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

(+) Yeah! (+)

He's definitely a desperate dude, but I don't think he ever came across as particularly malicious about it. I'd need to replay LiS as well, though, its been a while.
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Yeah, not malicious. Just creepy. And one of those dudes that you just know is complaining about being "friendzoned" and feels entitled to affection and sex because they're nice
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pxlated posted...

He wasn't intended to be creepy except for the scene where he is seen spying through max's window

wait what? I don't remember that

pxlated posted...

It's been a while since i played the first game so i dont remember specifics but there were a lot of moments where i was like "this dude is a creep" and where it felt like he was one of those "I've been really nice to you so you should sleep with me" kinds of guys

pxlated posted...

Yeah, not malicious. Just creepy. And one of those dudes that you just know is complaining about being "friendzoned" and feels entitled to affection and sex because they're nice

See, I never got that vibe from him, he just genuinely seemed like a good friend with a crush. Hell, if anything he seemed too oblivious to everything to consider himself friendzoned.

And by comparison, I totally got that vibe from Eliot, since the first episode.
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It was super obvious to me. The way he responds to you at certain times. Very cringey and "but im so nice to you!"

But im pretty keen to this behavior, having dealt with numerous friends that this has happened to, and in recent years having it happen to myself.

And yes, there is a scene where Warren is spying on max through her window

I would recommend muting this video

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

Anyway, maybe when I replay the first game i will gather evidence for my "Warren is an entitled goon" thesis
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Eliot is obviously worse, but that doesn't mean Warren isn't a creep
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pxlated posted...

I would recommend muting this video

I did not heed that warning, baby children

I have to assume that was more of an Easter Egg though?
pxlated posted...

It was super obvious to me. The way he responds to you at certain times. Very cringey and "but im so nice to you!"

But im pretty keen to this behavior, having dealt with numerous friends that this has happened to, and in recent years having it happen to myself.

Yeah don't get me wrong, I've known too many people like that (not from people doing it to me but from them doing it to friends). It was why Eliot immediately threw up a red flag for me. The behavior of Warren (aside from that window thing) just doesn't seem to fit that, especially toward the end where he does just genuinely seem to care for Max

Has Dontnod ever commented on that? It really doesn't feel like how he was intended to come across imo
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also

can we talk about how fucking adorable baby Pompidou is

holy shit
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Baby Pompidou is indeed adorable.

Also this is from the first game but what's the deal with max's love of the final fantasy movie
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pxlated posted...

Also this is from the first game but what's the deal with max's love of the final fantasy movie

square enix blatantly advertising their own movie, in the best way. also



I have it as a mousepad
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...wow
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it's like my favorite moment in the game
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just finished. I have really complicated thoughts about this, more personal ones than anything, but I think I took this episode a lot more positively than others. at the very least, I didn't feel as conflicted as I did with LIS episode 5 -- but I also was a lot more invested in that one. I did end up getting really into Chloe by the end of episode 3 though.

I might give it some time to go over my thoughts, but I will say this -- you respond to this episode in a totally different way if you are a parent
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Re-tagging for that fresh dad perspective.
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so, most of you don't know this (and don't need to know this), but my oldest is adopted. I met her when she was 2 when I met my wife. her dad has never been in the picture, has a really bad past and was never on any birth certificate. I adopted her when she was 4. we've always been open about this because the idea of what happened to Rachel has always terrified me down the road, where I become some kind of villain for obscuring the truth in the name of good faith and protection. still, the thought of her tracking down a drug dealer -- or that's what he was years ago -- is kind of a nightmare. I hope it never happens and when we cross that bridge, it's going to change lives.

what I'm trying to say is that I get James Amber here. I get protecting Rachel at a very core level. if it were me, I probably would have selected the protect Rachel option.

but this is Chloe and Chloe will never hold back. I spent about 90 seconds at the choice, thinking about what I would do until I remembered that I'm playing somewhat of a preexisting character and had no qualms about selecting what I selected. I take this entire chapter probably very differently than someone who's like 19 years old with middle fingers to the sky every day. I wonder how I would handle something like Life is Strange if I were, say, half my age.
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I absolutely get wanting to protect your child. Bribing a criminal to do it via destroying evidence and illegally returning seized money, for something that isn't guaranteed to stop something that isn't guaranteed to be the worst thing ever is pretty bad. Even if you buy into the "James only wanted Damon to scare her off, not drug a recovering addict" theory, which is dubious
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That said i felt the final choice was very difficult, but i ultimately felt the same as you - chloe, as established in LiS, absolutely would have told the truth
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My issues with part 3 don't really stem from that stuff though. I loved the choice. The lead up to it was mostly great, although the timeline is a little shaky in some spots. My biggest issues are everything after you decide. The silent montages for either ending just kind of fail to capitalize on the emotional capital of whatever choice you made, in my opinion. You're lead to this really great, complex decision and then it just loses all momentum, and the most affecting part of the following sequence is the very end when Rachel is in the dark room.

That could have been so much more effective. The first game followed the montage route but it felt more satisfying there. I cant articulate why right now but i was far more affected by the post-choice sequences in the first game.

And then there's some unnecessary loose ends like what happened to damon? And then they include the possibility for Rachel to meet her mother, but to get that you have to not choose the romantic option (or at least the kiss, im not sure if they still play as romantic if you choose the bracelet over the kiss, but this is still lame). And if you do forgo one of the best things about this game, your reward? 45 seconds during the silent montage and a bit of dialogue when you give her mother the bracelet.

Over all, i loved this. Because I love chloe, i love how they portrayed rachel, and the bulk of the plotline is very compelling. It just drops the ball hard in some places.
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the only place I thought they dropped it hard was the transition to the dark room. that was just unnecessary. I also expected much more of a, I don't know, consequence for Chloe's actions. Chloe doesn't seem absolutely panicked to find Rachel in LIS like it would seem, but I guess it is 3 years. I'm surprised those signs would still be up so much longer if she was taken, but then I guess I don't know what the timeline is when she is taken there. I saw a date on her phone but I'm not sure what date it is.
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the date on the phone was like April or May 2013 Im pretty sure, which is a few months before LiS iirc
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It would be cool to see how different demographics handled this game, yeah.

I agree the silent montages for this game had less of an impact than LiS. I believe their silent montages were much more focused on telling Max's perspective on her personal loss of Chloe/Arcadis Bay than this was about Chloe's relationship with Rachel. These bounced around to different characters more. Also, the stakes didn't feel as high -- possibly because there were only three episodes or because this was a prequel -- though at least they kept the choice pretty personal.

And I thought cutting to the Dark Room at the end was great. We got to see a fun moment in the photo booth between Chloe and Rachel to show how their friendship blossomed, then they connected that well to arguably the thing that eventually led to LiS without actually needing to tread into material we already saw in that game. Bravo.
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Chloe's consequences is a good flaw to bring up. James's office was pretty fucked up in my run! Graffiti'd his alcohol drawer, unlocked his secret drawer, burnt his evidence, money stolen, files opened, doors left wide open, new texts made, trophy thrown through his window, alarm went off, left a mess -- that is a TON of disrespect to a very powerful man who's already been forgiving about his daughter getting stabbed, and his daughter was the one who sent Chloe to do it. His reaction doesn't matter at all in one ending though, and his reaction isn't really about that as much as it's about losing Rachel in the other.
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Okay, last thing -- about Chloe never lying:

1) She's three years younger here than LiS. She still has room to grow into that while still being understandable if she hasn't quite hit every fuck-you note she's capable of.

2) She lied in LiS too, like when David's looking for pot in her room. Did she lie about his gun too? She can lie to protect her interests -- there's a selfishness to her loyalty.
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The weirdest disconnect is how Chloe picked up saying hella between now and LiS. Rachel said it like once the entire game, and I'm supposed to believe that's enough to get Chloe to change her dialect?

I mean, maybe she said it more over the course of the next few years, but feels like a stretch imo!
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that's for her though, against the enemy. this is for her best friend. (or lover? which is kinda dropped completely? is that merely a choice?)

the dark room is fine - but I think I expected there to be some kind of event besides the dark room that made her go missing. not sure where my brain went on that but I didn't expect them to just be besties for 3 years until she gets dark room'd.
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HaRRicH posted...

Chloe's consequences is a good flaw to bring up. James's office was pretty fucked up in my run! Graffiti'd his alcohol drawer, unlocked his secret drawer, burnt his evidence, money stolen, files opened, doors left wide open, new texts made, trophy thrown through his window, alarm went off, left a mess -- that is a TON of disrespect to a very powerful man who's already been forgiving about his daughter getting stabbed, and his daughter was the one who sent Chloe to do it. His reaction doesn't matter at all in one ending though, and his reaction isn't really about that as much as it's about losing Rachel in the other.

Would they immediately know Chloe did it? Eliot was the one the police found in the room, and while sure he'd probably rat her out (and the police would know she was there from the call) I feel like they might assume Eliot was the culprit?
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Beat it last night. I enjoyed it, but I definitely preferred 1 and 2 more. I think the lack of time spent with Rachel really hurt it, she gets stabbed pretty early into the episode.

Other random thoughts:

I chose to lie to Rachel. On the whole, it didn't feel as weighty of a final decision as LiS had, although that had the benefit of two extra episodes to build up to it. In the moment though, the choice definitely made me pause and think about it.

It is interesting how many of the choices on the final stats screen were locked behind a very specific set of actions that would need to be taken over multiple episodes, such as the extra DnD that apparently exists, the scene of Rachel meeting her mom, the different amounts of money you can end up with, etc. That's a pretty good way to give the possibility of more unique outcomes on some things, even if they end up with a relatively small percentage of people experiencing them due to how difficult they are to obtain without prior knowledge. Still, I liked how surprised I was at some of those possibilities that I didn't know existed.

I was completely ready to abandon the supernatural Rachel theory until those firefighters mentioned the fire completely vanished in the hospital. At the very least, the fire does represent Rachel's anger towards her father. However, I'm cool with it being a magical fire unintentionally conjured by an unknowingly supernatural Rachel, because I like to think that Rachel is literally a destructive force of nature.

Was Eliot the only time backtalk was present, or was that just because of my choices? I was surprised at how that seemed to disappear for me.

The ending fight did bug me a bit in how jarring it was. Chloe walks in on Damon, Frank comes in heroically, they fight while Chloe gets knocked out, then suddenly it is over with no clear resolution for us the player. I actually thought the scene with Sera was another dream sequence for a few minutes because it seemed entirely too peaceful and out of place.
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You could backtalk with Drew if he was the one in the hospital...that might have been it?

I didnt really care for that mechanic anyway so I didnt mind seeing less of it.
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I read an interview that hinted a season 2 isn't out of the question, so maybe that would bridge the gap of Rachel ending up in the dark room better

And answering what the hell happened to Damon
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Don't over-explain it -- we know so much more about Rachel now and she still has some of that mystery she had since the beginning. Leave BtS alone after this upcoming bonus episode. I want the story to go after LiS with Max or to go some direction further away from our leading ladies.

My real but unlikely wish: I'd like to see dual three-episode seasons announced based on each of the two endings provided in LiS. Give them to us in alternating order and let us really see our timelines torn apart.
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HaRRicH posted...

My real but unlikely wish:

The Destroy Arcadia ending is canon and the next Life is Strange game is about Max and Chloe exploring a post-apocalypseafter the time powers cause destruction world wide

and it's called Life is Strange: Mad Max
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Will play this tomorrow
Bump
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Why..is..Rachel's...mother...talking ...so...slowly...I...understand...that..she..is. .sad..but..she..is..still...talking..too...slow..
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Finished a couple of days ago and the ending was a little disappointing. Seems like they skipped too much. I told Rachel the truth.
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Nanis23 posted...

Why..is..Rachel's...mother...talking ...so...slowly...I...understand...that..she..is. .sad..but..she..is..still...talking..too...slow..

Thank you.
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I forgot that getting stabbed can be fatal

I watched too much The Punisher last week
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God Eliot is such a creep
Makes us all friendzoned guys look bad
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And done
Fairly weak episode sadly, barely any choices and honestly it felt shorter than previous episodes
The world also felt a lot smaller as the major characters are in the hospital and stuff

Only great parts are the part with Sera in the mill and the choice if to tell Rachel the truth or not, and how she reacts when you tell her the truth
The Dark Room in the post credits scene was nice too
But otherwise..meh

Going to Youtube the other choices and see if they were better
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transience posted...

the only place I thought they dropped it hard was the transition to the dark room. that was just unnecessary

What the hell are you talking about
It was brilliant
It was to remind you that despite the "happy ending" (kinda), Rachel fate wasn't really kind
You need to tie in with LiS somehow (The blue hair Chloe was also done for that reason)
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Yeah I do think including the dark room was a good choice

Very harsh but necessary reminder that it's not an entirely happy ending
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