Spoiler for Life is Strange 2, Episode 5 + full season stuff probably :
strange confirmed
I really liked this episode a ton, which I'm maybe a tad relieved by, both 'cause I feel it was a good bounce back from some of the stuff I didn't quite vibe with in Episode 4, but also 'cause it got the ending mostly right (or maybe all-the-way right, depending on the other variants I haven't seen yet, but we'll get to that)
The Grand Canyon setting we started with and attached hippy compound was all great, the latter in particular for its thematic callback to Episode 3. I'm gonna have to go back and take canyon screenshots later. The characters here felt like older, wiser, more worn versions of the folks at the pot farm. Probably exactly what you'd find in a place like this.
uh, but as for the unexpected, 'SUP DAVID MADSEN. The phases I went through as I slowly realized who he was, that was a journey. "Who's this ponytailed beardo with the... familiar face? wait did he say 'step-daughter' or- WAIT DID HE SAY 'STEP-DOUCHE' OH SHIT IT'S HIM OH FUCK"
it's a pretty wild significant cameo that I did not see coming in a million years and the more you talk to him, explore his RV, and overhear his ambient dialogue, the more important it gets to overall LiS lore. unless the comics are canon (?) this is the first official confirmation on Arcadia Bay deaths (RIP "almost everyone" but particularly Joyce
I suppose this confirms the diner really does explode during the storm as Max saw in one timeline), survivors (David and Victoria thanks to Jefferson's shelter - I wonder though if Victoria's letter to David is still in his RV if your Max doesn't get that conversation right/wrong resulting in her abduction, in that case implying she dies too)
but most importantly Max and Chloe are still together out there traveling the country, trying out art galleries for Max, visiting David occasionally and leaving behind polaroids.
Green Hair Chloe is now a thing. And is she blacking out her sleeve?
ANYWAY. Seeing that the teaser was correct and The Wall really does exist, and especially Sean and Daniel's conversations about it, was really something. Super, super unsettling. Daniel blowing a hole right through it is a really singularly amazing moment. I think I jumped when Daniel got shot. Yikes.
Loved the conversations with the Mexican couple in the jail. Never sure how I feel about characters like the racist vigilanties or the various other racists we've seen before in this series and the dialogue they get but yeah, those people exist and are out there doing/saying these sorts of things and worse, it's hardly "too on the nose" or whatever other hand-wavey criticisms you might hear from (probably mostly white) players. If it's uncomfortable, and it was for me for sure, then it's probably working exactly as intended.
The scene leading into the ending was pretty wrenching and feels like the hardest choice LiS2 has made me make, and that's good, this is where that hardest choice should be in this case. I ran the blockade and Sean made it to Mexico, but Daniel bailed once his powers weren't needed, and that was all she wrote. After a photo montage co-starring Captain Spirit, 2023 Beaver Creek citizen Daniel (apparently still wearing a house arrest anklet, which is... concerning) receives postcards from Sean (and Cassidy!) in Puerto Lobos. Life for both seems strange happy, if a tad bittersweet.
I liked the ending I got, even if it maybe felt a little short, though I haven't replayed LiS1 or BtS in a while so I doubt this ending is too out of line with those re: running time, plus there's at least three other endings for LiS2 depending on your final choice and morality standing with Daniel and from what I've read those get super divergent.
I especially really like how much Sean's relationship with Daniel plays into these endings as it indicates a hidden statistic somewhere tracking all your interactions with him across the series to get to these final branches, so theoretically it all matters, and there could be tipping points anywhere running right down to the wire as small as "don't fuck with that scorpion" to "kill those cops"
I really liked this episode a ton, which I'm maybe a tad relieved by, both 'cause I feel it was a good bounce back from some of the stuff I didn't quite vibe with in Episode 4, but also 'cause it got the ending mostly right (or maybe all-the-way right, depending on the other variants I haven't seen yet, but we'll get to that)
The Grand Canyon setting we started with and attached hippy compound was all great, the latter in particular for its thematic callback to Episode 3. I'm gonna have to go back and take canyon screenshots later. The characters here felt like older, wiser, more worn versions of the folks at the pot farm. Probably exactly what you'd find in a place like this.
uh, but as for the unexpected, 'SUP DAVID MADSEN. The phases I went through as I slowly realized who he was, that was a journey. "Who's this ponytailed beardo with the... familiar face? wait did he say 'step-daughter' or- WAIT DID HE SAY 'STEP-DOUCHE' OH SHIT IT'S HIM OH FUCK"
it's a pretty wild significant cameo that I did not see coming in a million years and the more you talk to him, explore his RV, and overhear his ambient dialogue, the more important it gets to overall LiS lore. unless the comics are canon (?) this is the first official confirmation on Arcadia Bay deaths (RIP "almost everyone" but particularly Joyce
![:( :(](./images/smilies/frown.gif)
but most importantly Max and Chloe are still together out there traveling the country, trying out art galleries for Max, visiting David occasionally and leaving behind polaroids.
![Daww :3](./images/smilies/emot-3.gif)
ANYWAY. Seeing that the teaser was correct and The Wall really does exist, and especially Sean and Daniel's conversations about it, was really something. Super, super unsettling. Daniel blowing a hole right through it is a really singularly amazing moment. I think I jumped when Daniel got shot. Yikes.
Loved the conversations with the Mexican couple in the jail. Never sure how I feel about characters like the racist vigilanties or the various other racists we've seen before in this series and the dialogue they get but yeah, those people exist and are out there doing/saying these sorts of things and worse, it's hardly "too on the nose" or whatever other hand-wavey criticisms you might hear from (probably mostly white) players. If it's uncomfortable, and it was for me for sure, then it's probably working exactly as intended.
The scene leading into the ending was pretty wrenching and feels like the hardest choice LiS2 has made me make, and that's good, this is where that hardest choice should be in this case. I ran the blockade and Sean made it to Mexico, but Daniel bailed once his powers weren't needed, and that was all she wrote. After a photo montage co-starring Captain Spirit, 2023 Beaver Creek citizen Daniel (apparently still wearing a house arrest anklet, which is... concerning) receives postcards from Sean (and Cassidy!) in Puerto Lobos. Life for both seems strange happy, if a tad bittersweet.
I liked the ending I got, even if it maybe felt a little short, though I haven't replayed LiS1 or BtS in a while so I doubt this ending is too out of line with those re: running time, plus there's at least three other endings for LiS2 depending on your final choice and morality standing with Daniel and from what I've read those get super divergent.
I especially really like how much Sean's relationship with Daniel plays into these endings as it indicates a hidden statistic somewhere tracking all your interactions with him across the series to get to these final branches, so theoretically it all matters, and there could be tipping points anywhere running right down to the wire as small as "don't fuck with that scorpion" to "kill those cops"
a quick easter egg
Spoiler for LiS 2 Episode 5 :
when you're playing around with the police scanner in David's RV, there are explicit references to Oxenfree in several places. One, just the action of using that scanner is an Oxenfree gameplay element. Two, one of the stations is playing the same or very similar old-timey warbly weird-ass music that Oxenfree had all over its frequencies. Three, at least according to posts I've read elsewhere, one station actually has an Oxenfree character (Ren?) trying to reach Alex and/or the others on a radio, maybe from the tower station on that island. ![stare :stare](./images/smilies/emot-stare.gif)
so basically Life is Strange and Oxenfree are in the same universe
![stare :stare](./images/smilies/emot-stare.gif)
so basically Life is Strange and Oxenfree are in the same universe