Life is Strange - Before the Storm

Zero-Cool

A 3 episode prequel with the 1st ep releasing on 31st August on PS4, XONE and PC. It will be covering the time Chloe meets Rachel and it is being handled by a different team other than DontNod. DontNod are still working on LIS 2.

There is a bonus episode called 'Farewell' that will see Max return as well and takes place long before this season so I'm guessing 5 years before the 1st game when she first leaves town. I'm guessing it will contain all the feels...

I have the Deluxe edition pre-ordered now, no way I'm missing out on launch day/year like I did the 1st season.

From PS4:
Deluxe Edition - €24.99

Pre-order the game and receive:
- 'Classic Chloe' Outfit from the original game
- An exclusive PS4™ dynamic theme
Episode 1 releasing 31/08. Other episodes can be downloaded in-game or from PlayStation®Store as and when available.
Deluxe Edition contains:
- The main game (Episodes 1-3).
- Bonus Episode: ‘Farewell’ - play one last time as a young Max Caulfield in a special bonus episode.
- Exclusive New Mixtape Mode – Design your own playlist from the Life is Strange licensed soundtrack and listen to it alongside a cinematic scene from the game.
- Exclusive outfit pack - Change up Chloe's look with three new complete outfits: Punk Doe, Hawt Dawg Man & Illuminati outfits.

Complete Season
€16.99

Pre-order the game and receive:
- “Classic Chloe” Outfit from the original game
- An exclusive PS4™ dynamic theme from Life is Strange: Before the Storm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvwDNGjEp7A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GONk9c3MLjA

J. Marston

Interesting move to go with Chloe as the protagonist. Her character seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way.

Never been the biggest fan of prequels but still looking forward to this. Lets see why Rachel Amber was such hot shìt!

Zero-Cool

VA for Chloe helped to write her lines in this but she's not actually voicing her in the prequel, hopefully the replacement does a close enough job as it will be weird if she sounds different.

https://twitter.com/ashly_burch/status/874344938627977216

Encrypted Pigeon

I dropped this in the other thread, but its probably more relevant here. It says she will still be assisting with the development of this game.

I'm a little skeptical about this, especially when they say they don't want this story to

canonize in anyway the ending of the first one, but I cant see how that would work by allowing you get to know Chloe's character more.

Anyway, I will still be looking forward to playing this and what they come up with.

SeantheMan

Zero, what's with making a thread for every single E3 game ? :P

Zero-Cool

SeantheMan wrote: »

Zero, what's with making a thread for every single E3 game ? :P

Every game should have it's own thread and anyway I only make threads for the good ones

Sudden Valley

I hate when they replace the original voice actors. Strange they couldn't bring both main VAs back. I'm more interested in what the plot will be for Life is Strange 2.

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JkZTxDFRZw

Zero-Cool

Avoiding any more videos of this, 3 episodes is short enough. Just played a minute to check her voice and actually sounds like she will do a good job.

Canis Lupus

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Every interactive walking simulator should have it's own thread and anyway I only make threads for the good ones

Fixed :P

Zero-Cool

This started downloading for me now if anyone else has it preordered.

Edit: sorry, preload is live on ps4.

Encrypted Pigeon

No pre-load for Steam it seems. Not sure what I'm expecting from this or why its being made in the first place other than $$$, its not even by the original development studio. But I bought into the first one so much, I need to least see where it goes, so they have my money already

Zero-Cool

Only played the first not but it's really good so far. Glad I got the deluxe edition for the extra bonus alone but the dynamic theme is really good, has taken the place of my custom Yakuza one. The theme music is really good, actually all the music so far has been excellent, fits Chloe perfectly. Speaking of, taken an instant liking to her as opposed to LiS. Different voice actor isn't all that different and actually works , sounds younger, more naive\innocent. Looking forward to getting the 1st ep done.

EoinMcLovin

Finished the first episode there, great ending. Love the back talk feature

Encrypted Pigeon

There will be SPOILERS!!

Ill be honest, I was skeptical about the offerings of this knowing that the rewind powers and mystery which were the key winning formula of the first game weren't really going to feature in this.

I really was getting worried at the start of the game when it felt like it was trying too hard to be like the original (obviously this is a prequel), an example being when it had "Firewalk" as the band playing, it felt like they were trying hard to force "Twin peaks" references, another example I picked up on was the Bonny and Clyde number plate. The first LiS game, the developers subtly mentioned references that inspired them, but never really forced them on the player, it was well done.

OK, so enough with the negative, what really won me over was the dialogue. It was really witty in places and had me laughing at times. It didn't suffer as bad in terms of cringe like the first. I really loved that they included that table top d&d game, during the start of the school session, at first I wasn't going to engage in it, but glad I did.

Overall, it was done well, Chloe's character was done really well in my opinion and has won me over to liking her, I didn't even care it was a different voice actor playing the part in the end. Some of the scenes with her in the junk yard were really heart wrenching.

I really didn't want to like this, more so because of the non involvement of the original dev team DontNod and feeling like this was a bit of a cash in by the publishers, but I have to say Deck nine did a decent job and I'm really interested now in what is to follow, however long we have to wait now.

Zero-Cool

I read that Don't Nod were approached by Deck Nine with a prequel story and DN were so impressed, they gave their blessing for the game to be made, not that the publisher actively seeked it out.

I really liked that episode.

In LiS, I ended up on the friendship relationship with Chloe, the love bit didn't suit Max I felt and thought I was playing it 'wrong' reading about other playthrough's online but in this, I have completely come around to Chloe and feel like the love angle with Rachael feels much more on the button. Great writing and the intro to Hella

The D&D was brilliant, really enjoyed that. Happy out with my decisions but looks like stealing that money is gonna come back to haunt me see as how the ep ended with since guy banging on the door. Wonder how it ended if you didn't take the money?

The car scene in the junkyard, jaysus... Fair play deck nine.

I missed 3 graffiti bits so it's back to collector mode with me!

Roll on ep 2!

lawlolawl

Played the first episode this evening. I'm actually a bit bit taken aback with how good it was.

I fully expected the new studio to make an utter hames of it but they absolutely captured what was good about the original and ran with it.

Very impressed and i'm only hanging to play the next episode The games industry in general needs more heartfelt and emotional stuff like this that represents an overlooked section of our society.

I'm a guy in his 30s and i'm finding it really touching to experience the depiction of the beginnings of a relationship between two young women in this game. It's not something i've ever really encountered before in popular media before because the L in LGBTQ tends to get brushed over and it makes a change from the standard 4 or 5 video-game storylines and it's actually making me feel emotions which just doesn't happen with 99.9% of the stuff i play.

Zero-Cool

I wonder how the

lady in white plays into it all. Shifting Rachael's da and then smiling as the world burned.

Also, the D&D was brilliant, never played that before, I was gonna skip it but glad I didn't and played in full character.

https://twitter.com/DeckNine_Chris/status/903662852111613954

lawlolawl

Zero-Cool wrote: »

I wonder how the

lady in white plays into it all. Shifting Rachael's da and then smiling as the world burned.

Also, the D&D was brilliant, never played that before, I was gonna skip it but glad I didn't and played in full character.

https://twitter.com/DeckNine_Chris/status/903662852111613954

That bit was excellent and i was delighted when it actually turned out to be pretty lengthy, fleshed out and fun.

I love how the game takes its time. The bits where nothing happens until you press O to move on are really cool and i let all of them run for a few minutes because i really appreciated that they simply existed in the first place. More games need periods of thoughtful nothingness.

As an aside, the soundtrack is up on Spotify for anyone who is interested.

J. Marston

Anyone know if the deluxe edition is a limited time thing?

Zero-Cool

Can't see anything about it having an expiry date.

I read a theory about Rachael... (Don't read if you Don't want to hear about Life is Strange spoilers)

...Being the storm. The Shakespeare play The Tempest is about a sorcerer who controls wind to bring about a storm. Rachael plays the sorcerer in the play. Also, Caliban who is played by Nathan is described as someone who is easily manipulated by others and texts to his surroundings without thinking like an animal would.

Would make sense that she would come back as a storm to destroy the Arcadia Bay.

Zero-Cool

In 15 mins, the devs will be doing a playthrough of just the tabletop game bit (a completely optional part of the demo in case anyone is worried about spoilers) where they will use community involvement to see how the scene plays out of anyone's interested.

https://twitter.com/LifeIsStrange/status/905815442916220928

https://twitter.com/LifeIsStrange/status/905820816541089792

Zero-Cool

https://twitter.com/LifeIsStrange/status/918151728855359488

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypC1kArNEvs

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1qPsJSfj8Y

Zero-Cool

Episode 2 release date October 19th, nice!!

Zero-Cool

My internet is still down so waiting to get the new episode. In the mean time, Life is Strange and South Park showing each other some love.

https://twitter.com/LifeIsStrange/status/921013140686548992

https://twitter.com/LifeIsStrange/status/921013495516270592

Encrypted Pigeon

Spoilers (EP2 and both seasons), ramblings and stuff ahead...


Well that was a great episode

.... of Dawson's Creek, if that is what they were going for. Don't get me wrong, it was an enjoyable and interesting episode with a high production quality, but I am really lost trying to figure out what they are trying to achieve here? Its almost pure fan fiction now.

The first season despite its flaws did a great job of flipping your expectations on its head. One minute its a teen drama, next its a supernatural - taboo subject dealing - mystery - psycho drama head f**k, but I see none of that here (yet?).

I can understand that they are constrained to what we know in S1, but I really wish they played the supernatural theme more, there was so much opportunity especially around Rachael's character. With 2/3 done, I really am wondering what to expect now out of ep3, more drama? Also, so much name dropping on the number plates again, please stop!

Zero-Cool

Really enjoyed episode 2....

Not only enjoying BtS but it's making me appreciate LiS even more. I got the 'Hug' ending in LiS and thought it was the bad one because I didn't get the 'kiss' ending but BtS is playing out, for me anyway, that Rachel is the love interest and Max was always just the best friend and it fits much better for me.

Makes me want to play LiS again after this to properly appreciate Chloe and her losses.

I still think the supernatural effect will kick in. Must have something to do with Sera, guessing she has some kind of power that she passes/passed on to Rachel. That then some how transfers to Max in LiS. I dunno, I think the supernatural side of things will kick in a bit in the finale.

Yeah, it's full of fanfare alright but I think they're doing a really good job with the limited things they can do with the story. I played LiS thinking Chloe was just a brat and didn't have a lot of sympathy for her and now I think Max is the gowl for ignoring her. The journal entries in BtS are brilliant as well.

I missed Samantha after you see Nathan getting a bollicking off his dad. Only saw at the end you can warn her to stay away from him. I'm guessing she ends on up Nathans list and is a gonner or you can successfully help her escape where she probably trades to a different school before LiS kicks in, my theory anyway.

Zero-Cool

The original voice actors for Chloe and Max are back for the bonus 4th episode Farewell releasing early 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5XAWyrOk9E

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ss-wzyHlE

Episode 3 drops on December 20th, full trailer tomorrow