Rivdoric
Member
All modern audience requirements are there, they even managed to put the flag, all of that in 30 seconds, thanks a lot, i'll pass.
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Life is Strange: Double Exposure - Announce Trailer | Releases October 29 on XBS, PS5, PC | Also coming to Switch at a later date
- Thread starter Thick Thighs Save Lives
- Start date
- Trailer
All modern audience requirements are there, they even managed to put the flag, all of that in 30 seconds, thanks a lot, i'll pass.
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Are you new to Life is Strange games...? You seem a tad lost.
Putonahappyface
Member
Has anyone ascertained whether this is a cash grab or not yet?
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balls of snow
Member
Max is hawt now.
Cant wait for the game.
Cant wait for the game.
SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
This is the sequel for you then, this is the first one that really continues that original.
Rivdoric
Member
Actually i enjoyed the first one, quite a LOT in fact, so nope i can see the obvious difference between the two
.I didn't play LiS 2 though so i can't compare with that one.
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Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Nah, hate this early access stuff, even more so with this new LiS game since it's 2 weeks of advanced access. Will play it on the official release date once my physical copy arrives.
Also, I'll just have to be more careful to not get spoiled I guess (it helps a bit that the advanced access is only for the first 2 chapters).
Anyway, I don't want to be all negative about this, so if you bought the ultimate edition I hope you'll have a blast playing through the first 2 chapters.
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SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Sorry, you're boycotting the sequel to the twee teen pansexual game because there's a pride flag in it?
sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
Skip gameplay in a game that barely has any, can't make this shit up. And of course a ton of trigger warnings, I could have used that sex warning in TLoU2.
And you have them all enabled....
chokotoureiki
Member
Definitely picking this one up. I've been a fan of the series ever since the 1st one came out over 10 years ago. And I gotta agree with the others, Max has aged quite well. 
Putonahappyface
Member
Skip gameplay in a game that barely has any, can't make this shit up. And of course a ton of trigger warnings, I could have used that sex warning in TLoU2.
Gamer_By_Proxy
Member
Skip gameplay in a game that barely has any, can't make this shit up. And of course a ton of trigger warnings, I could have used that sex warning in TLoU2.
Just be glad Hotspot Pinging isn't Hotspot Pegging.
Putonahappyface
Member
I love the franchise to, but you may need to lower your expectations as DON'T NOD has had nothing to do with the writing. Lost Records Bloom and Rage is what I'm really looking forward to.Definitely picking this one up. I've been a fan of the series ever since the 1st one came out over 10 years ago. And I gotta agree with the others, Max has aged quite well.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
It's just a visual representation of the butterfly effect, choices and their effects, until dawn has imagery like that too.
The first game, the first life is strange, did a little bit more with butterflies as Max would see blue butterflies and some pivotal moments, but they don't really factory into the narrative and others don't comment on them.
Hugare
Member
Skip gameplay in a game that barely has any, can't make this shit up. And of course a ton of trigger warnings, I could have used that sex warning in TLoU2.
This is so idiotic. Are people really this fragile?
Movies dont have this kind of warning before showing "problematic" stuff. Why we should have that with games? How does that not affect immersion?
You can turn it off, sure, but its existence is so dumb. Just show a message when you boot the game and thats it.
Art is challenging sometimes. Not all art should be comfortable. So grow a pair.
winjer
Gold Member
Ever since I saw young people complaining that teachers showed in class "To Kill a Mockingbird", that I lost hope.
Art is meant to make us think. Ans sometimes it's meant to makes us uncomfortable with our world.
I swear that if "Schindler's List" was made today, people would complain about it and demand safe spaces and trigger warnings.
Shadowstar39
Member
Isn't this a teenage girl game or something? I don't know why but the character reminds me of Claire Daines from that mid 90s show, at least that is the vibe she gives.
Maybe it's because I am in my 40s but the idea of playing as a female teen in a real life setting with modern day political shit infecting everything, doesn't appeal to me in the slightest.
2014 was when the woke mind virus came in, but many denied it's existence for years, as I watched it all, in horror, manifest in real time.
This series may not of started it but it was around when it was percolating.
Also, I hope some of you are young, because it's a little creepy that some are getting the hots for a teenager (unless you are one or were one when this came out, then have at it), but if you are an older adult(over 30 at least), thats kinda cringe.
Maybe it's because I am in my 40s but the idea of playing as a female teen in a real life setting with modern day political shit infecting everything, doesn't appeal to me in the slightest.
2014 was when the woke mind virus came in, but many denied it's existence for years, as I watched it all, in horror, manifest in real time.
This series may not of started it but it was around when it was percolating.
Also, I hope some of you are young, because it's a little creepy that some are getting the hots for a teenager (unless you are one or were one when this came out, then have at it), but if you are an older adult(over 30 at least), thats kinda cringe.
Shadowstar39
Member
I'd be fine with that. They need to make vampyr 2 or more dark gothic horror rpg games. Its sad the state of VTM, so they are my only hope for some blood sucking goodness.
chokotoureiki
Member
Max was 18 in the first game. Perfectly legal. In this newer game she's almost 30 at least. Not sure from a rational standpoint what is so cringe about that...I mean I've seen some posters here lusting over female jrpg characters that look like they're still barely fresh out of middle school so...
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Shadowstar39
Member
Oh, did not know, thought she was like 15/16 in that game, as it was highschool drama. Like I said, never played it , just saw trailers and what not.
Yeah jrpg characters that you know their age, that would be creepy, but usually those are more questionable, plus its fantasy worlds.
Then again, there is some like Quistis and Rinoa from ff8 , Yuna and especially lulu from FF10, Aya Brea from Parasite eve, Callo Merlose and commander Samantha from Vagrant story, Ryza and Ayesha from Atelier, are all hot for pixel characters, so I get it.
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The Cockatrice
I'm retarded?
Skip gameplay in a game that barely has any, can't make this shit up. And of course a ton of trigger warnings, I could have used that sex warning in TLoU2.
wtf, this cant be real, transphobia warning?????? LMAO
balls of snow
Member
All I know is they handled the bay/bae ending from the first Lis badly.
And oh yeah, fuck Square for trying to fomo the fans into buying the 2 weeks 'advance access' bullshit.
The Cockatrice
I'm retarded?
It's not off to a great start, even considering it's a 2 week early access for ultimate edition.
A peak concurrent player count of 1,373. And a user score in the 70s.
And thats coming from people dumb and desperate enough to play it early which are usually the ones that overrate anything.
Putonahappyface
Member
It's not off to a great start, even considering it's a 2 week early access for ultimate edition.
A peak concurrent player count of 1,373. And a user score in the 70s.
Generic
Member
This is actually very expected from Chloe lol
Vampire On Titus
Member
Played through the first two episodes from the Deluxe Edition and at present it's doing a lot of things right. The characters are (for the most part) likable and fun to interact with, it brings back that element of an existential supernatural threat which makes the powers feel truly connected to the story (an element that was sorely missing in LiS 2 and True Colors), and the setting is more interesting and fun to explore than the last few entries. Most of the current criticism of the game, so far as I've seen, are a knee-jerk reaction from ride or die "bae ending" fans not getting the Max & Chloe fanfic that's been percolating in their minds for the last decade. Realistically, the save Chloe ending in LiS 1 was always half baked and it doesn't make sense to prioritize it if you're going to go forward with Max as a protagonist. Although, exactly how they handle Max and Chloe does remain to be seen. Because of certain aspects of this game's story (which would be spoilers to mention), they very well could pull a rabbit out of a hat. But even if they choose not to and Chloe remains fully sidelined for the entire game, I don't mind. Life is Strange 1 was a coming of age story and a crucial aspect of Max growing was letting go of Chloe. Unfortunately a large part of the fan base seems to refuse to grow along with her.
However, the game isn't without issue. There are moments where the writing plays out for the worse due to the woke perspective of the writers at Deck Nine. And I don't mean something inconsequential like the mere existence of a trans/gay character, mention of some minority/pride event, or even that the gay romance option always gets far better development in LiS games. But there are some times (thankfully only a handful thus far) when the writing genuinely suffers because how the characters behave only makes sense from a woke perspective. Unfortunately it's impossible to elaborate without spoilers: There's a part where Moses, a black science professor at Caledon, ends up with incriminating evidence in his possession, which leads to the police investigating him. He nicked Safi's camera off her corpse before the police arrived on scene and hid it in his office. His reasoning for this is twofold: It made him sad that the last thing Safi photographed before she died was a selfie of them hanging out, and he knows Safi would never want her camera to be in the hands of the "fucking police..." If you have an ACAB style presumed hatred of cops, this character motivation makes sense (I guess?). If you don't share this perspective, it's a jarring and stupid character motivation that doesn't mesh well with how Moses had behaved up until this point; and it gets worse. You wind up shifting between timelines to retrieve the camera before the detective can find it. Shortly after saving your friend from becoming the prime suspect in a murder case, the detective speaks with you within earshot of Moses (for some reason). He asks you to call him if you get any information about who took Safi's camera. You're given the choice to either corporate or refuse the detective to his face. In this scenario there's no good reason to refuse. Even if you fully intend to keep Moses' secrets (which by all indications you would, having just risked your own personal freedom to retrieve the camera), why make yourself look suspicious by openly refusing to cooperate? Because Moses can overhear you and for a split second might feel slighted that you superficially gestured towards helping the police? Why would that matter? Any moderately sane person could understand it's a deception to keep the law off your back, off both of your backs. But does he understand, even though up until this point he's been a mostly reasonable and level-headed person? No, of course not. Moses actually gives Max shit implying that because she's white she has the option to play nice with the cops and avoid suspicion but he doesn't have that option (which would sound a lot more convincing coming from someone who didn't actually steal evidence from a crime scene). Again, how this scenario plays out and how the characters behave makes no sense unless you share a woke perspective. Moses should literally be falling over himself in appreciation that Max managed to get him out of this jam, not giving her a snide privilege check. And to be crystal clear, the overall tone of how this is portrayed is sympathetic to Moses. The game expects you to feel bad for him when he's acting like a total douche because the notion that cops are unfair to black people trumps all of the particulars of the given situation. Life is Strange True Colors, despite also being developed by Deck Nine, managed to avoid a lot of these glaring pit-falls. Given what we know about the changes within Deck Nine since True Colors, it makes sense that this has become more of a problem. They need someone there who's willing to tell the other writers "Hey, pump the breaks, because 90% of human beings are not going to be able to identify with the motivation of this scene and it's *really* jarring."
Another issue, that hopefully gets smoothed out in time for the full release, is performance. I've got a pretty good PC and really don't see why I should be going from running Space Marine 2 at 4k max settings (dlss quality mode to be fair, but still) to getting super inconsistent performance in Double Exposure at 1440p with mid-high settings. I wasn't expecting to have to compromise anything tbh. It's a good looking game, but it's not some detail rich action spectacle or anything. Even small scenes with nothing happening can start chugging for seemingly no reason. There's also certain details about the visuals that could improve, like the fact that your footsteps don't leave impressions in the snow. Not a big deal, I know, but it just seems a bit odd to have nothing but snow-covered outdoor environments and not include that effect. More substantially, there are no options for upscaling or frame gen. It's the first new release in quite some time that I can recall not having any options for either, and it could use them because it seems pretty unoptimized.
But seeing that I spent so much of this post griping, I don't want to give the wrong impression. At the end of Double Exposure's second episode I think the game is on track to be the best in the series since the original Life is Strange. The reveal at the end of episode 2 (a cliffhanger for those of us now waiting) is one of the most interesting stunts this series has ever pulled and it reminds me of the unexpected reveals from the first game that have been so sorrowfully missed. It really puts into perspective how safe Deck Nine played the core mystery in True Colors. Double Exposure just has so much more going on. It makes you want to think and theory craft about everyone's motivations and all the strange happenings again. The other LiS games since the original didn't understand to incorporate this aspect but Double Exposure is nailing it so far. I'm sure there's more cringe to come, but so long as it maintains a roughly 90/10 percent split of solid to shameful on the writing front, I'll be fine with it. And if they manage to sew up all the threads they've pulled (and the ones I'm sure they're yet to pull) this game could wind up being genuinely great.
However, the game isn't without issue. There are moments where the writing plays out for the worse due to the woke perspective of the writers at Deck Nine. And I don't mean something inconsequential like the mere existence of a trans/gay character, mention of some minority/pride event, or even that the gay romance option always gets far better development in LiS games. But there are some times (thankfully only a handful thus far) when the writing genuinely suffers because how the characters behave only makes sense from a woke perspective. Unfortunately it's impossible to elaborate without spoilers: There's a part where Moses, a black science professor at Caledon, ends up with incriminating evidence in his possession, which leads to the police investigating him. He nicked Safi's camera off her corpse before the police arrived on scene and hid it in his office. His reasoning for this is twofold: It made him sad that the last thing Safi photographed before she died was a selfie of them hanging out, and he knows Safi would never want her camera to be in the hands of the "fucking police..." If you have an ACAB style presumed hatred of cops, this character motivation makes sense (I guess?). If you don't share this perspective, it's a jarring and stupid character motivation that doesn't mesh well with how Moses had behaved up until this point; and it gets worse. You wind up shifting between timelines to retrieve the camera before the detective can find it. Shortly after saving your friend from becoming the prime suspect in a murder case, the detective speaks with you within earshot of Moses (for some reason). He asks you to call him if you get any information about who took Safi's camera. You're given the choice to either corporate or refuse the detective to his face. In this scenario there's no good reason to refuse. Even if you fully intend to keep Moses' secrets (which by all indications you would, having just risked your own personal freedom to retrieve the camera), why make yourself look suspicious by openly refusing to cooperate? Because Moses can overhear you and for a split second might feel slighted that you superficially gestured towards helping the police? Why would that matter? Any moderately sane person could understand it's a deception to keep the law off your back, off both of your backs. But does he understand, even though up until this point he's been a mostly reasonable and level-headed person? No, of course not. Moses actually gives Max shit implying that because she's white she has the option to play nice with the cops and avoid suspicion but he doesn't have that option (which would sound a lot more convincing coming from someone who didn't actually steal evidence from a crime scene). Again, how this scenario plays out and how the characters behave makes no sense unless you share a woke perspective. Moses should literally be falling over himself in appreciation that Max managed to get him out of this jam, not giving her a snide privilege check. And to be crystal clear, the overall tone of how this is portrayed is sympathetic to Moses. The game expects you to feel bad for him when he's acting like a total douche because the notion that cops are unfair to black people trumps all of the particulars of the given situation. Life is Strange True Colors, despite also being developed by Deck Nine, managed to avoid a lot of these glaring pit-falls. Given what we know about the changes within Deck Nine since True Colors, it makes sense that this has become more of a problem. They need someone there who's willing to tell the other writers "Hey, pump the breaks, because 90% of human beings are not going to be able to identify with the motivation of this scene and it's *really* jarring."
Another issue, that hopefully gets smoothed out in time for the full release, is performance. I've got a pretty good PC and really don't see why I should be going from running Space Marine 2 at 4k max settings (dlss quality mode to be fair, but still) to getting super inconsistent performance in Double Exposure at 1440p with mid-high settings. I wasn't expecting to have to compromise anything tbh. It's a good looking game, but it's not some detail rich action spectacle or anything. Even small scenes with nothing happening can start chugging for seemingly no reason. There's also certain details about the visuals that could improve, like the fact that your footsteps don't leave impressions in the snow. Not a big deal, I know, but it just seems a bit odd to have nothing but snow-covered outdoor environments and not include that effect. More substantially, there are no options for upscaling or frame gen. It's the first new release in quite some time that I can recall not having any options for either, and it could use them because it seems pretty unoptimized.
But seeing that I spent so much of this post griping, I don't want to give the wrong impression. At the end of Double Exposure's second episode I think the game is on track to be the best in the series since the original Life is Strange. The reveal at the end of episode 2 (a cliffhanger for those of us now waiting) is one of the most interesting stunts this series has ever pulled and it reminds me of the unexpected reveals from the first game that have been so sorrowfully missed. It really puts into perspective how safe Deck Nine played the core mystery in True Colors. Double Exposure just has so much more going on. It makes you want to think and theory craft about everyone's motivations and all the strange happenings again. The other LiS games since the original didn't understand to incorporate this aspect but Double Exposure is nailing it so far. I'm sure there's more cringe to come, but so long as it maintains a roughly 90/10 percent split of solid to shameful on the writing front, I'll be fine with it. And if they manage to sew up all the threads they've pulled (and the ones I'm sure they're yet to pull) this game could wind up being genuinely great.
Denton
Member
Great writeup, I look forward to your final review of all episodes. Shame about the cringe farleft writing but as you say, hopefully they will manage to maintain it at low enough ration to be sufferable.
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Don’t nod has always felt like woke stuff “done right”, they have always been that way, it was ingrained in them from their very foundation, long before the whole forced inclusion era. As a result, they have talented people who it doesn’t feel “forced” because it’s simply who they are and always have been as a studio. They also know their audience, and their fans and are serving their customers what they want, its customer first. They aren’t changing anything that wasn’t, and they aren’t making a game in genre that their intended modern audience has little interest in. It’s all quite well matched and generally pretty well executed. I’m there for that, I can perfectly enjoy a “modern audience” game under those conditions.
xrnzaaas
Member
I think we've played different versions of Life is Strange 2, it was very obvious how much they hated white folks, people with non-leftist political leanings (which of course means they can only be far-right) or the "orange man". It was actually the game that made me say "enough with this" and stop spending money on games without doing proper research. These days enough potential warning sings (like who works for the studio and how it communicates with the community, what the story is about, how the characters look, how people of different races are treated, how preachy it's trying to be) is enough for me to take a complete pass, even if the core mechanics or the setting may be something I would enjoy.
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Hugare
Member
Thats what you get for killing an entire town for pussy, you simps
Hilarious
Next time be reasonable, people
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Jack Videogames
Member
Wow, so now even the game's developers think Chloe is a bitch. Doesn't bode well for the fandom.
Hope E;R makes a sequel to their video about LiS
Hope E;R makes a sequel to their video about LiS
The Cockatrice
I'm retarded?
I replayed the 1st game recently and my thoughts on Chloe changed dramatically compared to my original playthrough. While saving the city the first time was a tough choice, the second time I hated Chloe, she was an annoying cunt and saving the city was a far easier option. The only thing that hit hard was her mom....she was already struggling to keep her family afloat but Chloe had to do dumb shit. Fuck Chloe.
GymWolf
Gold Member
Lmao, thank god i was done with this shit after the first episode of the first game that was given for free on steam many years ago...
Skip gameplay in a game that barely has any, can't make this shit up. And of course a ton of trigger warnings, I could have used that sex warning in TLoU2.
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