Kate died in my playthrough and I felt sad about it, but I didn't reload as I always try and stick with the choices in these games. I figure that a first playthrough is for making five million mistakes and you correct them if you go back through. Even if Kate died due to the correct answer being a bible verse that literally meant "lol kill yourself", so I avoided it since she was trying to, y'know, kill herself.
I do think it makes more narrative sense for Kate to die, though. Some of the scenes make more sense. The shot in the ending montage is of a candlelit vigil to Kate outside the roof (it really plays on that "now that she's dead, suddenly everybody cares" thing), a lot of the whiteboard things outside of people's rooms are variants of "Sorry Kate", Victoria's dedication to Kate makes more sense, at the beginning of episode 3 if you check Max's computer people are sending her trolling "couldn't save Kate, loser" type of things, Kate's dad sends an email thanking you for trying and inviting you to Kate's funeral, when Chloe is a bit of an ass outside the pool Max snaps because Kate has just died etc. I don't know what happens if Kate doesn't die, but in the nightmare sequence there's also a segment where you catch Kate in the corridor mourning herself at a candlelit vigil at her door, then she repeats her jump through that door. I didn't like that Kate died, but I think it made sense for the narrative.
I also appreciated that it was a bullying narrative as I've spent so much of my life being bullied. I identified a lot with Kate.
Haha, yes, I was going to mention the terrible stealth segment. I explored a lot in the episodes, got to the terrible segment and went "er, not happening". Although I did see somebody exploring in it in a youtube LP and it brings back the bottle collection minigame while Max muses about how it must be hell, which I thought was funny. :P
I find Nathan probably more fascinating than Jefferson, he's a right old bundle of neuroses. (Did you catch that the messages that Max assumes are from Nathan's dad are actually from Jefferson?)
I felt that this game has more weight to the choices than most "make choices" games. Having said that, they're not so much choices that directly affect the ending as they effect how Max feels, character interactions etc. Up until maybe episode 4 Chloe spent the entire game pissed off at me as she never liked my choices. YOU STAYED HIDDEN IN THE CUPBOARD. YOU SPOKE TO YOUR FRIEND. YOU DIDN'T SHOOT A MAN. YOU WOULDN'T LET ME STEAL MONEY. WHY ARE WE EVEN FRIENDS, MAX?
I still find that beginning sequence fascinating and quite telling, with Max ghosting through the crowds with her music and literally nobody paying attention to her. Without her powers, she really was completely unremarkable, grades-wise too. It's like nobody even noticed she was there.
Shout out to my favourite scene: finding Rachel's body. I really think Ashley Burch nails the voice acting in the emotional scenes, too. I didn't like Chloe a lot of the time, but I always tended to sympathise with her.
I also appreciated the world building that went into the very small section of the game in the alternate reality where Chloe's dad lived. From the texts, all the detail in the room/around Chloe's house... lot of effort for a small section. And even if that choice wasn't entirely meaningless, since Max remembered her decision. (The photo jumping is bugged on certain graphics cards, btw - shout out to the steam forums for giving an alternative. You're supposed to focus the picture, but it's either a blackscreen or the picture always looks the same, I can't recall which. Fortunately you can be cued into when it's in focus via sound effects.)
I also had the most random crossover idea based entirely on the word "Blackwell". BLACKWELL SERIES/LIFE IS STRANGE. The Prescotts give lots of money to Blackwell academy MAYBE BECAUSE THEY ARE SECRETLY BLACKWELLS. Thus the Blackwell legacy passes down to Nathan and Joey is his spirit guide. They would hate eachother so much, also Nathan would think he's even crazier. Maybe the ghost of Rachel could bob up or some shit and it'd get really crazy. RANDOMEST CROSSOVER EVER.
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I do think it makes more narrative sense for Kate to die, though. Some of the scenes make more sense. The shot in the ending montage is of a candlelit vigil to Kate outside the roof (it really plays on that "now that she's dead, suddenly everybody cares" thing), a lot of the whiteboard things outside of people's rooms are variants of "Sorry Kate", Victoria's dedication to Kate makes more sense, at the beginning of episode 3 if you check Max's computer people are sending her trolling "couldn't save Kate, loser" type of things, Kate's dad sends an email thanking you for trying and inviting you to Kate's funeral, when Chloe is a bit of an ass outside the pool Max snaps because Kate has just died etc. I don't know what happens if Kate doesn't die, but in the nightmare sequence there's also a segment where you catch Kate in the corridor mourning herself at a candlelit vigil at her door, then she repeats her jump through that door. I didn't like that Kate died, but I think it made sense for the narrative.
I also appreciated that it was a bullying narrative as I've spent so much of my life being bullied. I identified a lot with Kate.
Haha, yes, I was going to mention the terrible stealth segment. I explored a lot in the episodes, got to the terrible segment and went "er, not happening". Although I did see somebody exploring in it in a youtube LP and it brings back the bottle collection minigame while Max muses about how it must be hell, which I thought was funny. :P
I find Nathan probably more fascinating than Jefferson, he's a right old bundle of neuroses. (Did you catch that the messages that Max assumes are from Nathan's dad are actually from Jefferson?)
I felt that this game has more weight to the choices than most "make choices" games. Having said that, they're not so much choices that directly affect the ending as they effect how Max feels, character interactions etc. Up until maybe episode 4 Chloe spent the entire game pissed off at me as she never liked my choices. YOU STAYED HIDDEN IN THE CUPBOARD. YOU SPOKE TO YOUR FRIEND. YOU DIDN'T SHOOT A MAN. YOU WOULDN'T LET ME STEAL MONEY. WHY ARE WE EVEN FRIENDS, MAX?
I still find that beginning sequence fascinating and quite telling, with Max ghosting through the crowds with her music and literally nobody paying attention to her. Without her powers, she really was completely unremarkable, grades-wise too. It's like nobody even noticed she was there.
Shout out to my favourite scene: finding Rachel's body. I really think Ashley Burch nails the voice acting in the emotional scenes, too. I didn't like Chloe a lot of the time, but I always tended to sympathise with her.
I also appreciated the world building that went into the very small section of the game in the alternate reality where Chloe's dad lived. From the texts, all the detail in the room/around Chloe's house... lot of effort for a small section. And even if that choice wasn't entirely meaningless, since Max remembered her decision. (The photo jumping is bugged on certain graphics cards, btw - shout out to the steam forums for giving an alternative. You're supposed to focus the picture, but it's either a blackscreen or the picture always looks the same, I can't recall which. Fortunately you can be cued into when it's in focus via sound effects.)
I also had the most random crossover idea based entirely on the word "Blackwell". BLACKWELL SERIES/LIFE IS STRANGE. The Prescotts give lots of money to Blackwell academy MAYBE BECAUSE THEY ARE SECRETLY BLACKWELLS. Thus the Blackwell legacy passes down to Nathan and Joey is his spirit guide. They would hate eachother so much, also Nathan would think he's even crazier. Maybe the ghost of Rachel could bob up or some shit and it'd get really crazy. RANDOMEST CROSSOVER EVER.