Life is Strange Episode 2

Episode 2 is going up today. Marathoned the game again last night once I had access. It actually came at a really good time because I doubt I could have slept last night had I not taken the two and a half hours it took to play it. Went to sleep all right after that despite how...intense it got at the end.

So after having a little more of a taste of the game, what do I think? Well I'm interested enough to play and LP Episode 3. It didn't lose the momentum it had from the first game. The story is actually engaging. I want to keep playing and see what happens, and the story isn't afraid to delve into some dark stuff. The ending of this episode was proof of that (and I won't ruin it, but let's just say you can "fail" the climax of this little installment). The dialogue is....well strange. Heh. At some points, you seem to be having a real conversation with a real person...aaaand then you fall into cliches and lines that I don't believe any real person would say given the situation. In other words, sometimes the characters act like they would in real life, and then sometimes the characters act like ideas or stereotypes of people in real life. Like the only experience the writers had with teenagers is from bad high school dramas.

Graphics and gameplay is on par with episode 1. I forgot how one of the game mechanics worked, and I mention it, but I never actually had to use it. Music was lovely and mellow and sets the tone nicely. The game is paced well (an issue I see with a lot of games...and movies, is just poor freaking pacing). There are actually few games I would say are paced perfectly, but this is one of them. Even one of my favourite games, Transistor, had a few pacing issues. There's enough balance between actions and dialogue to allow for character development to happen.

My favourite part, although completely expected, is the attempts at making all characters sympathetic (but not necessarily likable). Even some of the nastiest characters at the school seem to have reasons for being the way they are and doing what they do. Doesn't make them good people, but you at least get everyone's backstory and understand where they're coming from...even if you really don't give a shit and would love to see them burn anyway. Also really interesting to see some actual research going into victim response and recovery implemented in the game, especially when I've been doing a lot of research in the area and training myself.

At any rate, I still recommend playing it, or even watching it (should find someone more interesting than me though).

That janitor though. Creepy as hell, but I can't help but think he's the only one who actually knows wtf is going on in the town...in terms of mystical bru-ha-hah anyway.