Let's face it: Both Endings suck...

[Rutana]

Ok, now that I have your attention, let me clarify:
1. This thread will talk about both endings, so obviously: Spoilers!
2. Please read to the end of the post, until you rage at me in the comments ;D


I like the game. I really do. The emotional Rollercoster was heavy and welcomed. I felt sympathic or sorry for all characters - some more, some less (well, except Jefferson). Overall, I think it's a really, well-crafted game.
But the more I think about the endings, now that I have a bit of distance to it, the more I feel annoyed by them.

Life is Strange isn't the first game, that promised us "Real Consequences" for our actions. That promised us that every choice we take, influences the story. And sadly, it's not only the first that can't keep the promise, but it's also the worst in that regard.

Look at the Telltale games for example: No matter which one I played so far, in the end, the story always goes the same route. Sure, maybe one of the characters dies earlier or later, or not at all. One might not like you, or like you. Or another character might have an arm or not... but the overall story? Never changes that much.

Then look at games like the Fallout Series, or Deus Ex. Games that never focused on your decisions being the important gameplay feature. But they manage to make an actual impact in the end. Sure, you only get told the outcome of your decisions, but they're noticeable and change the world around you.

And Life is Strange?
All your decisions are absolutely pointless.
In the end, it all comes down to one decision: Chloe or Arcadia Bay

If you choose Arcadia Bay: Congratulations! The time rewinds to the very beginning of the game! All decisions you made from the very beginning: Pointless! Rewinded! Who cares if you comforted or made fun of paint-Victoria? Who cares if you safed Kate or not? All these things won't happen anymore.

And if you choose Chloe? Still, nothing matters anymore!
You worked hard to safe Kate? Who cares, she's dead now.
You managed to "befriend" Frank? Who cares, he's dead now! Blown up at the 2 Whales Diner!
You chose to got to the movies with Warren? Who cares, he blew up to!
You seperated Joice and David? Who cares! BOTH DEAD! (well.. David might survive in that Bunker... but no matter your choice before, he's still the only survivor...)
You worked so hard and long to befriend as many students as possible? WHO CARES! ALL DEAD!

No matter which side you choose, all your decisions before hand are nullified! And that's in a game that tried SO DAMN HARD to make you feel you did all those heavy choices. That made you question your every move. In the end: Pointless...

I'm kinda sad that all these story-driven games, that make you feel like your choices matter so much, all lead to the same main story, no much variation, no real impact.
I just wish there would be one game that really is heavy on your choices, that has multiple endings with completely different stories, all based on your decisions...

anyone else feel the same way? :/

[Capybara]

I love the endings especially because of how it makes me feel, so you can't really speak for everyone :). No other game or movie ending ever made me feel or cry so much before... Most of the choices at least for me were not pointless at all, because I cared about the choices leading to the last moment. The last one make you think about what things you care more of so it's quite a meaningful moment.

Some choices do effect later in the game. The developers wanted to add only the 2 endings since the beginning, although they had considered some alternative ones too. But I think it's also a bit silly to expect millions of endings, all effected by your choices. That's a lot of work for developers. Also 2 endings can be considered as multiple I guess.
The Bae ending is left to players imagination. I like to think not everyone of the town died, because tornados do not kill everyone and people use their brains to evacuate. There were blankets over some bodies along the street, those didnt appear out of nowhere.

For me...it's about the journey, not the ending <3.

[Sunsetter]

Welcome to the "I can't believe such a good game can have such a sh*tty ending" club.

[Mousey]

Originally posted by Gatsu:

I love the endings especially because of how it makes me feel, so you can't really speak for everyone :). No other game or movie ending ever made me feel or cry so much before... Most of the choices at least for me were not pointless at all, because I cared about the choices leading to the last moment. The last one make you think about what things you care more of so it's quite a meaningful moment.

Some choices do effect later in the game. The developers wanted to add only the 2 endings since the beginning, although they had considered some alternative ones too. But I think it's also a bit silly to expect millions of endings, all effected by your choices. That's a lot of work for developers. Also 2 endings can be considered as multiple I guess.
The Bae ending is left to players imagination. I like to think not everyone of the town died, because tornados do not kill everyone and people use their brains to evacuate. There were blankets over some bodies along the street, those didnt appear out of nowhere.

For me...it's about the journey, not the ending <3.

I couldnt have said it better.

[doris.diamond]

It was a bit dissapointing for me too. Id love to have everyone safe with that power but instead I had to choose between my selfish wants ( Chloe) or everyone's life. I played both ends. I think the one who gives you hope that you did the right thing is the one you sacrifice poor Chloe and have everyone else alive. It was a beautiful jouney indeed, but I wish not everything looked to pointless in the end.

[Ogami]

And again with the total misconception that the tornado means everyone died.
I really dont get where people are coming from with that.
The developers said themself they left it intentional open ended if and who of the people we knew died in the storm. There are only 3 bodies in the whole of Arcadia bay visible in the ending movie. And one of the bodies has a blanket put over it so that was after the storm.
So, NO, not everyone died.
Kate is safe anyway, either at the hospital since its a stone building with a storm shelter like any hospital or her parents already took her home friday morning and they dont live in Arcadia Bay anymore.
The diner is also not blown up in the ending movie, no scorch marks, no destruxtion exept the sign fallen down. We dont even know if the people are still in the diner in this timeline since its a different one from the one when Max was there during the storm.
David is also not in the bunker since Jefferson has already been arrested after Max got back through Warren photo and her and Chloe decide to tell David about Jefferson.

The timelines jump around wildly at that point.
As for your decisions not mattering, since nearly all your decisions were about saving Chloe they all still matter in that ending since you do exactly that.

I like the 2 endings even if i prefer Sacrifce Arcadia Bay way more.

[Rutana]

Originally posted by Gatsu:

I love the endings especially because of how it makes me feel, so you can't really speak for everyone :)

Oh, it's not about the feels. Both Endings really hit that mark - it's just about the unimportance of your decisions.

Originally posted by Gatsu:

Most of the choices at least for me were not pointless at all, because I cared about the choices leading to the last moment.

Yes, but that's simply a cheap trick to let the players think that they make important decisions. Yes, in the moment you make the decision, you're invested. But once you're at the end and think about it - nothing changed because of it. The story goes down the same path no matter what.
For example:
So, you end up killing Frank and his dog. Chloe is devestated throughout the next scene. Dealing, quite responsible, with murder.
But once you leave the house and follow the next clue, all suffering is gone. No dealing with murder anymore.
Then she finds Rachel, and guess what? "What kind of world does this?" ?!? She just KILLED a man and his dog! And can't grasp that her friend got killed? One scene later, she wants to deal with Nathan - while pulling out the gun again! Lesson not learned?
But that we didn't saved her from David in Episode 1 - that's worth bringing up over and over again!

Originally posted by Gatsu:

Some choices do effect later in the game.

Please tell me which choices actually have an impact on the end of the story. I'm honestly curious.
And don't even start with "We get blamed differently in the Nightmare", cause that's nothing that effected the story in any way...

Originally posted by Gatsu:

But I think it's also a bit silly to expect millions of endings, all effected by your choices. That's a lot of work for developers.

Of course it's lots of work! But for a game that's all about your choices and it's consequences, I expect that kind of work.
Games that made these work? Fallout (the whole series), Corpse Party (had at least tons of bad endings with people dying), Zero Escape Series was all over choices and different paths, just that you needed to take every path to actually complete the game, The Stanley Parable, Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain (Not Beyond Two Souls - that game pulled the same cheap escape card that Life is Strange did...)
Just that they all are either a completely different genre (a reason why I didn't mentioned Visual Novels), or never went full paths (Corpse Party), or had one clear true ending (Zero Escape) - or simply didn't put any value on story (Stanley Parable).

Originally posted by Ogami:

And again with the total misconception that the tornado means everyone died.
I really dont get where people are coming from with that.

Because with her very first dream of the Tornado, we know that her dreams are actually visions - and in her "Nightmare", everyone you encountered begs Max not to kill them.
Besides, David arrested Jefferson in the Bunker. He's probably still there checking evidence. And by that, no one else had a reason to change their path this evening - meaning that Warren, Joice and Frank (if still alive) end up in the Diner which is still going to blow up, Alyssa is on the house, Evan dies because he's dumb enough to make photos in a Tornado, the Trucker dies because no one helps him, the Fisher dies because he's not smart enough to hit the Sprinkler and the rest of the school is still partying at a pool - in a thunderstorm... The only person you can safe through your decisions is actually the homeless person.


In fact, if you ignore the different paths complaint I have, the ending where you sacrifice Arcadia Bay could be adjusted sooo easily, to give your choices more impact. Just add a few scenes, and let every hinted event happen on Friday Night.
For example, if you saved Kate, she could be shown at the ending helping others (or leaving the hospital shelter). If you didn't hooked up with Warran, he would've gone to the cinema with Brooke (and not to the party - let him make the last photo before he leaves to the cinema) - out of the way for the Tornado. If you told Daniel not to go to the party, he might've chosen to leave town for the weekend to visit some exhibition (he mentions that to Brooke on the Party - let him go with someone else you befriended!), and so on.
Suddenly, you'd given the ending much more weight because your choices really influenced something. You'd still walk the same paths, but at least with different endings.

[Ogami]

@Rutana

The nightmare is only a projection of Max innermost fears. She feels guilty for everything.
That does not mean the nightmare has any bearing in reality. She saw Chloe making out with Victoria and Warren in her nightmare, so if the people in the dinner have a real meaning that stuff would too.
Its just Max seeing all her manifest insecurity and fears and also the stuff thats most important to her, all the memories of Chloe.

Also, David is 100% not in the bunker because Jefferson has no reason to be there.
They decide on the evening of the party to inform David, so Jefferson ist pretty much done after that. Why should David be in the bunker 15 hours or so later? Makes no sense. The cops will be there taking evidence but David is just a security guard.

Also we dont see what Max and Chloe did after Jefferson got arrested. We see them on the beach again the next day after going through the town. Im pretty sure that Max & Chloe will have saved the same people Max has saved before and even warn the people in the diner.
Again, the diner is INTACT in the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending movie. Not burned out, not destroyed, no damage exept the sign fallen down.

And again, all you decisions still stand and exist in this ending. Even if some of the people you helped died does not make those decisions invalid. Thats like if in real life you help some old lady over the street and then learn that she died 5 days later of old age. You do not go " well that was pointless that i helped that old lady over the street".
You still made all your decisions and they still stand. And they still will have consequences even after the Arcadia Bay ending.

[TomGoodwrenchSK]

You criticise the endings becouse you say that your decisions didn´t have an impact on the endings. But i see that that wasn´t the point of the story. And it just made me personaly feel more sad and miserable that nothing i did had changed anything.
In the end i realized that Max got her time changing abilities so she could be a few more days with her close friend that she didn´t see in a long time, and a friend that will die soon no matter what she does.
And it basicaly says something about people in the real world - spend time with your closest, dearest, while there´s still time.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by TomLehocky (SVK):

In the end i realized that Max got her time changing abilities so she could be a few more days with her close friend that she didn´t see in a long time, and a friend that will die soon no matter what she does.

That only works with one of the endings. The other one has the exact opposite message, "saving whats important to you no matter the cost".

And no, Chloe is in no danger of dying anymore after the storm. The devs themself have confirmed that. If you choose to sacrifice Arcadia Bay Max & Chloe have their whole life ahead of them. The " will die no matter what " point does not apply to this ending.

[Battlekruse]

Its the two sad ending there make LiS so epic.

If there was a truly good ending where everything ended up okay, then the game would most likely not made so a hard impact.

The team behind LiS really make one of the best/worst ending to a video game ever, where there is no happy ending, because of you action.

[bryrk]

"The ending isn't any more important than any of the moments leading up to it." This is one of my favourite quotes from my (joint) favourite game ever To The Moon, and I feel like it fits this game perfectly too.

[LameWarrior]

Nobody said your choices will affect ending(s).
Nobody said Kate, Warren, Joice etc. died when you chose to sacrifice Botany Bay. In my opinion, they had plenty of time to get away and if they didn't, then... well, you're not responsible for they stupidity.

The choice between Chloe and Arkadia is just a mechanism for you to decide who should suffer: Max or Chloe. If you sacrifice Chloe, she will suffer as she clearly wants to live after teaming up back with Max (she's finally happy). If you sacrifice Arkadia Bay, Max will suffer as she will be responsible for spawning an angry time thingy on a kill rampage.

Both endings are bad, but for a different reason: they make no sense. For me, the only choice was to spare Chloe. I had no emotional attachement to the town or most of the people living there. Game creators also didn't emphasize enough what Max is feeling about Arcadia Bay being destroyed. She seemed only mildly annoyed by that.

P.S. Chloe Price 4 ever! ;)

[roymaster45]

I do wish the choices you made throughout the game had more of an impact on the endings, but personally, I thought the sacrifice Chloe ending was pretty damn good, while the sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending was kind of "meh".

And that's for two main reasons:


1) The Sacrifice Chloe ending was, for me, incredibly emotional because it showed you all the memories of Chloe getting altered, and everybody mourning at the funeral. You actually got to SEE how everyone, even Frank, was affected by her death.

In the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending, it's implied that everyone is dead, but you don't actually see it. All you see is the wreckage of the town, and Max looks sad for a few seconds before she and Chloe drive off. I get that the developers wanted to leave it open to interpretation and the whole "the other characters live or die based on what you want to think" thing, but it just feels cheap after how gut-wrenching the other ending was.

2) This might be a personal thing, but the fact that they used "Obstacles" in the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay, after using it in the trailer and the end of Episode 1, just gave me this feeling of "OK, we've been here before". Introducing us to a new song in the Sacrifice Chloe ending made it seem like we really were going into new territory.

[Rupok]

Ya I really wish the endings weren't mass effect 3 ish.

[Rutana]

Guys... I don't think you understand what I was trying to say.
I didn't said the endings were bad, just because there's no happy ending. Or because we had to make a hard, emotional decision that hangs with us. That's all fine.
I say it sucks because we were given the illusion of choice, but got no consequences out of it.
Nothing mattered in the end.

Originally posted by Ogami:

Also, David is 100% not in the bunker because Jefferson has no reason to be there.
They decide on the evening of the party to inform David, so Jefferson ist pretty much done after that. Why should David be in the bunker 15 hours or so later? Makes no sense. The cops will be there taking evidence but David is just a security guard.

Sorry to disappoint you, but that's wrong. You see it in the game itself! David, along with 2 cops, bust Jefferson in the bunker. That's the altered time we see after Max talks to Chloe before the party.

Originally posted by Ogami:

Also we dont see what Max and Chloe did after Jefferson got arrested. We see them on the beach again the next day after going through the town. Im pretty sure that Max & Chloe will have saved the same people Max has saved before and even warn the people in the diner.

Quote Chloe at the Lighthouse: "She (her mother) deserves so much more then to be killed by a storm in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ diner. Even my step... father deserves her alive."
If theyd actually go through the town saving people, Joice wouldn't die in the diner, and Chloe's remorse wouldn't make any sense.

Originally posted by Ogami:

Again, the diner is INTACT in the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending movie. Not burned out, not destroyed, no damage exept the sign fallen down.

You see burn marks on the windows of the diner, that also don't have any glass in them anymore. Plus, the sign very subtle, tells you what happened to everyone inside: "DI E"

Originally posted by OverthinkingPigeon:

"The ending isn't any more important than any of the moments leading up to it." This is one of my favourite quotes from my (joint) favourite game ever To The Moon, and I feel like it fits this game perfectly too.

To the Moon is a completely different story, can't compare the games.
To the Moon told you one story, which had an incredible sad ending. You only changed the memories of one person shortly before his death, that didn't changed anything of the past they had.
Different to Life is Strange, where you could actually alter time, make decisions - and yet they were nullified in the end.

Originally posted by LameWarrior:

Nobody said your choices will affect ending(s).

You were promised that your choices would lead to consequences though. And the only consequence you ever get in the game is Kate's suicide. That's it.
All other consequences try to scare you into one direction or the other ("I could loose my scholarship!"), without ever leading up on that. In fact, the developers wrote one clear story, that they considered the true story, and just altered a bit here and there to simulate consequences after choices. And that's so noticeable...

Calling out Nathan or not? - who cares, he dies at the end, and you won't get thrown out. Sure, you made Nathan aggressive towrads you, but he never really follows up on his threats.
Comforting Victoria? - yeah, that only leads to her ending up in the Dark Room for 2 short scenes, with no real consequences at all, since you rewind this outcome either way.
Stepping in for Kate? - doesn't matter. You can save Kate with or without that decision.
Stepping in between Chloe and David? - who cares, your scholership was never in danger, making the fear of standing in pointless.
Telling Kate to go to the Police? - again, no real consequences.
Answering Kate's call? - if you haven't, you can still tell her that your phone was muted.
Trying to shoot at Frank? - doesn't change anything, neither does the gun possession. It only changes the course of the conversation later SLIGHTLY.
Saving Kate? - adds one aditional scene. Everything else are only slightly altered lines, or bullying instead of praising.
Blaming Someone? - yeah... sure... Nathan gets expelled, doesn't really change something. David get's suspended anyway, and no one believes Jefferson really is to blame here.
Stole the money? - hey, that sign altered slightly and guess how you feel about that at the end of the episode, ooooops...
Kissed Chloe? - if you still treat Warren somewhat friendly, this has no consequences at all.
Throwing David out? - yeah, have fun with the logical error that Max and Chloe tell him about Jefferson in front of the house he's not supposed to be in there, as he claims himself, that at that time, he was sitting in his hotel room feeling sorry about himself. Great work, developers!
Hurting Pompadour? - only prevents you from beeing even more of an ass and killing Frank. Yeah, that changed a lot...
Who has the gun? - who cares... seriously...
Killing Chloe? - no consequences at all, since you rewind DIRECTLY AFTERWARDS!
Stop Warren from beating up Nathan? - changes Nothing.
The conversation with Frank? - you can always find a peaceful solution, and if you actually kill him - who cares. Chloe forgets about it after just once scene...
Waring Victoria? - changes nothing. You might get her in the Dark Room, but since that's been rewinded anyway, no change at all.

These are the major decisions and their "consequences".

Why giving us any choice in the first place?
The developers clearly had their mind set on specific answeres we should give, as soon as we alter away, logical errors pop up here and there.
THIS is the issue I have with the game, not the fact that there's no happy ending.


Also, someone said something about "well, the bodies are covered, so someone must've survived!"
...one body is covered, which, technically, could've happened by the wind. On the other side of the street, there's still a body untouched.
No one goes along, covers one body, but doesn't touch the other and then just leaves.
If people survived, we would've seen them. We would've seen them searching for other survivors, or at least cleaning up. But the town is deserted.
This ending is not open for interpetations at all. It's a very clear message. And everyone who thinks people survived: Great for you. But I bet that 90% of you just want to justify why you chose Chloe in the end.