A Horde Of Ogres, That's A Lot.

[rionaleonhart]

Tem visited earlier than anticipated, which means we were able to make more progress in Life Is Strange: True Colors! I think we've almost finished episode three; we've just played through the scene in Charlotte's studio.



I've heard most of the third chapter is the LARP, which I'm a bit dubious about. I'm interested in these characters, not the characters they're going to be playing!

If I'm lucky, though, perhaps I'll be able to flirt in-character with Ryan, leaving him confused about whether there's any real intent behind it. That could be fun. Fingers crossed.

NOPE, HE'S A WOLF I IMMEDIATELY MURDERED

This LARP is fun, though! The whole thing is endearingly awkward, and I love how into it everyone is. Particularly the blacksmith who's so dedicated that even his thoughts are in-character.

I laughed aloud when I read Steph's mind and found her seething about the fact that I'd said Ryan was hotter. 'Alex is allowed to think Ryan is hot. I need to get over it.' Sorry, Steph!

Also laughed aloud at her 'seduce Diane' plan and 'maybe Diane and I hook up anyway, not important'. Steph's great. I'm definitely going to have to replay to romance her at some point.

I did have the opportunity to flirt with Steph in-character, which was very tempting, but I resisted; I don't want to lead her on!

Oh, hey, I did get to call Ryan cute when he was being a snake! (Alex said the snake was cute and 'not goofy at all', and Ryan mouthed 'thanks', and he must have realised that she'd heard him internally worrying that he wasn't hot when he was being goofy. Must be very weird and slightly frightening to know the friend you're interested in can hear when you have that sort of anxiety.)

I love that Ryan and Steph are both really into Alex, and I'm headcanoning that they have exactly the same taste in girls and are forced into competition whenever someone they find interesting comes to town. (Steph always wins. Ryan's sort of resigned to it by this point.) I sort of wish you could romance them both in a single playthrough, but as far as I know it can't be done.

Tem and Rei continue to protest over my pursuit of Ryan rather than Steph. Rei's strategy is slightly less effective than Tem's 'think of how much Ryan will suffer if you romance Steph instead' approach:

Rei: Their chemistry isn't as good! Alex won't be as happy with him!
Riona: Good!

You've known me for twenty years, Rei; you should know by this point that making characters happy is not my main shipping priority.

Somehow, Life Is Strange still manages to be stressful even in this game-within-a-game. I continue to overthink every single decision.

I love everything shifting to the fantasy world that Ethan sees, and I was delighted by the Final Fantasy menu sound effects in the final battle.

Can't believe the Trauma Sirens went off straight after our victory. You could let the kid be happy for five seconds, game. He'll treasure that sword for the rest of his life, though.

Having finished the LARP, I can conclude that I was entirely wrong to be dubious about it! The whole thing was extremely cute and fun.

Oh, wow, that scene in Charlotte's studio was intense. I wasn't expecting the game to be bold enough to explore her blaming her son. But at least I wasn't torn over the choice that scene presented. It didn't feel good to leave her like that, but you can't surgically remove someone's anger; that's fucked up!

(It'd probably be interesting, but for my first playthrough I'm trying to make the decisions I feel are right, rather than the ones I'm most curious about.)



I wasn't sure what to expect when I heard True Colors was being made by Deck Nine instead of Dontnod, but I'm having a great time so far! (A great and extremely stressful time, as is traditional with Life Is Strange games.) Looking forward to finishing episode three and seeing what developments and regrets lie beyond.

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

NOPE, HE'S A WOLF I IMMEDIATELY MURDERED

Hilarious!

Particularly the blacksmith who's so dedicated that even his thoughts are in-character.

Aw!

Must be very weird and slightly frightening to know the friend you're interested in can hear when you have that sort of anxiety.

Oh man, that would stress me out!

It didn't feel good to leave her like that, but you can't surgically remove someone's anger; that's fucked up!

Oh yeah, that would be fucked up! Definitely an interesting kind of horror there.

[rionaleonhart]

I might have to write fanfiction about Ryan's increasing alarm as he realises he can't keep secrets from Alex at all. He's not a particularly secretive person, but it's still weird to have a friend who can feel your emotions whenever they get too strong, especially if you have a crush on her!

I'm so curious about the consequences of making that choice! What does stripping Charlotte of her anger over Gabe's death do to her? What does it do to Alex, if she'd be taking that anger into herself? I'm going to have to look into this as soon as I've finished the game.

[pict]

I might have to write fanfiction about Ryan's increasing alarm as he realises he can't keep secrets from Alex at all.

I'm waiting.

[pict]

This chapter really solidified my love for Ryan. His nerdy wildlife facts and the IC LARP texts were adorable. And I found, like - by comparison, Steph was a bit ungracious? Her response to Ryan being chosen as the hot one is a lot more huffy than Ryan's if you choose Steph, which didn't endear her to me at all.

(Randomly, it was pointed out to me that Ryan's black ring on his middle finger is an asexual signifier. As an ace girl, the prospect pleased me greatly.)

And yeah, the scene with Charlotte is deeply stressful and effective. I don't blame her for her anger: it's all very understandable, considering the situation. But it's also quite sad! I definitely appreciate that the game was willing to really dig into the messiness of her grief. I remember being unimpressed at the very beginning of the game when Gabe mentioned that he was constantly buying his girlfriend flowers to apologise for a laundry list of petty grievances. I thought it sounded sitcom-ish and dysfunctional. But by the time I got to chapter three, I was very impressed by the subtle foreshadowing of Charlotte's anger and passion. Good job, game.

Chapter four now. Chop chop!!

[rionaleonhart]

His nerdy wildlife facts and the IC LARP texts were adorable.

I laughed aloud when Alex rang the 'send snakes to sleep' bell and Ryan started going 'uh, pretend that's a low sound so a snake would be able to hear it.' Bless him.

I don't blame her for her anger: it's all very understandable, considering the situation. But it's also quite sad! I definitely appreciate that the game was willing to really dig into the messiness of her grief.

Yes! It's agonising, but it's also extremely believable that she'd be struggling with anger towards Alex, towards Ryan, towards Gabe, even towards Ethan. I was impressed that the game was prepared to tackle that. People don't always feel the 'right' things, especially in response to tragedy, and that doesn't necessarily make them bad people; sometimes all you can do is try to take the right actions and work towards a day when your feelings match up to that.

Chapter four now. Chop chop!!

I'd love to keep playing, but it'll have to wait until Tem's next here! Having friends was a mistake.