Board 8 > What's your favorite Life is Strange?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just finished True Colors and I think that might be my favorite ending from any of them. Will have to sit on it on how I rank it as a whole.

LiS is my favorite, but BtS is damn close too. True Colors was also really good but not as good as the originals. I still haven't played LiS2.

Honestly LiS1 is the only one I really love. They were never able to top the time travel powers.

LIS >= LIS:TC > LIS2 > LIS:BTS > TAAoCS

LiS is kinda hard to ever match. Beyond just having great characters, environment, story, soundtrack, etc. the time-rewind gameplay in a choice-based game is a stroke of genius that can't really be replicated

True Colors got damn close though. Great characters, the most memorable location since Arcadia Bay, and the best use of intergrating powers into both the story and gameplay since the original

The original had seriously profound storytelling, and both its endings offered something. BtS was a fantastic prequel that offered more context and more Chloe - and it was good accordingly.

I haven't yet played True Colors, but LIS2 is garbage.

I'd argue LIS2 was a solid game that just couldn't touch the standard set by the 1st

Johnbobb posted...

LIS >= LIS:TC > LIS2 > LIS:BTS > TAAoCS

LiS is kinda hard to ever match. Beyond just having great characters, environment, story, soundtrack, etc. the time-rewind gameplay in a choice-based game is a stroke of genius that can't really be replicated

True Colors got damn close though. Great characters, the most memorable location since Arcadia Bay, and the best use of intergrating powers into both the story and gameplay since the original

You should visit Idaho Springs in Colorado. It was based on that town and I can promise you that its pretty darn accurate

Snake5555555555 posted...

Honestly LiS1 is the only one I really love. They were never able to top the time travel powers.

Bingo.

Johnbobb posted...

the time-rewind gameplay in a choice-based game is a stroke of genius that can't really be replicated

Is it really something that can't be replicated? I would love to see the LiS team work on this again and see if it was really lightning in a bottle, or maybe an indie developer just use a similar concept in a new story. I just know it is specifically rewinding time that sets LiS above every other game in its series and genre.

LiS >>> LiS2 > AAoCS >= LiS:BtS

LiS2 was conceptually good. Its theme of choosing who you are and how your choices not just affect others but influence others with your brother was so smart in theory. I think its story time-hopping so much hurt a lot of the ability to care for it though...just hard to care about some of the things along the way like money when I see the game teaching me it'll be a new month and new location each episode.

LiS:BtS is just a LiS world with The Walking Dead's choice mechanics and I don't forgive it.

LiS Ep4 > BtS Ep2 > BtS Ep1 > LiS Ep3 > BtS Bonus > LiS Ep2 > LiS Ep1 > BtS Ep3 > LiS Ep5

TC Ch3 > TC Ch2 > TC Ch4 > TC Bonus > TC Ch1 > TC Ch5

Ranking them like that made me realize how consistent True Colors was. It never reached the greatness of LiS or BtS, but it didn't turn awful at the end either (though TCs ending was still the weakest part). I'd probably rank the entirety of TC between LiS Ep3 and BtS Bonus.

I really liked BtS, which I guess is a controversial opinion. Chloe is my favorite fictional character ever, and she didn't need no time powers. She had the power of sass! Plus I loved seeing Rachel. The new developers really did a great job with those two.

Before the Storm was solid but didn't really feel like a full game (which is fair, because it wasn't really)

no big surprises, no sci-fi integration, just a short, pleasant experience

really surprised at that True Colors episode ranking though

Yeah, BtS could've really used two more episodes. There's an infodump sequence at the start of Ep3 and figuring all that stuff out more naturally could've been an episode on its own. Plus the ending needed more room to breathe imo

Hmm. I was OK with LiS. I liked the story and the interactions between the characters but I didn't like the characters themselves, yet I could connect with them and feel them
Like, seriously, that part when Chloe asks you to overdose her to death made me shed a tear. I just couldn't decide. What a cruel damn choice

But again...couldn't stand the characters. David was a annoying PitA (even if he was right) Max was boring and Chloe was a rebel teenager no thank you

BtS was also good had some great twists but felt lacking

Lol at Captain Spirit. I only played it because it was for free and one hour or two of gameplay
Super forgottable.

Barely anyone talked about LiS 2 or True Colors so I never bothered

Johnbobb posted...

I'd argue LIS2 was a solid game that just couldn't touch the standard set by the 1st

Nah.

The characters are either bland, obnoxious, or both. Sean is a particularly annoying protagonist given how whiny and entitled he is.
There is no superpower mechanic because it's not the playable character who gets it.
There are numerous little problems with the story, many related to how long Sean and Daniel manage to elude the cops. They get recognized... once? And then at the end they just cross the border into Mexico and boom, they're suddenly safe like extradition doesn't exist.

The first game didn't have much in the way of story issues; those that did exist were minor and unnoticeable. The characters were also more likable and/or interesting, even if Max is just... okay.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

The first game didn't have much in the way of story issues; those that did exist were minor and unnoticeable.

LiS is my favorite game ever but I could rant all day about story issues, lol

It's so weird to me that they just didn't continue with the time travel mechanic. It was essentially perfect and they could have just made a second game based on that with a completely different setting and characters and it probably would've been a lot better received.

I never played LIS2 because I never heard good things, but if I knew the time travel stuff was back I may have given it a shot. I do hear Colors is good though. Before the Storm didn't interest me because I thought Chloe sucked and didn't need to see more of her.

Chloe (BTS) > Max (LIS)

Apparently I'm the only one who thinks this, though. LIS1 was more generally memorable because of some of the shocking plot moments, but I enjoyed the beats of BTS more.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

The first game didn't have much in the way of story issues; those that did exist were minor and unnoticeable. The characters were also more likable and/or interesting, even if Max is just... okay.

Well, I agree with the very last part you said, at least...

(I can't vouch for more likeable because I haven't played 2.)

Mobilezoid posted...

LiS is my favorite, but BtS is damn close too. True Colors was also really good but not as good as the originals

Pretty much this.

Although I will say that even though Tell Me Why isn't a LiS game, it's practically a LiS game and I'd rank it up there too.

Tell Me Why is fantastic.

I also just beat As Dusk Falls on Gamepass and it was reminiscent of LiS as well (no super powers though)

LiS2 has a bad rep but I get it. I liked the characters a lot but no one really mattering outside of the brothers between episodes really took something away from the story.

I still really want to play Tell Me Why. Damn you Xbox exclusivity

It is also on PC

KCF0107 posted...

It is also on PC

yeah that might be something for if I ever get a steam deck because my laptop can't handle like any game above a simple indie

The main gameplay mechanic for LiS just fits the genre too perfectly for any other answer to be correct

Alex's power to not have autism was okay