I played Episode 1 yesterday in full. Took me about 3 hr 39 mins, according to Raptr. Yeah, I loved it.
The game does such a great job w/ its setting + characters, which reminds me quite a bit of Gone Home - but, this is in a much bigger scale (since Gone Home took place in a house in around 2-4 house, while One Episode of Life Is Strange takes place in multiple locations & one episode itself takes around 2-4 hours). While the graphics technically ain't anything special, I absolutely love the art-style + attention paid to details by littering areas w/ so many objects & things that Max (your playable lead female character) can interact with + that she comments on inside of her head (like many adventure game characters do, often to give the player hints on what to do, where to go, etc etc), as this stuff really sets the game-world + its story so well.
You can even read Max's journal, which looks like a Journal a High School journal/scrapbook from a high-school kid. This serves as the in-game Lore mechanic - this has background of some characters (and Max's thoughts on them). Also, the Journal contains the game's story so far, constantly updating when you make decisions and you can read how things are going so far, in the game. You not sure about your decisions? Go check out the journal and read what has happened. It'll clue you in - and do a good job of that, as well.
Puzzles ain't that hard, often seemingly quite logical - which probably (in a sense) is a good thing for its pacing, since you never feel like you get stuck. B/c of this, it can really keep the game going at its actual normal pace. Doesn't seem to be that many puzzles in Episode 1, either. Most of it seems to introduce & set into play the story + characters - and you will make quite a bit of decisions, based on this. And all of this is very well done + put together. The most important thing in this game really does seem to be the decisions you make, as they seem to shape the story + plot into certain directions based on what you decide.
Tackling real issues head-on that are issues for school these days, especially in high school...
...such as bullying in person + on the Internet; how cliques in high school operate; social media issues by sharing private things w/ others publicly, which may not be of the person's knowledge that it was recorded and/or even to their own consent; parents mistreating their significant other + children; parents who are spying on their kids; kids carrying weapons to school; and other things of that sort...
So many storyline threads are set-up in Episode 1, but never really go too far b/c it's just one Episode in; still got 4 more to go. Seems like there were a bunch of decisions to make - and some of those really might really come into play later. Some already have, in Episode 2 - as I've made certain choices, that seem to be already possibly setting some things up, that wouldn't have happened if I went w/ another much different said choice or direction.
My only real complaint is this - sometimes, dialogue just seems, at times, kind of stilted or off. I don't know, but sometimes I feel characters say things that either a teenager wouldn't say (i.e. who says "Amaze-balls?" in this era?) or have dialogue that really sound like it's facilitating the plot more so than anything instead of actual real dialogue an actual character would say to another character.
So far, loved Episode 1 and I am currently loving Episode 2. I need to go play some more.
EDIT:
Just finished Episode 2.
With Ep1+2 done, got a total of 7 hr 32 mins, so far. Loving this game.
Yeah, this is really strong stuff.
Is the main character's sexuality in this game chosen by the developers or the player? I've seen some talk about lesbian scenes and such, I'm just wondering if this is a result of player choice or not. I've got no issue with people and their sexuality, but some indie games almost seem like a platform for social/political agendas and get general praise for that despite having little substance as an actual game. (this other game, title is a spoiler: Gone Home, seemed like it was mostly praised for daring to have an LGBT plot, but to avoid spoilers no one specified that it was the reason they praised it.
Anyway, just wondering if this is Mass Effect style choice options, or part of the story design.
Is the main character's sexuality in this game chosen by the developers or the player? I've seen some talk about lesbian scenes and such, I'm just wondering if this is a result of player choice or not. I've got no issue with people and their sexuality, but some indie games almost seem like a platform for social/political agendas and get general praise for that despite having little substance as an actual game. (this other game, title is a spoiler: Gone Home, seemed like it was mostly praised for daring to have an LGBT plot, but to avoid spoilers no one specified that it was the reason they praised it.
Anyway, just wondering if this is Mass Effect style choice options, or part of the story design.
I can't remember what Ep's this all took place in.
There's a decision in one of the episodes, where you (as Max) can decide if you want to go on a date to a movie w/ one of the male characters (Warren) in the game.
I decided "yes" on PT1.
This date hasn't happened, so I don't know if this will be part of the ending of Ep 5 or what.
At one point, Max (the player) is given the choice to kiss Chloe or not.
I decided "no" in PT1.
Depending on your those 2 decisions, Chloe and Warren might react different to you.
I'd have to follow-through multiple PT's - b/c I'm not sure if doing "yes, yes" or "yes, no" or "no, no" or "no, yes" plays the situations, branching, and endings out differently.
Hell, we won't know how it ends till Ep 5 comes out + we play through it.
Thanks for the info. I'm not sure I'm actually interested in this game regardless, but my brother saw it on sale and thought it looked interesting, but was worried it might end up similar to the game I listed in the spoiler in my previous post. When you've got tons of people complaining that the game is boring and pointless, then you have certain people praising it for being bold and different, it's easy to see that they're likely turning a blind eye to game design issues for the sake of praising something for having a gay character.
Life Is Strange - SPOILERS
I'm not sure what sexual orientation Max is. For me, it's never really explored too much w/ Max. I don't know if that's not explored b/c I decided to date Warren, to not kiss Chloe, a combo of these decisions, or what.
There's no doubt about this - Max and Chloe are at least best friends and do care a great deal for each other. They've known each other since they were kids. Before the two of them went separate ways for a while, they were inseparable. And b/c they do reconcile, they become inseparable again.
There's a good possibility that Chloe might be gay, though - especially given the incident w/ Max and how when Max + Chloe drifted apart, Chloe seemed extremely close to Rachel Amber (the missing girl). Chloe gets very upset, when she finds out a bunch of things she didn't know later about Rachel Amber. Since Max + Rachel both left her at some points in their lives, Chloe did change and grow some anger issues + gets pretty pissed-off pretty quickly.
Chloe reacted to me kind of upset a bit in her tone and words, but kind of also got into trying to play it off kind of slick and cool - played it off like "Well, you've got Warren and that date" and then acting all happy for me. Wasn't exactly those words, but something along those lines. Wasn't sure if Chloe was upset + then putting on ears here (b/c she felt embarrassed about the situation not going her way); or really feeling happy for Max + Warren; or a messy mixture of both (the mixture seems most likely to me). So, it obviously took my date w/ Warren decision into consideration, when I made my decision to not kiss Chloe.
But, the other thing is - Warren does come off as kind off as kind of needy + possibly even obsessive. He constantly send Max texts, calls her, is always trying to be around her at school, defends her when need be, etc. He definitely has a thing for Max - not sure if he's obsessed w/ her, in love w/ her, or what yet. I don't know if this got more so true w/ his neediness for agreeing to date him or if he would've been this needy (or worse) if I said, "No."
A LOT for me to try, when I do a replay. No doubt in my mind - this game will get replayed. I don't often replay games, but I really do love this game.
Gone Home - SPOILERS
Gone Home felt like its story was etched in stone. To me, it felt like this: the more you explore the house and more you find by exploring, the MORE you learn about the story. I liked Gone Home b/c it was short + different. It never felt like it over-stayed its welcome to me.
My main issue with was its apparent, and at times overbearing, push for a political agenda. Its flaws were pushed aside because it explored a gay backstory which is so progressive. I tend to reject any agenda that feels like it's being forced on me.
Other than that, it really had little to no substance. I deign to even call it a game because there's no playing involved. It's an interactive experience, much like a virtual gallery, with a story strewn about the environment for you to discover. That's not a bad thing but you gotta have alotta balls to come out and call it game.
Mass Effect and Dragon Age games explored sexuality but were never explicitly praised for it because there was so much more to the games.
What worried me about Life Is Strange was the consistent comparisons to Gone Home. My first reaction was "Aww shit.. The lame trend caught on. Fuck." But thankfully, Life Is Strange seems to have a lot more substance, story, gameplay, and reason to care.
Life is Strange - SPOILERS
Yeah - the story w/ Chloe and Max is just one element out of many that is going on.
You also have Max dealing with time-travel/rewinding power; the Rachel Amber disappearance plot; the photo-contest; the bullying b/t certain students; the Vortex party + their clique; and other things going on.
See, I had no real problem w/ Gone Home being an exploration thing + with its actual story. I just don't think it's anywhere as great as Life is Strange b/c I don't think Gone Home has much re-playability + its short. Life Is Strange is much longer even for one episode, nevermind multiple episodes. Plus, I think LiS on replays might go different directions at least on the actual journey, not sure on final outcomes. There's a lot more going on w/ Life Is Strange.
I'll talk about Episode 5: Polarized, since I played through last night. Took me almost 3 hours to get through it.
As someone who loved Episodes 1-4, I just can't help but be somewhat disappointed with Episode 5. Most of Episode 5's journey was really good, though - but two major things in this game pretty much almost ruined this episode, so I can't help but have a very sour taste in my mouth, as they're both pretty much at the back portion of the Episode 5 to finish off this entire Season.
First up, there's an unnecessary and very annoying gameplay sequence in the game, which might've been cool if it was short - but it just goes on absolutely way too long to the point that it becomes quite drawn-out.
Basically, there's a stealth sequence where you can't be seen and must move properly + manipulate time properly, so you aren't seen. This whole stealth-gameplay part of sequence just goes on way too long and just feels like it's padding-out the length of the game for no real apparent reason other than that.
Secondly - like most things in gaming, movies, books, etc - it just doesn't know how to end properly to any point of real actual closure. In fact, this might be the most disappointed that I've been with a game-ending since Mass Effect 3 (base-game). For a game like Life Is Strange that I felt truly gets so much right, it feels like things really fall apart in the last section of the episode...and for this Season, on that matter.
You make so many choices throughout the entire game (usually around a handful per episode here) - that even with the predictable end-choices at the end of the game, it doesn't offer up many choices at the end; which would be fine, if the ending I took had more actual meat to it and gave more closure. To make matters worse, the ending I took (which I'd guess is probably the canon-ending here, if they do decide to do another season here) just felt so done before in other games that really doesn't do much of anything different, new, or interesting than any other games, movies, or books that have touched on "these things".
...Namely, the "these things" I'm talking about are movies, books, and games using any sort of Time-Manipulation and/or Chaos Theory, such as games like Shadow of Destiny & BioShock: Infinite; and also movies like The Butterfly Effect.
TL:DR - Basically play Life Is Strange for most of fantastic journey, but I'm betting you won't be happy with a few things from the last half-hour or so of Episode 5.