Life is Strange™

Life is Strange™

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brenland May 6, 2018 @ 4:26pm
This game made me cry (spoilers)
Let me preface by saying that I have played a number of video games that I enjoyed very much, but never had a profound emotional reaction to one before. LIS and LIS/BTS threw me for a loop.

The games filled me at times with profound sadness, regret, even heartache. Sometimes it was the littlest things: a facial expression, a voice, a plaintive bit of music.

For weeks I struggled to understand why. Was it that I longed for a friendship like that between Max and Chloe, one so close that notwithstanding their period of estrangement they still valued the other's feelings above almost all else? Or did I envy the sweet, crazy love between Chloe and Rachel? Yes to both, but neither was sufficient to explain the yearning I felt. Sometimes I just wanted to howl.

Just a few days ago, the penny dropped.

I painfully, desperately wanted Chloe to be happy.

I loved Chloe, and wanted this foul-mouthed, rebellious, damaged,beautiful, amazing girl to have just a little stability and happiness in her life. To have someone special who loved her above all else and give her what she needed to start to heal.

At the end of LIS, I had Max save Chloe without a second thought. All the heartache and pain of the game made sense to me only if at the end Max and Chloe were reunited. Chloe deserved life and the chance to find some joy so very much. Everyone else died, yes, but I didn't love them. Chloe lived, and Max lived, and that was enough.

The same went for LIS/BTS. I had Chloe tell Rachel everything. I did so in part because I thought it was truer to Chloe's nature and to their relationship, but part of it was also selfish. I knew that Rachel, for all her issues, would be a source of happiness for Chloe such as she had never experienced since the death of her father. I wanted Rachel to never have a reason to distrust Chloe, to do all I could to make Chloe and Rachel inseparable. Seeing them together in the end montage filled me with happiness, though (even knowing it wouldn't happen) I wanted to see them make good on their promise and leave Arcadia Bay before the events of LIS.

I empathized deeply with Max and Rachel in these two games, but in the end it was all about Chloe. She has a piece of my heart I'll never get back.

I'd enjoy hearing from anyone else on this.

Brandon
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Showing 1-15 of 34 comments
Jeckenn May 6, 2018 @ 4:50pm 
Yeah that about sums it up for me, I love Max, I love Rachel, but Chloe? I had a friend like her once and that is the one thing in my life that I still regret to this day when we went our seperate ways and now I will never see her again...I sometimes wonder if she ever played Life is Strange...

The whole reason I had to save Chloe at the end of LiS is because Max and Chloe were made for each other and there was no way I could possibly break them up and the way I saw things it wasn't Max's fault and it wasn't Chloe's fault so why should either or both of them take the blame.

What ever or who ever gave Max the powers is at fault because, I mean come on if you give someone power like that and then expect them not to use it, well you'd have to be one sick person/entity to do that and all I can say is F-YOU! You gave me the power and I am going to use it to make the lives of my friends better if I can, if you want to destroy my hometown because of that well we are back to the "sick" comment then...

The thing about a friend like Chloe is you KNOW she 100% has your back if she is your friend and that is rare in any sort of friendship, oh and of course you have her back too and that is why there really is only one ending to LiS and that is to let the storm do what it must and Max and Chloe leave town together...
Deusuum May 8, 2018 @ 1:09am 
Wholeheartedly agree with every word. In the very end, it turned out Chloe's story, and she simply deserved to live - being so passionate, true, selfless and alive.
Dethlane May 8, 2018 @ 8:32pm 
Totally agree. Chloe is hella amazing, one of a kind. She deserved to have someone special, who genuinely loved and cared about her, who would always be there for her no matter what, who would allow her to finally heal and live her life to the fullest. And she found that person in Max. And after all the hell both girls went through, they deserved nothing less than a nice and happy life together.

And yes, saving Chloe is the only ending. You should never ever betray people you care about, let alone if they mean everything to you, like Chloe does to Max. Not to mention that in the other ending Max takes from Chloe one of the best weeks in her life, puts back into her the feelings of being abandoned and worthless and literally pulls the trigger on Nathan's gun herself. Doing THAT to your soulmate is the worst possible thing one could ever do. I can't even think about this, every fiber of my being screams "NO F*CKING WAY!" when I do.
Last edited by Dethlane; May 8, 2018 @ 8:33pm
Hermit May 8, 2018 @ 9:14pm 
You're all taking this game way too seriously. Also, Chloe was an awful character

Choosing the town over her was an easy choice XD

It's a good game, but really lame at times and full of really over the top teen angst. The kind of problems where teenagers think the world revolves around them and that their lives are so hard and complicated.
Last edited by Hermit; May 8, 2018 @ 9:17pm
Dethlane May 8, 2018 @ 10:10pm 
Originally posted by TurtleHermit0:
You're all taking this game way too seriously. Also, Chloe was an awful character

Choosing the town over her was an easy choice XD

It's a good game, but really lame at times and full of really over the top teen angst. The kind of problems where teenagers think the world revolves around them and that their lives are so hard and complicated.
I guess now we know who really is awful there.
the Coroner May 9, 2018 @ 12:19am 
Originally posted by Dethlane:
Originally posted by TurtleHermit0:
You're all taking this game way too seriously. Also, Chloe was an awful character

Choosing the town over her was an easy choice XD

It's a good game, but really lame at times and full of really over the top teen angst. The kind of problems where teenagers think the world revolves around them and that their lives are so hard and complicated.
I guess now we know who really is awful there.
So was my thought when i read his post, too. Honestly, I once also played the ending sacrifying chloe, strongly keeping in my mind that it's a game and the characters are artificial, but i stll had to conquer myself
Last edited by the Coroner; May 9, 2018 @ 12:20am
Jeckenn May 9, 2018 @ 11:46am 
Yes played the ending where you sacrifice Chloe, but it was hard to see because of all the tears streaming down my face and blurring my vision....

Like I have said before it was very late at night the first time I finished LiS and that damn nightmare got me all mixed up and I thought it was best to save the town and sacrifice Chloe... boy was I wrong! After I finished I went to bed and tossed and turned and all I could think was... "What have I done??!?!?" WTF have I done?!?!?!?" and finally I had to get back up and replay that Cliff scene and this time SAVE Chloe!

Once I did that I went back to bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow because everything was the way it SHOULD be, Max and Chloe were back in action living the good life the way it was meant to be! :)
Last edited by Jeckenn; May 9, 2018 @ 3:33pm
Deusuum May 9, 2018 @ 1:29pm 
Originally posted by Jeckenn:
Yes played the ending where you sacrifice Chloe, but it was hard to see because of all the tears streaming down my face and blurring my vision....

Like I have said before it was very late at night the first time I finished LiS and that damn nightmare got me all mixed up and I thought it was best to save the town and sacrifice Chloe... boy was I wrong! After I finished I went to bed and tossed and turned and all I could thing was... "What have I done??!?!?" WTF have I done?!?!?!?" and finally I had to get back up and replay that Cliff scene and this time SAVE Chloe!

Once I did that I went back to bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow because everything was the way it SHOULD be, Max and Chloe were back in action living the good life the way it was meant to be! :)

Horrible experience, if you ask me. I saw sacrifice Chloe ending on Youtube two times, and felt disgusting. And you had to "redeem" yourself, well done.
the Coroner May 9, 2018 @ 2:33pm 
Originally posted by Deusuum:
Originally posted by Jeckenn:
Yes played the ending where you sacrifice Chloe, but it was hard to see because of all the tears streaming down my face and blurring my vision....

Like I have said before it was very late at night the first time I finished LiS and that damn nightmare got me all mixed up and I thought it was best to save the town and sacrifice Chloe... boy was I wrong! After I finished I went to bed and tossed and turned and all I could thing was... "What have I done??!?!?" WTF have I done?!?!?!?" and finally I had to get back up and replay that Cliff scene and this time SAVE Chloe!

Once I did that I went back to bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow because everything was the way it SHOULD be, Max and Chloe were back in action living the good life the way it was meant to be! :)

Horrible experience, if you ask me. I saw sacrifice Chloe ending on Youtube two times, and felt disgusting. And you had to "redeem" yourself, well done.

true, but same time it's a precious experience to have it done this way at least once imho. ignoring the point that such a situation is no way realistic, t still needed to force myself to do so. Not sure if i can recommend it as the way to deal with it is personally very different, i guess. balancing a whole town against a loved one is impossible. it's a dilemma.
Last edited by the Coroner; May 9, 2018 @ 2:34pm
brenland May 9, 2018 @ 2:46pm 
Originally posted by Jeckenn:
Yes played the ending where you sacrifice Chloe, but it was hard to see because of all the tears streaming down my face and blurring my vision....

Like I have said before it was very late at night the first time I finished LiS and that damn nightmare got me all mixed up and I thought it was best to save the town and sacrifice Chloe... boy was I wrong! After I finished I went to bed and tossed and turned and all I could thing was... "What have I done??!?!?" WTF have I done?!?!?!?" and finally I had to get back up and replay that Cliff scene and this time SAVE Chloe!

Once I did that I went back to bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow because everything was the way it SHOULD be, Max and Chloe were back in action living the good life the way it was meant to be! :)

Exactly my reaction! I too had my doubts, so I went back and played the sacrifice Chloe ending. It tore me up and filled me with such a sense of wrongness that I felt it light a weight on my soul. Nothing got rid of that awful feeling except going back once again and saving her. I was sad for some of the innocents in Arcadia Bay, but seeing Max and Chloe driving out of town to start their lives together was so right that I knew it was going to be okay. Find some happiness, girls.
Jeckenn May 9, 2018 @ 3:47pm 
Originally posted by the Coroner:
Originally posted by Deusuum:

Horrible experience, if you ask me. I saw sacrifice Chloe ending on Youtube two times, and felt disgusting. And you had to "redeem" yourself, well done.

true, but same time it's a precious experience to have it done this way at least once imho. ignoring the point that such a situation is no way realistic, t still needed to force myself to do so. Not sure if i can recommend it as the way to deal with it is personally very different, i guess. balancing a whole town against a loved one is impossible. it's a dilemma.

The thing is though we don't really know who died and who survived. In fact if you looked closely at the Two Whales Diner as they left town it looked like anyone in there could have very well survived it was intact enough and in that reality it looked like there was no gas explosion....

Also if Kate was still at the hospital she would have very likely survived because hospitals are built to much higher standards and in fact are built to be able to survive things like a tornado or earth quakes so anyone there would have very likely survived.
Last edited by Jeckenn; May 9, 2018 @ 3:47pm
Dethlane May 9, 2018 @ 9:30pm 
Originally posted by the Coroner:
true, but same time it's a precious experience to have it done this way at least once imho.
Perhaps to someone it is. Personally, no way in hell will I ever watch this ending, let alone pick it myself.

Originally posted by the Coroner:
balancing a whole town against a loved one is impossible. it's a dilemma.
Sacrificing your loved ones is the worst thing to do. I'll never do such a thing and I don't give a f*ck if it means the world is gonna burn. Of course, someone else might see it differently, even in the completely opposite way. I hate it, but I accept that.
∴ Snake ∴ May 10, 2018 @ 4:06pm 
Great game. Dialogue was a bit cringy at times, and some of the choices (especially the rat on Nathan or keep it to yourself choice) were horrible, but the game got much better after episode 1.

Strangely enough though, I didn't cry. I felt like ♥♥♥♥ when Chloe was paralyzed, but that was about it.

I didn't even hesitate on saving Chloe. The town was a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and everyone hated it. I did feel bad for Joyce, David, and Frank, though. They didn't deserve to go down with that awful town.
brenland May 10, 2018 @ 8:04pm 
Originally posted by Jeckenn:
Originally posted by the Coroner:

true, but same time it's a precious experience to have it done this way at least once imho. ignoring the point that such a situation is no way realistic, t still needed to force myself to do so. Not sure if i can recommend it as the way to deal with it is personally very different, i guess. balancing a whole town against a loved one is impossible. it's a dilemma.

The thing is though we don't really know who died and who survived. In fact if you looked closely at the Two Whales Diner as they left town it looked like anyone in there could have very well survived it was intact enough and in that reality it looked like there was no gas explosion....

Also if Kate was still at the hospital she would have very likely survived because hospitals are built to much higher standards and in fact are built to be able to survive things like a tornado or earth quakes so anyone there would have very likely survived.

Yes, I hold to that idea too. We can at least hope that nobody dies who didn't deserve it. After all, Max did work to save a number of them. We know at least that the one lived who could never, should never have died: Chloe.

Max needed Chloe to live so badly that she discovered a power within herself to make it possible. Don't we all wish that our most deeply felt needs could awaken such a talent within ourselves?
Deusuum May 11, 2018 @ 12:13am 
Originally posted by brenland:
We can at least hope that nobody dies who didn't deserve it.

Precisely. In the Bae ending there is hope of some people surviving, it is an opportunity for them to act and save themselves and their loved ones instead of behaving like lobotomy victims. But otherwise Chloe has no opportunity, it is nevermore for her, it is the ultimate death, and memories are simply not enough. There is no "good" or "right" thing to do, it is about giving people, all people, both Chloe and all in Arcadia Bay, a chance.
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Date Posted: May 6, 2018 @ 4:26pm
Posts: 34