Life Is Strange: Reunion. Post-reveal thoughts
I just finished watching the reveal stream and, obviously, have things to say.
Disclaimer: I've never played DE myself and have never finished the playthroughs = I know only the basics that were surfing online
• I've already seen people talking about the inferno spoilers and I agree that, at this point, it literally feels like nothing new. And I literally don't understand how these stakes are supposed to feel any higher than the storm that literally destroyed a whole town. Obviously, it's a big deal and it probably will be explained in the game how it oh so impossible to prevent or why it cannot be prevented, but I'm so not hooked on this, I won't even say anything else on this.
• Chloe Price, our Lord and Savior, is indeed back. It's good to see her, despite her return literally destroying the whole Pricefield break up bait of the last game. Personally, to me she looks very good, my only complaint is quite biased, but I wish we saw her with long hair. But I believe this graphic suits her. As for her character, so far I haven't seen anything icky or weird, so I guess for now I have nothing to call the devs on about her.
• Except the fact that they're still milking the same bathroom cut-scene, but I suppose it is a given, considering it is a very crucial plot point.
• And I'm very curious to see future mentions of their break up if there will be any in this new merged timeline. But all the "We will face it together", " I'm not leaving now" ... I don't know, man. I don't know what I expected, but for some reason it just rubs me the wrong way. I feel that Chloe coming back for Max makes sense, however, in a way I really want to see Chloe just being done with everything in an aggressive, less sappy (???) way. I don't know how to explain it any better, I just hope someone gets what I mean.
• I'm excited to play as both Max and Chloe, if I ever get a chance to, since I still don't have the suitable hardware for that. But it's cool to see them bringing the old mechanics back even if it's just playing on our nostalgia. If it works, I don't see a reason not to use it.
• As my notes read: ""how do you move on after losing someone who's basically your soulmate" so what about the new love interests." Obviously, soulmate can be platonic, but come on. Just. Come on.
• The new merged timeline looks very interesting and I'm curious to see how it plays out besides Pricefield's war flashbacks and yet I still think that it will fuck up more than it should. Like the first game worked, because it was finished with an implication that the powers won't be ever used again and so no one had to deal with any plotholes, you make a choice and face consequences. Here, I just feel like too many things will just create weird plot holes, but DE can be the scapegoat for that.
• Romancing Chloe is a possibility. SO WHAT ABOUT THE PREVIOUS LOVE INTERESTS. I really didn't appreciate them just not touching on that. Though, maybe I'm misunderstanding and Max never actually got with Amanda/Vinh, you're free to correct me.
• Similarly, what about Safi and Diamond? Does Safi still matter or...? Because we literally barely saw her in this reveal, what significance does she still have? And isn't Diamond supposed to have powers? I'm really behind on DE shenanigans, but I expected to see at least something about these two.
• So far, I'm guessing that the Avengers plot isn't happening (yet?). Which, I guess, could be a good thing, but I wouldn't be so sure about that for now.
• From what I've seen in the reveal, I don't think that any of the characters from other games will make an appearance, yet I'm hoping to see them being mentioned. I'm sure we can count on Victoria and probably even Steph mention, definitely a couple more characters from Arcadia Bay, but definitely nothing more. God forbid LIS2 gets a shout out.
• Also I would like to mention that the animation looks weird and absolutely lifeless. Like yeah the surroundings are fire, but what's with their facial expressions? Did they all get botox? I'm not sure if they're still doing the motion capture, but I really don't like the facial expressions so far.
• Finally, I would just like to say that Reunion does intrigue me, however, I really hate how grand they are making the plot or trying to make it seem grand. It's so different from the first game, that they're so desperately milking. But the first game worked because the final decision was big and powerful, yet the whole game felt very intimate in a way of a small town mystery, focusing on Rachel Amber and her disappearance, now we're just rolling which natural disaster we're facing today. I don't want to be a hater, because I'm actually very excited for this game, more than I was excited for Double Exposure. And, I would like to clarify, that yes, it is because they're bringing Chloe and Pricefield dynamic back, as well as the old mechanics, but oh well, the last set of characters and mechanics just really didn't click for me, the only reason I was interested in DE is older Max, but who can blame me?
I truly don't think that they're incapable of making new lovable characters or new engaging storylines without dragging Pricefield in it. For all it matters, my personal favorite is True Colors which was absolutely different from anything before and after it. But I'm glad to see the girls again and somehow I'm actually hopeful even if it's just a cash grab and a product of greedy developers or whatever.
Do what you will with this post, you can agree, disagree or completely shit on my opinion, but at least the fandom is still alive.