Choose Our Own Adventure!: 11/04/2015 (Life is Strange)

Eat shit and live, Bill.

It is kind of crazy to me that people say this is game of the year. The dialogue is...something.

EDIT - also, to be clear, I don't dislike the game...it's just rough at points. And to be even MORE clear, I fucking LOVE them playing this game.

I'm a senior at an art and design college where I'm constantly around 19 year old artsy kids like the ones in this game. I can practically guarantee that teens are basically meme machines and absolutely talk like this.

So, I don't know. As a 22 year old even the more cringeworthy lines make me feel weirdly nostalgic I guess. I appreciate the authenticity.

Yeah my thoughts exactly, they've got to finish this!

I'm so glad they were able to save Kate; it's one of the real emotional peaks of the game.

Ergh, I'll take my words back from the earlier videos. Even with the fantastic trio commenting on this, I grew bored within the first 15 minutes or so. Teens definitely ain't my thang.

@liquid3600 said:

I agree this video series in particular took a weird trajectory, but yeah, I guess Vinny underestimated how much the community was going to highjack Choose Our Own Adventure and just turn it into a series of Endurance Runs. I'm still concerned that GB East won't actually finish this game by the end of the year, since at their current rate they'll probably need 4-5 more sessions to finish it, and Game of the Year discussions are probably some time in early December?

You could always wait a month or two for them to finish this Life Is Strange feature, then just pay for a single month of Premium on the site ($5 or so), then download the Life Is Strange videos and anything else you want to get around to watching, and then cancel your Premium right after that?

@vocalcannibal: Yeah man as a junior film student in college, this dialogue is spot on how some students talk, hell as a 18 year old in high school I would talk like that, and 3 years later, I still slip in using the words "dope" or "hella" sometimes.

I'm 32, and I don't really care about trying to dissect the authenticity of the dialogue (although I did have the same reaction as Austin -- or, do I not know how teens speak, or is this super accurate because I was this cringe worthy/awkward at that age?). My problem with the dialogue is honestly most of it outside of the "teen" stuff. I just don't think it's well written. In part it isn't the game's fault...I have a lot o the same issues with Telltale games. It feels disjointed to me.

All of that said, I'm super thrilled that the game exists. I just don't see how it could possibly be in the GOTY discussion, for myself. Although that is limited to literally this experience, as I haven't played the game itself.

I'm hoping they will, the series just keeps getting better with each episode and I'm guessing it will become harder and harder for them to stop in the middle of episodes.

I love that Vinny is playing this like Vinny, which is also how I played through it. I took several hundred screenshots on the PS4 of every piece of art I could find. He should be sitting at the chairs/sofas, which is how Max reflects on the recent events to offer some more exposition on the story.

Also, Alex = Max.

I like that they're stopping to discuss things even if I know that the decision may not matter enough to warrant the intense discussion. It's cool to see how invested they are in the illusion of the endless possibilities of what can happen.

Edit: I like watching this having played through the whole season, so I know what some of these teases are referencing and seeing what the group's assumptions are compared to how they turn it in the end.

You should just wait 20 years to watch this video so you can enjoy it ironically

Guys, I really hope you continue it some form as the story gets crazy.

Thanks for making me download the whole game and playing through, really rewarding experience.

Hope they play through the rest of this. The gameplay part of this seems a little tedious to me but I'm really enjoying everything else about this game.

I'm quoting this quote because the thing that I'm quoting is fucking amazing.

So is it too much of a trope to guess that Mr. Jefferson is romantically involved with a student?

Just finished episode 3.

I seriously hope they keep playing. Things done hotted up!

I'm still screaming inside because they faded out before the decision outcomes and the teaser for Episode 3 at the end.

You guys have to keep playing this game! It's so good!!

@wonderva said:

During Vinny's playthrough of episode 1, I think, Max encounters a student that insinuates just that. I guess you'll have to wait and see whether that turns out to be true or not!

This comments section is really hard, because some people have played the whole season and know what's up, and some people are watching along with GB East and are asking totally reasonable questions.

I now know the pain of what it must have been like to have already played Persona 4 or Deadly Premonition or Contradiction when those Endurance Runs were happening. Also, if I may link Life Is Strange to those other games, it turns out solving murders/disappearances in small towns leads to great Giant Bomb content.

That was unfortunate.

@vinny That totally is a Audio Network. I've heard it played during breaks of Counter-Strike tournaments I've watched. They also had a behind the scenes video from the last tournament that used a song you guys do and it kind of freaked me out haha

I want to add something as to why I think this game is good.

Adam Sessler put Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons in his top 6 games or whatever for that year it came out. One of the reasons he did this was because towards the end of that game, the control scheme became a form of narrative, which was something he said he has always been asking for in games but never got until Brothers came out. I agree that the controls were definitely effective in communicating the emotional and mental development of one of the characters.

I think LIS is similar as the time-rewind mechanic serves as a pivot for narrative changes, and at least give the illusion that the player is in control of what's happening.

I'm so glad this is going to spin off into it's own feature which will make it more likely they'll continue! This was great.

Kate's conversation went a lot less awkward for me. But it went bad. Katie's negative responses seemed more naturally delivered than the positive ones. And the montage before the credits was WAAAAAAYYYYY sadder. Great music selection too.

Playing the whole season by yourself, not watching it this way, would be doing yourself a huge favor.

Life is...weird.

This game is incredible. You guys have to keep going

I made an account only to say that I am fully committed to watching you guys play this entire series, as many episodes as they make. I find everything about this game mesmerizing, and all I can think of at work when I'm told that 90 seconds is too long a video for online viewers to stick with is that I've spent nearly six hours of my life watching this madness unfold.

I am also among those who are unable to tell the "accurate awkward teen" talk from the "awkward french Canadian adult trying to write a teen" talk, and coming to terms with the closeness of those two things has been a revelation.

EDIT: I wanted to type that there's been at least one point in every video so far that's made me laugh alone and out loud like an idiot, but hadn't reached a point in this video where that would've been honest. At 48 minutes in, that's changed.

Game of the year, please do more of this. It´s the only game this year that has moved me, an I´m over 40...

Can't wait to see how they react to the episode 3 ending.

@austin_walker: rip...

Excellent. Can't wait for the rest of your play-through.

@crumbcake: Just so you know, DONTNOD hired a writer from San Francisco to do the dialogue. If it's awkward, it's just intended to be awkward teen.

And if you look deeply enough into the story. It's clearly very intentional

I could not be more excited to see them play chapter 3. Slow, plodding, and moody with an amazing ending. And then chapter 4? Oh man. I wish you luck Vinny if you though 2 was dark.

I'll stop there so no one gets spoiled though. This game is a masterpiece. And easily my GOTY. If you haven't played it, I highly recommend it. And if you are enjoying the stream, please pick up a copy! The game is doing all right, and apparently much better than Square expected. But the more interest in these types of games the better.

I don't swear often, but fucking christ this game is stupid, specifically referring to the train part, and pretty much everything before it.

Nice shootin, Tex.

Life is Strange is probably my GOTY this year, unless Fallout 4 manages to overcome the shortcomings we've been seeing in what's been leaked. It's definitely a divisive game. If you can get past the occasional bit of clunky dialogue, and you find cheesy jokes endearing as opposed to grating, I think you'd like it.

Also, I'm glad Vinny and Austin are able to outmuscle Alex on most of the more crucial decisions. Though it would be interesting to watch how everything would fall apart if it was just Alex at the wheel.

Yea true especially during the ending of episode 5, hearing them speak differently, like adults, really puts everything into context and makes it all the more impacting I think.

Holy shit, I'm so happy that they'll be finishing this game through the premium content.

Really excited this is back!

I decided to get my premium subscription back. Not to watch them continue Life is Strange, but to support them spreading knowledge about it. Anyone watching this, buy the game. Support good art.

As an Uncle of three teens (two nieces and one nephew) I can confirm that this is pretty much exactly what they sound like. At least in my experience.

They're meme repeating and fad chasing kids and some of the stuff that comes out of their mouths leaves me confused lol.

I'm 26 btw and this game was one of my favorite experiences of 2015. The writing never put me off at all, but I can absolutely see why it would to others.

I'm really glad that the GBeast crew is enjoying this one. Austin being younger and Alex being Alex I can see this game resonating with them the more they play. Vinny also seems effected by some of the darker moments in this game and I can see his fatherly worries rush over him hoping that school for his kids won't actually be like this lol

Hopefully they binge play this one to finish it this month because man, the things that happen from here on out are fucking crazy and the crews discussions about what they should do are going to get even longer lol

I'm glad they came back to this. I really like the way they talk through all the decisions. When they played a different game for choose our own adventure I thought they were done with this so I decided to watch another playthrough. It might be rough going through the emotional roller coaster of the last couple episodes again but at least these guys might make some different decisions

rewinding the girl shooting herself was a bad idea.

Love this series, I hope you finish it.

Bring on the GBE Playdate! :)

I wonder why Vinny never checks his texts...

I would love to see you guys continue this. I've really enjoyed these first two episodes of LiS. :-)