Finish a chapter in Life is Strange True Colors. It takes you to the stats page to show you how your decisions stack up against the world's. Flip to see what my friends chose.

None of you have played the game.

WHY?!

Don't tell me you're all mad about Tibet.

I’m just on vacation, so I haven’t had the chance yet. But also Deathloop is out, so I’ll be doing that when I get home.

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No… It's for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Stadia, and Switch…

Not on Switch, yet. It will be later this year.

Not on Switch, yet. It will be later this year.

I'm playing it on PS4, and it seems fine. The graphics are a little better than Before the Storm. I really wonder what it's like on PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Max and Chloe from the original Life is Strange are an unbeatable team. But I think Alex Chen is probably the best protagonist in all the Life is Strange games. Not only in terms of backstory and complexity, but in how she's performed by the voice artists and the animators / mocap performer.

The jank from the original game is basically gone, and yet the game still retains the painterly style. As a result, I think this is some of the best acting and emoting from digital characters I've seen in a while. It's very close to what Naughty Dog is doing. The eyes in particular. It's super common in games to see dead eyes, but the eyes here, particularly those of Alex, are just super well done and extremely expressive. Lip sync is way better. You're going to believe everything these characters do, feel, and say.

The empathy mechanic is not really as well explored as Max's time rewind ability from the first. Max's ability felt so integrated into the game mechanics as well as the theme, that is felt absolutely essential. Alex's ability is supremely important thematically, but it feels less important in terms of game mechanics. The ability to feel and manipulate emotions can be fraught with moral questions, and it's pretty much just always best to use the power to help the person.

The tougher decision is when you can transfer the emotion off of them and on to you, freeing them but burdening you. There's really only two major decisions regarding this, and it would have been cooler I think to make it a sort of cumulative running total, where each person you help burdens you more and more, which can have varying consequences. It would have made the mechanic much more interesting to use and implement, requiring you make decisions.

The story is a much more straightforward affair than the original. I feel like it was maybe just a bit TOO streamlined, and some more subplots like the original could have helped.

I think this game is up there just behind the original. The main character is much stronger, but I feel like the supporting cast is less interesting. Deck Nine is doing a pretty great job here.

LiS > True Colors > BtS > Lis2

Thanks for the write up. It sounds good, and I’m excited to play it. I never finished Life is Strange 2. Maybe I was just in a funk when I tried to play it, but I just didn’t care about what was happening. I don’t think I even finished the first episode.

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I'll look it up, see if it interests me.

I’m about an hour in and I’m impressed. The animation has come a long way. The game looks great while still looking like Life is Strange. The ray tracing on Alex’s glasses is a nice touch, too. It’s subtle but looks really great. Shame they didn’t go all in and use it on anything else that I can find so far.

The ray tracing on Alex’s glasses is a nice touch, too.

Oh you have a next gen console? Way to rub it in lol

Well, you did ask about the next gen version . . .

What’s your high score in Mine Haunt?

What’s your high score in Mine Haunt?

How about we see who has the higher score on monday?

It’ll definitely be you. I always sucked at Donkey Kong.

What the fuck?!

I just finished Chapter 4. I was going to go to bed, but I guess now I’m just going to be tired at work tomorrow. I’ll post thoughts tomorrow.

What the fuck?!

I just finished Chapter 4. I was going to go to bed, but I guess now I’m just going to be tired at work tomorrow. I’ll post thoughts tomorrow.

Didn’t you learn anything from Jefferson?

The empathy mechanic is not really as well explored as Max's time rewind ability from the first. Max's ability felt so integrated into the game mechanics as well as the theme, that is felt absolutely essential. Alex's ability is supremely important thematically, but it feels less important in terms of game mechanics. The ability to feel and manipulate emotions can be fraught with moral questions, and it's pretty much just always best to use the power to help the person.

I may have missed something, but I can’t think of a single scenario where feeling others’ emotions was the wrong choice. I do wish there had been some nuance there.

The tougher decision is when you can transfer the emotion off of them and on to you, freeing them but burdening you. There's really only two major decisions regarding this, and it would have been cooler I think to make it a sort of cumulative running total, where each person you help burdens you more and more, which can have varying consequences. It would have made the mechanic much more interesting to use and implement, requiring you make decisions.

I made the opposite choice from you in both of those situations. Charlotte ended up basically being dead inside. It’s a little ambiguous as to the permanence of that. She is a shown looking very happy with Ethan in the “what if you stay” scene at the end, which may just mean that it’s a scene that doesn’t account for any choices.

In any case, the way Charlotte turned out made me not take Pike’s fear away, but that actually seems like it may have turned out better.

The story is a much more straightforward affair than the original. I feel like it was maybe just a bit TOO streamlined, and some more subplots like the original could have helped.

I agree with you there. A few more things to explore would have been welcomed. Although, by looking at the end of chapter stats, you missed quite a few of the ones that existed. Granted, most of those were one off little scenarios rather than subplots. Can’t believe you didn’t help Duckie, though! What did you do to get Eleanor to back you up, though? I helped her on the shop. Is it just that in my game Riley didn’t go away to school and stayed to take care of Eleanor, I wonder?

I do like the town in the game though, and how much more open and explorable it was compared to the other games.

I think this game is up there just behind the original. The main character is much stronger, but I feel like the supporting cast is less interesting. Deck Nine is doing a pretty great job here.

I like the cast of True Colors better, in general. Although the best side character in this game is also just from the first LiS. It only suffers in that regard because of the lack of many subplots involving a lot of them. I think they really stepped it up with the writing. There are still some awkward lines, but for the most part, the conversations all felt pretty real and natural.

LiS > True Colors > BtS > Lis2

I think I liked True Colors more than the original. I’ll have to sit on it and play it again and after a bit to really know for sure.

I told Eleanor the truth about Gabe, and I did not tell Riley about Eleanor. I guess that was enough for her to feel like I was trustworthy.

I may have missed something, but I can’t think of a single scenario where feeling others’ emotions was the wrong choice. I do wish there had been some nuance there.

Yeah. In the original, using your powers could have consequences. I remember being able to snoop and sneak into rooms, and if you got caught you could rewind and still know what you saw. But, just knowing the info was sometimes bad. For instance, Dana would get super pissed at Max if you found out about the pregnancy test, something which you could only do through time manipulation.

I made the opposite choice from you in both of those situations. Charlotte ended up basically being dead inside. It’s a little ambiguous as to the permanence of that. She is a shown looking very happy with Ethan in the “what if you stay” scene at the end, which may just mean that it’s a scene that doesn’t account for any choices.

This is what I wish there were more of. Where helping someone out either isn't actually helping, or else it would burden and harm you. I never got mad at Steph and Ryan since I didn't have her anger.

I like the cast of True Colors better, in general. Although the best side character in this game is also just from the first LiS. It only suffers in that regard because of the lack of many subplots involving a lot of them. I think they really stepped it up with the writing. There are still some awkward lines, but for the most part, the conversations all felt pretty real and natural.

I mean, the original was about teenagers. This was about 20 somethings. Do you know how dumb teenagers are? Which the original was actually kind of perfect at capturing.

Don’t forget to play Wavelengths.

Thanks, I did forget about that. I need to buy it still.

Wavelengths is interesting. It isn't 'fun', but it's not supposed to be. The gist is that you play as Steph as she operates the radio station, and all the tasks that go with that. You're by yourself and you don't really interact with anyone in person. This actually is done to simulate what's happening with her, and I guess some queer people in small towns in general. Super internal with character depth.

It also incorporated your choice from the end of the original game pretty well, and meaningfully too. I saved Arcadia Bay, and Steph has flashbacks to Chloe's death, as well as dealing with her jealousy over Chloe and Rachel's relationship. No idea what happens if you pick to save Chloe, given Chloe and Max run off in that situation.

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