i miss the developer "DON'T NOD", i miss the way they show their love "Life is Strange"

[Zuwno 🌸]

The first time I discovered Life is Strange was in 2016, and the first time I played it, I felt like a new horizon had opened. It was a game that focused on the plot, with simple yet engaging gameplay, which made me one of its loyal fans. Then came the second version—it was amazing and deepened my love for the series. After experiencing two great installments, I was excited for the next version. How long had I waited for that moment? Years passed, and versions 3 and 4 were finally released, but they truly let me down.

I was disappointed with the plot and with the lack of emotional depth from the developers. It was a basic game plagued with countless errors. And then it hit me: Damn, Square Enix kicked DON'T NOD out and replaced them with some developer I don’t even recognize. The graphic style remained the same, but the soul of the game was gone. When DON'T NOD was at the helm, they poured their hearts into every detail, optimizing the game as best as they could.

In the current versions, despite the higher budget and slightly improved graphics, the plot is weak, the optimization is poor, and it’s riddled with stupid errors. I’m so disappointed. For me, Life is Strange ended with part 2.

[LiS2_4ever]

This genre is called story-telling games for a reason. Without a good story, there's no game. BTS, for one, was a good story. The story of Double Exposure feels like some half-finished fanfic. I bought this game (at a discount) only to see the new Max. So, I agree - Don't Nod please come back - all is forgotten :) Seriously, I can't wait till they release Lost Records.

[Zuwno 🌸]

dima_nord の投稿を引用：

This genre is called story-telling games for a reason. Without a good story, there's no game. BTS, for one, was a good story. The story of Double Exposure feels like some half-finished fanfic. I bought this game (at a discount) only to see the new Max. So, I agree - Don't Nod please come back - all is forgotten :) Seriously, I can't wait till they release Lost Records.

When I learned that Dont Nod would leave a year ago, I felt quite sad, but I still have faith that the successors will definitely try their best, we should give them a chance to prove themselves, but after I only felt disappointment in the 2 versions, they really didn't pay attention to the game, there wasn't a single bit of effort or emotion put into it, a bunch of silly bugs. , poor optimization, crappy plot

[rmsgrey]

Don't Nod did the original version of Life Is Strange, Captain Spirit and Life Is Strange 2.

Deck Nine did Before the Storm, True Colors, the Remasters, and Double Exposure.

BtS and TC both had people who loved Don't Nod's games work on them - there are too many little touches that say so. I haven't touched Double Exposure, so I can't say whether the same holds there.

However, loving the games isn't the same as being able to recapture their spark - even Don't Nod struggled, with LIS2 not fully recapturing the magic of the original - so, while I will defend Deck Nine's respect for the originals, I won't argue against anyone saying their games aren't as good - though I do like both the ones I've played.

And, of course, I'm talking about Deck Nine as it was at the end of 2023, before the two rounds of layoffs last year that, from what I've heard, removed many of the people responsible for their LIS games being as good as they are.

[texasgoldrush]

DONTNOD is in serious trouble.

4 flops in a row, a striking workforce trying to fight off layoffs, and mismanagement by the top leadership.

So don't think DONTNOD can do the next LIS.

[texasgoldrush]

dima_nord の投稿を引用：

This genre is called story-telling games for a reason. Without a good story, there's no game. BTS, for one, was a good story. The story of Double Exposure feels like some half-finished fanfic. I bought this game (at a discount) only to see the new Max. So, I agree - Don't Nod please come back - all is forgotten :) Seriously, I can't wait till they release Lost Records.

DE isn't half baked, you just didn't get it.

And BTS had some terrible scenes in the first two episodes, and a rushed third episode only saved by it's ending.

[Marshall of the Templars]

I might have agreed... if Dontnod's post LiS 1 track record wasn't a mixed bag.

LiS 2 was bogged down by political controversy.
Tell Me Why failed to resonate outside of a niche audience.
Twin Mirror was a major letdown.

I'm increasingly of the opinion that LiS 1 was a one trick pony. And the recent troubles Dontnod has faced makes their situation all the more worrisome.

[Barny600]

Marshall of the Templars の投稿を引用：

I'm increasingly of the opinion that LiS 1 was a one trick pony. And the recent troubles Dontnod has faced makes their situation all the more worrisome.

Vampyr was a modest success and wasn't too bad, and Banisher apparently was also a good RPG for what I've heard but it was unfortunately relased between some higher titles and didn't shine enough which is a shame. I've played the demo of Jusant and while it was a good game for what I've played, it was poorly marketed and it was most likely a too niche title to gain a large audience.

Overall, I think Dontnod biggest mistake was to overstretch themselves after the huge success of Life is Strange and divide their workforce into many teams, trying to get financial independence althought with questionable results. Many of their titles do have some strong qualities, but I feel like they made some false steps that in my opinion weren't helpful into growing the company and resulted in finacial losses. But I still do believe the company can survive if it reassest itself by following a more "less games, more quality" approach.

As for Deck Nine, atm seems to me they are in a much worse situation; from the relase of True Colors, they had multiple layoffs in response to the post Covid reassestment and financial failures like the Expanse game and other projects that were cancelled mid development and deals broken; Double Exposure itself was also a failure and costed the job to all the devs who worked on it. Based on data from Linkedin, the company passed from 170+ employees in 2021 to just 75 this year after the latest round, which is a significant loss, and there's rumors circling they might not be working on LiS games anymore. If they want to survive, their next game project has to be a financial success, or it's fully over.

[texasgoldrush]

DONTNOD labor strike extended.

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/union-calls-for-extended-strike-at-don-t-nod-with-layoffs-looming

You might not want to give LIS back to these guys.

[Cat]

Don'tNod isn't coming back. Time to move on from this franchise and let the younger generation play with whatever slop they are gonna keep milking.

[Chugster]

As much as I love Dontnod for making LiS and the wonderful characters I do hate them for messing up the ending, I thought long and hard and spent so much time on the LiS Reddit and neither ending makes sense, with what happens or why/how Max got her powers and why she was forced into a pointless choice at the end.

And considering I got bored with, and never finished LIS2 and loved BTS and TC and DE (lack of Chloe aside) Im not sure I would even want Dontnod to come back to LIS

[rmsgrey]

Duke2k2 の投稿を引用：

Same here: " LiS " + " LiS-Before the storm " were truely hearttouching ones , especialy cloe's charakter <3 <3 <3 i found :-=) .

Just FYI, Before the Storm was made by Deck Nine, not by Don't Nod. Don't Nod only made Life Is Strange and Life Is Strange 2 (and the Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit) in the franchise. You appear to be talking about a different pair of games to the person you responded to.

[rmsgrey]

Duke2k2 の投稿を引用：

rmsgrey の投稿を引用：

Just FYI, Before the Storm was made by Deck Nine, not by Don't Nod. Don't Nod only made Life Is Strange and Life Is Strange 2 (and the Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit) in the franchise. You appear to be talking about a different pair of games to the person you responded to.

Damn :-) ! So my post was nearly complete pointless oO . Anyway what means " FYI " in words , please ? ( sry german guy here :-=) ) .

"FYI" is "For your information"