Board 8 > Life is Strange: Before the Storm Episode 3 discussion *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

I went ahead and made this topic because the other one was only marked for spoilers from the first game and people might not want to be involved in discussion of this one.

Who's hyped??
---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ23_bn_Jwg

Here's the trailer.

Does anyone know around what time the psn updates? Will I be able to download part 3 at midnight? Or preload even
---

Trailers are spoilers no no no no not watching na na
---

I am hyped. I just replayed BtS Episode One in preparation!

The D&D scene is still great, as was the 'Smash' scene at the junkyard (which fit Chloe's character amazingly well since she processes things by lashing out). I'll also reiterate how impressed I was by their early characterization of Rachel in this prequel. They found an impressive middle ground where she seems perfect yet also manipulative. I loved their interactions.

pxlated posted...

Does anyone know around what time the psn updates? Will I be able to download part 3 at midnight? Or preload even

I don't know much about PSN or preloading but here's the global launch times that I found.

9:00 a.m. PST December 19
12:00 p.m. EST December 19
5:00 p.m. GMT (UTC) December 19
6:00 p.m. CET December 19
8:00 p.m. MSK December 19
4:00 a.m. AEDT December 20
---

Wait I only just realized a few of those say December 19th and from what I'm seeing this looks legit, it's releasing a day earlier for me than I was expecting! I guess I'm going to need to stay up super late tonight to re-beat Episode Two and then I'll also have to get up early to play Episode Three tomorrow.
---

Wait....so its releasing noon tomorrow est?

Yessss
---

Let's hope episode 3 is longer than the first two
---

Every place I check it's the 20th
Where you are taking it from?
---

Nanis23 posted...

Every place I check it's the 20th
Where you are taking it from?

http://steamcommunity.com/games/554620/announcements/detail/1573310575128214764
---

I cant wait to be incredibly gay and heartbroken

Wait. I already am incredibly gay and heart broken.
---

Hella tag.

Taking bets now: does Rachel have a super power or not?

I'm saying yes.
---

nah
---

Soon!
---

Cannot connect to square enix servers
---

Oh. 2.6 gb update. Wonder if this is just ep 3
---

It was not downloading the actual thing now.

I really need an external for this
---

already I am a gigantic mess of tears

God
---

Well, I've beaten it. I'll spoiler-tag my thoughts because I'm guessing a lot of people haven't yet.

I enjoyed it and I think I'll need to replay the entire game at least once just to see how various choices impact that ending (especially Rachel meeting her mother wtf how do I manage that?) but overall I felt like this was a weaker episode than the first two. Nowhere near the levels of disappointment that LiS Episode Five managed, but BtS Ep3 didn't live up to my expectations either.

I'm still gathering my thoughts, but what struck me the most as I was playing was how linear everything felt. There were only a few moments where Chloe actually got to wander around looking at things, and that was usually in areas where there wasn't much to see (lumberyard) or what was there to see didn't really matter to the characters (hospital). Otherwise it mostly jumped from one conversation to the next.

A lot of them were good conversations, granted, but I'm also left without a real feeling of closure. It might've been the decisions I made but I'm not sure what happened to Damon or what the future holds for Sera. The montage of the friendship between Rachel and Chloe at the ending, leading up to Rachel inevitably being in the Dark Room, probably got me more than anything else in Episode Three itself.

As for the ending choice, I chose to tell Rachel everything (and I still haven't seen the alternative ending). I could've forgiven Mr. Amber for trying to pay Damon to scare Sera away only for Damon to take things too far, but everything that happened was actually Mr. Amber's plan. He intended to burn evidence, rat out an informant, pay Damon, and get Sera addicted again... that was just too far for me to forgive. No matter what Sera said, he didn't deserve to have Rachel's respect after all of that.

There was one thing that impressed me about BtS Ep3, though. I feel like the decisions I made actually mattered. Now, I've only played the game once so there's a chance they wouldn't actually change anything at all, but as a first impression of the ending it left me going over my decisions and wondering if I could've done things better (especially with that 'Rachel met her mother' stat, wtf that would change everything). That was a feeling I absolutely did not have after LiS Ep5 so kudos to BtS for that!
---

How long did it take Roba
---

I'd say about 3 to 3.5 hours, not sure exactly but that's definitely close. Similar length to the other two episodes
---

I'm nearing the end.
Looks like i missed a graffiti. Excuse to replay, no big deal.

I have gone through so many tissues. God.
---

Ill play this tomorrow
---

Wow

This fucking choice

Jesus
---

Welp. I'm sobbing.

Good job, game
---

How do i do spoiler tags

I chose the same option as you roba, and seem to have gotten similar stuff. But my ending montage didn't include the dark room?

I wonder how much stuff can actually change in this ending. And how much is determined from episode 1 or if its all in how you handle the final episode. My guess is the later
---

wait hold up, you can get a other tabletop scene???? Whattt. I talked to everyone in that room multiple times. I guess you have to choose to not go after the pudding?
---

also, okay, apparently Gerald was an option as the snitch? Which based on the files it was him, but the crime board didn't list his name? We were just supposed to assume "vendor" was Gerald scott?
---

Oh there's more montage at the end
---

Welp. I thought I was done crying.
---

pxlated posted...

wait hold up, you can get a other tabletop scene???? Whattt. I talked to everyone in that room multiple times. I guess you have to choose to not go after the pudding?

My theory about this is you only get a tabletop scene if Mikey gets injured instead of Drew but I haven't checked yet. I'm excited that there's another one, though!
---

Ohh that makes sense.

I'm going to replay just episode 3, see how much I can change the ending from this alone
---

From a gameplay perspective, there are definitely issues. You've touched on some of the big ones.

As a narrative though, i fucking love this. I love these characters. This story. And It's told so well. I need to see the other endings, but this is definitely right up there with LiS as far as story and characters go.
---

One thing that kinda disappointed me about it was...

so the first two episodes are super heavy on the romance. Almost too heavy. But then this one has almost no mention of it? I cant actually remember anything that felt like it was affected by my choices to build the romance earlier in the game
---

oh and it's a minor thing but i picked up Rachel's old shirt and wore it the next day. No one commented on its, it wasn't even listed in the choices at the end that you took it. Losses opportunity for a cute and easy to write interaction with rachel
---

I guess we can quit spoiler-tagging now. Anyone who has read this far into the topic past all of those other tags, be warned!

I agree with you about the lack of romance, especially since I was all aboard the Amberprice ship after Ep2. There really should have been something.

That said, I absolutely still enjoyed the narrative and the characters (Chloe is still the best), I just didn't appreciate how a lot of things felt inconclusive (though again maybe there's an ending where it's clearer, I really need to find time for a full replay). It also never managed to reach the same character heights that the first two episodes did. There wasn't enough Chloe/Rachel
---

also it looks like whether or not you tell her the truth doesn't affect much of anything at all. Given that it's just a montage after, my guess is she just doesn't look as sad in the one or two scenes of the montage where she looks sad. This could have been done better. Such an emotional choice with little payoff. At least there's the ending where she sees her mother. Hopefully I can get that without having to wait for a guide
---

pxlated posted...

oh and it's a minor thing but i picked up Rachel's old shirt and wore it the next day. No one commented on its, it wasn't even listed in the choices at the end that you took it. Losses opportunity for a cute and easy to write interaction with rachel

This bothered me too! Such a missed opportunity. I will say that Chloe looked amazing in her full outfit there, though.
---

I'm going to withhold final judgement til i see the alternate ending, but i agree. The story told in this section is probably the most riveting of the 3 episodes. But the character interactions are the worst of the 3.

Pricefield is always my otp. But man. This game absolutely nailed Rachel's character and their relationship. Amberprice is so so good. I'm holding out hope that the alternate ending will have more of it, but im doubtful
---

And yes! It was one of my favorite outfits for sure.
---

Also yeah, if the ending with her mom doesn't tie up those loose ends it will be pretty disappointing
---

Ohhh shit i just noticed an Easter egg. When you enter Rachel's room for the first time, there's a picture on her headboard of two does with the text "doe see doe". Im not sure why i never put this together before but one of the mysteries of the first game was, what was up with the doe? Who was it.

Looks like i have an answer. Not that you couldn't figure that out from the first game alone, in retrospect
---

Oh and fuck eliot. Glad to see bts continuing the LiS of creeper dudes trying to get in the way of the real romance.
---

pxlated posted...

Pricefield is always my otp. But man. This game absolutely nailed Rachel's character and their relationship. Amberprice is so so good.

It's a difficult choice to make. That's why I created this alt in search of a third way!

pxlated posted...

Ohhh shit i just noticed an Easter egg.

Nice, I didn't notice this either. That's what I love about Life is Strange, there are so many great little details like this. I still notice new things in my yearly playthroughs of the first game.
---

10/10 alt

I am all in favor of an alternate reality where max manages to save amber and chloe and they live in one happy polyamorous triad
---

pxlated posted...

I am all in favor of an alternate reality where max manages to save amber and chloe and they live in one happy polyamorous triad

You seem to be pretty into Life is Strange so you might've heard of this already, but if not you should check out Love is Strange. It's a fanmade visual novel that comes pretty close to this!
---

Yeah ive heard it's decent! But i dont have a properly functioning computer.

Some day i will play it
---

I think part of the reason these games hit me so hard in the feels is that the relationships these girls have remind me so much of the relationship i had with my ex-best friend/love of my life/whatever. We dont talk anymore and these characters just remind me of what we used to have and, damn.
---

My game crashed lame
---

Seriously fuck eliot
---

Huh. I got distracted when I started his talk back, and ended up timing out. Was expecting a game over or something. In the end there doesn't seem to be any consequence for failing
---