Board 8 > Fix This Game Day 10: Life is Strange

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yesterday we covered Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and it seems like the game needed

-A normal weapon triangle
- Better stat distribution
-Change Gaiden requirements

Today is the Hispter: The Game. Also known is Life is Strange that takes place in some weird dimension where The Spirits Within is a good movie.

Also gonna start doing some themed polls to mix it up, feel free to suggest themes as well as games
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I'm so done with video games doing episodic formats. This is the first thing I would throw out the window. Make it one whole project released in a full form, it doesn't really add anything to the experience besides forcing it to be like a TV show.

The game already has some great puzzles involving Max's powers, but I would love to see it be used in even more creative ways. I would toy with making Life is Strange open-world, and create side-quests which could be used to bring out not only more fun ways to toy with Max's powers, but also expand the morality system the game uses beyond mere button presses. I want to be involved in every minute of the time travel experience, and also expand on Max's full range of abilities, like being able to go way back into photographs. I think a cool idea would be to be able to take pictures at any time and use them to go back and alter choices you've made already, at any time. It could be a little complicated but who said time travel was anything but?

Basically, I'm just not a fan of pure binary choices, and more scenes in line with Kate on the rooftop is what I'm after. I want to be able to royally screw things up, maybe go back to fix it, maybe not, maybe FUBAR it, but all I want is the choice to decide what I do no matter where I am and not be constricted to both episodic format or A/B choices.
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Make more choices important to the plot.
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30% more hella

Obvious spoilers for Life is Strange

At one point in time I probably could've written a book about all the changes I would make to Life is Strange. Here are a few broad ideas:

-Shorten (or cut) the nightmare sequence
-Have more than two endings, have prior choices impact them rather than one final choice, and have each ending feel meaningful
-Have a better explanation for the tornado other than a bad time travel cliche

Basically just rework episode five entirely. It still had potential to have a 20/10 ending up to that point.
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Oh hey, I literally just played this game for the first time.

* Give us an ending that isn't a Xanatos Gambit. (I'd be more specific, but spoilers.)
* No more fucking bottles.
* Be a tiny pinch more consistent with the time-rewind rules, especially as they pertain to photographs.
* More instances where time-rewinding has an impact on the game, particularly in the Easter eggs.
* A bit more foreshadowing of the villain so he/she doesn't have to monologue throughout the final episode to establish his/her bad guy cred.
* Characters not being boneheads, like going to the lighthouse for no reason.
* But mostly give us a "true ending", even if it requires multiple playthroughs to achieve. Something like, oh, I don't know, maybe Max photographing Nathan in the bathroom as evidence?
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Robazoid posted...

Obvious spoilers for Life is Strange

At one point in time I probably could've written a book about all the changes I would make to Life is Strange. Here are a few broad ideas:

-Shorten (or cut) the nightmare sequence
-Have more than two endings, have prior choices impact them rather than one final choice, and have each ending feel meaningful
-Have a better explanation for the tornado other than a bad time travel cliche

Basically just rework episode five entirely. It still had potential to have a 20/10 ending up to that point.

Yeah, I can get behind these.
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Better dialogue/VA

Less time filler stuff like the bottles
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I didn't play much of it, and the one thing I'd like fixed is a simple thing.

Get rid of the "your choices will have consequences" that appears after everything. I've played Visual Novels and just seeing that appear was far more torture than LITERALLY DYING after I've made a choice before. I turned off LiS because of that thing.
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Make the game 3 eps long. 4 and 5 can easily go together. Moreover, change the plot back to its original intended premise; that Max's powers were native american in origin and all the hints surrounding it before the reveal.
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Ones in this topic I can get behind so far:

-No bottles
-Take more photos of major decisions to revise them
-Ditch episodic format
-More noticeable effects from choices

I didn't actually mind the binary ending of saving Chloe or saving the town because I feel like the game foreshadowed that a lot, so part of me always felt like it was coming

I will add though:
-More development of Max's relationships with other characters instead of just Chloe
-Just MORE if it all because it's an incredible game I never wanted to leave
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WickIebee posted...

I didn't play much of it, and the one thing I'd like fixed is a simple thing.

Get rid of the "your choices will have consequences" that appears after everything. I've played Visual Novels and just seeing that appear was far more torture than LITERALLY DYING after I've made a choice before. I turned off LiS because of that thing.

At least it wasn't a Telltale game, and your choices actually do have consequences. Even if ultimately you rewind time and erase all of them.
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The one ending is perfect so keep that shit in there. Not really sure anything really needs changing tbh. That bottle part was a slog, so remove that.
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less physical exploration (bottles, ugh), more visual clarity at points, no nightmare sequence, and a more cathartic ending

i probably would have liked the game more if you had no spatial control at all, but that's a personal preference
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- No bottles
- I'm not saying remove the nightmare entirely, but make it less sucky. Let's just say "remove stealth sections", so the swimming pool is also taken care of.
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The swimming pool part was easy, though.
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The nightmare sneaking sections were easy too (if you're seen literally just rewind until you aren't being seen and keep moving forward in a straight line to the end). They just didn't add any tension and they didn't mean anything within the narrative, kind of like most of the nightmare. Like, what was the thematic meaning of Max watching Chloe make out with a bunch of people?
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Don't make the very first use of time travel contradict the rules put in place throughout the rest of the game.
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