Board 8 > What does B8 think of Life is Strange 2? *spoilery poll*

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mcflubbin
03/27/20 10:59:10 PM
#1:


Best Life is Strange 2 ending?




I just finished the final episode recently, and it resonated with me way more than I was expecting it to. It has flaws, sure, but overall I enjoyed it immensely, so I'm a bit surprised about how little discussion I generally see about it, especially compared to the first Life is Strange. I checked the Life is Strange subreddit (probably a mistake) and they fucking haaaaate LiS2 over there, damn. I can't say I was expecting that! Apparently LiS2 > LiS1 is a pretty uncommon opinion.

I'm curious what you all think. Is LiS2 an underwhelming sequel? An underrated gem? An okay game, you guess? A flawed masterpiece? A big ol' piece of shit?

What do y'all think?


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FFDragon
03/28/20 1:26:53 AM
#2:


I just finished this like 5 minutes ago.

I was not prepared for hippie David.

I don't think it's bad... It just wasn't Arcadia Bay.

BTS > 1 > 2 imo

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mcflubbin
03/28/20 2:23:40 AM
#3:


Hmm, I still haven't given BTS a shot and I don't know why. Usually whenever there's a PSN sale the full season is like $3, but I still haven't pulled the trigger. I should get around to that soon.

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KingAshnard
03/28/20 2:29:03 AM
#4:


I'm pretty alone in thinking this, but I thought it was fantastic and incredibly underrated. A lot of people hated the road trip nature of it since that was such a huge departure from the first game, which had a much more consistent supporting cast throughout, but I enjoyed it a lot since I could tell what they were going for and it worked with the themes of the game. It's a different kind of story from the first (more of the real world drama, less emphasis on the supernatural) and it contrasts the more female teen-centric LiS1 with a focus on male adolescence instead, but in many ways I think I actually prefer LiS2. I definitely think the dialogue is going to hold up a lot better over time than LiS1's, which hasn't aged well at all--but for many people I guess that's part of the first game's charm.

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mcflubbin
03/28/20 1:17:44 PM
#5:


Morning bump.

Okay, which of you sick bastards voted for the Lone Wolf ending? I mean, did you see Daniel's haircut? Are you out of your mind?

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MechanicalWall
03/28/20 1:34:57 PM
#6:


Life is Strange 1 is my favorite game of the decade but for some reason I just haven't been able to muster enthusiasm for the second one. Not having Max and Chloe is understandable but they carried a lot of that game for me...

I'll probably get LiS2 whenever it gets a boxed release

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TotallyNotMI
03/28/20 3:03:54 PM
#7:


I liked the game, although the road trip nature seemed to make choices (outside of the Daniel developing ones) matter even less than normal since the characters weren't see again.

I got Parting Ways ending and Finn joined me in Mexico. Watching the other endings online I feel like it was the best one? Redemption was way to depressing imo.

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KingAshnard
03/28/20 5:56:50 PM
#8:


MechanicalWall posted...
I'll probably get LiS2 whenever it gets a boxed release

It got one last month.

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MechanicalWall
03/28/20 5:59:14 PM
#9:


KingAshnard posted...
It got one last month.


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mcflubbin
03/29/20 12:51:12 PM
#10:


TotallyNotMI posted...
I liked the game, although the road trip nature seemed to make choices (outside of the Daniel developing ones) matter even less than normal since the characters weren't see again.

I got Parting Ways ending and Finn joined me in Mexico. Watching the other endings online I feel like it was the best one? Redemption was way to depressing imo.

I definitely think your point about the choices is a valid criticism, though I think the road trip nature is still one of the biggest appeals of the game to me. Some combination of the coronavirus situation and my own quarter life crisis is making feel increasingly trapped and anxious, so it really was a perfect time for me to play LiS2 as a form of escapism. It makes me want to take a cross country roadtrip myself! Maybe next year when I have some more PTO saved up and this coronavirus shit has hopefully blown over.

Anyway, I ended up getting the Redemption ending, and even though it is super depressing and bittersweet and made me cry like a baby, I still think it's the best one.

I tried to play Sean as morally as I could, and Redemption's the only ending that doesn't involve murdering a shit ton of police officers to get to Mexico (even if Sean has every right to be resentful towards the police). Thematically, it makes sense for Sean to make the ultimate sacrifice for Daniel so that he has a chance at living a normal life, as depressing a thought as that is. My initial thought was that the Parting Ways ending is better, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that one's pretty depressing too. First of all, Sean and Daniel and separated, and that's no bueno :(. Secondly, I've been quarantined for only two weeks and I'm absolutely miserable, so I can't imagine Daniel is leading a very fulfilling life being on what I assume is indefinite house arrest. Though it's nice that Sean can end up with that lovable goober/dumbass, Finn.


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Snake5555555555
03/29/20 1:31:17 PM
#11:


Surprisingly good but definitely falls short of the greatness of LiS1. I wasn't expecting much after BTS highly disappointed me but the story of being a guardian and proper role model to someone younger than you was extremely compelling, and brought back TWD S1 vibes with that Lee/Clementine dynamic with a more grounded setting. At first I was disappointed with not playing a character that had a power, but after thinking about it is kind of neat to be the bystander in a "superhero" story and see from a different perspective how that power can affect others with you being mostly powerless besides your words and influence to stop any destruction Daniel may cause. The road trip aspect was a double-edged sword in my opinion. It was cool to see a lot of variations in locations, but it made many locations very forgettable after you were done with them and pretty much the entire supporting cast very weak besides a few strong exceptions (like Lisbeth). The game also isn't very good at dealing with the political aspect of Sean & Daniel's situation, with very cartoonish stereotypes in the last episode in particular I just didn't enjoy very much.

There's a lot of good here, but LiS1 was a far more ambitious story and made far better use of its powers, setting, & characters, and that consistenty is ultimately what LiS2 is missing for me.

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mcflubbin
03/29/20 3:00:39 PM
#12:


I definitely enjoyed the Lee/Clementine dynamic as well! It's hard not to draw that comparison. It's neat how at the end of every episode they showed you the choices you made as Sean and then they also showed you the choices Daniel made independently as a result of Sean's choices. It adds another layer of complexity to the choices you make, and I love that. I tried so hard to be a good role model, and by the end of the game I felt like a proud big brother lol.

I agree that the political aspect of the game was underdeveloped, for sure. It's easily the weakest part of the story. I think they tried to get a bit too ambitious with the story they were trying to tell and in the end some of the ideas ended up half-baked. I think with a few changes there could be potential for a decent story about racism in America in the script somewhere, but what we got (for the most part) was too on-the-nose and oversimplified to have any sort of lasting emotional impact. On the other hand, I live in AZ, and I personally have met some pretty awful people that make those over-the-top cartoony hillbillies in Episode 5 seem not entirely unrealistic, as unfortunate as that is. So I guess while I can get on board with the game's prevalent theme of "fuck racist hillbillies" , I definitely wish it were presented with more tact and nuance.

I think I might replay the original Life is Strange soon, maybe after I give BTS a shot. I hear a lot of conflicting reports on whether BTS is worth playing, so I'm interested in seeing what makes it so divisive. I played LiS1 a few years ago, and while I liked it quite a bit, it didn't really resonate with me the way LiS2 did. A lot of the story is kind of hazy for me, so I want to give it another shot and see if it'll resonate with me more on another playthrough.


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FFDragon
03/29/20 3:13:20 PM
#13:


mcflubbin posted...
I'm interested in seeing what makes it so divisive.

Basically how much you like Chloe.

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BlackDra90n
03/29/20 3:35:07 PM
#14:


I liked it. It's a different game than the first one but that's expected.

I played through it twice. On the first time I got Redemption and on the second I got Blood Brothers. To be honest, I didn't really like either ending but of the two. After looking up the other endings, I think my ranking is..

Parting Ways > Blood Brothers > Redemption > Lone Wolf

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TotallyNotMI
03/29/20 7:09:28 PM
#15:


I would like the Redemption ending better if Finn/Cass could be there when Sean got released as well. But the fact that they (understandably) moved on is just another knife in that ending.

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mcflubbin
03/30/20 11:05:00 PM
#16:


FFDragon posted...
Basically how much you like Chloe.

Well now I'm curious because I didn't really like Chloe at the beginning of LiS, but she definitely grew on me a lot by the end. So maybe her likeability is like a reverse parabola? Could be neat. Hopefully it's not a straight upward trajectory, otherwise I don't know if I'd be able to handle 3 episodes of that. Either way, I'm definitely gonna nab BTS the next time it's on sale.

TotallyNotMI posted...
I would like the Redemption ending better if Finn/Cass could be there when Sean got released as well. But the fact that they (understandably) moved on is just another knife in that ending.

Yeah, that would have been cool if they showed up, even if it was just platonically.

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mcflubbin
03/31/20 8:47:34 PM
#17:


I'll give it another bump.

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