[SPOILERS] Why Help Nathan?

[Haley The Living Grungler]

[spoilers] During the first episode there is a choice to stand up to Nathan Presscots bully, and usually I would but I thought he kind of deserved it with the personal comments and his words that just only encouraged his behavior. I felt like if he was going to swing, he should be prepared to receive swings back so I didn't help him. (♥♥♥♥ off Samantha, you could of done something.) I was quite shocked to find out I was an outcast in that decision by the end of the episode. Am I missing something about Nathan? Am I an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥?

[BloodySin]

While Nathan does gives a pretty dickish reply, he wasn't the one to start any of it. He gets pushed, taunted, threatened, mocked... and lashes back with a low blow. Not a reason to just let it play out when Chloe obviously doesn't likes the jock already and he's threatening to throw Nathan's stuff into the fountain, going past just verbal bullying. It might be more about not letting the bully get away with it than with who you're defending.

[Haley The Living Grungler]

Originally posted by BloodySin:

While Nathan does gives a pretty dickish reply, he wasn't the one to start any of it. He gets pushed, taunted, threatened, mocked... and lashes back with a low blow. Not a reason to just let it play out when Chloe obviously doesn't likes the jock already and he's threatening to throw Nathan's stuff into the fountain, going past just verbal bullying. It might be more about not letting the bully get away with it than with who you're defending.

I see that now, I guess I should of thought of that already. The thing is though, I feel like just because he didn't start it, that doesn't mean he can give whatever reply just because hes the victim. Even when attacked, I think Nathan should of composed himself instead of threatning to kill the jock. Don't get me wrong, the bully definately shouldn't be doing that but I feel as the battle isn't Chloe's and isn't worth fighting when their both in the wrong.

[ステフアン]

I wanted to use the talkback feature, so that was my main reason. It's a fun little challenge, and not helping Nathan wouldn't have initiated that sequence.

[Miles]

Same here, when playing BTS I tried not to let my knowledge of LIS influence my decisions but I couldn't resist not helping him lol. I remember watching loads of videos about BTS after I played the first episode and one made a good point about Victoria Chase, how she's a sophomore, therefore is still new, young and doesn't yet have the status she has in LIS, maybe the same applies to Nathan, maybe we see him as a douce because of what he was in LIS when in BTS he was a different person, he's fairly new to the school at this point, and doesn't have the status he had in LIS, rather a different one now. He has to "climb the ladder" as the video mentioned.

Maybe he got bullied a lot prior LIS, maybe sometime around BTS which influenced his aggresive persona in LIS. Lets break it down a bit. Samantha stood in to defend Nathan, and one could assume Samamntha would be the kind of person Nathan would bully later on in LIS, so Nathan seems to have a positive influence on some people, while a negative infleunce on others.

Drew mentions that his dad lost his job because Nathans dad shut down the shipyard.
Nathan, in BTS dresses quite smartly, he claims that the work he did took him months to produce so if I had to guess, Nathan in BTS was probably the hard working, nerdy type. Despite having a rich family I'd say he probably wants to uphold their name by being successful rather than a financially leeching "daddys boy". With those two points in mind, I'd say that he was more of the nerdy type and quite well integrated with the other hardworking, study focused students, but got bullied by others (Drew) because of the negative effects of his family on the town (Unemployement from shutting down the shipyard). You can see by chloes lack of remorse for taking of the memorial plaque in the Prescott family aren't really appreciated in Arcadia bay.

Another point is it seems Nathan was able to get onto the team (The reason Drew, seemingly, was mad at him for) because his dad bought his way into it. My view on Nathan is that he wants to be good at things, he studies and puts effort into work like with the folder Drew threw in the fountain, but some things he isn't good at like sports, so he uses his dads influence to get onto the team. I think this creates good separation between the characters, builds up good relativity between Drew and Nathan. Drews dads unemployed, his family poor because of the shipyard closing, so Drew has to work extra hard for everything in life when Nathan just gets whatever he can't reach, handed to him through family financial influence.

I'm probably going over the top here, but one small thing I did notice was in LIS, Nathan who was instantly made out to be a bully right from the start, is wearing the same style Jacket that Drew, who is now supposedly the bully of BTS is now. Maybe there's that. Maybe Nathan had enough of being bullied and in an envious kind of way, looks up to Drew. Maybe Drew played a big part of shaping the Future Nathan. Another slightly over the top notice, was Drew said "You can't be a part of the team and be into this stupid crap at the same time", then immediately has an implication scence of getting rid of the "stupid crap". That, in my opinion foreshadows Drew potentially shaping Nathans personality, because breaking down the sentence it gives two values, "Being in the team" and "being into this stupid crap", which in a way is rhetorical because Drew answers that rhetoric buy getting rid of the "stupid crap", somewhat showing a negative acceptance of Nathans place on the team.

So yeah, I think I dragged this on a bit to much, but to conclude, I'd say Nathan is probably a much different person in BTS than he is in LIS, much more significantly than many other characters. He's probably more respected, hardworking and lower down the social chain. In LIS we see him as the top of the ladder, in BTS he's still quite low down.

[Dragoon]

Originally posted by Rockband Drum Kit:

[spoilers] During the first episode there is a choice to stand up to Nathan Presscots bully, and usually I would but I thought he kind of deserved it with the personal comments and his words that just only encouraged his behavior. I felt like if he was going to swing, he should be prepared to receive swings back so I didn't help him. (♥♥♥♥ off Samantha, you could of done something.) I was quite shocked to find out I was an outcast in that decision by the end of the episode. Am I missing something about Nathan? Am I an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥?

You may not be aware but Bullies come from other Bullies.

Defending Nathan could reduce or remove the chance of him coming a bully.

Bullying can, and often does, have lasting lifelong effect on the victim. Being bullied effects the victim’s self-esteem which are even more significant when the victim already has had self-esteem issues. Many victims need counseling to come to grips with the bullying and to help rebuild their lives as bullying can lead to depression, panic attacks, and physical ailments such as ulcers.

via The Psychology Of Bullying[www.theravive.com]

Furthermore, we know Nathan Prescott is a bully in Life is Strange . Life is Strange: Before the Storm Ep. 1 is explaining why. Nathan Prescott was bullied

You can see in Life is Strange , Mr. Jefferson takes advantage of Nathan Prescott's situation and abuses his wealth and power to create the Dark Room

[Mazian]

Originally posted by Dragoon:

You may not be aware but Bullies come from other Bullies.

Defending Nathan could reduce or remove the chance of him coming a bully.

I couldn't defend Nathan. Nathan shot Chloe in LIS. Debate closed.

You can argue that the choice not to defend him is what makes it possible for him to kill Chloe later-- or you can say that between this one moment of charity and LIS that something else happens that makes it possible-- you could even argue that being mean to Nathan now somehow justifies him shooting Chloe later. I call BS and say screw him. He deserves everything he gets and a little more spit on his grave to boot.

And... If you argue that you saved Chloe at the expense of Arcadia Bay, and so my position is invalid, then I say you're kind of a monster yourself and lost the right to judge others for letting Nathan take it in the pokey.

It hurts to have to decide to let Chloe go in LIS, but that was just going to keep getting more and more real until Max went down with Chloe. It was "Final Destination" and "Butterfly Effect" all rolled in to one. There was no happy ending, only an ending with the least collateral damage.

[SomeoneSomewhere]

Originally posted by Rockband Drum Kit:

[spoilers] During the first episode there is a choice to stand up to Nathan Presscots bully, and usually I would but I thought he kind of deserved it with the personal comments and his words that just only encouraged his behavior. I felt like if he was going to swing, he should be prepared to receive swings back so I didn't help him. (♥♥♥♥ off Samantha, you could of done something.) I was quite shocked to find out I was an outcast in that decision by the end of the episode. Am I missing something about Nathan? Am I an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥?

I think that's kinda the point...there is no real right or wrong. We know what happens 3 years later so he deserves it. But on the other hand, there is a message here about bullying. He was bullied and look what he became later. Maybe if we help him something interesting will change in one of the next episodes?

I personally played it as though I didn't know what happened in Life is Strange. Would I help him under those conditions when given the chance? Sure. But, his parting comments made me irked and I will think twice if something like that arises in another episode.

But I think it's more about getting you to think. It's a lot like the end choice of the first game...neither choice is right or wrong. It's a matter of perscective.