Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2019-08-23 09:37 am
rionaleonhart) wrote2019-08-23 09:37 am
Entry tags:
Keep Walking.
I look forward so much to new Life Is Strange 2 episodes, and then when they arrive I always find myself going 'WAIT NO I'M NOT READY FOR THIS.'
I've reached the church in episode four, but I haven't yet gone inside. Here are my notes so far!
Going crazy in here. Woke up crying. omg Sean
Claire and Stephen sent me a nice letter. So lonely I read it twice. omg SEAN
Two minutes into the new Life Is Strange 2 episode, and it's already fulfilling all my tortured teenager needs. Sean's in hospital, in police custody, separated from Daniel and having lost an eye, writing about how fucked-up and lonely he is.
He's heard from Chris and Cassidy and his grandparents, but not from Lyla? I imagine Lyla's storming down the country to kick in the door of his hospital room and yell 'YOU ASSHOLE'.
He made a note on Daniel's birthday, noooooo
And of course 'Did you find Daniel?' is the first thing he says when the agent comes in.
Joey: I can see that you're a good person.
Options: 'thank you'/'I'm not'
yesssss, the ability to make the protagonist intensely self-loathing is exactly what I want from every game.
His voice when he realises he knows where Daniel is! So broken, so hopeful! 'I can see him again!'
Sacred Hope Hospital is close enough to Sacred Heart Hospital to immediately make me think of Scrubs crossovers.
This 'escape the hospital' sequence is already way too stressful.
OH MY GOD, I HATE THIS DECISION, I DON'T WANT TO HIT JOEY AND IT'LL GET SEAN IN EVEN MORE TROUBLE, BUT JOEY WILL GET IN TROUBLE IF HE HELPS ME AND IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE I ESCAPED ON MY OWN
I chose to hit him. I don't feel great about that. I'm glad he's a nurse and could tell me where to hit him in order to, you know, not kill him.
That was a really nice scene between Sean and Finn! I wasn't expecting to get to interact with Finn in this episode at all! I felt pretty bad for telling the agent that Finn was behind the attempted heist, and I thought maybe if I woke him he'd alert security to get back at me for that, but instead he was very apologetic about the whole affair and I had the chance to tell him I didn't blame him.
There's at least a 120% chance that the car Sean stole to escape is going to turn out to be Joey's and I'm going to feel even worse.
I know that desert! We drove from California into Nevada when I was nineteen. Maybe it's not the same long straight California-to-Nevada desert road, but it feels the same. The sky was purple, there were mountains in the distance, and the most incredible rainstorm broke out, flooding the desert as we crossed. It's one of the moments from that holiday that most stuck with me.
Oh, hey, turns out the car actually isn't Joey's! Sean still feels bad for the owner, though.
I usually make decisions based on what I think will be best for my boys (or... my boy, now), but when the racist arsehole took Daniel's Etch-a-Sketch I lunged for it. I'm invested in Sean and Daniel's relationship, so of course I wanted him to react emotionally in that moment.
In fact, I generally seem to be roleplaying rather than aiming for the 'best' decision now. I thought the truck driver was probably safe, and it seemed like a terrible idea to keep walking through the desert, but Sean's been through so much, he's so wary and wounded, and it seemed to me like he'd probably turn the ride down, so I did. (If I'd been playing a female character, there is not the faintest chance I'd ever have considered taking that ride.)
Of course, roleplaying isn't the only factor in my decision-making:
Game: Are you going to have Sean comply with the demands of these arseholes and sing, humiliating himself, or are you going to hold on to your pride and refuse?
Riona: Look, honestly I just want to hear Sean sing.
It was agonising.
(The Etch-a-Sketch-stealing, song-demanding racist guy was THE WORST. My new most hated character in the entire Life Is Strange series, I think. Sean screaming in the car afterwards broke my heart.)
Poor Sean. The kid can barely walk. Maybe he'd be able to move faster if I'd taken that ride.
I'm going to be really unhappy if I get an epilogue saying 'eventually, Sean died of skin cancer at the age of forty-three because you made him keep walking through the desert'.
I owe so much to whatever person at Dontnod went 'okay, we're catering specifically to Riona's fictional interests with this one; let's make a game that focuses on a teenager's relationship with his brother, and then let's physically and psychologically break that teenager as hard as we can.'
I've reached the church in episode four, but I haven't yet gone inside. Here are my notes so far!
Going crazy in here. Woke up crying. omg Sean
Claire and Stephen sent me a nice letter. So lonely I read it twice. omg SEAN
Two minutes into the new Life Is Strange 2 episode, and it's already fulfilling all my tortured teenager needs. Sean's in hospital, in police custody, separated from Daniel and having lost an eye, writing about how fucked-up and lonely he is.
He's heard from Chris and Cassidy and his grandparents, but not from Lyla? I imagine Lyla's storming down the country to kick in the door of his hospital room and yell 'YOU ASSHOLE'.
He made a note on Daniel's birthday, noooooo
And of course 'Did you find Daniel?' is the first thing he says when the agent comes in.
Joey: I can see that you're a good person.
Options: 'thank you'/'I'm not'
yesssss, the ability to make the protagonist intensely self-loathing is exactly what I want from every game.
His voice when he realises he knows where Daniel is! So broken, so hopeful! 'I can see him again!'
Sacred Hope Hospital is close enough to Sacred Heart Hospital to immediately make me think of Scrubs crossovers.
This 'escape the hospital' sequence is already way too stressful.
OH MY GOD, I HATE THIS DECISION, I DON'T WANT TO HIT JOEY AND IT'LL GET SEAN IN EVEN MORE TROUBLE, BUT JOEY WILL GET IN TROUBLE IF HE HELPS ME AND IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE I ESCAPED ON MY OWN
I chose to hit him. I don't feel great about that. I'm glad he's a nurse and could tell me where to hit him in order to, you know, not kill him.
That was a really nice scene between Sean and Finn! I wasn't expecting to get to interact with Finn in this episode at all! I felt pretty bad for telling the agent that Finn was behind the attempted heist, and I thought maybe if I woke him he'd alert security to get back at me for that, but instead he was very apologetic about the whole affair and I had the chance to tell him I didn't blame him.
There's at least a 120% chance that the car Sean stole to escape is going to turn out to be Joey's and I'm going to feel even worse.
I know that desert! We drove from California into Nevada when I was nineteen. Maybe it's not the same long straight California-to-Nevada desert road, but it feels the same. The sky was purple, there were mountains in the distance, and the most incredible rainstorm broke out, flooding the desert as we crossed. It's one of the moments from that holiday that most stuck with me.
Oh, hey, turns out the car actually isn't Joey's! Sean still feels bad for the owner, though.
I usually make decisions based on what I think will be best for my boys (or... my boy, now), but when the racist arsehole took Daniel's Etch-a-Sketch I lunged for it. I'm invested in Sean and Daniel's relationship, so of course I wanted him to react emotionally in that moment.
In fact, I generally seem to be roleplaying rather than aiming for the 'best' decision now. I thought the truck driver was probably safe, and it seemed like a terrible idea to keep walking through the desert, but Sean's been through so much, he's so wary and wounded, and it seemed to me like he'd probably turn the ride down, so I did. (If I'd been playing a female character, there is not the faintest chance I'd ever have considered taking that ride.)
Of course, roleplaying isn't the only factor in my decision-making:
Game: Are you going to have Sean comply with the demands of these arseholes and sing, humiliating himself, or are you going to hold on to your pride and refuse?
Riona: Look, honestly I just want to hear Sean sing.
It was agonising.
(The Etch-a-Sketch-stealing, song-demanding racist guy was THE WORST. My new most hated character in the entire Life Is Strange series, I think. Sean screaming in the car afterwards broke my heart.)
Poor Sean. The kid can barely walk. Maybe he'd be able to move faster if I'd taken that ride.
I'm going to be really unhappy if I get an epilogue saying 'eventually, Sean died of skin cancer at the age of forty-three because you made him keep walking through the desert'.
I owe so much to whatever person at Dontnod went 'okay, we're catering specifically to Riona's fictional interests with this one; let's make a game that focuses on a teenager's relationship with his brother, and then let's physically and psychologically break that teenager as hard as we can.'
no subject
That is good!
You did? And it could be the same. I know that desert has a limited stretch of roads most people tend to take, because it can be dangerous if you're off the beaten path when your car breaks down.
That would be hilarious!
no subject
We did! It's the only time I've ever been to the Americas: my family and I spent three weeks in California when I was nineteen, travelling down from San Francisco to Los Angeles, with a detour to Las Vegas. California was great; Las Vegas was less so, because there's nothing to do there when you're nineteen, but that journey across the desert made it worth it.
no subject
...Intrigued.
no subject
no subject
So I ended up making all the different choices. I hated the idea of even summoning Joey to help me escape, so I had Sean knock out the guard instead - which hardly helps his case as not-a-juvenile-felon, whoops. I also tried really hard to not piss off the racist asshole in the desert, including not jumping for the etch-a-sketch-- but then he started on the "this is not your country" nonsense and my own personal rage meter boiled over, so I had Sean curse him out.
I also just ignored Finn. Luke at Outside Xbox called Finn a charismatic cult leader in the making and I really have to agree, so I just ditched his ass.
Re: Karen, I honestly expected something entirely different. I assumed that her reason for leaving would be tied up in why Daniel is the way he is. Her actual reasons - well, I am very surprised by how sympathetically the whole thing was handled. Maybe I'm biased. One of my greatest fears is ending up in a domestic life with children I don't want because that's what society expects of me. (People still, in the year 2019, respond very strangely when I say I don't want children and don't intend to get married.) So the scenes with her and Sean at the motel, particularly their talk by the pool, might be my favourite part of the game so far.
AND THAT'S WHERE I AM, as of today. We're on our way to meet Jacob when I put my controller down.
The church people are really, really creepy, but Sarah Lee is adorable and I've only known her for five minutes but I would die for her. Someone get her to a doctor, please!
no subject
Like you, I can empathise with Karen's resentment of society's expectations, and with her desire to live her own life rather than being defined by her motherhood. I do think that she had a responsibility to at least stay in touch with her sons, though, and I feel she doesn't really recognise that it was wrong of her to cut herself out of their lives completely.
I was delighted to get this comment, and I'm interested to hear how the rest of the episode goes for you!
no subject
I do agree that a clean break wasn't actually the best option. But I couldn't make Sean be cold to her. It hit too close to home. I think going for the least fantastic option was a great choice by the writers. I really hope she stays in their life now, even if she can't be a permanent fixture.
Anyway, I finished the episode later that day. It was a lot of fun! Sean is basically a Hideo Kojima character and I love it. I was also very pleased that when I asked Daniel to get us out of the church, he didn't kill the Reverend, because I knew that was a possibility. I think this game is a bit of a parenting simulator in a lot of ways, and this is an example of that. You don't know that you get parenting right until you let the child make their own choices and see what they do. I don't want Daniel to be a killer and I want him to use his powers responsibly. He did, so I'm proud.
I'm not sure how I feel about the last episode in a few months. I don't know if it'll be the ending I want because I've never thought that fleeing to Mexico was a good idea for these boys. I want Sean to go back to school, dammit! But I guess we'll see. Maybe it'll completely subvert my expectations. Not that I, uh, have any expectations. I have no idea at this point.
What are your theories? I'm very curious.