So what happens if you "refuse" in THE choice? I imagine the game will still result in what happen at the end of this episode like the crew are saying from a game budget and making perspective.
Putting it in spoilers just in case:
Max says to Chloe that she can't do it, Chloe begs Max to do it (brings up that she's giving her the right as an adult, tells her that her parents know she wants to do this, but they don't want to do it for her and she'd rather die in a happy moment than in pain from her body breaking down with help from her best friend). Max refuses again, but states that she will help her. Chloe then tells her to leave (saying along the lines of "You've been wishing to go since the start") and that she's abandoning her like everyone else in her life and turns her head to not be able to see Max. Max then says she's never leaving her and you then have the chance to go back and honour Chloe's request or focus on the photo to go back to the main timeline.
Also, a big thanks to the Beast crew for playing this and being able to simultaneously have fun and makes some jokes while still being able to tackle the very serious subject matter in a very tasteful and well thought-out way.
Very interesting article about a very unique subject in the context of video games and, as a result, it's highly enjoyable. Also, really loving this weekly post that gets to go "off the beaten path", so to speak.
One thing in the piece that was really interesting to me is the talk about Fallout 4 and its decision to at least attempt to create a home (or a "homely" environment) with the town building elements. The Bethesda games have always felt like these giant expansive worlds that are built with the intention of never really stopping in one place for too long. Sure, you might have to go back to some places from time to time and there are one or two hub areas that you frequently visit, but the game essentially goes from A to B to C. So, to introduce a feature that wants you to visit and take care of some smaller areas while still being in the framework of the traditional open world seems kind of disjointed. That said, I seem to remember talk that the town building was entirely optional, so maybe Bethesda wasn't too sure about that mechanic.
Also, while it's not a game from 2015, I think it's obvious that Gone Home more than fills this definition of a home as it's a game of almost nothing but "inefficient, emotional investments" and it's through those objects that it tells its story. If you "main line" the game and simply find the key that unlocks the locked door until you reach the end, that game might as well be the most boring version of Chip's Challenge ever.
@bisonhero: Not quoting to prevent from having a wall of text for a post, but I think that episode 3 takes the cake for non-choice (spoilers coming up) since episode 5 never uses the "consequences butterfly" for your actions, so they're admitting that, ultimately, your choices don't have much of an impact. Episode 3's choices can have some light consequences (looking at that 4% of monsters throwing the bone into the street and the money stealers) that give a different twist to the story, but those are more about forming "your" Max than changing the plot.
General story spoilers:
I will disagree with you about the ending of episode 2, regardless of if Kate jumps or not, if I was the principal, I would be pissed that one of my teachers was completely unable to read that his student-assistant was in distress to that level and Victoria reveals later on that she never really wanted to publish the video in the first place (saying that they weren't going to do it and then they got drunk and the next morning they awoke to find that they ended up posting it, if I remember that line correctly), so I'm not surprised that Victoria would be having a breakdown at the fact that she nearly ended up killing someone with her stupidity.
On a related note, now that you mention it, this game loves to play hard swings with characters (like David going from asshole to possibly sympathetic to asshole again) as Victoria goes from mean girl to potentially nicer on the inside (if you console her for the paint) to bitch, etc. until the end of the game. They keep you guessing about the character's true intentions (I'm surprised by the amount of hate Victoria is getting by the GBeast crew as, at that point in the game, I saw her more as misguided than potentially evil).
And, yeah, can't wait to see how they react to episode 4 with all the powerful moments in that episode.
Poor David. Possible PTSD, a stepdaughter who hates him because he's not her dad, he works a dead end job where everyone hates him, and now the GBEast crew supports Max just airing all his dirty laundry which will apparently lead to a divorce.
He can't win for losing.
Yeah, that whole scene could've been written better. It almost feels like the devs are tricking the player into siding with Chloe (not that that's the right or wrong choice), but I don't think they are and it's more that they just botched the feel of that scene. It seems like the devs did not even try to make David's side a viable option.
If they had written David to actually chill out halfway through the scene and admit he flies off the handle and goes too far sometimes, then it's Chloe who stays angry and keeps yelling, THEN you have to make a choice, it might've been an interesting choice. Do you side with David because he's being reasonable for once even though you know he has weird surveillance, or do you side with Chloe even though David wants to be nice and Chloe is being way too angry and mean?
Instead, between the surveillance stuff you know about David and him being a huge dick in that scene, it seems preposterous that any player would take his side in that argument.
I think either the scene is poorly written (to make it a meaningful choice between siding with David or Chloe) or the exposition of the choice is what's been botched. I feel that if it was the same scene, but the choice was "Expose David" or "Hide your info on him", the reply from Max would make more sense (specifically her telling Chloe to calm down and trying to down play things if you side with David). And, I did think about siding with David during my play though because I was thinking that backing him would mean that he would have our back later on and that Chloe would be on our side regardless.
Also, vague spoilers for episode 5:
Ultimately, I feel that giving David the verbal beatdown works better in the context of the scene with David in episode 5 as they really show a guy that hit rock bottom and is changing his ways to be better for his family (which is really highlighted if you tell him the truth). Admittedly I haven't seen what happens if you side with him, but I'm not sure it comes off as well in the narrative.
It's a shame that they won't be finishing the series before GOTY deliberations (barring a marathon next week), but it's still great that they're at least setting a clear goal of finishing this before the end of the year.
Still not sure it's my GOTY, but if it isn't at the top, it's going to be at number 2.
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