(SPOILERS) I'm still feeling bad they've ruined it

[solxiz]

I loved the first game. I fell in love with Max, Chloe and everything about Acardia Bay. BUT let me say that I felt like episode 5 was rushed. Despite that fact, the game is 100/10 in my opinion if we don't take some little details too seriously.

However, I can't say the same about Before The Storm. Chloe is my favourite fictional character ever, even more than Lara Croft, and believe me, if I say so, then she is TRULY important to me. I've always thought there will never be another character than I could love more than Lara.

The following scenes from the game are the ONLY I really enjoyed:
1. The first sequence, at the Firewalk show. It was so pleasant to know how this two girls met each other and how in a blink of an eye they just became too close.
2. The last sequence from episode 1, when they were at the tree. The symbolism from that moment was so intense and special, and it was a lovely scene to see. Rachel's grief made me feel like it was my own suffering. I think they've done a really good job there.
3. The Tempest play. I mean, that was huge. Once more, Life Is Strange filled my soul with a sea of emotional feelings and the symbolism again is something I really really enjoy about this series. Yeah, LiS 1 was, by far, better on that point, but still they did an awesome hella badass job on BTS.
4. Then there's the kiss obviously. I think that was, maybe, the best part from the entire game. I felt it so much. So close to me. It hella touched me. I experienced it like I was Chloe myself. It is pretty hard to explain it. And damn! The soundtrack again was E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.
5. And finally, there's the ending. I chose to tell Rachel the truth and I did not regret it. Fair and logical decision, but I must confess it took me sooo long to decide it. But for me it was the right thing to do. And after that, it was so touching and fun, and beautiful to see them together, enjoying of being together, happy, feeling hopeful, etc., you know exactly what I mean. And yes, that final scene at the Dark Room really took that all away from me for a second, just like that. One moment I was so happy, though sad at the same time knowing it was all over BUT I've felt some kind of relief, and THEN they had this great idea of reminding us what was going to happen to Rachel. Not cool. It was pretty sad, but I accepted it. This is a Life is Strange game, this is what they do to us.

Anyway, what I'm trying to express here is, as you all can see, that there were only five moments in the game I've truly enjoyed. But, if I have to discuss about the entire game, well, I just think they've ruined it. Simple. And here's why:
Going all the way back to when they announced a Life Is Strange prequel, and the trailer was released, and then when Ashly Burch tweeted she wouldn't be able to replay her role as Chloe, everything went down for me. Everything felt apart. I knew that it was not going to be the same. As much as Rhianna tried to, at least IN MY OWN OPINION she wasn't great at all. That was her first role voicing a videogame character, and if we compare her to Hannah Telle (first role as Max in LiS1) she was worse, pretty much, by far. I've only felt that that person was the real Chloe only three or, perhaps, four times in the whole game. It is normal, and it is acceptable, of course. Ashly gave Chloe an unique personality, voice and mood. Ashly is, I guess, one of the best voice actors out there and she couldn't ever be replaced for someone who is totally new at this.
I'm not trying to judge or criticize Rhianna's work, because she clearly tried so hard and her effort was huge, but I still have to be honest and say that I'm not happy with this change that Chloe suffered. She, as I said before, is my favourite character amongst all from videogames, and not having Ashly back as Chloe in a game that it's entirely about Chloe, made me so upset. It feels just like when they kill some character from a TV show that you love so much and are so attached to. Like it happened to me with Lexa from The 100

Despite all that, there is more! And this has to do with dialogues. They had some issues in the past with the original game, but again it was a little detail. However, in this game it was SO annoying to listen to some lines or watching them acting like fools, doing weird stuff that any person in this world would never ever do in their lives. I'm not going to leave any examples, you know what I'm talking about, I hope. Some scenes were soooo lame, senseless. I mean, how can someone talk or act like that? There's no way! I know they're teenagers and they can say and do stupid things but I was sixteen once, and neither I or someone I knew acted or spoke that stupid way. Bad writing. That is all I'm going to say. Because that's what that is. Poor writing.
Something else I want to say is: the entire gameplay was so boring. They could do so much better, but they rushed it, that is the only logical answer I understand. A simple example (because of course this is small compared to other things i've seen): every character takes so long to pronounce a short sentence. I think not only the game but also voice acting was pretty bad produced 'cause you can for instance have a dialogue between Chloe and Rachel where it took almost 20 seconds or even more for Chloe to say ''Rachel, I'm so sorry''. Please, tell me someone else felt this too! And by saying this, I'm back to my first point of view about Chloe's new VA. I just can't feel Chloe, I can't hear her, I can't see her. It was so sad for me. Because I know that was the last game of Max and Chloe story and I can't stop thinking how they've ruined it. I mean why? Why couldn't they just wait a little longer? Why the rush? I guess the answer is money, is it? They should've waited for LIS2 to come out and then make this prequel with a better production, in general. Better dialogues, originals VAs back, and most important: BETTER STORY.

And here's my most deception: its story.
I mean, wtf? I really don't care about the story they've told us. I do not care about Rachel's parents. They invested so much on that and it ended up even worse. Bad writing. Bad decisions. It has lost its sense from one moment to another, just like that.
Look, we have Nathan, Frank AND Victoria. And for what reason? They are useless in this story. Even the North's have no sense of being in the story. I would've prefered they telling us more about Frank, Vic and Nathan instead of Sera and Rachel's dad. I don't even remember his name for f sake. So sad. What a waste of talent. I don't know much about BTS sellings but I just don't think it made so much noise around the industry.
The story could have been soooo much better that this. More intense, more emotional moments, more grief, more desesperation and more moments between Chloe and Rachel.

When I finished the game, all of this came through my mind, but then I said to myself ''well, maybe they're planning to make a sequel of BTS in a future because although the final scene was The Dark Room, they could just ignore that''. But now I'm not so sure, after 'Farewell' I started to doubt about this. And again, i feel like sh-it. I just wish they had never done this prequel yet.
Seriously, the Farewell episode was more enjoyable and emotional for me than the entire game. And not only because Ashly was back again as Chloe and anyone can clearly notice the difference, but because it wasn't boring, it kept you from wanting to quit the game. It made me smile every single second. It was so funny. It feels like a total different game. Hannah and Ashly complement each other so good. They are a pretty good team, i love them. I admire them so much. And yeah, Ashly brought Chloe back to life. She has the Chloe's spirit. THAT is our real Chloe, HER voice, HER personality, HER mood, HER spirit. The change between the 16yo Chloe and the 14yo Chloe was very noticeable. And the entire episode was so intense, well-writing, fun, enjoyable, emotional... Man... the feelings!!!!

I want you to express yourselves here and let me know what you think about my thoughts. But I'm telling you guys, I will always be sad about this. I feel like they've ruined it, i'm so sorry. I didn't replay the game, and I replayed the original game five times. The only replayable episode from BTS is Farewell, by far.

I'm just hoping they to continue Chloe and Rachel's story but taking their time to produce it. I don't care if it takes three or more years, we need a real story, a good writing and our real Chloe, and that's Ashly Burch.

Peace out.

[2 Dads Tunneling]

i haven't read everything you wrote yet but i will say i was really disappointed with the game in general. i didn't take the changes to Chloe as personally as you may have, but i understand your grievances with her changes as i, too, am a die-hard Lara fan. lol.

the story didn't really focus on the relationship between Chloe and Rachel like i expected it to -- which is not necessarily a complaint, just an observation -- but instead chose to focus on this Rachel's mom thing and these other little stories that had really no relevance in the grander scheme of things and subsequently weren't interesting to me.

the relationship between Chloe and Rachel was hardly touched upon, to the point where i was questioning whether Rachel genuinely cared about Chloe or if she was just using her to do her bidding.

also, between the incomplete story, relationships, and the episode select screen, i was convinced there were more than 3 episodes (4, if you wanna include the bonus one).

OH YEAH, ALSO, one of my biggest unanswered questions that i thought this game was going to answer was how did the relationship between Rachel and what's-his-face-with-the-dog develop?

[Jeckenn]

I think we need to realize that Dontnod hella nailed it when they made Life is Strange. A game like Life is Strange only gets made once in a life time of ALL developers making games, it IS a masterpiece in game development, no doubt about it.

So having said that it is near to impossible for another developer to take that masterpiece and make something with it that we as fans of LiS are going to like as much as we did LiS....and Deck Nine in my oppinion did a stellar job because their game made me feel like I was back in Arcadia Bay and for them to be able to do that, well hats off to Deck Nine, they nailed it as good as anyone ever could have unless it was Dontnod doing that game...simple as that

[JJGR]

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

I think we need to realize that Dontnod hella nailed it when they made Life is Strange. A game like Life is Strange only gets made once in a life time of ALL developers making games, it IS a masterpiece in game development, no doubt about it.

So having said that it is near to impossible for another developer to take that masterpiece and make something with it that we as fans of LiS are going to like as much as we did LiS....and Deck Nine in my oppinion did a stellar job because their game made me feel like I was back in Arcadia Bay and for them to be able to do that, well hats off to Deck Nine, they nailed it as good as anyone ever could have unless it was Dontnod doing that game...simple as that

I totally agree with you, It wasn't easy for any development team to take up the story after Dontnod LIS. But even so, BTS was a great prequel and very brilliant work by Deck nine. They fulfilled their goal of showing us who Rachel was.

Although with some some dark areas, but I that all the stories have their mysteries that are never revealed, so the reader or game player in this case, has his/her own theories.

Perhaps (my opinion only) Dontnod did not foresee the great success of LIS, and left history so closed for future sequels

[the Coroner]

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

I think we need to realize that Dontnod hella nailed it when they made Life is Strange. A game like Life is Strange only gets made once in a life time of ALL developers making games, it IS a masterpiece in game development, no doubt about it.

true, but technically, it took "remember me" to get that far imho. very different genre, but it's how they did their way to do game mechanics for LIS. BTS misses much as there's no kind of comparison or "equal replacement" for Max' rewind-power which had it's root in remember me. But LIS as well as BTS are emotionally a"tour de force" as said: imho

[solxiz]

Well I guess no one thinks the same as I do... I wish I could feel the same as you guys :P

[nihilistninja]

While I'm not sure 'ruined' is the best description of BtS I do largely agree with your position.

The prequel had large shoes to fill and it wasn't quite up to the task. After the gripping mystery of Rachel's disappearance, the looming threat of the storm and Max's powers, BtS's plot was always going to look a bit washed out in comparision. Particularly when they chose to depict a part of Rachel and Chloe's relationship that was obviously less interesting and less important than the immediate lead up to Rachel's death, and even then they spend most of the game wallowed in what I found to be an incredibly unengaging tale of Rachel's parentage.

As much as BtS may have provided some context for Rachel's more self-destructive qualities unearthed in the original, all of her motives and true feelings are as much a mystery now as they were after LiS. Possibly more than anything else it felt to me like Rachel deserved a better look into her character and what made her tick more than further exploration of Chloe's backstory, which is saying something as Chloe's my favourite character in this series and I had really looked forward to playing as her in the lead up to BtS.

The only standout moment in the entire game for me was when Chloe found William's car, aside from that the game was merely fine, a nice nostalgic return to Arcadia Bay and Chloe but nothing aside from that keeping me invested in returning for new episodes.

[the Coroner]

Originally posted by solxiz:

Well I guess no one thinks the same as I do... I wish I could feel the same as you guys :P

I fully agree that bts is in no way equal to lis

[Jeckenn]

Originally posted by the Coroner:

Originally posted by solxiz:

Well I guess no one thinks the same as I do... I wish I could feel the same as you guys :P

I fully agree that bts is in no way equal to lis

The OP is trying to say that Deck Nine ruined LiS and in no way did they do that and in fact they took a part of the story that in my opinion was actually missing and that is the story of Rachel Amber.

She was a very important part of LiS storyline and her story was a missing part of the brilliant story Dontnod created and Deck Nine totally nailed it by making us fans of the original story feel like we were back in Arcadia Bay and then telling the story of Rachel Amber, which in my opinion NEEDED to be told and in no way did Deck Nine ruin anything the way they told the Rachel Amber story. In fact they added A LOT to the Arcadia Bay mythos and ruined NOTHING in the way they told the story of Rachel Amber...

[the Coroner]

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

Originally posted by the Coroner:

I fully agree that bts is in no way equal to lis

The OP is trying to say that Deck Nine ruined LiS and in no way did they do that and in fact they took a part of the story that in my opinion was actually missing and that is the story of Rachel Amber.

She was a very important part of LiS and her story was a missing part of the brilliant story Dontnod created and Deck Nine totally nailed it by making us fans of the original story feel like we were back in Arcadia Bay and then telling the story of Rachel Amber, which in my opinion NEEDED to be told and in no way did Deck Nine ruin anything the way they told the Rachel Amber story. In fact they added A LOT to the Arcadia Bay mythos and ruined NOTHING in doing that...

ok, that's a different view and my perspecitve is different. BTS was not necessary but nice to have. It could have been done better to get to a level that'd be really appropriate to LIS which was a pretty different league imho and i wrote some comments further up what i'm missing. But for sure you're right, BTS isn't a fail in any way, it's still a good game, just clearly below its potential given from LIS.
And right, i don't see in what way deck nine should have ruined LIS. BIT is, even if i'd expected more, still a good game. Nothing is ruined imho.

[Arash The Great]

Well this game for me is a big disappointing too!

[solxiz]

Originally posted by Arash The Great:

Well this game for me is a big disappointing too!

Yeah I understand why people liked it but for me it isnt enough. Knowing that Chloe and Max story may be over forever, we deserved a better game and storytelling about Chloe.

[Arash The Great]

They had so much opportunities but all of them = wasted...

[the Coroner]

Originally posted by Arash The Great:

They had so much opportunities but all of them = wasted...

"ruined" is extremely exaggerated

[Firewalk]

BTS ended a bit abruptly and it certainly felt like an episode worth of content was cut. But ultimately, it was a very good follow-up!

[the Coroner]

Originally posted by Firewalk:

it was a very good follow-up!

I don't want to get pedantic now, but it wasn't a follow-up, but a prequel. SCNR