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Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,809
  • The game is heavily centered on criticizing the current US political climate and racial issues. I applaud them for trying to do so, but it's done in a very ham-handed manner, and likely alienated a lot of the audience. It's a big tonal shift, and one that many will find abrasive. To be reductive, Trump-fueled racism, police brutality, and gun control are all-too present and bad enough in real life that people aren't looking to play a game where that is one of its core themes.
So just never tell these stories because they make you feel funny, are you fucking serious?
 

FluxWaveZ

Persona Central
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
10,890
This. The whole "it's an anthology series" thing falls flat for me. Not a good decision, then! Because lots of people associate the series with max and Chloe and their story / mystery regarding her powers.

If it has no real connection with the setting/characters of the first game, why make it a sequel to life is strange vs an original title?
I think it's a great decision, and it's what many people wanted after LiS was done. Max and Chloe's story is over. Many people can't get over that.
 

ItIsOkBro

Happy New Year!!
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
9,516
also, Max could be an unidentifiably shaped blob and still be more relatable than the brothers. because most people just keeps their head down and go though school shit. no one actually ups and runs away. even Before the Storm knew, running away is only something you dream about. It's the writers' fault for creating a situation they had to run away from.
 

Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,809
In my game Sean punched the neighbour who hit his head on a rock and clearly died, which in my mind would cause an officer showing up to the scene of people around a dead body to draw a weapon.

Of course racism is real, why do you even need to say that? The problem I have with the game is how jarring it is for the game to go constantly from 0-100-0-100 in showing it. It makes it feel cartoonish.
....uh.... thats real life for some folks dog.

You can just be a color and the police want to shoot you.
 

Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,809
also, Max could be an unidentifiably shaped blob and still be more relatable than the brothers. because most people just keeps their head down and go though school shit. no one actually ups and runs away. even Before the Storm knew, running away is only something you dream about. It's the writers' fault for creating a situation they had to run away from.
Yo homie

Yo homie, I was a guy who went to art school. I have a degree. I didn't talk to people because I had issues.

I find max's entire everything unrelatable. And I was LITERALLY that person. But as a black guy, I find racism fucking up my life...very relatable.

Like do ya'll just not have problems and shit?
 

Damn Silly

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,194
On a broader level, the release schedule has meant it hasn't been talked about as frequently, as well as the increased price and general malaise towards episodic releases probably plays a big part.

In addition, Dontnod have eschewed quite a lot of what made the original what is was, come hell or high water.

I do hope people give it a chance when all is said and done though. I personally don't quite hold it to quite the same level as the original or Before the Storm, but I think it can be that game for others.
 
Oct 27, 2017
1,013
i feel like people were pretty quiet on before the storm too, so I don't think it's just this game. I think it's hard for sequels who up and change characters. But I also agree with the fact that the nature of the story plays a factor. The one the run drama doesn't hit home the same way a highschool drama does. I personally like the characters but being out in the road makes it feel a lot more slow.

Main reason though is bad release schedules. These type of games should really hold back on the first could of episodes. Then do a monthly release schedule. It's hard to commit to a game with such long breaks in between, especially one that is story focused.
 

Deleted member 5322

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,523
That's funny cause the way I see news articles about police activity in the USA that shit can happen to kids. One day going on about their lives and bamm Police show up and shoot their relatives cause their relatives are POC and they left the door open and the cop shoots through your window.

.
It's a sensical way to approach that kind of subject matter, but as a Life is Strange sequel pacing-wise it feels at odds with what I'm looking for.
 

Princess Bubblegum

I'll be the one who puts you in the ground.
On Break
Oct 25, 2017
10,312
A Cavern Shaped Like Home
The game was a hard sell, no matter how you cut it. The first game burned a lot of people with its poorly handled ending. Having the sequel focus on two boys further alienated part of the fanbase, particularly sapphic women such as myself, and then the game was clearly going to tackle social issues that the developers most definitely could not handle with finesse.
 

ItIsOkBro

Happy New Year!!
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
9,516
Yo homie

Yo homie, I was a guy who went to art school. I have a degree. I didn't talk to people because I had issues.

I find max's entire everything unrelatable. And I was LITERALLY that person. But as a black guy, I find racism fucking up my life...very relatable.

Like do ya'll just not have problems and shit?
they can tackle issues of racism and keep in set in a school + surrounding areas. that would be relatable.

issues leading to road trips is not.
 

Ænima

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,513
Portugal
I loved the 1st LiS, but im only interested in buying this one when all the episodes are out, and its taking forever. I even forget this game exists.
 

adj_noun

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
17,226
Then write fanfiction

"That's an amazing power, Max," Harry Potter said. "Will you teach me how to do it?"

"Shakah brah!" Chloe jumped up and down while listening to contemporary music. "Are you sure we should hang with this nerd, Max?"

"I don't think we have a choice," Max said. She turned toward the horizon, her eyes firmly fixed on the horizon. "Bowser and Ganon are still out there, and we still haven't found Dracula's kneecap." She turned toward the horizon.

"We'll need all the help we can get."

FADE OUT
 

Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,809
they can tackle issues of racism and keep in set in a school + surrounding areas. that would be relatable.

issues leading to road trips is not.
Oh hey there's a whole generation of children RIGHT NOW who are now separate from their parents probably forever because of racism. And generations of kids who had their parents taken away by racist police because of racism and it fucked over their whole life and people who presumably be blamed for crimes or action that were out of their control because of racism

Its almost as if its super relatable . Its almost as if its super relatable actually. Its almost as if there are whole segments of the population that deal with this, and maybe the fact that there are a bunch of people trying to invalidate their existence by saying it isn't relatable is actually part of the problem

OH WOW OH WOWIE
 

Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,809
The game was a hard sell, no matter how you cut it. The first game burned a lot of people with its poorly handled ending. Having the sequel focus on two boys further alienated part of the fanbase, particularly sapphic women such as myself, and then the game was clearly going to tackle social issues that the developers most definitely could not handle with finesse.
Why would a game focusing on two young boys dealing with racism alienate people like that. You just rolled over that , but like. That's weird. That's a weird thing you said.

As a black dude, i'm not gonna see media of other marginalized groups and go " This alienates me " like alienated is very specific language. Maybe i'm not interested in all of it, but alienated? Why not investigate this thing about this other marginalized group


A lot of posts in this thread are leaning into "get politics out my videogames" territory whether its intentional or not. Or at least "politics that make me feel uncomfortable", which isn't any better.
Yeah folks uh , showing they true colors
 

FluxWaveZ

Persona Central
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
10,890
thus the game not being as popular
Yeah, but either the developers go for a story they don't want to do, revisiting characters and locations they feel have already been thoroughly explored. Or they go for a story and characters they are much more invested in and feel they have more creativity to explore. As a player, I'm more interested in the latter.
 

Alastor3

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,297
Yeah, but either the developers go for a story they don't want to do, revisiting characters and locations they feel have already been thoroughly explored. Or they go for a story and characters they are much more invested in and feel they have more creativity to explore. As a player, I'm more interested in the latter.
Same
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,122
You think french guys are a little awkward when trying to write a teen high school drama? Well, guess what happens when they try to write about racism and change the setting every episode...

Like, no doubt there are people who aren't interested in video games about race, but simply put the first game gave you 5 episodes to get to know a defined setting and reoccurring characters, then the prequel let you get to know some of those characters even more, and then you have a comic book that gives you a well-explored ending. These games featured respectfully handled female characters and non-combative abilities in a time when that shit was fresh. The first game specifically had a mystery that was speculated about and a setting to repeatedly analyze up and down.

The second game gives you...a kid to take care of and characters that you aren't able to really get attached to before they're gone. As someone who's life relates to the second game's story more than the first, tbh LiS 2 is just not as engaging. At this point im having more fun reading the LiS comic than wondering about anything happening in LiS 2
 

ItIsOkBro

Happy New Year!!
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
9,516
Oh hey there's a whole generation of children RIGHT NOW who are now separate from their parents probably forever because of racism. And generations of kids who had their parents taken away by racist police because of racism and it fucked over their whole life and people who presumably be blamed for crimes or action that were out of their control because of racism

Its almost as if its super relatable . Its almost as if its super relatable actually. Its almost as if there are whole segments of the population that deal with this, and maybe the fact that there are a bunch of people trying to invalidate their existence by saying it isn't relatable is actually part of the problem

OH WOW OH WOWIE
like i keep saying the road trip isn't relatable and somehow you keep turning that into racism isn't relatable.
 

Kupo Kupopo

Member
Jul 6, 2019
2,959
I haven't played LiS 2 yet, but I would be remiss if I did not admit that it doesn't appear to be doing as well as its predecessor at the same point in its life. The original game was a constant topic of discussion throughout 2015 and 2016, whereas LiS 2 is barely getting as much attention or coverage.

I wonder if it's the extended gap between episode releases? I do know that the game is quite different this time around, both thematically and narratively.

for me, this. i only got (& enjoyed) life is strange once it was completed. i've always done the same thing with all episodic games...

then there's the extended gap between the sequel & the original, which was completed in october of 2015. here we are, 4 years later, still waiting for the completion of the sequel. so, yeah, i'm not really all that enthusiastic. still interested, but not enthusiastic...
 

Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,809
like i keep saying the road trip isn't relatable and somehow you keep turning that into racism isn't relatable.
People having their lives turned upside down due to racism is very relatable and the roadtrip is a symptom of this. In particularly there is a section of the US population who's parents or themselves have made journey's or " road trips " to the US just to be encountered by racism and that's super relatable.

Its almost as if these concepts are conncted and that's why these were used in narrative.

Its almost as if the " road trip " is a metaphor for larger broader issues. And that's litterally what road trips or journey's in general are used for in fiction. You know the phrase " its not about the destination its about the journey ", guess what's that's about?

Almost
 
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adumb

Banned
Aug 17, 2019
548
they can tackle issues of racism and keep in set in a school + surrounding areas. that would be relatable.

issues leading to road trips is not.
Road trips are so ubiquitous in all forms of storytelling that they're essentially a genre in and of themselves. They are so ubiquitous because they are almost universally relatable.
 
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Rogue Kiwi

Chicken Chaser
Banned
May 5, 2019
725
....uh.... thats real life for some folks dog.

You can just be a color and the police want to shoot you.

Exactly, which is why I feel it was a bit of a copout having the fight with the neighbour first giving the cop an excuse to draw a weapon. If they wanted to show the real police brutality going on it would've happened during a random stop.
 

Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,809
Exactly, which is why I feel it was a bit of a copout having the fight with the neighbour first giving the cop an excuse to draw a weapon. If they wanted to show the real police brutality going on it would've happened during a random stop.
Its not a cop out it happens all the time. Police officers showing up to situations and ready to arrest or execute the person of color. There was an example of this during the counter protest to the nazi rally that was held in portland not too long ago. Where police in a crowd of people went to just grab two black kids. Because they were the black kids in the crowd.

So yes the thing you are describing does happen and has happened , and isn't a cop out
 

Rogue Kiwi

Chicken Chaser
Banned
May 5, 2019
725
Its not a cop out it happens all the time. Police officers showing up to situations and ready to arrest or execute the person of color. There was an example of this during the counter protest to the nazi rally that was held in portland not too long ago. Where police in a crowd of people went to just grab two black kids. Because they were the black kids in the crowd.

So yes the thing you are describing does happen and has happened , and isn't a cop out

You're missing my point in a deliberate attempt to be outraged. I'm saying they didn't go far enough to show police brutality.
 

Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,809
You're missing my point in a deliberate attempt to be outraged. I'm saying they didn't go far enough to show police brutality.
I litterally explained to you a situation that happens often enough that it is to be posted on twitter a pretty even clip. In response to

" Exactly, which is why I feel it was a bit of a copout having the fight with the neighbour first giving the cop an excuse to draw a weapon. "

Very mundane situations can give police the excuse to brutalize you. So no i'm being " delibertly outraged " i'm calling out your ignorance. Try again

The meme " -___________ While black " exists for a reason.

try again
 

Deleted member 5322

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,523
Last thing I'm gonna say on this: a thing can be a realistic portrayal of how life is for a segment of people (and as a non-Latinx person commenting on a game about Latinx experience in America made by French people I'm not going to say one way or the other if Life is Strange 2 is that) while also not being an engaging work of storytelling. Not enjoying it doesn't make you a racist or a xenophobe lol.

Edit: Though I will say Life is Strange 2's dialogue (at least the first episode which is all I've played it) does actually have way better dialogue than the first two episodes of Life is Strange 1, I just wasn't as into the structure of it.
 

cLOUDo

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,188
Life is Strange 1 was better because:

- Max was more interesting along with settings
- Opening episode was a lot more powerful introducing a mystery with plot and powers
- Better side characters.
- Better release schedule
Yep

And the story was really good, every episode ended in a high note

And LiS EP2 feels way too linear
 

AliceAmber

Drive-in Mutant
Administrator
May 2, 2018
6,708
I find it unfortunate, because I really enjoy the sequel. Its touching on VERY relevant and scary issues. I'm hoping more people give it a shot when it's all released.
 
Oct 27, 2017
9,792
Peru
(and as a non-Latinx person commenting on a game about Latinx experience in America made by French people I'm not going to say one way or the other if Life is Strange 2 is that)
That can only go so well.

I'm actually planning to get the game at some point despite that everything I keep hearing makes it sound dull as hell because of morbid curiosity to see how much Dontnod can mess this up. Even the first LiS had its own share of cringeyness, I can't wait to see what happens when they tackle a more serious matter.
 

Rogue Kiwi

Chicken Chaser
Banned
May 5, 2019
725
I litterally explained to you a situation that happens often enough that it is to be posted on twitter a pretty even clip. In response to

" Exactly, which is why I feel it was a bit of a copout having the fight with the neighbour first giving the cop an excuse to draw a weapon. "

Very mundane situations can give police the excuse to brutalize you. So no i'm being " delibertly outraged " i'm calling out your ignorance. Try again

The meme " -___________ While black " exists for a reason.

try again

It wasn't a mundane situation though, that was my point. The brothers had just killed someone when the cop came up, that is anything but mundane.

You are being deliberately outraged as you continue to misunderstand my post and insist on thinking I'm saying the opposite. At this point I'm starting to think you are a concern troll.

I'm saying they should have had a mundane situation to show real police brutality, they did not.
 

Holundrian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,163
I hope most are just like me and just have 0 interest in the episodic model but are really excited to jump into the full release. Sucks for sales though since until the last episode releases there are several sales on the full package which makes me even less inclined to ever buy episodically.
 

Deleted member 9100

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
3,076
Being woke about lesbian ships >>>> Being woke about cop brutality and minorities.

Its sad but its the truth. I saw in this forum that people didnt think it was an "important story".

That has absolutely nothing to do with it and I hate seeing this paraded around as why the game isn't doing well.

Yup, the same audience who are willing to buy a female lead game with heavy LGBT themes couldn't handle minorities as the leads. The audience for the first game happened to be pro LGBT, but also unfortunately very racist.

The ethnicity is the main characters has nothing to do with the lack of interest for the game. It's entirely due to the following:

1. It's the second game in a series and has no connection to the characters or setting of the first game.
2. It's an episodic game in a time when consumers have completely turned away from episode games (see the bankruptcy of telltale games)
3. It's releasing over a long period and historically it's cheaper to pick these games up when the entire season is out. And then you have the added benefit of being able to play the entire game then.

But I could be wrong. You're probably right. The audience for the first game that was pro female lead and pro LGBT probably also happens to be racist.
 

Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,809
Yup, the same audience who are willing to buy a female lead game with heavy LGBT themes couldn't handle minorities as the leads. The audience for the first game happened to be pro LGBT, but also unfortunately very racist.
Actually historically there has been loads of racism in feminist and LGBTQ activists circles and groups.

So uh yeah, actually. Its actually quite common.
 

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
I don't know about other people but the time travel is what sold me on the first game. When the second didn't have that I didn't see the point.
 

Thuddert

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,298
Netherlands
The reason it did well was because they hit the right notes. Murder mystery with a coming of age story. The game used nostalgia very effectively and used the rewind mechanic well. Everyone makes mistakes during that period in time, on a daily basis even, so being able to correct your mistakes makes for an interesting hook right off the bat. The game had the appeal for a mass audience right from the start.

And what did with S2 was do something else, which is not what people wanted. It is what people need to face though. The announcement thread on era was a complete disgrace. Complete dismissal of entire concept without consideration.

I'm willing to give the game a try when all the episodes are released. Sadly that seems to have taken much longer than they may have intended.
 

Zeouter

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,606
Ireland
It really feels like a mix of factors.
  1. Episodic gaming has dried up in the market
  2. Release schedule quite apart, not a huge amount of coverage each time
  3. Sean and Daniel don't quite appeal as much
  4. Less wild power moments, time travel vs telekenises has maybe less flexibility
  5. Known quantity a bit?

There's just a bit less excitement.
The season is pretty well reviewed afaik though, if just not getting that much coverage?
 

foxdvd

Member
Oct 30, 2017
334
It has been said over and over, but just to add on..

I will buy it when all the games are out. I just can't stand the long release schedule of these games anymore, especially since they ALWAYS go on sale before they even fully release..
 

Deleted member 2474

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,318
I don't know about other people but the time travel is what sold me on the first game. When the second didn't have that I didn't see the point.

i do think, purely from a Game perspective (not that LiS's primary appeal was the gameplay) the time travel mechanic is very uniquely and thoughtfully suited to the sort of adventure game LiS is compared to the telekinesis stuff

"what if you could real-time save scum dialogue trees" is a really good adventure/VN game idea