Choose Our Own Adventure!: 10/14/2015 (Life is Strange)

I really hope they keep playing this game. It gets so good.

I would love to see the playthrough of this continued; I think this game's narrative has some real value. I played the first episode, but never really kept up after that. I'll definiatly go back now to play the other episodes though. For the record, I love adventure games and really enjoy watching playthroughs of them. It's similar to watching the commentary track to a movie I've enjoyed for me. It helps to add a broader perspective to the piece, which in turn can deepen my appreciation for it. Plus your palythroughs are always entertaining, and I value all three of your perspectives. So please keep it going!

Man, GB East is so great.

@deathfromace: It has nothing to do with spoilers. Just seems sketchy in a way.

Are the similarities between the opening of this and the opening of Alan Wake (lighthouse, tornado) intentional?

Please continue with this, love your comments on it.

I love this game despite some of its flaws including the cringe worthy dialogue and would defend a lot of the game's shortcomings but even I have to admit the writing sometimes sounds like nails on chalkboard to me.

So I think it's just an accident and the developers being very French.

In general I find this to be an issue with a lot of fiction written by older people that is supposed to be about the current younger generation. It either ends up sounding completely fake or forced.

But I deal with it because the story in this game goes some really exciting, and sometimes super dark, places and I can't wait to see how it all ends. Unless Dontnod completely messes it up by the end it's safe to say that Life Is Strange will end up on my top 10.

On a side note: The Last of Us dlc Left Behind is one of the few games where the writing regarding the teenage characters doesn't feel unintentionally awkward.

Aw yiss! GBeast playdates/playthroughs are the best. Contradiction was utterly fantastic and so was Crusader Kings.

That thumbnail is so good!

Also this game is pretty cool and also terrible. Super fun to watch!

This was fun! I hope they keep going with it, the game goes some places!

Also about the whole lip-sync thing that people talk about, maybe it's "off" because it was developed in France and they originally used french VO for the lip-sync?

I had totally forgotten about this, after watching them play it I think I have to go back and play this myself.

Also please continue!

I want to watch this so bad, but I still need to play all of the episodes of this game.

God, the writing in this game! It's like they're aliens who wanted to blend in as teenagers, but they had to form their impersonations based off of whatever half-garbaled TeenNick transmissions they picked up in deep space.

Either that, or the writers have retrograde amnesia that's limited to their high school careers, and their friends decided to fuck with them when asked "what did we sound like back then?"

Yessssss GBeast playing Life is Strange is the beautiful future I'd never dared dream of.

I really hope they keep this going for the Playdates or something. I love this game. I just hope Vinny eases off trying to "break" the game a bit.

Aha. So happy to see you guys playing this. One of my favorite games of the year, for sure.It starts off slow but packs some real emotional punches later on.

This is my GOTY so far. Absolutely wonderful game.

As the crew had a lot of fun with this and knowing where the story is going in the next few episodes, I definitely think they should complete the game.

(After that: Phantasmagoria 2!)

Yeah, the community needs to keep pushing for Phantasmagoria 2.

At first I was a little skeptical, but man this was GREAT. Vinny at the controls is a sight to behold..

I would love for them to do the whole series cause I laughed really hard throughout the entire 2 hours.

Oh this game gah

Holy Shoosh! I'm so stoked for this!!!!

So glad they are giving this game time. Its is without a doubt in my 'top five' for GOTY. I really want them to play all five episodes because the game becomes better and better and better with each episode.

I do wonder if the game can survive Vinny "playing" it however.

Impossible produce Polaroid film now, @vinny :)

Someone needs to gif that football rewind bit.

@yummytreesap: I can throw actual criticism on it, I just hinted at some of it because I didn't want to make that post even longer. But let me know which part you want me to talk about and I'll explain to you why it probably sucks.

If you want to do Phantasmagoria 2, you have to invite Dave. There's no other option.

@jdunne3: Seen them! It's part of what is making me excited to see them continue this game as well.

I really want them to keep going, at least through episode 2. The guys were super on their game this stream, It was fun to see Vinny was super into the time travel mechanic. I really wanted for them to get to that FF:Spirits Within comment on the tv, and man was that way better than I expected:D

@wemibelec90:

Then the other part of my reply applies....

No spoilers please. If your criticism is about the stuff from the following episodes. ( Tho if you just hate it having watched half of the half of episode one, then maybe just be patient here :) )

I love that you guys are playing this game, I was really hoping you would, I sure hope you keep it going and play it until the end

Most of my criticism involves the plot that spans all the episodes released so far, that's why I kept it short on that part and just said it's extremely predictable and is full of plot holes.

I'm just going to say this: if you have seen Riley Rewind (awful, awful "movie") and Butterfly Effect, you already know what's going to happen on half of the game.

This is my GOTY.

I don't get how people love this game. Don't get me wrong, I like the art style and it's got an interesting aesthetic but I feel like it's all style and no substance while being ultra pretentious. It seems like it's trying to explore some interesting ideas but in a sort of clichéd way. I think something along the lines of The Beginner's Guide is way more interesting in my opinion- it also has it's fair share of clichés, but the idea that the game is built around is really cool and you're sort of implicitly involved in it just by walking around the levels.

Need hella more of this. Cereal.

Vinny = Invert-Y. Me = Approving.

I can see that. I think I'm with you, but I still enjoyed it.

Honestly what people are calling "cringeworthy dialogue" and cliché plotting are kind of the draw for me here. It basically looks like a CW teen drama you can play, which is my jam and lets the crew have fun with it. If it were a 100% serious and compelling game all the way through, I'd rather play it myself, by myself, rather than watch some entertaining folks chatting and joking over it.

"Teen 'tude" is great. "Go fuck your-selfie" is great. "Final Fantasy: Spirits Within is the greatest sci-fi movie of all time" is great and also true.

To be fair you CAN buy classic Polaroid 300 and 600 film for $24 for 10 pictures. Expensive, but you can buy it.

Better to buy the new Polaroid Snap that can develope 100 2"x3" photos (or save them on SD) card for only $24. The paper is the only consumable, so you don't have to worry about ink cartridges, and the prints come out dry and smudge-proof because there's no ink involved....its all done by light activated crystals.

I'm glad these guys are playing this. I really enjoyed it.

This game seems pretty interesting but man am I glad I'm watching these guys riff over it and not sitting through the clunky dialogue alone. All these characters are the fucking worst, but I guess that's kind of the point.

I don't have the time to watch this one today -- I'm curious, what do the Alex, Austin, & Vinny actually think of Life is Strange? For me thus far it's sitting in the the top spot for game of the year.

This beginning is doing the same thing for me that Until Dawn did, wanting to see every character horribly die. Hopefully these teens also start getting maimed and traumatized with their horribly written dialogue.

@razgriz777:The same way people like Twin Peaks. There's a heart and feel to the game's cheese that people like. Also, the dialogue gets way better after episode 1 which was trying a little too hard. However I will never complain about the use of "hella." That said, I get this isn't for everyone. I feel like Life is Strange is like the reverse of Gone Home where players really adore it, but critics are mixed. I don't think you can really compare it to The Beginner's Guide (also a game I really like).

I'm waiting to see how episode 5 goes before reviewing it, but if they stick the landing on this game, it definitely will be in my top 5 for the year.

@cav829: Yeah I completely get that, and you're right Beginner's Guide probably isn't the best comparison, they both just seem like games wanting to actually say something and put something a little more out there, but in my opinion one of them goes about it in a way more interesting way.

But as far as the heart/campy stuff goes something like Twin Peaks seems totally intended and the awkwardness/surreal stuff is built in and messes with the viewer, with this it seems like some of it totally is and some of it definitely isn't, which leaves me feeling a bit cold on it- the game is almost exactly how Austin/Alex were describing the teacher, it wants to be self-aware and is to some extent but completely misses other things.

"But if I get to close..."

Ehh. Come on, game.

This game seemed perfect for a full on playthrough by the Gbeast crew after the quick look.