Thoughts On Episode 1 + 2 (The Good, Bad, And Everything In Between) (Non-Spoiler)

[P1nkLem0n4d3]

Here are my thoughts on episode 1 and 2 without spoiling any part of the game:

The good:
1. This story is going to be absolutely crazy, and in a really good way. So far it's awesome on this front. There is a massive twist at the end of Chapter 2 that was super unexpected, but I have a feeling that this story is going to be super strong here, even better compared to previous entries.

2. This game, feels incredibly emotionally powerful, almost to a point that it's even greater compared to LIS 1 in that regard.

3. The choices in this game, are legitimately actual good choices that are also hard to make. Some of the choices that you can make are pretty unexpected.

4. The game looks amazing.

5. The characters, are also surprisingly strong for the most part. Other than a character or two, very strong cast here, Max included, surprisingly.

6. The exploration, unlike the other entries as of late, is actually excellent here, and again adds to the emotionally heavy aspect of this game.

7. The game actually has a great introduction and overall story structure. Don't worry, it's not cut too short, it's fairly long. Sometimes, I do feel that there might be a case for "here is this cliff hanger, and this one, and then this one, and okay now we're going to do this last big one and now we will end the chapter" going on, but I also feel that it adds to the overall experience and makes it not only tension filled but incredibly interesting.

8. For the most part, its themes I would describe are for the most part explored well enough to where it adds to the overall game. It also matches the way that LIS 1 did. There are very few instances that I would say weren't well done.

9. The puzzles, are actually interesting here. So are the powers.

Neutral:
10. This game does follow in LIS 1's footsteps whether for good or bad. Mostly, it's good, but I can see some plot twists, and aspects of the game that might make players really not like some of the choices made within the story.

11. On a technical standpoint, I ran into quite the frame drops within the very first level, but after that everything was fine. There was an instance of a door that was invisible, and some flickering of a couple of player models in a scene early on, but for the most part, this game is running relatively fine for me. Still though, I feel that this game could be more optimized.

Bad:
12. The soundtrack, is very hit or miss. It's certainly odd. When the game is going towards a darker tone, it's great, but outside of that, it's either odd, a bit too nostalgic for its own good, or just completely forgettable. Honestly, this was the most surprisingly, not good, soundtrack out of the series, at least so far.

13. The UI, ain't it here. It feels not only lacking in better function, but it's also super boring in terms of its design.

14. Why are there so many content warning stuff in the options? This feels so unnecessary to have, and all that would do is take away from the game. I understand if there are maybe a few, but there are more than 20 of them lol. It's obsessive. Might as well have them all on and not be able to play pretty much any part of the game lol Also, the remove gameplay option, like, why? Isn't this a rated M game?

15. Yes, this game follows in LIS 1's footsteps, but it does bring something that admittedly feels like a rehashed LIS 1 when it comes to its plot. Don't get me wrong, it's good, it even feels, actually great? But the inspiration is there, and can at times be distracting when the game has A LOT of references to other LIS games. It's a double edge sword. The references are great and all, but there are a ton of them to where it crosses the line into "this is great but it's too distracting."

16. I feel like the exploration is super interesting, but the invisible walls and overall designs of the levels aren't. The levels look pretty, and the exploration is great, but the overall, heavily, linear levels feels like a huge downgrade.

17. Sometimes the puzzles, although overall good, can at times feel like you have to do something kind of random to solve them that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

18. There is barely anything with the cat DLC so far. The DLC's in general are pretty underwhelming as far as I can tell in comparison to the main game.

[NewRaven]

A few of my thoughts... as spoiler-free as possible...

I had quite a few bugs, mostly visual. Especially doors aren't getting closed when they should be and such things. A few random voice lines sounded "weird" crackling or muffed, too. Also, there are a lot of issues with the (german) text-localization. No crashes or getting stuck somewhere in my playthrough, though.

The performance is... well... not great. Or... let's say, while this game looks quite beautiful, it demands a lot more of your hardware than it actually should.

The whole... "LIS1 ending"-stuff... well, I understand the disappointment if you really did go all-in with all the relationship-stuff and basically expected this to be a supernatural love-story or a continuation of it, but for me (I saved Chloe, but never had a romantic relationship with her in LIS) the way they handled things worked quite well. And even if I would have used the "girlfriend"-bae-ending, I would probably be fine with the way they handled it... I mean, sometimes just... life happens. And they do a lot to explain why happened what happened.

The ending of episode 2 (and therefor the ending for all we can play for now) was great. It was probably the best cliffhanger they could produce and for someone who was here for LIS 1 and enjoyed the discussions about every episode back then, this is really nice. Doesn't change the fact that this paid "advanced access" is quite a bit shady and anti-consumer, though.

The pacing of the story is... well... I dunno. I mean, let's be honest... the game really dosen't give you - as the player, not as Max - much to work with about "why you should care about Safi that much". Her "introduction" is rushed to get the story going and I honestly don't like that. Even if they use later episodes to get us to know "her" better, this doesn't replace the first impression. Aside from that small but important part, I think the story is great and intriguing.

The soundtrack is just okay for now. It feels always right when you hear the songs, but there isn't a single track that you would remember after it finished playing. That's a bit of a bummer, because, I'm actually quite a fan of the track selection for most of the other LIS games.

I actually like the character writing of Max. She is absolutely still recognizable, but more mature. Most of her personality traits are still there, while some changed a bit. For example, she is still introverted, but far less so than before. Which makes sense because of all the things happened to her until this point - the good and the bad. Also, unpopular oppinion here in the forums, but I think she looks fine.

The facial animations in many scenes are quite awesome, while in other moments it feels a bit off. This is particularly striking if you had a "great scene" and 20 seconds later you watch one which has a quite lower quality in that regard.

[P1nkLem0n4d3]

Originally posted by NewRaven:

A few of my thoughts... as spoiler-free as possible...

I had quite a few bugs, mostly visual. Especially doors aren't getting closed when they should be and such things. A few random voice lines sounded "weird" crackling or muffed, too. Also, there are a lot of issues with the (german) text-localization. No crashes or getting stuck somewhere in my playthrough, though.

The performance is... well... not great. Or... let's say, while this game looks quite beautiful, it demands a lot more of your hardware than it actually should.

The whole... "LIS1 ending"-stuff... well, I understand the disappointment if you really did go all-in with all the relationship-stuff and basically expected this to be a supernatural love-story or a continuation of it, but for me (I saved Chloe, but never had a romantic relationship with her in LIS) the way they handled things worked quite well. And even if I would have used the "girlfriend"-bae-ending, I would probably be fine with the way they handled it... I mean, sometimes just... life happens. And they do a lot to explain why happened what happened.

The ending of episode 2 (and therefor the ending for all we can play for now) was great. It was probably the best cliffhanger they could produce and for someone who was here for LIS 1 and enjoyed the discussions about every episode back then, this is really nice. Doesn't change the fact that this paid "advanced access" is quite a bit shady and anti-consumer, though.

The pacing of the story is... well... I dunno. I mean, let's be honest... the game really dosen't give you - as the player, not as Max - much to work with about "why you should care about Safi that much". Her "introduction" is rushed to get the story going and I honestly don't like that. Even if they use later episodes to get us to know "her" better, this doesn't replace the first impression. Aside from that small but important part, I think the story is great and intriguing.

The soundtrack is just okay for now. It feels always right when you hear the songs, but there isn't a single track that you would remember after it finished playing. That's a bit of a bummer, because, I'm actually quite a fan of the track selection for most of the other LIS games.

I actually like the character writing of Max. She is absolutely still recognizable, but more mature. Most of her personality traits are still there, while some changed a bit. For example, she is still introverted, but far less so than before. Which makes sense because of all the things happened to her until this point - the good and the bad. Also, unpopular oppinion here in the forums, but I think she looks fine.

The facial animations in many scenes are quite awesome, while in other moments it feels a bit off. This is particularly striking if you had a "great scene" and 20 seconds later you watch one which has a quite lower quality in that regard.

Yeah I wasn't going in with the expectation that there was going to be some massive Chloe Max route here, so that part didn't bother me personally. I actually really like this more, reflective, Max because of it.

I will admit that I like the other romance option better with Amanda compared to Safi. If Amanda were to have been the focus instead, I feel like this aspect would of worked better. Safi, is one of the only characters that I feel doesn't work all that well in the story. That, and her mentor. Her mentor actually comes off as an older Chloe clone if you ask me, but in a different context. As for Safi, I agree, there isn't enough here for me to care about what happened to Safi, even though I thought the intro was good enough, you'll have to have multiple games worth of material for me to really care. I, care way more about "who the killer is" in this story, compared to "what happened to Safi" and I feel like the mystery aspect, which is very strong, also overshadows Safi as a character.