Board 8 > Life was strange, even before the storm. *SPOILERS*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Okay, got distracted, here we go.

Title screen reminds me of the Witness...like the opening music too.
---

Welp, barely played...got to talking with an old friend.

I'l try again tomorrow and Sunday.
---

I got an hour or so, let's try again.
---

Max sits. Chloe ponders. Totally different.
---

So this backtalk mechanic's gonna be interesting. I failed it on purpose and see the game's letting me work around it...this time.

Restarting the episode and trying it seriously this time.
---

Ooh, first tough choice...feels weird not to have rewind anymore.

This guy broke a bottle ready to cut ME? No no, he's getting attacked (getting X pressed).
---

A journal to a friend who won't read it...damn.
---

Goodbye unicorn.
---

Gonna try to be understanding of David, but I know what happens in a few years so this is gonna be awkward.

Gotta stop, will try to pick this back up tomorrow. So far so good.
---

David somehow manages to come across as more of a prick the nicer you are to him
---

Well then Chloe's gonna have a bad car ride.
---

HaRRicH posted...

A journal to a friend who won't read it...damn.

This was my reaction too. I also thought it was a neat way to keep Max in the narrative even though she can't be there physically.

Out of curiosity, did you check Chloe's texting history?
---

Yeah, think there was a boyfriend-figure...will have to check again when I get home. Also, Joyce saying "There will be consequences" had an impact with me.
---

So far, talking back aeems easy...but I'm in the earky game too. Beat David at it despite trying to be oatient with hin up to that point, then took down the principal after he called me out for walking on the state. I'm gonna have to be careful about picking every single fight...but, like, I know she survives, so it's kinda fun.
---

Also, good on Big McHuge Balls for his passion in preventative fire safety.
---

Never pleased about the idea of helping Nathan out, but I thought his pictures could be used for later evidence and he'd be more appreciative of my deed done. I told the bully off in hopes of Nathan not killing me later. Right now, however, Chloe still surely dies later and photo-evidence is not guaranteed to be helpful...bah.

At least Samantha's got my back.
---

Olay, good time to quit -- I told the theatre group love is stupid and Rachel seemed into it. She seems into Chloe pretty much in general really. I saved and will figure out what's up with the belt next time I play (tomorrow?).
---

I will say I wish backtalking gave me more time to read my choices. Backtalking in real life largely requires good timing, but it's not fun to feel like I have to sometimes choose before I read all my options.
---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEO9DgxwOmA
---

Hahs, I could watch that awhile.
---

Bump, think I can continue tonight.
---

I lied, oh noooooooo.

Soon.
---

I'd sure like to finish tonight. Let's see.
---

Trainhopping, eh? Nice view outside at least.
---

Okay so it's pretty clear Chloe and Rachel are gonna continue this flirty-maybe relationship.
---

Rachel going Noooooooooooo has been the funniest bit of the game so far.
---

I'm going to assume you didn't play D&D with the nerds
---

DeathChicken posted...

I'm going to assume you didn't play D&D with the nerds

Yeah I was going to wait for the end to bring this up. It seems an odd thing not to comment on unless he just didn't do it
---

Oh yeah, totally played with them! That was a fun side-thing. My one real D&D experience in life went kinda poorly, so I'm glad this was fun to do for me.
---

Aaaaand Episode 1 is down. That escalated quickly.

To witness your dad in that cheating moment is a serious problem. To burn the forest is a serious crime. There goes that tree I liked.

Chloe's gonna need a few more pep talks from her dead dad to get her through this one.
---

Holy crap these credits are long.

Episode 1:

I attacked
I was kind to Joyce
I defended Nathan
I tokd Rachel we're more than friends

Didn't take the money (hey, never saw it)
No pot frombFrank
Didn't read Joyce's self-help book (missed the option, saw the book)
No photo on the dresser
No money into Joyce's purse
Told Eliot I'd see the play with him (uh-oh, I see where this is going)
Skip's demo was good
Finished the table top game
Didn't sabotage Victoria's homework
Falling in love is stupid
Shared the earbuds with Rachel (2% said no!)
Jumped out of the train
---

Who's pounding on my door in Episode 2? First guess was David, but when money was mentioned Frank came to mind. This won't be fun to deal with.

And last, this new title screen...jeez, the beautiful shot went to hell fast. I'm getting Gatlinburg flashbacks. I figure Episode 3's will just be ashes and soot.

Good episode. More thoughts later tomorrow, but I'm happy diving into LiS:BtS. This feels more like a Telltale game than LiS does though. Rewinding mattered a lot and this doesn't rewind, plus backtalking mechanics seem to fall in line with Telltale's timed choices. Again, still good and enjoyable -- it just blurs the line between LiS and Telltale.

I'll play the next episode tomorrow...oh hell, I can't until I don't even know when. I see what some of ya'll had to go through now and it sucks!
---

HaRRicH posted...

I'll play the next episode tomorrow...oh hell, I can't until I don't even know when. I see what some of ya'll had to go through now and it sucks!

Welcome, brother

I'm glad to see you liked Before the Storm so far. Personally, I was wary going into it, but I thought they did a great job with Chloe's character. Backtalking fits her really well, and I actually kind of preferred it to rewind powers. The 'SMASH" scene was also one of my favorite sequences in the series so far. They also did a great job with introducing Rachel, who was basically exactly as I expected and super fascinating. I'm hoping the future episodes have this level of quality.

By the way, did you get the feeling that Rachel has supernatural powers based off that scream at the end there? That's the thing I'm most curious to see in future episodes because I could see it being either an actual power or just thematic license.

If you're interested and know the way to that archive website GMUN has, you can read more detailed thoughts people posted about BtS in a few other topics. We can keep discussing stuff here too if you think of anything, I love Life is Strange
---

The smashing was neat -- I felt like after the fact that there was gonna be a "choice" between attacking the mannequin or mirror first, like it would be an option between blaming Rachel or yourself in a metaphorical way. The game moved on after I hit the mannequin so I couldn't hit the mirror afterward...ah well, didn't seem to matter besides having the head in the car's flashback.

Totally agree Rachel's got a power. I'm not precisely sure what it is, maybe wind or fury, but there's something there. Chloe finds a way to connect with the supernatural!

And I may need a link.
---

I really liked that bit up on the mountain where you can have Chloe just flat ask Rachel "Are you full of shit with all of this" and Rachel...is non-committal on answering
---

I wasn't crazy about stealing the wine on the mountain. It was a fun scene, but I didn't like that I had to steal it. That's the type of choice I wanted to feel torn on there, and instead it just had me standing there waiting until I took it to progress the storyline.

I also expected to be caught. Come on, these people are locked out and alone with just their bottle of wine. You don't think they're gonna notice or look for us like RIGHT AFTER we leave? Didn't believe that.
---

Huh, it turns out GMUNs archive website is so against the TOS you can't even mention its name or link to it in a PM. Not sure how else I can direct you there but there wasn't too much in those archived topics anyway

Anyway, I actually agree about the stealing the wine bit. It was probably my least favorite part of the episode. There were still some great moments in the backtalk segment ('I think she needs mouth-to-mouth!' 'Nooooooo') but overall it was too overtly comedic. It felt out of place at the time and, looking back, it was definitely out of place coming right after Rachel's big revelation about her father's affair.
---

"Noooooooo" was perfect and justified much of the segment, but, yeah.

People watching was nice too though.
---

PM'd, by the way.

I'm excited to see how Chloe's imagined car-rides with her dad go from here.
---

Hella bump.
---

Reading through theories, will comment more soon.
---

Robazoid talked about how lame Max is for totally flaking on Chloe's texts...and I agree, but I feel like I already understood this dynamic from their first truck-ride together in LiS E1. Maybe not the precise detail, but it felt in-character to what was previously/later established by that ride.

The supernatural-Rachel theory makes sense...will be excited to see where it goes.

Cody11533 is right: digitalized D&D could be its own stand-alone thing (as in DLC; cautious to say its own game but maybe a new IP could do that well too). Also agree graffiti (and the silly choice of choosing how) was a good touch.
---

Also, somebody mentioned the forest fire was hinted at all through-out the game...can someone walk me through this? That band deep in the woods at the beginning was Firewalk (Firefoot?), but I'm not sure what else hinted at the fire.

The title scene hinted at the importance of the area where the fire happened, but I wouldn't call that the same thing.
---

There were fire safety posters everywhere outside Blackwell, plus the conversation with Evan that I assume you saw given this:

HaRRicH posted...

Also, good on Big McHuge Balls for his passion in preventative fire safety.

Also, the 'Max ditched Chloe' dynamic was certainly made clear in LiS but I always assumed they just kind of stopped talking. Those texts showed Max actively ignoring her
---

Yes, okay, that helps make sense. Nifty!
---

While I'm thinking about it, I also really liked how BtS justified a lot of Chloe's character. Like, tons of people hated her after she freaked out at Max for answering Kate's call in Ep2, but look at it from a bitter Chloe's perspective with this new information from the texts

"Oh, I tried to get in touch with you multiple times back when I needed you most and you completely ignored me. Now that we're finally hanging out again, though, you're dropping everything to immediately answer some other friend's call? I see how it is."

I dunno, that reaction seems justified to me, especially since she didn't know Kate's situation. BtS also showed that David wasn't doing a great job right from the start, it wasn't all Chloe's fault.
---

Good point about the call. That probably did sting.
---

Chloe also owns up to that and goes "Yeah that was stupid of me to freak out over" a bit after
---

DeathChicken posted...

Chloe also owns up to that and goes "Yeah that was stupid of me to freak out over" a bit after

This only happens if you save Kate, actually (which always bugged me, you'd think the apology would be even more necessary in the timeline where she died)
---

Fair point!


I'm watching a speedrun of Life is Strange now and it's the weirdest thing to think this is the kind of game meant to be done fast.
---