Life is Strange: Double Exposure or "A thread about queer women not by Winter"

[CharlesPhipps]

Sorry Winter, but I feel that joke had to be said.

No shade on you.



LIFE IS STRANGE: DOUBLE EXPOSURE is coming out soon and it was interesting to bring up the fact that it brings up Max Caulfield in a new and fascinating adventure. She has new powers, is about a decade older, and has either broken up with Chloe or moved on from the death of her friend. This is something that has caused no end of consternation because the Pricefield contingent of Life is Strange is more dedicated than the Reylo one.

Honestly, I'm torn about this because I'm a dedicated Life is Strange fan but everything made after the original and BEFORE THE STORM just doesn't have the kind of juice they did. Max and Chloe ARE the franchie as I'm concerned. The new characters just don't have the same level of appeal and only Arcadia Bay has been a location I enjoyed. Hell, I'm still hoping for another Before the Storm game.

However, the overwriting of the endings for the game is something that really feels like it renders our choices void. I chose the "Bay" ending because giving Chloe a few more days of life, resolving the death of Amber, and NOT killing her mother is something that I feel works in itself. However, "Bae" is something that meant a lot for a lot of player characters as well. I'm also a Warren fan and hate that he's utterly ignored in the game as even a choice. I would have liked Kate to be referenced too.

Max's powers aren't the same either as she's lost her time travel powers and is now possessed of completely different ones because, well, that's the story. It seems like they decided to basically insert Max into a story written for someone else due to popularity power. Which, fair, I mentioned it's why I'm buying this game. True Colors was....fine but I never finished it or LIS2 because the characters weren't capable of touching me like Max/Chloe and their supporting cast.

But could they have done it better? I don't know.

[Winter]

I don't talk about Queer Women THAT often, I mean I talked about Van Helsing and that doesn't have any queer women in it... Okay yes it does but there's no queer coded women in the film proper... Okay that's wrong too in fact that removed a few scenes that were to gay even for that movie. Okay Van Helsing is a bad example.

All jokes aside, no offense taken and on the whole I've always had very mixed feelings about Life is Strange. I've only played one game in the series that being Before the Storm but I have watched the other games and it's an interesting series to talk about. Chloe is actually how I would love to look as a girl (minus the blue hair) don't ask me why I guess it's because has has a lot of physical traits that we both share (both strawberry blonds, green/blue eyes, very pale and we're even close in height).

But the story of the series... it's feels like a teen drama in both good ways and bad ways. Good in that it gives the series a unique charm bad because sometimes it reaches into melodrama which can get a bit frustrating at times.

I think my favorite games in the series are Before the Storm and True Colors, they just feel like they have the most completed stories and the most interesting lead characters. Chloe works very well in the first game Alex is also pretty interesting. Also both games have Steph and she's easily the best character in the series with the best romance I will hear no argument to this.

The first game, I feel it's to drawn out in a lot of places the endings are interesting but flawed, the plot twist is good but the villain doesn't get enough focus and the characters are interesting but, for me, can get a little frustrating to deal with.

Life is Strange 2... the game killed a puppy which loses it like 4 points. I didn't much care for any of the characters, I feel it drifted to far away from what the rest of the series is trying to be (kids with supernatural powers in an otherwise regular world solving mysteries) and it feels like it drags in a lot of places.

I've enjoyed the comics but nothing really sticks out to me and seeing how the series just drops the Chloe x Max romance feels like wasted potential. Like it would have been interesting to explore the fallout between these two and a different story path was about Max trying to save this relationship while Chloe has understandable reasons to end it.

But instead the game went for the "Breakup between seasons" angle which I always hate. I hated it in The Force Awakens, I hated it in Young Justice and I hate it here. The only time I felt it kinda worked is in the Mass Effect Trilogy and even then it's kind of frustrating.

Honestly, this series seems to have a Star Trek Curse going on, even numbers are good but the odd numbers are a lot more fun, at least for me.

[CharlesPhipps]

Yes, Van Helsing is definitely not a place to talk about non-queer elements.

Anna was lovers with Marishka, convince me otherwise.



My opinion on Max and Chloe is they're some of the best designs for women in gaming because they really do have such incredibly expressive and memorable character designs. You can tell a massive amount about their personalities just by looking at both as well as their style of dress.

They fit nicely into the stylized but "realistic enough" that you could probably release Life is Strange 20 years from now with the same graphics and it would be fine. I actually feel like the new version of Max is a serious downgrade as it's much more Uncanny Valley.

Life is Strange 2 didn't work for me because it really attempted to touch upon American politics but unfortunately didn't say anything that was remotely relevant to it. Police violence, MAGA, and immigration are issues that don't really have a "both sides" and you shouldn't need to have a cop killed by telekinesis to trigger them. The fact they're fleeing to Mexico from Seattle versus Canada is also, uh, well, ridiculous since they don't have any relatives.

Honestly, I think possibly my biggest issue with True Colors is that I kind of wish Steph had been the protagonist rather than the one we got. She's about the only character I think who stands up to the original LIS cast.

I don't necessarily think Max and Chloe should have broken up but I feel like if you wanted to write this game, you should have included her in it and done them as a duo. Either that or had Chloe off doing whatever ("I'm working a summer job") so the choices of the player characters matter.

YMMV.

[Winter]

Anna was lovers with Marishka, convince me otherwise.

Ahem, Aleera is the one who has the gay tension with Anna. Marishka is the first of the brides to die and never interacts with Anna. Also seems to be rather one sided though the two could have been lovers before Aleera was turned but I see no real evidence of that. Can totally see Anna being bi though.

[CharlesPhipps]

Ahem, Aleera is the one who has the gay tension with Anna. Marishka is the first of the brides to die and never interacts with Anna. Also seems to be rather one sided though the two could have been lovers before Aleera was turned but I see no real evidence of that. Can totally see Anna being bi though.

Eh, Mandela Effect. The redhead made the most impression one me of the brides.

[Winter]

Ahem, Aleera is the one who has the gay tension with Anna. Marishka is the first of the brides to die and never interacts with Anna. Also seems to be rather one sided though the two could have been lovers before Aleera was turned but I see no real evidence of that. Can totally see Anna being bi though.

Eh, Mandela Effect. The redhead made the most impression one me of the brides.

Personally Verona is my favorite, I've always had thing for tall women with ivory skin and black hair. Also Aleera is the red head, Marishka is blond.

[CharlesPhipps]

Okay, now you're just showing off.

*shoots crossbow stake*

[Winter]

Okay, now you're just showing off.

*shoots crossbow stake*

Those are bolts the stakes are used in an explosion. Don't question my infalabo knowledge of this film I'M A SUPER FAN OF IT!!!