My final choice, explanation and a short rant

[Mati9319]

[SPOILERS AHEAD OF COURSE!]


So, why I sacrificed Chloe?


Before writing about the main reason, here's the secondary reason:

No matter what, saving thousands of people will ALWAYS be thousand times better than saving only one person. This is pure math. Sorry.


And now... the main reason:

Sacrificing Chloe is what she WANTED!

Seriously, think about it. During the vast majority of the game Chloe was a rather selfish person, often joking about destroying Arcadia Bay and stuff. BUT when the time came, she was eager to sacrifice HER OWN godd*mn life over the whole Arcadia Bay community. She started to see more, think bigger and she became a truly honourable person.

With that being said, sacrificing Arcadia Bay is not only idiotic from mathematical point of view, but it's also letting Chloe's transformation go to waste! It's an ultimate insult to who she finally became, the choice she made at this most critical moment, what she believed was right thing to do (and it was!).


And well, I really, REALLY hate the way it turned out in the game - this whole "saving Chloe created tornado" bulls*it drives me insane. This is the prime example of forcing a !DRAMATIC FINAL CHOICE! situation. Cheap and just ugh...

It sucks that making the right choice LITERALLY means making this WHOLE game and Max's power completely POINTLESS.


Despite all that, I really enjoyed the ride while it lasted. I'm so satisfied that I managed to get on right terms with everyone I could on the first playthrough: Chloe, David, Joyce, Kate (saving her LYFE :D), Victoria, Taylor and even Frank!

Oh and funny moments were great too! That Pompidou's message is staying forever in my heart xD It made me LUL like hell :D

[talemore]

Chloe had no self-esteem, it reflects an individual's emotional evaluation of his or her own worth. She had a lot of self-confidence that sacrificing herself was the right thing to do.

Can you make a list of all the casualties because the assumption of thousands of people died by the storm is what could happened in a large city and this was a fishing village.
Add the spoiler warning in the title and not in the subtext.

How is it possible for Max to messaging with Samuel, he doesn't have a cellphone.

There are better games in the same genre who allow you to make choices of sacrifice. We are told chloe is the cause of the storm but there's no evidence. In the end it's Max fault even if she's not directly the one who created the storm she indirectly helping to create the storm just as she's not killing chloe but she allowing it to happen makes her associate to the murder.

[Arcadia]

I thought Chloe was destined to die, if Max wanted to change her fate, she would have to pay too much.

China has an adage:"Comply with the destiny."So, I sacrificed Chloe,too.Even though I shed tears for this.

[NinthElement]

Originally posted by Mati9319:

Sacrificing Chloe is what she WANTED!

Seriously, think about it. During the vast majority of the game Chloe was a rather selfish person, often joking about destroying Arcadia Bay and stuff. BUT when the time came, she was eager to sacrifice HER OWN godd*mn life over the whole Arcadia Bay community. She started to see more, think bigger and she became a truly honourable person.

With that being said, sacrificing Arcadia Bay is not only idiotic from mathematical point of view, but it's also letting Chloe's transformation go to waste! It's an ultimate insult to who she finally became, the choice she made at this most critical moment, what she believed was right thing to do (and it was!).

A lot of people seem to interpret it that Chloe is begging Max to sacrifice her for the sake of the town, but that's not how it struck me... Here's how I see it:

Chloe starts by justifying Max's use of her powers, to reassure her that the destruction being caused was worth it. But, she can see from the look on Max's face that the argument isn't strong enough, that she is still freaking out about all the lives that may be lost because of her and may continue to carry a heavy burden of guilt.

Chloe decides to offer Max a choice, so that she can decide for herself whether everything she achieved with her power was worth it, rather than having the consequences forced upon her. She chokes up when she tries to explain that all it would take is for her to die, but continues to give an impassioned speech as to why it's okay for Max to sacrifice her, because only by giving her blessing to it can it be a real choice. This is a kindness to Max more than it is to the town.

At the end she says "No matter what you choose, I'll know you'll make the right decision". This is literally saying that whatever Max decides will be correct... An expression of the deepest trust in the wisdom of her friend. She is clearly saying that Max does have a choice.

If Max tears up the photo, Chloe doesn't react with anger. Instead she just tells Max she will always be with her. Just before they drive out of town, Chloe gently comforts Max in the car after they witness the aftermath of the tornado.

To me, these little things all confirm that Chloe didn't truly want to die, she was just trying to be a good friend by giving Max the chance to come to terms with everything once and for all...

[Jeckenn]

The only thing I want to say is are you absolutely certain that the storm is stopped if you sacrifice Chloe? All through the game each time Max used a photo to travel far back in time and change something, like saving Chloe's father from dying in that car accident, the consequences for that were ALWAYS worse then what she was trying to fix.

So I ask, is the storm really stopped in that ending? Or is it just delayed beyond that fateful Friday? I didn't want to take that chance so I felt that the adult thing to do was to STOP using the time powers and live with the consequences of using them during the progression of the game. Which means Arcadia Bay gets wrecked but maybe, and the possibility is high, Arcadia Bay still gets wrecked by the strom in a few weeks, a month, or longer....

[Mati9319]

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

The only thing I want to say is are you absolutely certain that the storm is stopped if you sacrifice Chloe?

Well... yes, I am. Simply because it's what the game tells us, by giving us this strict, clear choice:
- sacrifice Arcadia Bay,
- sacrifice Chloe.

So I'm just gonna go with what the game gives me. In my opinion, asking questions like "is the storm really stopped in that ending?" is just nitpicking at its finest.

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

All through the game each time Max used a photo to travel far back in time and change something, like saving Chloe's father from dying in that car accident, the consequences for that were ALWAYS worse then what she was trying to fix

Exactly, but as you wrote it yourself: "to travel back in time and change something". In "Sacrifice Chloe" ending she used "photo travel skill" but DIDN'T CHANGE ANYTHING. She just let the events to play out as they should. She let Chloe die as she did in the beginning of the game, before using her power for the first time.

[NinthElement]

As players, it's easy for us to say the storm is stopped by sacrificing Chloe because we have knowledge of how the ending plays out. We also have the luxury of the clearly worded choice appearing on screen suggesting what the ending for each choice will involve. But let's try to remember that Max doesn't have either of those things when she makes the choice, and try to see things from her perspective.

It's actually a huge gamble if Max chooses to sacrifice Chloe. For one, it might not actually stop the tornado. For another, changing the past again might lead to other unforeseen consequences, especially as she knows past Max would continue to the present time without her memories. What if she ended up back in the dark room with Mr Jefferson yet again? Surely experiencing that even once would be enough to put Max off making sweeping changes to the past for life (at least to events prior to his arrest)?

[Donathan Cheadledge]

I didn't bother saving chloe just cause she managed to utterly fail at getting me invested her at all.

The final choice would be fine if my plays in the rest of the game actually affected what the final choice was, or at least had some important bearing on what happened after I picked said choice. As it didn't bother doing that I figured I'd do the bit that made sense given I didn't really care enough for the alternative anyway.

[SSSZmeY]

Originally posted by 9thElement:

As players, it's easy for us to say the storm is stopped by sacrificing Chloe because we have knowledge of how the ending plays out. We also have the luxury of the clearly worded choice appearing on screen suggesting what the ending for each choice will involve. But let's try to remember that Max doesn't have either of those things when she makes the choice, and try to see things from her perspective.

It's actually a huge gamble if Max chooses to sacrifice Chloe. For one, it might not actually stop the tornado. For another, changing the past again might lead to other unforeseen consequences, especially as she knows past Max would continue to the present time without her memories. What if she ended up back in the dark room with Mr Jefferson yet again? Surely experiencing that even once would be enough to put Max off making sweeping changes to the past for life (at least to events prior to his arrest)?

If we're truly trying to look from her perspective- your analysis is too deep and too logical for this situation. At that moment she believes that sacrificing Chloe will help. It really comes down to Max's moral priorities: can she really imagine trading all those lives to keep Chloe alive? And the answer depends on player. For the most persons it's an emotional choice. Logic comes later to help you justify your choice post factum.

[talemore]

Originally posted by SSSZmeY:

If we're truly trying to look from her perspective- your analysis is too deep and too logical for this situation. At that moment she believes that sacrificing Chloe will help. It really comes down to Max's moral priorities: can she really imagine trading all those lives to keep Chloe alive? And the answer depends on player. For the most persons it's an emotional choice. Logic comes later to help you justify your choice post factum.

"I love you, Chloe."
"♥♥♥♥ that! No way! You are my number one priority now. You are all that matters to me."
"I changed fate and destiny so much that... I actually did alter the course of everything. And all I really created was just death and destruction!"
"This is my storm... I caused this... I caused all of this"
"I couldn't let you die."

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange#Max_Caulfield

[NinthElement]

Originally posted by SSSZmeY:

If we're truly trying to look from her perspective- your analysis is too deep and too logical for this situation. At that moment she believes that sacrificing Chloe will help. It really comes down to Max's moral priorities: can she really imagine trading all those lives to keep Chloe alive? And the answer depends on player. For the most persons it's an emotional choice. Logic comes later to help you justify your choice post factum.

Yeah, I agree with that to some extent. It was an emotional choice for me too admittedly - I almost felt like I was being forced to sacrifice Chloe, but then a feeling of defiance took over.

[SSSZmeY]

Originally posted by talemore:

Originally posted by SSSZmeY:

If we're truly trying to look from her perspective- your analysis is too deep and too logical for this situation. At that moment she believes that sacrificing Chloe will help. It really comes down to Max's moral priorities: can she really imagine trading all those lives to keep Chloe alive? And the answer depends on player. For the most persons it's an emotional choice. Logic comes later to help you justify your choice post factum.

"I love you, Chloe."
"♥♥♥♥ that! No way! You are my number one priority now. You are all that matters to me."
"I changed fate and destiny so much that... I actually did alter the course of everything. And all I really created was just death and destruction!"
"This is my storm... I caused this... I caused all of this"
"I couldn't let you die."

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange#Max_Caulfield

And what? There is no doubt that Max loves Chloe and it won't be an easy choice.

"♥♥♥♥ that! No way! You are my number one priority now. You are all that matters to me."

She just goes into denial at first. Tries to escape the choice. Share responsibility. Like "I can't ask Chloe for such a sacrifice". But when Chloe volountiers by herself - there is nowhere to run anymore.

Either choice is possible.

[AlexMBrennan]

Exactly, but as you wrote it yourself: "to travel back in time and change something". In "Sacrifice Chloe" ending she used "photo travel skill" but DIDN'T CHANGE ANYTHING.

Not changing anything would result in the same events playing out again exactly as before.
To make things turn out different, it is necessary to change something - make Max not go to the bathroom, make Max deliberately not use her time powers to save Chloe, or something along those lines.

If you happen to believe that changing time is what caused the tornado then you logically cannot believe that sacrificing Chloe will prevent the tornado; instead, you would have to come to the conclusion that the tornado wiping out Arcadia is inevitable.
You need a different explanation for the tornado (unrelated to time travel - maybe the universe just hates Chloe) to be able to believe that sacrificing Chloe will help.

[Mati9319]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

If you happen to believe that changing time is what caused the tornado

No. I happen to believe that SAVING CHLOE caused the tornado. I made that pretty clear with my previous post.

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

You need a different explanation for the tornado (unrelated to time travel - maybe the universe just hates Chloe) to be able to believe that sacrificing Chloe will help

OMFG. I swear... This sh*t is getting old -,-"

The only explanation for the tornado I'm interested in is the one the GAME ITSELF gives me, namely: SAVING CHLOE IN THE BATHROOM CAUSED THE TORNADO.

Can we go past it already...?

[Jeckenn]

Originally posted by Mati9319:

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

If you happen to believe that changing time is what caused the tornado

No. I happen to believe that SAVING CHLOE caused the tornado. I made that pretty clear with my previous post.

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

You need a different explanation for the tornado (unrelated to time travel - maybe the universe just hates Chloe) to be able to believe that sacrificing Chloe will help

OMFG. I swear... This sh*t is getting old -,-"

The only explanation for the tornado I'm interested in is the one the GAME ITSELF gives me, namely: SAVING CHLOE IN THE BATHROOM CAUSED THE TORNADO.

Can we go past it already...?

That is part of the charm of the Life is Strange story, everyone has their own oppinions and everyones oppinion is always valid. There is no right ending, both endings are completely valid and THAT is what makes Life is Strange such an amazing experience to play...

[Mati9319]

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

That is part of the charm of the Life is Strange story, everyone has their own oppinions and everyones oppinion is always valid. There is no right ending, both endings are completely valid

I agree completely.

I just want to point out, that while validity of both endings is indeed a matter of opinion, the tornado being "spawned" by saving Chloe in the bathroom is the matter of fact. The game tells us that and there's no room for nitpicking here. I'm sorry.