows what drugs nathan prescott was buying on the night of kate's video we're prepared to kill him but that's not the goal we just need his records it's all a matter of saying the right thing this is by far the toughest conversation to nail but unlike kate's we've still got the rewind tough doesn't mean much then because ironically breaking bad's writing genius can no longer exist to any degree at all that show worked because actions had believable consequences you shot a guy that had come back to haunt you in every way you believe it would it established its grim believability so strongly that even a character taking a dump was enough to give you a panic attack but this isn't tense what don't nod have done with trial and error is achieve the exact [ __ ] opposite the only way you can come out of this with chloe as a murderer and max as an accomplice is if you can't be bothered to rewind thematically the power is intended to let you live out the fantasy of actions without consequence to go back and change something you regret that's a fantasy everyone has had in one way or another but there are times like this that life is strange should have shown restraint because it isn't real life it's a video game it's fiction in a story i want tension i want stakes in a supposedly vital conversation i'm dozing off you can still attribute some unpredictability to most choices in the game because their consequence isn't immediately clear but in frank's case everything plays out there and then so the scenes left with nothing i'd happily take contrived [ __ ] for stakes over jackal any day i think let's test that theory here's an example the likes of which we haven't seen before in episode 2 when kate opens up about her situation to max we are faced with a choice go to the police with accusations of nathan prescott or wait and collect more proof wait for proof i'd say nathan's an influential guy and the police usually like some evidence with her accusations max states this perfectly well but instead of next explaining her intention to get some [ __ ] proof she decides to go on and on about how the police would never believe kate which to no one's shock triggers an outburst so that's your answer i think we should wait there are other things going on that might help you but not right now so i can walk down the halls with people calling me a viral [ __ ] thanks max she forgot the basis of her own argument you have to trade between kate's happiness and her chances at justice but if max hadn't momentarily swapped brains with a [ __ ] turnip i wouldn't have to trade anything christ it's a safe bet a turnip would have had the brains to simply rewind to deliver a better pitch in the same way we've been doing persistently from start to finish it makes max look like a plum the game ridiculous and not 30 minutes later don't nod manages to do it again chloe wants to leave the diner but kate's calling for reasons incomprehensible to human minds chloe has a reactor meltdown at the idea of max delaying to take a 30 second call so you're meant to trade between pissing her off and letting down kate once again we're witness to an awfully convenient brain transplant is max not capable of talking to kate as they walk to chloe's car why does this even have to be a decision why couldn't max just rewind and text kate as she goes the time travel is simply dropped at a moment's notice in moments that max would undoubtedly use it in and does numerous times previously we know she hacks conversations and we also know max takes items into her possession by the teleportational nature of her rewind so check this out in the first episode you can either stop david from bullying kate or you can take a photo of it happening for evidence but the photo is a physical object which means it should be unaffected by rewind so long as max holds onto it all she has to do is take the photo rewind then intervene choice negated nice idea but no cigar when the photo later becomes relevant max doesn't have it if the game isn't making her look like a [ __ ] it's breaking its own rules life is strange is about the inescapability of consequences it's about giving you the power of actions without recourse and then showing you that was no escape at all but a message can struggle to hold weight when its evidence is invented before your eyes i'm led to a harsh conclusion the implementation of time travel is life is strange's greatest failing the inherent unbelievability of max's reaction multiple flaws of the gameplay and the situations i just described none of these glaring problems would exist were not for how terribly don't not executed their core mechanic but i regret that was just the tip of the iceberg this rabbit hole is so deep i can hardly believe it to this day now let's start small okay the time travel makes sense as long as you don't think about it i don't mean think hard i mean think about it at all i don't mean think about it at all i mean allow your neurons to fire max doesn't just time travel she teleports you are magic i have no clue how the hell you got in there but you wait hang on a minute if everything rewinds in space but her then why doesn't earth the planet rotates and orbits the sun which orbits the galaxy which hurtles through the universe towards the great attractor so in the description i argue that max's ability to phase objects into each other and displace air faster than the speed of light would kill her or failing that destroy the universe but at this point quite clearly we're going off the deep end if i were to sit here pointing out holes in the time travel logic we'd still be going next week so it's a damn relief that there's no point in doing that because not all logical breaks matter if it's unlikely that the average player notices a problem its severity is equally unlikely to be great who decides what the average player will notice i'd say it's the writer they know their plot holes it's up to their judgment to keep them out of the spotlight an example of failure would be teleportation the game overtly incorporates this mechanic chloe comments on it twice it's even tutorialized in words presto dude it's getting old try and dazzle me with another trick but max not being flung off the planet whenever she rewinds that's not so dire it's also not what people tend to fixate on when dunking on dope nods time travel it's easy to laugh at the logic but i think there's some valuable wisdom to be found in the title life is strange was originally going to be called what if supposedly the theme is about freedom from choice what if draws attention to exactly that you buy a game called what if your mind is primed to think about things that way life is strange on the other hand though being a far more charismatic title draws attention to strangeness oddities specifically the supernatural element i play a game with that title i expect hella bizarro [ __ ] to go down now that's what i have in mind i do believe the title played a role in amplifying frustrations but it could have been called acoustic guitar twat's grand adventure people would still want some answers the lack of any explanation whatsoever regarding the time travel is something nearly every negative review of this game brings up but nearly every defense will simply tell you that it doesn't matter because the time travel isn't the point they're right though to act like the believability suffers nothing at all is a little overzealous it doesn't suffer that much the time travel isn't the focus it's a plot device you didn't have to tell me why the birds are dying i don't care why the moon had a heated game a moment and inexplicably eclipsed the sun i sure as hell don't want to know about the logic behind the application of chaos theory because i'm already on my third heart attack from the cocaine alone what i do care about is why max and why then why did the universe decide she and chloe were worth running this little experiment for no explanation at all doesn't render the story meaningless but it does make the events meaningless for the life estranged world for the people in it what explains any of the catastrophes that face them when this realization becomes clear around episode 5 the barrier between you and the game is at its strongest because of how blindingly obvious it is now that the overarching plot doesn't play out in an actual world but the world exists solely to serve this plot warren david brook they are just actors in max's story but i'm never meant to believe that by the end life is strange makes it impossible not to believe that by solipsistically having every existential event happen only for the sake of specific characters going through the necessary events to explore the game's themes case in point at the end of episode 3 oh max rewinds but this time there's no stopping it she awakens in her 13 year old body the day of chloe's father's death she can prevent it she can change time forever and she does i know i have those keys right here i know it it's unexpected it's interesting it's emotional you can take the bus right the stop is right down the street yes i can do good call max what i'm about to say it doesn't quite add up i'll drop the pretenses this is brilliant this timeline hacking is the one and the only successful application of time travel in life is strange max you are being so [ __ ] strange you feel okay chloe i am awesome we are awesome it sets you in a new envisioning of the bay and by doing that adds an interesting layer to every character in it max could be extroverted victoria could be kind and welcoming william could be alive but what's interesting above all is whether or not he should be if william lives then he gifts chloe a car for her 18th birthday in which her spine is snapped and she is paralyzed from the neck down was it worth it it's tough to witness what we knew was a happy family crumble at the seams over medical bills and the impending knowledge that chloe will one day soon stop breathing tough to know that you're responsible if your friend was in this position and they asked you for euthanasia to save them and their family the pain would you do it that's the choice you're asked to make and after having just saved william now you know he had to die now it's your job to condemn him for me that's the game's emotional zenith what better way to show you the inescapability of consequences what better way to use time travel in a character-driven game with the benefit of hindsight it's only evidence of the idea that who and what you relate to influences your experience of this game to an unprecedented degree every game is subjective but this game is big subjective i felt more than enough in this forsaken place but nothing for chloe herself then again for a game focused on a core cast of three characters i cared more about kate than any of them that's right 3. max chloe and rachel if you've never played this game you might not know who she is but that's understandable because she's not strictly in life is strange i mean she is in it rachel's a little like hannah baker but with no screen time much less cutting and more simping hey give me that sorry i wasn't trying to be nosy obviously she was a good friend it's putting it mildly the town is conscientiously adorned with her missing persons posters so it makes sense that she's on everyone's mind her personality and relationships are naturally exposited only through conversation with those who knew her that being nearly everyone but what's particularly interesting is how she's painted in a seraphic almost divine light everybody loved her and if they understood her negative side there was still something to be revered the cool kids the nerds even the truckers all who live became her simp a nun more than chloe finding out what happened to rachel motivates both of the longest episodes three and four that's nearly half the game but max never knew rachel so why on earth are we so invested well chloe's got her own simps you max one third of every episode at least is dedicated to chloe spending time with her bonding with her and investigating her interests such as david frank and rachel episode 3 is chloe from dawn to dusk and most of episode 4 is that way too this gets to such a point that max feels like a supporting character in her own game for all the hours upon hours we spend with chloe's family lamenting her life or otherwise vibing with the queen of coal we spend no such time for max it's a very surprising dynamic for a game like this but on paper it suits life is strange rather well it's all about nosying into other people's lives and making choices for their sake though i'll concede there are sometimes max is explored she is never the focus she's just a receptacle for the player you're sticking around for everyone else with kate i wouldn't miss it for the world with chloe well she has an immense weight to bear the game is utterly obsessed with her and though ashley burch might be up to the task the writers are not with chloe's leading position her motivations drive the story but they're selfish escape to la pay off drug money the major exception being rachel but i've delayed stating the obvious long enough nobody gives a [ __ ] chloe might but for us for the players she's not in the story she's only technically a character at all so how could finding her possibly motivate me chloe's personality is no crutch in my opinion she is rude entitled and unfathomably selfish she tried to rob five grand from handicapped people and made you feel like a jackass for stopping her if she wasn't presented in such a sympathetic lens she'd be the villain that's a problem in a game that moves mountains to make you care for her well-being it just isn't a problem inherently bad people are not bad characters walter white and edward kenway are shining examples of that so what's the difference here you ever heard the phrase that every villain is the hero of their own story i can't think of a single compelling bad person who didn't have some philosophical or moral justification for their actions that even extends to gus fring the devil incarnate i don't think he was the bad guy in his head none were even if it was a lie they told themselves to sleep at night chloe lacks any such quality there's nothing to root for nothing to be drawn to either captain jack sparrow is one of the best characters in film there's not much debate about that but it's not because he's such a lovable hero it's because he's just lovable he's a magnetic presence his selfishness is actually a part of his charisma and though chloe can be fun she just isn't for the lion's share of the run time on the flip side we have mr white for him it's something else he's not fun he's not likable but he is engaging he's got shifting goals and countless conflicts all of which have a profound effect on the people around him and the man he becomes walter is deep is chloe well she's got a complicated relationship with max and an interesting fear of accepting responsibility for parts of her life chloe is probably the deepest character in life is strange but there's not exactly overwhelming competition the main character could be replaced by a blow up doll and you'd be none the wiser rpgs very rarely have the most complex protagonists wouldn't want anything to stand in the way of the rp yet we still love geralt don't we we still like adam jensen and commander shepard they have what max doesn't charisma through voice motion and dialogue they present a unique personality i'd follow commander shepard into a war and i'd trust adam jensen to decide the future but i wouldn't let max alter my past because i'd have forgotten her the trouble is if you want to portray a compelling teenager charisma charm wit these things to any vast degree are inherently unbelievable no contemporary teenager will inspire people like daenerys be as witty as house or as badass as batman name one just one good character still in high school i'll start you ever read harry potter who am i kidding you bought life is strange of course you have hermie one gardener's depth ranges from her insecurity as a muggleborn to her rogishness conflicting with her perfectionism ron measly working class peasant is defined by being so consistently overshadowed by everyone around him yet still being invaluably brave and loyal i won't delve into a 40-minute character study but chloe who probably thinks pot is for normies would still have to call him hella deep not something he could say of her but she is the one who needs it i can tolerate max's flat personality but chloe tries to hold the weight of half the game with only the strength of her voice actor it doesn't work so what is it about episode iv that had me so engaged in breaking no i'm kidding i'm not about to tell you it was chloe either i love arcadia bay and i don't want it to die there are two things that disease it two mysteries one lines with great potency the paranormal doesn't have to do much to keep me interested the moon sits in the sky with a partner a stranding of whales beached in line that sinister feeling it's still here and on the human side of things nathan prescott's mystery acts as the key to the bigger one what's happening to the girls in arcadia bay he's insane he's rich he's violent but there's something more to him he needs help what's his secret in the dark room you find it a bunker hidden in a barn secluded in the middle of nowhere and within it is a file for a hundred women or more including kate marsh including rachel amber but for her there's a location the escalation of the drama is palpable finding rachel's corpse in a junkyard marked by the smell of putrefaction of all things it's a sickening note i didn't care about rachel and i still don't but this managed to hit hard all the same the acting is brilliant and the contrast of the situation is shocking rachel an angelic figure is rotting in a junkyard of all the possible outcomes something so bad we couldn't even envision it was the one that happened it's visceral oh the stakes hurt the time travel hurts and as insane as that implementation is what this game rarely fails to be is dramatic i can point to exceptions but a scene rarely goes by without a conflict of interest because the plot threads are dealt with so densely the plot sets up the drama the acting creates the emotion the world deals with the immersion which enhances both the characters do very little at all see what i mean plot twist turns out jefferson has a fetish or two i could frame any one of you in a dark corner and capture you in a moment of desperation gee he sounds like a suspect tweet celebrity oh [ __ ] i was supposed to be taking this seriously sorry i forget can't exactly say the game sets the tone rachel amber got abused murdered and left a rot in a ditch kate tried to kill herself chloe was shot in the head victoria's on my left begging for her life and i'm in the hot seat of a bonafide nutcase serial killer who in the name of [ __ ] thought this ridiculous count dracula voice was appropriate you're the winner max i choose you your portrait he even explains his evil plans simply put i'm obsessed with the idea of capturing that moment innocence evolves into corruption this villain is funny it goes without saying what that does to the believability and i already have a hard time buying jefferson being the tesco value hannibal lecter chloe is a lacking character but this goon screws the game by virtue of existing he earns a higher spot on the list of problems every time he opens his mouth so let's shut it with the deus ex machina so unapologetic it's actually worthy of exhibition david comes to your rescue about 3 nanoseconds before jefferson hits you up with the unholy capri sun the following boss fight was a great idea on paper you'd persistently rewind and give david updated directions on how to kick his ass in execution however well it's actually the execution that's the problem even when you warn david big d jarhead madsen a trained combatant david watch out he still manages to get his ass kicked by the cover of gq magazine every time this being life is strange it's not like you can provide better directions either you can't tell him to put his gun in a close quarters stance or dash past the entrance instead you have to ask jefferson for a glass of water push a table into his ass and then knock over a lamp because of course in a life or death situation you would turn to face a falling lamp like it held your grandma's ashes remember the victoria's bony ass puzzle it's the remix well thanks david i'd take the now impending mega tornado of account twatula any day but as much as i hate him he is the final encapsulation of this game's first major theme lost innocence that runs in parallel to the tornado the final encapsulation of the game's second major theme the inescapability of consequence there is a vital distinction between a theme and a message one that many conflate and there's no better place to look for a display of that than this game's sequel death stranding a theme is just that a common subject matter a message however is using that theme to impart an idea it's equally important to understand that you can be profound without having a message a deep exploration of a theme can be just as powerful as a message especially if it's one you relate to it can release bottled up emotion it can show you that you're not alone death stranding had tens of themes most of them it simply explored but specifically with a theme of connection it tried to send a message another example deus ex human revolution is a deep exploration of corruption transhumanism and all manner of politics with impressive nuance but it never tells you what to think it leaves it up to you to decide life is strange's lost innocence is thoroughly intertwined throughout the game starts with a barely turned 18 girl having fun reunited with her best friend of times past arcadia bay is bright max is still tied up in a small scale teenager drama chloe is just happy to be back with her mate after so so long but with a little more time the veil withers kate is swiftly snatched from you the clothes of innocence appealed back to reveal rachel amber the seraphim in flesh and blood festering in the ground and mr jefferson your perfect idol was a serial killer all along suicide abuse murder and hope stamped out any innocence they had left is gone a representation to a degree of what so many of us experienced as we grew from child to adult that's why it can be effective i can relate the theme of consequences on the other hand is one that is far closer to the heart of the game's overall plot it's explored through the time travel the supernatural and of course the tornado with all of these things a message is sent there is no escape case in point on numerous occasions during episode 5 max uses photos to severely alter the timeline and what always seems to follow is a short moment of hope followed by the grim realization that she's only made things worse or that the storm is still approaching you feel this repeated cycle of hope and despair right along with max and through that an idea is imprinted you cannot escape consequences you cannot hide you have to face the storm that would be incredibly successful wear it alone the no easy way out choices are as much as i hate to say it better there than not because the consequences of your choices bolster the immersion they take the game a step above an interactive movie but of course the problem is that the supposedly tough situations make absolutely no sense and crudely force you into binary decisions despite how easy it would be to do exactly what the game is trying to say you can't the proof of the message is fabricated before your eyes when the game tries to create significant consequences for your actions i can count on one hand the times it doesn't make a fool of itself and when it doesn't try to create consequences in the first place it has no stakes which is far greater a problem than looking stupid i would take this opportunity to remind you that life is strange reference is breaking bad this is becoming a really fun meme though believable characters believable consequences so let's think about what should have the most groundbreaking impact of them all the time travel i don't want to talk about her reaction i want to talk about her development max has the power to divorce consequences from actions by deleting the action itself they struck gold this is a trove of potential for max's character depth but it is left untapped why people act like muppets and monsters online today because they know nothing will come of it people already indulge the worst of themselves regularly with only a small pool of actions and only quenched consequences not removed entirely max doesn't have the power to call someone a [ __ ] lobster and get away with it she has the power to kill mame torture or any unspeakable act that comes to mind any horrid temptation she could indulge and yet she retains the best of intentions it's beyond belief that a sheltered person's sense of morality would stay intact with power like this but max isn't sheltered she's repeatedly traumatized from the start of the game to the very end yet she becomes more conventionally moral she develops from shy and timid to an unwavering moral paragon a superhero in an exploration of mostly believable characters that's baffling for an rpg that's battling this isn't about personality which is understandably constrained this is about morals morals whose direction you could control as choice-based games are known for even without the power would it not be hard to resist the temptation to pick up jefferson's gun and kill him after he shot your best friend almost killed kate and you don't nod could have nailed this theme down so hard you could say they crucified it but they didn't they hardly started and whether or not from what i've said you think they did well enough we've yet to get to the most important decision of them all the one that changes everything episode 5's presentation does a remarkable share of the heavy lifting for its sense of climax but because max has played with time like it's her [ __ ] events can feel a little fleeting as you encroach the end despite having an array of people to save and just as many emotional conversations to have max's overt intention throughout is to find a photo and wipe this nightmare away again time travel and stakes don't mesh well in this game but the epitome is of course the ending oh the ending the final decision where you can choose between allowing the tornado to massacre arcadia bay rendering all your choices and relationships pointless or going back in time to let chloe die rendering all your choices and relationships pointless remember kate yeah well now you can choose between making her suicide no less likely or killing her after having saved her from suicide it goes without saying what that does for the replayability but i'd be slightly more forgiving if the endings themselves were worth the wait unfortunately it looks like save the bay got 90 of the 10 production budget and it shows in a moment of part redemption chloe directly tells max that she's willing to die for these people her mother doesn't deserve to be slaughtered in a diner for her sake if max ignores this how in her infinite wisdom does she presume chloe is going to live with herself how can she look max in the eye again after killing everyone she's ever known who knows because it ends on a pleasant cruise through the town you just flattened and on that spectacularly [ __ ] note the credits roll by saturating the game with supposedly important decisions then being brutally told that absolutely none of the matter any message regarding consequence is suppressed the end i find myself for the second video in a row making an incredibly difficult conclusion where one game's double successes were hard to explain for this game's adoration it was easy i've just never seen it in contrast to countless inescapable failures the core mechanic i could frame it and hold it up as the single worst implementation of time travel i have ever seen in fiction the message landed with all the profundity of a raindrop in a puddle but as is incontrovertibly evidenced life is strange can still have a profound impact on those who play it because for the first time in my life i don't like the protagonist i don't like the other protagonist i don't like the villain i don't like the core mechanic i don't like the message i don't like the game play i don't like the stakes i don't like the depth i do like the believability but not at the end and it's hurt by max i don't like the ending i don't like the dumbass tornado i don't like the motivations i don't like the puzzles i don't like the voice acting problems i don't like max's selective memory i don't like daniel decosta's stupid [ __ ] drawing but i do like life is strange and i always will thank you for watching and thank you for waiting so long since unity 2020 has been the dark souls of years of that there's no question but nevertheless i'd love to keep bringing you fresh content in every sense this was something a little more experimental for me so if you want more please do let me know before the storm was just on sale like oh my god special things go out to my chad patrons fabian flack what's ben played flip slip me dick the one true ethan hundley caleb doss alcis world attila nathan corbin davies hutch puppy rakin hock justin joshua yinde joey9451 darren bugaja cameron bowen separatu yuriya raheep devonte williams matt phobia just a clone i know lucky blake noland dylan shaffer murphy marty mr t with some tea gurniel kang sim john laemmle bishop nelson benjamin carter dominic jaworski lex williams al hudson john b sean oddie dan walker arc nines eat lord brendan frank griff the last great opium den warthold binyamin paddy mcphee phosphor lucas to azevedo hey i'm tim joshua w shriner psy shade quarter gamer ballistic rainbow chance tucker drop zz combat wombat juris purin's holy shift andrei baltuta noah b satelly leon cottondahl and abby

Channel: Whitelight

Views: 257,683

Rating: 4.9054832 out of 5

Keywords: life is strange, life is strange review, max and chloe, life is strange chloe, life is strange critique, life is strange analysis, life is strange story, max caulfield, life is strange gameplay, dontnod entertainment, life is strange 5 years later, life is strange retrospective, time travel game, blackwell academy, arcadia bay, Choices Matter Game, Rachel Amber, Mark Jefferson, life is tumblr, chloe price, telltale game, a critique of life is strange, lis critique

Id: bbD-CH9SWf8

Length: 58min 47sec (3527 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 18 2020