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The episodic game Life is Strange was released in 2015, turned out to be financially successful (three million copies at the time of May 2017), received several awards, acquired a group of fans, and two years later the prequel of “Before the Storm” appeared. With personal acquaintance, the game seemed uneven in the year of release and did not make an impression. However, I would like to figure out why Life is Strange got attention and what its strengths and weaknesses.
The game is presented in the format of episodic interactive cinema, where attention is paid primarily to the plot, dialogues and choice of the player, while the gameplay is secondary. In this format there are both large projects of the QUANTIC Dream studio or the game Until Dawn, as well as relatively small “serial” products from the Telltale Games studio. Life is Strange (authorship of Dontnod Entertainment) is clearly applied to the second category, with its division into several episodes and a relatively modest budget.
They do not even suspect where they will lead the cunning screenwriters
Since there is no gameplay abstract from the plot in principle, then the whole discussion will go around history. Meet Max Collfield, a schoolgirl, a photographer and just a person with such a level of dexterity that it is generally surprising that she survived until 18 years old with a full set of fingers on her hands. Oh yes, she is also the main character of the original Life is Strange. The girl grew up in the provincial American town of Arkady Bay, once with her family went to Seattle and, five years later, returned to her hometown when she received an invitation to study at the local prestigious academy. And suddenly Max is dreaming of a storm that is approaching the city, and then the girl gains the ability to command time, saves her long -standing girlfriend Chloe from death, and together they are accepted for a detective investigation of the abductions taking place in Arcadia Bay.
It would seem that we have a teenage drama, a detective investigation and fantasy with time travels in one story (I understand that 18 years old is no longer a teenage period, but many characters behave just as teenagers). What could be spoiled here? As it turned out, uncertainty is a common feature of the main character and authors of the game, since the latter have not decided on the main direction. For good drama, the game has too dull dialogs and log animation, for a normal detective, the investigation is fresh and poorly disclosed characters, and the time of time management is criminally buried its potential. Not only that all these genres are weak on their own, but they also take the screen time from each other.
The authors too literally took the description of the effect of the butterfly
The teenage drama is even more or less on the feet, demonstrating either the uncertainty of Max, then the bitterness of Chloe, along which life went through dirty boys. For example, there is a good episode when Max changes the course of events, saves her friend’s father, but the events come out so that Chloe herself becomes disabled. But the trouble is that this episode is not needed in such a volume. Yes, it shows a new ability of the heroine to jump through photos in the time and consequences of such interventions. However, the episode itself with the alternative world lasts too long, without having a significant effect on the main plot. But this is particular. In most of the game, it is uninteresting to monitor dialogs, certain discussions are stupid to complete boredom, and the squeezed facial animation, when only the mouth and eyebrows move (yes, the eyes occasionally blush from the excess of feelings), knocks down a serious attitude to the drama. As a standard, games like Wolf Among Us and Tales from the Borderlands can be brought, where the characters are not always perfect, but still play face and show convincing emotions.
A rare copy of the situation when https://bookmakersnotongamstop.co.uk/no-limit-bookmakers/ the consequences will go through the entire game and be mentioned more than once
And finally, science fiction. Max starts small: it rewalls time back and adjusts its actions, and later begins to ride in time, creating new versions of the world. However, such an impudent attitude to the flow of time does not remain unpunished, nature is more and more alike every day, and the finale is crowned with a huge tornado, which will ultimately sweep by Arkady Bay and all its inhabitants. Intelligible explanations why intervention is upset at whales and forces them to throw them ashore, do not even wait. Consider that the will of the magic blue butterfly. She is the main through symbol and a possible source of the forces of our girl-photograph. But first I would like to say about the elections in the game.
Let us admit that in such episodic games it is impossible to make a choice that would fundamentally change the course of history (even the Telltale’s example of the game is sometimes neglected to the player’s elections). To work out large fragments of history that only half of the players will see, and sometimes even less – it is laborious, risky and avalanche -shaped creates problems for developers (but commendable, if they are solved to create such a fork and they realize them well). In addition, the authors have a built plot that should go through key scenes and end in a certain way, otherwise there will be no intelligible story with the development of an artistic topic. So, elections in episodic games are most often an illusion, but this does not mean that it should not be convincing. Even if history develops according to one scenario, then the player should create the feeling that his solutions determine the features of history, as well as the personality of the protagonist. Life is Strange has several interesting forks, such as saving a classmate from falling from the roof, accusations in the director’s office and a skirmish with a dealer, which can end with both a couple of corpses and bloodless. The very possibility of rewinding is added to the elections, which allows you to see the closest consequences of the choice, and only then decide which trail to go, but at the same time, the long -term consequences can not be canceled in any way. The idea is good, but it restrains its meager creativity. For all five episodes there are only two situations when Max draws conclusions from bad scenarios and corrects his and other people’s actions. No space for experiments. Of course, there are still funny episodes when the heroine proves Chloe by the presence of abilities, first “guessing” the contents of the pockets, and then predicting the nearest events, but this is more interesting from the point of view of history than as a game element. And the use of rewinding to tell people what they want to hear, is already obsolete for a third time. There are simply strange elections when the bets are incomprehensible (like the mentioned situation with a stepfather) or because of the jumps in time, the fate of people is not important at all, because after five minutes Max will rewrite the course of events, crossing out all his actions.
This comrade is the local piano from bushes, which always appears at the right time, in the right place and disappears before the development of character reaches it
For a good detective component, one of the two directions would suit: either several suspects, each of which has its own motives for committing crimes, or one obvious villainous figure, protected by power and money. Life is Strange could easily go along the second path, bring the scriptwriters to the mind of the character Neitan Prescott, a spoiled heir to a wealthy family. This unpleasant type could do doubtful affairs, and the duet of the main characters would dig under it. But instead of a clear plot figure, Neutan turned out to be only a chip, which is so tagging in the plot that it is rarely seen at all. And his mentor would be a true villain who manipulates deeds from the shadows. But the mentor was introduced through a cheap turn, opened as a typical psychopath and quickly flew out of the plot (and all this within the same episode). All other characters are also poorly revealed. For example, Chloe’s stepfather most of the game is presented as the embodiment of suspicion, multiplied by army boring. At one point, a choice arises when you can support him or spoil his life. But the game does not even bother to reveal the character and therefore there is no doubt in the choice, and by the time when the stepfather will show itself from the other side, the story will be coming to an end. None of the characters outside the pair of young detectives receives any intelligible study, limited to simplified types. And the disclosure of abductions is rarely when it really looks like an investigation. There are, of course, a couple of episodes, but they barely outline the contours of detective history.
But a clear failure is not at all in the elections or the implementation of manipulation of time, but in weak feedback. Even if the choice does not affect history so strongly, however, this is a choice that determines the protagonist of the story and the attitude of different characters towards him. In Telltale games, this approach is used everywhere. For example, in The Walking Dead, the protagonist Lee Everett finds himself in a world that collapsed under the onslaught of a zombie, and where violence and looting are common ways of survival. At the same time, the main character looks after the girl Clementine, who often turns out to be the main witness of the player’s decisions. And the player is constantly facing the question: what example will he give the child? In Wolf Among US, the main character – the wolf – is at the center of the conflict between strict law and cruel lawlessness. The official power is represented by Snow White, which, on the one hand, advocates a humane resolution of problems, but is ready to tear out any illegal enterprises with the root, even if they help someone. In turn, lawlessness is represented not only by bandits, but also by the harmless friend Colin, who, in all severity of the law, should be exiled to reservation, where life is difficult and dull. So the player determines how the main character interprets the law, and to what extent he observes him.
With the cynicism of the true photographer, Max takes the whale into his collection
Return to our traveler in time. Despite the elections and their mention, there is no feeling at all that you really determine the character. Max does not make conclusions, does not compare his decisions at the beginning of the path and in his finale. Most of the characters situationally flash in the plot and can hardly be holistically reflecting their opinion about the girl. And Chloe, even if it is a full -fledged witness, but in the finale says the same remarks, regardless of whether we supported its whole story or harmful at every opportunity. Of course, there was an attempt to make feedback, but the developers gave it a completely ridiculous form – a nightmare. This episode before the final is a delightful absurdity that was thrown up to stretch the time, while no one bothers to explain it normally. I don’t even want to mention stupid stealth epizodes with a collection of bottles once again. From “Feedback”, first, communication with an evil double comes (or whoever it is), who is dousing the girl criticism, regardless of the player’s actions, and followed (for lack of the best term) slide show showing the path of Max and Chloe, while from a dozen slides, only one and a half at least somehow depend on the choice of the player.
“I came to put my asses and distort the time. And I already rewind time … "
But, I must admit that the original Life is Strange is an even more or less solid thing, because we have not yet reached the prequel called Before the Storm. It was made by other people (Deck Nine Studio) on the new engine, and on the basis they decided to take the meeting of Chloe and Rachel, the disappearance of which is investigated in the original. The whole story is scattered into three episodes plus bonus – “Farewell”, about which we will talk separately. Without going into details, we can say that Before the Storm is a dull charmine. If you have met people who say that the prequel is no worse than the original, then do not believe them. They lie either for themselves or to others. Fantasy left the genre, and the detective part turned out to be so crippled that it can be called only by old memory. But does this mean that the drama has become better? Categorically not. Facial animation has become a little closer to the human, but the characters in plastic movement are still closer to owls than to people.
The story this time goes on behalf of Chloe and is devoted to its relationship with this same rachel. But it just so happened that the plot of the prequel does not honor anyone, with the exception of Chloe. About the latter, a lot of things were said in the original, but in the prequel, its bitterness on the world, loneliness and lack of trust in someone are revealed in more detail. As for Rachel, despite the fact that she has a bunch of screen time, she remains a blurry, slurred way. Her whole character fits into two features – friendliness with impulsiveness. They say about her, what a smart woman she is, at school a popular one and t. D., but at the same time it is not perceived as part of the world. There are few with anyone in the school, its moral standards remain a mystery (except that it is too calm about theft), it is not clear what she is interested in, and add more craving for acting and lies, and you will receive a character that cannot be said with confidence with confidence.
The reference "Who will you lead …"
As for the rest of the game, then there are old problems on the spot. Incomprehensible elections, poorly open characters, no feedback and so on. In addition, like a prequel, Before the Storm, on the one hand, is unlenterly reveals individual parts, such as the appearance of a truck in Chloe or its dyeing hair in blue, and on the other, it is extremely voluntarily treated with some plot bases. For example, you can go to a truce with a stepfather, which, of course, does not fit with the original. For plot reasons, Chloe has no rewinds, so all the elections are performed here and now, and in return the girl has only the opportunity to join verbal duels, which is not felt at all as an achievement that opens interesting plot prospects. Of course, there are solid moments in the midst of these tedious and long dialogs, such as the theatrical production in the second episode, but they are so rare against the backdrop of the causeless stretch of the rest of the plot that the paintings do not change in the end.
You need to have some special talent, so that after the entire prescription of the main part of Before the Storm, to suddenly give out (honestly!) a good episode "Farewell" (Rus. parting). In this episode, time rolled back far, by the last day before Max left, when they exploded toys along with Chloe, argued about board games and looked for their “pirate” treasure. Most of the episode is executed in an optimistic way, and then ends with a powerful emotional ending. And all this is organically woven into a picture of Chloe’s life, demonstrating it before the death of her father first hit it, and then also a farewell to the best friend. On the example of this episode, it is clear that with small sketches Deck Nine are still able to work. So it turns out that the bonus Farewell is the main justification for the existence of Before the Storm.
Pirates-breakdowns at work
After all these thoughts and critics, the question asked at the very beginning again comes up: where does the recognition come from? Why, with an average execution level, Life is Strange suddenly got such attention? We can make an assumption that this is thanks to adolescence. The game talks about young and naive heroes who have encountered a cruel world, and everything is served without hyper -beeping censorship: with mats, blood, murders, the theme of suicide and bullying (but without cynicism). Western culture avoids all this subject in most cases, and the eastern (more precisely, Japanese) on the school topic releases tons of all sorts of things, but try to dig up something really worth. That’s why Life is Strange worked. As they say, the country is blind and one -eyed – the king. Due to the lack of competition in the genre niche, the game, even through mediocrity disclosure of topics, got its share of attention. But respect the game for courage or criticize for quality is already your choice.