Could LiS work as a movie?

[Meelis13]

So i was discussing video game movies with friends and i started to wonder- how good could be movie based on game such as LiS?

[darquan0]

a movie would take a choice from the game. and choice is everything in _this_ game. even if most of them don't really matter, because of, you know, dev team hammering their idea with a liiiitle tornado.

[Specific Beef]

Nope. It'd be horribly exposed as a movie. There are tons of films and TV shows that deal with nostalgia for your teenage/young adult years, and plenty that stir in the supernatural.

The fact that it's a game is what makes it so special. There are so few games about the friendship between women and girls. There are so few games that put the basic elements of life in the centre stage and let everything else play second fiddle. There's a glut of TV and film that does this. It's an exceptional game, but it would be a pedestrian movie.

I always quote this example, but the moment when Max is lying around listening to music in Chloe's bedroom and the sun's streaming in, and you can hear the life outside in the street? That's something film and TV can never match, for the simple reason that you had to "press B to get up". It's easy to overlook, but I was loving that moment so much. Didn't press B. Song ended. Max and Chloe still lying there in silence. Still didn't press B. Eventually pressed B.

Interactivity made that scene what it was, and there are many moments like it. Every time you saw a place to Sit and a prompt to use it, and you went and took it? Such a beautiful idea. And again, it was your choice to hear Max's thoughts and enjoy that scene for as long as you felt it should be.

The twist is so obvious that I saw it coming during Episode 2. On TV or in a film, the audience would be furious at a whodunnit as guileless as this, but the great thing about the way LiS is structured is that it doesn't matter that we knew - there was a ton more to come after that. Again, this is LiS getting away with something that ought to be fatal to the story because it is a game.

[Xi Jinpooh, Lord of Man-Jynuhs]

I've tried thinking of this as a movie, and I just can't It's perfect just the way it is, simply because it's a movie you can alter around. You can't have that choice when watching The Butterfly Effect or Donnie Darko, which are still good regardless. Some could call this a 'Visual Novel', some could call it an 'RPG'. I'd like to call it, 'Epic'. This was an Epic game, so let's put it in the 'Epic' genre. After all, the music you hear in any kind of Movie Trailer, Game Trailer, etc., is considered 'Epic Music'.

[TamoDogo]

I feel like the experience of LiS could not be portrayed the same way as it is in a game. Its all about exploration, learning and making choices. A film couldnt pull this off. Games are interactive and more immersive.

[Mark]

Videogames to movie is something we always long for, and when somebody dares it's usually a disappointment. Doubleclick's post got it right, you can overlook the choices, work the story around, but the interaction is crucial: take that away and you'll turn a memorable experience into a "nice" movie at best

[darquan0]

Originally posted by Doubleclick:

The fact that it's a game is what makes it so special. There are so few games about the friendship between women and girls. There are so few games that put the basic elements of life in the centre stage and let everything else play second fiddle. There's a glut of TV and film that does this. It's an exceptional game, but it would be a pedestrian movie.

Yeah. Most games are about shooting, building or trading. This? It's about life (and, maybe, death) of a couple of estranged friends.
Two young girls who have to deal with events way above their heads.
Damn, I wish I hadn't utterly wasted those years of my life they live in this game...

[Capybara]

I don't think so. Game movies always have been quite different and really disappointing. They have to put all the stuff from game into a movie, which ends up in leaving stuff out too. Also changing the characters and adding other bs etc which don't appear in games.

For example I'm scared to see MGS movie as being a big fan, yeah I will still see it somehow but it probably will be bad. Of course LiS is totally different type of a game, but still movies never seem to hold the same magic as game. Especially a special game like LiS, where we as players do the choices that end up shaping the story and make us caring about the characters. Movie don't let us feel that in the same way, it won't let us do these things.

Only game movies I've liked are Mortal Kombat and Silent Hill because of reasons.

[Ossie]

it already exist, is called, "butterfly effect"

[needjamesd]

It could work, The Girl Who Fell Through Time is aready pretty simliar, I think only the Save Chloe ending would work as its a bit more subversive of the genre.

[BeeSawd]

In short: No, the choice aspect of LiS makes it what it is. Taking this away leaves you with a much shallower experience overall.

[facade]

It's essentially an interactive movie on it's own. So absolutely.

[Tirigon]

I doubt it. Movies dont bring such a level of investment as LiS does (and needs to bring, to work, because if you didnt care about Max and Chloe you'd be left with a pretty clichee'd highschool mystery timetravel thriller about a shy hipster and her pothead girlfriend).

Unlike games, movies kinda really need explosions or sex or people getting shot or something like that, or they are just too boring. Also a movie would be waaaay too short to feel such emotional investment.

[Sun Taurus]

This game has it's movie analog, called "The butterfly effect". Why does LiS need a movie adaptation, if it already has its analog in cinema industry?

[Jdwarfer]

I think it could be a good mini TV series instead. A movie alone is too short.
The choices are imposrtant alright but I think they could choose the best ones. And the emotion would be still here anyway. The story itself would be the same.
And real people can make emotion more real than in the video game.

[Marrz_]

It probably would if you cut some minor stuff out, like Visiting Kate when she survives