People weren’t ready for this game

[Tavish]

I played Life is Strange 2 recently. Now it’s one of my favorite games. Of course, I understand that people can dislike LiS 2 for their own reasons (mostly because they like original LiS more which is valid point). I also understand why episodic format of the game could irritate players (after all, there was too long breaks between episodes and intensity, immersion of the game kinda suffered from it). But there is a huge disconnect between game and players on fundamental base. You know, I like to watch let’s play on YouTube (usually after I played the games, so I can compare my playthrough with how other people did it; or I can notice new things watching the game without being worried about playing it). Only a couple players really nailed their understanding of the game. 99% of let’s plays for LiS 2 completely missed the mark. And I suspect that the main reason is that people weren’t ready for this kind of game to play.

They wanted immediately to play the main character with superpower (something cool like rewind the time!) and investigate new mystery while listening to awesome soundtrack. But… but… instead main character was the one without superpower (Sean Diaz), and we even couldn’t directly control the character with superpower. And there wasn’t any mystery. People had different expectations based on their experience with original LiS. But LiS 2 is a psychological adventure game which provides tools for us to relate to many important topics (identity, race, sexual orientation issues, going through grief and growing up too fast, building trust with our brother, expanding our thinking by meeting many different people with unique background, etc.). Basically, it was a great example of how our attention to the details and empathy can affect our path in the life, how we can affect our relatives with careful and thoughtful conversations with them (how Daniel reacts in LiS 2 is 100% depends on our decisions). In real life you can’t rewind the time to make right choices. And in this game choices are not defined by rightfulness. There’s no right/wrong parenting of a sibling or in exploring the world while we growing up with trauma. Many misunderstood LiS 2 gameplay because they tried to make right choices for the main character / themselves as a player (which perfectly fine in some instances). They didn’t catch the most important thing since the beginning: that our (Sean’s) bond with younger brother (Daniel) is the base of the narrative. That each selfish or careless or antagonistic decision is weakened our / Sean’s relationship with Daniel and makes for us harder to get the least destructive “ending” of the story.

LiS 2 in many ways very realistic game (you can laugh or cringe at some dialogue, of course, but the overall screenplay of the game is really, really fascinating exploration of interesting themes; even most straightforward episode “Faith” has, perhaps, the best conversation between characters [you know what I mean] and there characters are discussing topics which I’ve never witnessed in any other game ever): it builds its characters slow, but beautifully, giving the space to rest with thoughts (while drawing something or simply glazing into the new landscape), to have meaningful talk or observing things for us to understand what our inner world is, which things drives us to the new point, new life target, what really close to our heart and soul. It’s very unique game in the sense that it gives us exploration of difficult, tough topics [and I bet that if you pay real attention to it, you can relate to at least some of these issues on personal level] more than just plain “go from A to B to get C” thing. There’s also amazing look on how overbearing a culture of superheroes can be to the youth. LiS 2 makes sure to not go with typical schtick “here’s our hero with superpower, there’s our villain with another superpower which you should to destroy, game over”. Sean is an ordinary man; he has no superpower. He’s 16 years old, traumatized teenager, but in the end his empathy and how he raised Daniel is what impacts the whole game. Superpower in LiS 2 is just the tool to drive the narrative faster than it would be in usual circumstances. That’s it. It’s not for entertaining reason, but for us / Sean to see how Daniel changes with time and new experience.

I also admire that the writers even escaped the cliché of one important character in the game also having some superpowers [you know who I mean] because the narrative is not about having \ not having any magic power. It’s basically about how we interact with each other and how empathy helps us to take in and understand different opinion, different look on life in general and specific things. How to keep the trust in humanity despite some of the cruelness of the world. Long story short: LiS 2 is the game for which many players weren’t ready because they had other expectations for it. Certain famous people in their let’s play made a huge disservice to the game by mocking it and making quite careless decisions in it, and influencing other players by that attitude. Not bothering to go though Sean’s sketchbook, his phone’s texts, his things in the backpack, not reading letters, not paying attention to the small things in the dialogues between characters, shying away from discussing religion, politics and other sensitive topics (which to some degree is okay if you can’t say something good on this or don’t have enough experience to discuss it properly), etc. And labeling it as “boring”, “worse than the original” [when it has very little with the original, if we think about it more; it’s not the continuation, but a new game!], “teen cringe” [when game actually explores so many tough topics, on the edge of taboo (conversion “therapy”, for example)], etc. Usually, I don’t even bother to react to negative reviews. I like it, some people don’t, and that’s okay. But the general audience disconnect with LiS 2 caught me completely off guard. Maybe I’m wrong, and people actually love this game, but it seems like there’s some unwarranted dislike and even hate of it.

I love this game very much. People who made it, really brought a lot of their personal and professional knowledge to it. There’s also great voice over acting (Gonzalo Martin deserved his BAFTA win! I can’t imagine Sean’s voice differently after this. Very calm vibe, with sexy sighs through the whole game lmao). Haters to the left, it deserves our love.

[TheClowN]

boring character+boring story+politics that shouldnt be in a story game

i really liked episode 1 when things was simple and interesting but got worse with each episode

the only good thing about this game was max+chloe picture grown up,

i havent played True colors but i have feeling it will suck same as this the protagonist is also very ugly masculine compared to feminine max or rachel.

developers should stop pushing for this lgbt CRAP, i only liked it in the first game even then u have the option for max to be with warren or reject chloe

[Tavish]

Another one of "Where are Chloe and Max? This game sucks!" (c) lmao

Also there's not much narrative driven games with LGBTQ+ content, so I'm happy that Dontnod [and others] provides such opportunity to be connected to the characters we understand and not to be alienated by the predominant straight world. As Esteban would say to all white priveleged men: "So what? You've been spoiled for many years! Get used to share the space with LGBTQ+ community!".

[P1nkLem0n4d3]

TheClowN の投稿を引用：

boring character+boring story+politics that shouldnt be in a story game

i really liked episode 1 when things was simple and interesting but got worse with each episode

the only good thing about this game was max+chloe picture grown up,

i havent played True colors but i have feeling it will suck same as this the protagonist is also very ugly masculine compared to feminine max or rachel.

developers should stop pushing for this lgbt CRAP, i only liked it in the first game even then u have the option for max to be with warren or reject chloe

Life is Strange True Colors is a different style of game (I would argue that it's commentary on the real world is the most subtle out of the whole series if anything, even more so in comparison to Life is Strange 1, excluding the DLC anyways). Life is Strange 2's commentary is mainly revolved around racial issues. Life is Strange 1 was mainly revolved around environmental issues. Life is Strange Before The Storm was mainly about social issues (in terms of social health). Life is Strange True Colors mainly revolves around historical revisionism. All of these games give the player romance options.

Tavish の投稿を引用：

Another one of "Where are Chloe and Max? This game sucks!" (c) lmao

Also there's not much narrative driven games with LGBTQ+ content, so I'm happy that Dontnod [and others] provides such opportunity to be connected to the characters we understand and not to be alienated by the predominant straight world. As Esteban would say to all white priveleged men: "So what? You've been spoiled for many years! Get used to share the space with LGBTQ+ community!".

Not everyone that doesn't like Life is Strange 2, or that likes Life is Strange 2 but not as much as other games within the series, thinks in the same way.

Life is Strange True Colors is my second favorite game out of the whole series, yet it doesn't have Max, and depending on your choice in terms of your playthrough, it may or may not have Chloe either and if anything the connections to Life is Strange 1 and other games within the DLC was actually one of its flaws in my perspective, and Tell Me Why is very much focused on mainly LGBTQ+ issues and it is also my third favorite game in the series (some people say it isn't part of the series, some do, but whatever it's a good game and I recommend it) and that game only really had flaws with its gameplay and very scripted powers.

[Tavish]

After watching many let's plays I've come to the verdict that jacksepticeye's let's play is the worst for this particular game. He is completely arrogant in his wrong assumptions. For example, when he goes through choices he made in episode "Rules", he totally skip Daniel's decisions as "not important" ("I care only about big decisions"). He somehow on episode 2 still doesn't understand that how Sean influence and raise Daniel actually is the most important thing in the game. And he's a youtuber with millions of subscribers lmao Also his tired and quite disturbing jokes about "dead dad" and others in similarly careless and offensive style makes uncomfortable to watch the entire thing. Basically he and some other youtubers did a huge disservice to the game by not paying attention even to the obvious nuances of the game. It was clear since first episode how much jacksepticeye hated LiS2 and he continued to make videos about it only because it brought him views and $$$.

[P1nkLem0n4d3]

Tavish の投稿を引用：

After watching many let's plays I've come to the verdict that jacksepticeye's let's play is the worst for this particular game. He is completely arrogant in his wrong assumptions. For example, when he goes through choices he made in episode "Rules", he totally skip Daniel's decisions as "not important" ("I care only about big decisions"). He somehow on episode 2 still doesn't understand that how Sean influence and raise Daniel actually is the most important thing in the game. And he's a youtuber with millions of subscribers lmao Also his tired and quite disturbing jokes about "dead dad" and others in similarly careless and offensive style makes uncomfortable to watch the entire thing. Basically he and some other youtubers did a huge disservice to the game by not paying attention even to the obvious nuances of the game. It was clear since first episode how much jacksepticeye hated LiS2 and he continued to make videos about it only because it brought him views and $$$.

When he starts his let's play, he says that he really liked Life is Strange 1, but didn't really like Before The Storm, hence why he was going into this game not really feeling all that excited, so immediately it doesn't have to do with "but Chloe and Max." He also mentions that he is however hopeful that he will be pleasantly surprised. He does say later that this was mainly due to the lack of good use of powers within Before The Storm in comparison to Life is Strange 1.

Jack had also looked at extra stuff (don't know where the comment went that claimed the opposite) so it's not like he is just ignoring tons of the game.

I have always criticized the "karma system" that Life is Strange 2 has simply because it isn't really clear to the player, ever. Never explained, never hinted at, only a secret way of figuring that out that got patched out of the game for whatever reason, a choice in episode 3 that goes into the beginning of episode 4 and episode 5, depending on the color of Sean's replacement eye, determines whether you are able to cross the border or not, which again was very much not obvious, and it isn't even in the game anymore, as now its just covered for the whole game by the eye patch for whatever reason along with the fact that this is actually shown in Jack's let's play because it is an older early build of the game, whether Daniel listens to Sean or not, which is based in a scale by all of the choices oriented around Daniel, which then REVERSES the result by letting him do whatever he wants, basically you have to do the opposite of what you think would lead to Daniel to listen to you, in order to determine whether one of the characters dies or not depending on whether Daniel agrees with Sean's plan either way or not. None of this is explained within the game. It took me like three playthroughs in order to even finally understand how that worked.

He stopped playing the entire series. He could of played the other games and "made more views and money" but didn't, which mean't that he didn't really care about that aspect, nor would I think he would care in the first place given Jacksepticeye's popularity.

He mentions something interesting at the end of the first episode "When it was called Life is Strange 2 I WAS EXPECTING CHLOE AND MAX like when it had subtitles like Before The Storm and Captain Spirit I understood that it wasn't a part of the main storyline even though it ended up being a part of the main story."

He also mentions that "it feels rushed because we are going from one location to another" at the end of episode 2, which was a common complaint upon players including myself. He also mentions that the episodes aren't flowing as well along with the development and involvement from other characters because of the traveling aspect at the end of episode 3 and how it was too quick. This starts to get brought up multiple times by Jack in later parts of the let's play, as well as the uses of the powers and how it's linear and just causes problems or just for the sake of advancing the plot, which was another common complaint.

At the end of episode 3, Jack starts to wonder if his choices with Daniel cause Daniel to listen more to Sean versus not, so he has somewhat of an idea by about the middle of the game, but like I have repeatedly said, this isn't clear to players in general and needs to be way more clear.

Jacksepticeye is also kind of a comedian, so I don't see how that is a bad thing for him to make jokes. That is sort of what he does with everything.

Jack's comment on the game in terms of other stuff: "I feel like they wanted to go into all of these political issues and power to you if you want to tackle these issues, go for it, etc..., and I am not going to pretend to base an opinion on that, and it's bad, but it's only bringing up the issues and calling these issues bad, like a toddler bringing their toys on the table and being like "here you go" instead of showing more, etc..., and I hate that and I am not denying that at all, but what I am saying is to push harder and to show more about it and to show and educate people more because it feels like whatever happens in this game is stuff that I already know, etc..., and I don't know anything about it, and I want to know more about it, and I think that the game needs to try more, etc... then the traveling aspect hurt this aspect of the game, and yeah what happens is bad, but simply showing people and going it's bad isn't really responsible, and I'm not a writer, but there really needs to be more depth compared to what is actually shown and explained, if anything its putting the light on this stuff and then immediately taking that away..." He then talks about some inaccuracy stuff.

I don't think his let's play is bad, or the way that you are describing it, as being "arrogant about assumptions" as he literally says that he isn't the one with all the answers or that his words should be taken as such at the end of the series, or that he is doing anything for the sake of views or money, which he isn't, or that he had some unfair bias before starting the game, which he might have had a bias but it wasn't outside of a natural bias or anything, or that he had anything to do with other youtubers when it came to this game, which hasn't even been proven at all.

[Pablo Escatarri]

Wow, are you really still talking about this?

[LiS2_4ever]

Nonbinary Finery の投稿を引用：

Wow, are you really still talking about this?

Yeah, totally! Sean lives in our hearts forever, and if this game still triggers certain kind of people, so much the better.

[P1nkLem0n4d3]

dima_nord の投稿を引用：

Nonbinary Finery の投稿を引用：

Wow, are you really still talking about this?

Yeah, totally! Sean lives in our hearts forever, and if this game still triggers certain kind of people, so much the better.

I think the reason people keep talking about this is because it seems like a lot of people think that either you have to absolutely love this game or absolutely hate it, and that each side views the other side as being overly unfair and wrong, when this isn't accurate.

[TheClowN]

P1nkLem0n4d3 の投稿を引用：

TheClowN の投稿を引用：

boring character+boring story+politics that shouldnt be in a story game

i really liked episode 1 when things was simple and interesting but got worse with each episode

the only good thing about this game was max+chloe picture grown up,

i havent played True colors but i have feeling it will suck same as this the protagonist is also very ugly masculine compared to feminine max or rachel.

developers should stop pushing for this lgbt CRAP, i only liked it in the first game even then u have the option for max to be with warren or reject chloe

Life is Strange True Colors is a different style of game (I would argue that it's commentary on the real world is the most subtle out of the whole series if anything, even more so in comparison to Life is Strange 1, excluding the DLC anyways). Life is Strange 2's commentary is mainly revolved around racial issues. Life is Strange 1 was mainly revolved around environmental issues. Life is Strange Before The Storm was mainly about social issues (in terms of social health). Life is Strange True Colors mainly revolves around historical revisionism. All of these games give the player romance options.

Tavish の投稿を引用：

Another one of "Where are Chloe and Max? This game sucks!" (c) lmao

Also there's not much narrative driven games with LGBTQ+ content, so I'm happy that Dontnod [and others] provides such opportunity to be connected to the characters we understand and not to be alienated by the predominant straight world. As Esteban would say to all white priveleged men: "So what? You've been spoiled for many years! Get used to share the space with LGBTQ+ community!".

Not everyone that doesn't like Life is Strange 2, or that likes Life is Strange 2 but not as much as other games within the series, thinks in the same way.

Life is Strange True Colors is my second favorite game out of the whole series, yet it doesn't have Max, and depending on your choice in terms of your playthrough, it may or may not have Chloe either and if anything the connections to Life is Strange 1 and other games within the DLC was actually one of its flaws in my perspective, and Tell Me Why is very much focused on mainly LGBTQ+ issues and it is also my third favorite game in the series (some people say it isn't part of the series, some do, but whatever it's a good game and I recommend it) and that game only really had flaws with its gameplay and very scripted powers.

i dont care about whatever issues, making a woke+political game= trash

on top of being trash the characters are boring AF, except david cuz he was in a better game

[Manny Santos]

I WANT SEAN DIAZ TO SHOVE HIS HUGE D IN MY AS

[Manny Santos]

you know HES PACKING AT LEAST 6 INCHES DONT LIE

[Manny Santos]

dima_nord の投稿を引用：

Nonbinary Finery の投稿を引用：

Wow, are you really still talking about this?

Yeah, totally! Sean lives in our hearts forever, and if this game still triggers certain kind of people, so much the better.

AGREED SEAN DIAZ IS DADDY AND HE OWNS US AND OUR BODIES

[Pablo Escatarri]

Ok...?