Life is Strange - True Colors is... Bad? (Review)

It's probably the best Life is Strange game... But still not great.
It'll probably get TONS of awards.
Edited by: Kaiser Trigger / kaisertrigger
0:00 - The Start
0:19 - The Opening
0:29 - Why am I doing this?
1:22 - The Best Life is Strange?
3:28 - What I didn't like
7:36 - WAIT WHAT!? (The inconsistent powers)
9:58 - The 'TWIST' Ending
15:49 - The Relationship Push
17:07 - An Excuse to put Deltarune in the tags
18:38 - End Credits
Wanna contact or support me?
Patreon: / mangakamen
Twitter: / manga_kamen
Deviantart: flairnightz.deviantart.com/
Discord: / discord
G-Mail: [e-mail]
#LifeisStrange #truecolors #Deltarune

[@nekoluxuria7721]

Man her power set was weird. She could see emotions, read minds, steal emotions, implant emotions, possibly be able to see dead people and/or futuresight to some extent.

[@nikolatheme5572]

She coudlent see dead people lol... You clealry missed whole point of her seeing gabe. It whasnt her brother it was her subconceous and way she deals with ptsd. Also her powers cha hung and developing them further is same thing that happend in first two games lol. Max also develops her powers as well, however I don't see you talking about that.

[@nekoluxuria7721]

@@nikolatheme5572 because least max kept is to one single power set, being able to go back in time. Paradoxes be forgotten. Her power up was traveling further back with a theter. Alex here developed emotion sensing at the beginning, but later became able to read minds, control emotions directly, and began being able to do whatever the story wants. How do you go from seeing emotions to literally be able to manipulate someones entire conscience. She went from being able to read minds at the beginning to soul manipulation. By like chapter 4. And was able to pull off invocation in the last chapter by seinsing emotions within objects from DEAD PEOPLE. The possibly be able to see dead people isnt just the ending scene, its alsl due to chapter 5 shennanigans, also possibly have superhuman durability cause why not.

[@nikolatheme5572]

@@nekoluxuria7721 Alex isn't able to read minds, she is able to read what is causing certain emotions as well see auras of emotions. She is able to feel them as they are her own and we know that she can emotionally connect with people. Just read diary about jed near the end, she felt their emotions as one. Which means she connects to their emotions which also she literally says the first time she does it. Connection can go both ways, it was always affecting her but she learned how to affect others using that connection. That's how she was able to take away emotions. Also time powers shouldent have anything to do with pictures and using them to travel either. However that's how max's powers developed. I think we shouldent even think that much about the powers as that's whole the point of life is strange. If it was something else they would spend all 3 games explaining where powers come from. Here nobody knows where they come from, how long they will last or anything about them. The life is strange and unpredictable. Game does great job at making plot but powers only being there to move forward the plot. Powers aren't the part of the plot itself.

[@fernandocoelho9864]

She was Jasper from twithlight

[@myrtistaylor5759]

Sounds like we don't actually know what her power is cause if it's anything like X-men then they evolve....for all we know her power fully developed could be like professor X.

[@theycallmecaaamm]

I agree, Alex’s powers were soo inconsistent. If you choose to tell Gabe about her power she says she can’t prove it because it has to be had a strong emotion.. but when she decided to tell steph she can just do it.

[@AE_Sunset-Nutrix_AE]

Yes, because Steph's emotion was strong enough in the scene. I would say that Alex saw a red aura of anger around Steph in that moment, only we weren't shown that because it was a cutscene, and we weren't seeing the world through her eyes there like we do in the segments where we play her. Similarly, in Chapter 2, when Alex tells Ryan to think of something sad, angry, or scary, we didn't see the aura around him. But Alex said both times what they were feeling. In Chapter 1, it made sense to show us the auras during the cutscenes as well, since this is where Alex's power is introduced. I hope I have formulated it understandably.

[@e3vL1]

The inconsistency is due to character's thought process at the time. it's not a "plot hole". This is the problem with reviewers/commentators/click baiters thinking everything (not just this game, but other games/films) must be a perfect scenario every time due to audience perspective and foresight. If everything is perfect like those want it to be, i'd be a boring generic plot/story, and she'll be a mary sue type character

[@mattstansbeary3068]

Follow Life is Strange 1 and you see where the issue really Lies. Dontnod try and failed to Change stuff with Life is Strange 2 but Deck Nine stays with Life is Strange 1 the Character & Place may change but over all yes It's back to Life is Strange 1 way of doing things.

[@theycallmecaaamm]

@@bobr9207 I completely agree with you Lis 2 definitely the best with choices having outcomes & a better story!

[@thevigilmain6628]

She learns how to handle the power overtime. At first she doesn't know how to make any actual use of it

[@RonanStreamkiller]

"What I didn't like is that it was too short." I see this as an absolute win.

[@RonanStreamkiller]

@@Mangakamen $60 for a game shorter than Before the Storm? What a ripoff

[@Sckarton]

@@Mangakamen this is your mistake. should've watched it on youtube like everyone else because it's barely interactive.

[@novelty_thief]

@@Mangakamen Should have been 20$

[@crowthewicked8344]

@@Mangakamen Net Gain, I guess

[@themeddite2935]

It was too long for me. (Me one of the Game Testers who played this for over a year)

[@rcdakara]

My issue with taking Charlotte’s anger vs taking Pike’s fear isn’t that one has a bad outcome and the other has a good outcome respectively. My problem is that Charlotte becomes an empty shell, which pushes the idea that people need to be able to feel anger (emotions in general) because it’s a stage of grief and development. However, you take Pike’s fear, and he seems unaffected besides his fear being gone. Did Alex somehow learn how to take only what she needed to without leaving the person compromised? I also don’t like that the game heavily implies that Charlotte may commit suicide if you don’t take her anger. “Gabe’s dead… and I wish I were too.” “This anger could literally kill her.” Well, when you put it that way, my knee-jerk reaction would absolutely be to take her anger away. If those lines were left out though, I feel like I would reason to myself, “well, she’s having a tough time right now, but taking her emotion away feels unethical. Anger is a stage of grief, and I think she can work through it.” It just felt to me like the writer of that scene had to imply extremes in order to heavily influence that choice when I’d imagine that the decision would have still been pretty split if they didn’t.

[@brooklynnbien-aime3859]

I Absolutely agree, and implying that Charlotte might commit suicide with her being so angry that is one of her main reasons people chose to take her anger. She’s just going through the grieving process so of course she’s gonna feel that way.

[@mattstansbeary3068]

The issue is it implies take Her Emotion but you can just walk out and turn to her and say Wish I could help which implies that Charlotte need to work on this herself. Because Charlotte replies and says Me too. Even Steph replies if you can't help her who can. But Later on you see Charlotte working it out herself and Helping you at the end.

[@deft0nesgrl_]

@@brooklynnbien-aime3859 this was the same with me when I confronted mac it felt kinda implied that he would do something irrational if I didn’t calm him down

[@Rikrobat]

The father being added in was a stupid reveal. I honestly think he was just put there so Alex could find the pendant and do her “memory learning through objects” thing. Maybe if that fact had been introduced sooner-through Gabe or someone else who knew Gabe’s interest in the town-then it might not have felt so contrived in the 11th hour.

[@prodigymotion7329]

Actually he was reveal in episode 2 that he was there. The reason why Gabe was in the town was to search for his father. If you look around her apartment, Alex would find a note from Gabe's list of to-do and on there is "forgive dad" and another paper "Heard that he went to Haven Spring" so Gabe went to Colorado to find his father but ended up making a life for himself.

[@Rikrobat]

@@prodigymotion7329 - I’m referring more to the fact that he was “killed by Jed” part. And I would have preferred more connection with Gabe when he was alive, rather than shoehorning dead-relative therapy into the last chapter.

[@Rikrobat]

@Drills - Why?

[@prodigymotion7329]

@@Rikrobat understandable. Technically he wasn't killed by Jed as Jed did in fact wanted to save them but it was too risky for the non- trapped miners but yeah I feel like the game was longer, the developers would had done better bc it did felt rushed.

[@Rikrobat]

@@prodigymotion7329 - There is a reason I had quotemarks around that point. XD;; As Kamen points out, the game tries to play up that Jed murdered the father, but he really didn't. Like, sure, I see him feeling guilty for being overzealous and causing the cave-in in the first place, and he works to hide his shame. But narratively framing him as a killer for that incident is a big stretch.

[@epkongroo]

I'm someone who really enjoyed my playthrough of this game, but I still have to admit the plot was a very underwhelming towards the end. In chapter 3 where it was revealed that the mountains were being blown up to "hide" something I definitely thought it could be something supernatural, which had me really hyped up to find out exactly what it was. I even had hope still in chapter 5 when Alex is wandering through the mines I was thinking "ooo what are were gonna find down here?" only to be let down when it's revealed it was just be your typical "bad company is bad" trope. I wish they could have taken the time to think outside the box more. I mean, the first game was about the main character saving a town from a giant magical tornado, it wouldn't have been out of the realm of possibly for something on that scale to happen in this game. They could have even afforded to make Typhon seem more threatening throughout the game. Hint to the player that they're actions are really being monitored (instead of just throwing it in the second to last chapter), have Mac go missing after he tells you the truth about what happened, have businesses that opposed Typhon get shut down to make you wonder why Jed's is still around. It could have been so much more. I liked what I saw, and I had fun, but there was so much potential left to be had.

[@howdytherepardner318]

Yeah I really enjoyed the game, but I think honestly I'd rather have them be like boom Rhea is an alien or another supernatural child. I played the game 2½ times for some of my friends. All 3 times I played the 5th episode I just rushed through it. Also, Thank You by Dido was a VERY poor choice of song to play while exploring Alex's past with domestic violence and poverty.

[@teehee3657]

agreed 100%, I loved the game but they truly dropped the ball with the mystery.

[@BladeTheGabite]

I was really foolish enough to think that we were going to somehow get some lore about all these damn supernatural powers come from in the first place. That would've been a better idea. Its stupid, but its interesting.

[@coleslaw5713]

R u dumb ? Life is strange has never been a fucking land filled with supernatural objects or spirits roaming around or some relics so idk WTF u expected lmao . The mcs have powers to deal with the problems they're faced with and #1 and #3 are phenomenal. If u don't like the formula don't touch the game

[@suki9871]

Same, I really enjoyed the quiet peaceful life aspect of the game. I also really related to it, being someone who feels strongly like Alex. I would go as far to say that it really changed my perspective about some things, or at least made me realize I had an opinion about them. But the games story really fell flat in way that very much disappointed me. I literally rolled my eyes when I realize the locket was there underground, meaning her father had died there. It was somewhat hinted towards in one of the first chapters, when you can look at a memory of a cracked wall hinting that Gabe had been looking for their dad when he came to Haven Springs, but that's just about it. It was unenthused, underwhelming, and annoying.

[@Bartfan16]

I pretty much agree with you on all of your criticisms, especially with the whole Alex backstory in chapter 5. As I was playing that chapter, I kept saying "why wasn't this sprinkled in the previous chapters instead of being crammed in the final chapter?"

[@kominion]

Exactly. By the time they got around to exploring her back story, I no longer cared to know about it. It rips you out of the main conflict, and I found myself rolling my eyes through the whole dream sequence because at that point I just wanted it to end so I could get back to the main story. That was the worst narrative decision they could’ve made.

[@LilyDelane]

Abt Gabe's death being in the trailer: I didn't watch the trailer because I wanted to go into the game fully blind, and Gabe's death shocked me so much ?? I definitely feel like that one issue really could've been avoided for a lot of people simply by just not putting it in the trailer.

[@lachdownproductionsyt]

Moving forward I'm going to do the same. But we shouldn't have to avoid the developer's OFFICIAL TRAILER at risk of spoilers...

[@themeddite2935]

Honestly. Gabe and Jeb's characters were the best in the game.

[@damyanmyashkov206]

I didnt get spoiled and his death was so dumb. Like I litterally didnt care about him at all and the reason he died is because we were trying to get the kid who was lost. Things didnt escalate little by little. Gabe's death felt pointless and his character was already so boring

[@Shyress]

@@themeddite2935 Im still salty they pulled the whole „Oooh the good character is bad.“ thing with Jed. Cause I liked him. And I hate that. Plus, like said in this video, he wasnt really bad bad? The whole stuff he did to Alex was pointless and only done cause they needed a bad guy

[@rileybryantlam]

You could argue that none of the Life Is Strange entries have replay value, but this one in particular, feels like the WORST when it comes to that imo. I was already over the game when I would try to go back and fix a choice that I made, as it felt like it took eons just to get back to a particular scene due to the lack of checkpoints. Also with us only being able to explore one empty little street in the whole town for the whole game, not even getting to see the Typhon facility or visit other buildings, it really made me regret spending as much as I did for this game. I don't ever see myself coming back to this compared to the other entries, despite each of their flaws. This one had its moments and featured charming elements, but it just felt so dry and empty by the time it was over. Releasing it all at once also didn't allow for these characters to truly stick with you as time went on like with the others. Spending $80 for the Ultimate Edition as I did was a mistake. I mean good thing I'll get to replay the first one with better graphics here in a few months I guess.

[@Toriyamaus]

That thumbnail, with the Eneru face, is truly a sight to behold. It's absolutely fantastic.

[@bananasinfrench]

It really is beautiful

[@pzb1017]

@@Mangakamen why Spamton in the Nailthumb?

[@liamstark5982]

It looks like something out of One Piece lol

[@lohitsai12]

plz don't call him eneru. Feels like u watched one piece's dub🤮

[@Toriyamaus]

@@lohitsai12 That would presumably be because I was reading it up until I tried to get my friend into the dub and ended up getting myself into it instead, watched that up until the dub ran out at around episode 560 and started the sub and only realized how much better the voice acting was when people wouldn't stop talking about how much they enjoyed Law's voice and I decided to actually pay attention.

[@HelloChief117]

It's just a bit messed up when the most memorable part (at least for me) of the story that I got by watching MangaKamen's playthrough was when Gabe caught a rock to the face and fell off a cliff, who's death was spoiled by the trailer. The rest of the game was the best sleeping pill I've ever had, though.

[@Rikrobat]

Not sure if you watched Uricksaladbar play the game, but during that moment, Urick pointed out that Gabe died in the same way as Goofy in KHII-boulder to the face. It eliminates so much of the emotional impact. There were different ways to have him die because of the explosion-ground cracks apart and he falls; debris slides down the side of the cliff and sweeps him over the edge; a large tree crashes down and snags the rope, dragging both Alex and Gabe to the edge, and Ryan can only save Alex.

[@Rikrobat]

I had a lot of hope for this installment, but I was quite disappointed by the end. I like the idea of an empath character, someone affected by emotions and seeing how that would influence their story. I was hyped when Alex was overwhelmed by Mac’s rage because that seemed like an interesting struggle for Alex to overcome. But it just vanished after chapter 1. Her powers read more like telepathy / Elsa reading memories in water from Frozen 2. It’s as if the writers didn’t know how to get exposition across with an empath, so they used that as a cheap conduit for a telepath. While I can understand wanting Alex to have telepathic abilities to have her learn things others are unwilling to share, I don’t like that she was marketed as an empath. Telepathy isn’t why I came here. I also agree that the writing needs a lot of work. There are decent enough ideas in here, but the execution is so poor. Why was so much of Alex’s backstory and bonding with Gabe done after Gabe died? Chloe having therapy sessions with her dead dad in BtS is not a model you should emulate in stories. Humans in the real world can’t have therapy one-on-ones with dead relatives. That’s part of the reason we can carry regret and loss, because we can’t have these moments again. Having sparse moments in fiction can be good for impact and feels, but when the characters are having full memory and exposition fests, it breaks immersion. This bonding should have happened earlier in the story, not the 11th hour. As Kamen said, there is a lot of fluff and wasted time in True Colours. Cramming most of the story and plot progression in final episodes has been part of the pattern in these games, but it doesn’t make them good execution-wise. They had five episodes worth of time to explore the story and give it room to breathe. Also, one of the biggest issues I have was how Gabe died. I was watching Uricksaladbar’s stream of the game, and he pointed out that this was how Goofy “died” in KHII, and now that’s all I see. There were less dramatic ways to have Gabe killed in a landslide that didn’t involve a bouncing boulder to the face.

[@assaultrifle9704]

I agree they did a terrible job at marketing the power for this game. It’s way more than just “thE PoWEr oF EmOtioNs” like they lead you to believe. If you look on the wiki Alex actually has four powers just jammed into one and labeled as “empathy” (telepathy, psychometry, emotion absorption, and the actual “empathy” powers where you can see auras of characters based on what they’re feeling). These are all interesting concepts sure, but the game doesn’t really do anything interesting with them. The emotion absorption aspect was EXTREMELY disappointing because not only are there only two (optional) instances of it happening, the consequences for both are inconsistent. I will give the game some credit as Alex is definitely the best protagonist in the series as she feels like her own fully formed person who means well and isn’t a boring blank slate like Max who used her powers to simply get people to like her or Sean who made the most baffling decisions time and time again outside the players control, or just downright awful like Chloe from BtS. The general cast is also pretty likable, with Ryan being a clear standout (who has quite a bit of complexity given the events of the game) but unfortunately the game doesn’t give these characters enough time to develop before it’s over.

[@leoultimaupgraded9914]

Difference is when I saw Goofy die, I cried because I was actually invested in the character. Gabe’s death looks like it came from a YTP

[@Rikrobat]

@@leoultimaupgraded9914 - Solid point!! I was also reminded of Final Destination 2 and the bouncing logs. You know, the ones they had to computer engineer to bounce in an unnatural way to make the action work. Rather highlighted how unnatural his death seemed to me.

[@Can_O_Crayola]

I agree with the rest of your points, but I kinda do disagree with your feelings on the Alex-Gabe scenario. I don't feel they did it as well as they could've, and I agree that the emulation of Chloe's BtS experience is a bit rough. But I thought it was an interesting dynamic to have Alex finally get her brother back, and then right before she can enjoy that new start and really get to know him personally, he's gone. Having to go through the game and understand who Gabe was through items and the feelings people had towards him was a good idea, it enabled the empathy mechanic in a meaningful way. It most certainly could've been done better, but I think the concept itself was a lot better than the dead dad therapy sessions in BtS. For an empath, she doesn't really seem to *feel* a lot of things herself. In the previous games, we had people get upset. Angry, sad, miserable, every spectrum of emotion. But we don't see Alex really go off unless it's in reaction to someone else's feelings. Life is Strange 1 suffered from the problem that Max was more of an audience to a lot of events and didn't feel integrated at times. LiS2 solved that problem by making Sean extremely invested on a personal level in every event that happens throughout the game, but True Colors just turned around and made Alex a backseat character again. Like despite everything we learn about Alex's childhood and her experiences growing up with the empathy power, I don't get that impression from her. At all. From her files and therapy information, she comes off a lot more like a Chloe-type character. Granted that can be partially explained by her lack of control over her powers and meeting so many fellow delinquents, but I can't help but feel like I'm just playing an older Max with a dash of Chloe flavoring.

[@lachdownproductionsyt]

Major dissapointment, totally agree!

[@GreenTomas2372]

17:03 Psychonauts 2 has fallen through a similar feel like Deltarune; it took 16 years for the sequel to be made, it picks up on the satisfaction and brilliance that the first game had, it's more focused on a coherent story. The game deals with overcoming mental health, personal demons and forgiveness even though you solve mental health problems by beating the crap out of them. The huge difference is that the game is about confronting and fixing people's emotion and your more heavily invested in it rather then make it a power where its inconstant and boring

[@somefishhere]

Is psychonauts 2 good? Is delta rune?

[@GreenTomas2372]

@@somefishhere Psychonauts 2 is brilliant

[@piperbutnotreally]

The thing with her stealing emotions isn't consistent, it actually makes sense. When you take away Pike's fear, it helps him become more confident in his ability to defeat Typhon. But when you take away Charlotte's anger, you're keeping her from going through the grieving process in a healthy way. She doesn't stand up for you and has no emotion because she was unable to get to the point where she can feel anything but anger. She can't feel anything because you didn't let her go through the grieving stage of anger.

[@sb.8560]

I’ll give you my perspective. Emotions such as anger, joy and sadness are natural and normal to feel. Like how Charlotte grieved with anger after Gabe’s death. Those emotions are there for us to learn, grow and accept. However fear isn’t categorised with those emotions. It’s not normal to feel scared to that extent, and in most cases, feeling fear does not help us gain anything. Don’t get me wrong, fear could potentially save you from danger, but fearing for your life under normal conditions isn’t natural… and this is why I think taking Pike’s fear away was the right choice whilst taking charlotte’s anger away wasn’t.

[@xnortheast1106]

The thing with stealing emotions is inconsistent. It actually doesn't make sense.

[@xnortheast1106]

@@sb.8560 Fear is natural too

[@battypayload8536]

Definitely not a 60$ title game, episodes too short and some of them have nothing involved until the end, such as the first one. But about the emotion taking power they tried to make it more of power that manipulated and reads emotion. The reason why Pike stands up at the end when you take his fear is because he has nothing to fear anymore and he was always against Typhon. His fear was bringing him down rather than be necessary for him. The consequence of taking his fear though is that if he was by himself saying “fuck Typhon” then he would of probably got killed. As for Charlotte taking away her anger is destroying the process of grief and now she doesn’t know what to feel making her a emotionless husk. The reason why she doesn’t stand up with you at the end is because she knows something happened when Alex came to talk to her. Also she didn’t fully process Gabes death making her emotionless.

[@Unknown-zn8cg]

It’s literally a walking simulator, there’s no critical thinking or QTE involved.

[@battypayload8536]

@@Unknown-zn8cg Yeah the only thinking involved is in the LARP which doesn't require that much thinking. Game was bad and forgettable, I am just trying to squeeze anything good out of the game to make the 60$ seem less unreasonable.

[@Unknown-zn8cg]

@@battypayload8536 me too, I explored everything, got all the coins and attacks etc but the whole game was a hollow experience.

[@battypayload8536]

@@Unknown-zn8cg ye

[@lachdownproductionsyt]

The shortest LIS game and the most expensive LIS game... not cool.

[@ImaniVersus]

So far for me, “Life is Strange 2” is the best even though the little brother was incredibly annoying

[@ItalianStallion69]

Realistic little brothers 💀

[@ImaniVersus]

@@ItalianStallion69 😂😂 you’re right

[@cameroncoyle2487]

@@ItalianStallion69 that’s why I liked him😭 like he fr acted like a irritating little brother

[@whatwillthydo6470]

Yea but it was such a realistic brother relationship but also I've noticed he wasn't annoying at all depending how I played my play through. Haha

[@novacainhandbag]

Agreed. I generally like this series of games, but I found this game really disappointing. I know LiS 2 gets hated a lot but I still tend to prefer that game mostly for how they handled the endings. I really wish True Colors had a 'bad' ending where no one believes Alex and she goes to prison or something. The final chapter somehow felt both too short and too long and nothing even matters because it all ends pretty much the same no matter what you do.

[@voltwagon2454]

why was LiS 2 hated though?

[@jamesnygma4597]

because it isn't connected with the previous installment

[@taylorlipinski4048]

@@jamesnygma4597 Well doesn't Sean mentioned the tornado that devastated the town in the first game in one of the episodes? Also, Chloe's step-dad shows up too.

[@Can_O_Crayola]

@@taylorlipinski4048 LiS2 suffered from the unfortunate issue that it isn't a direct continuation of Chloe and Max's story. That's just the reality of it, people were always gonna hate a sequel that didn't focus on the pair, even if it did shoehorn in stuff like David and the pass-by of Arcadia.

[@taylorlipinski4048]

@@Can_O_Crayola That's kind of stupid. (No offense) Like, this series is more than Max or Chloe. It's about people with supernatural abilities and the situations they go through. It's a unique concept. I think that's what I like about it the most.

[@assaultrifle9704]

Getting rid of Chloe from the franchise was probably the best decision this series could have made lmao.

[@novelty_thief]

@@Mangakamen NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[@assaultrifle9704]

@@Mangakamen Ah yes, let’s bring back the most unlikable, poorly developed character in the series instead of focusing on the actual protagonist of the main game (Alex) who’s actually likable and had potential to be great if they simply gave her more time in her own game. Deck Nine just can’t help themselves. Oh...and apparently Rachel’s coming back as well? Throw the whole dlc away.

[@Rikrobat]

I mean, “fan service” is one thing Deck Nine doesn’t shy away from. It’s part of the reason BtS’s writing is so weak. It relies on fans liking Chloe and Rachel as a couple rather than actually developing the relationship in a meaningful or prior lore-supported way. So it doesn’t surprise me that those two characters will appear again. Gotta appease the easily pleased.

[@madelinef2486]

@@assaultrifle9704 Right because your opinion on whether a character is unlikable or not should be what deck 9 listens to when choosing to bring back a well loved character across the majority of the original LIS fans. boo hoo, she was a bitch sometimes, get over it. theres about a million other games and shows with characters doing the same shit that are praised including on this show but youll never hear much of anything about them because of this Chloe hate club

[@killmonger5097]

@@assaultrifle9704 go cry in the corner about it then lol

[@ScottE-2]

Been sick for a few days now, getting a bit better, so to see this has lightened my tiresome mood. Thanks, Kamen!

[@amirgarcia547]

From what I understand, even if this game isn’t as flawed as its predecessors, it’s still so boring and unremarkable that it’s not really a marked improvement either. At least with LiS1, you could laugh at its cringey or terrible aspects, and even with its *many* rough edges it still felt like it had plenty of heart. When ironically, for a game that revolves around emotions, True Colors just feels kinda…well, emotionless and hollow. Which’s a large shame, since the initial trailer did seem promising and I dug that they were going with an Asian protagonist. Even with this review though, I’m fully expecting to be nominated for multiple awards at the Game Awards, and even win one or two of ‘em.

[@thetruestar6348]

Yeah I like the first one even with how bad it is it’s so funny shit Laugh and have fun with but this game and watching him stream it is just so fucking boring. Then the writing at the end it just feels like your typical Hollywood movie where the female character is just stupid strong and it defeats the villain by lecturing him about how bad he is.

[@assaultrifle9704]

Eh, even if LiS1 had heart I couldn’t sit through its cringy dialogue and unlikable characters. True Colors in my opinion is the more digestible game in that sense I suppose. It’s boring, but at least it didn’t drive me insane like the previous installments.

[@amirgarcia547]

@@assaultrifle9704 That’s fair tbh. I’d personally just rather have a laughable and cringey but entertaining experience instead of a mediocre and forgettable one, since at least the former’ll stick out in mind more. It’s why I prefer the 2005 Fantastic Four movie over Fant4stic or X-Men Origins Wolverine over The Last Stand, even if none of them are good by any means.

[@digikrypt3566]

jojo part 7 rocks you human of culture

[@one_piece-nut2692]

When Alex found out that her father was in the mine accident, it was so cliche. Don’t get me wrong, there are cliche stories that do excellent jobs on it. But for this, it felt so meh. Like I wasn’t “omg her dad was in the accident, holy shit what’s gonna happen next” I just looked and shrugged it off. Be it I wasn’t that into the story towards the end. I feel as though they added that part just to add in a big line at the end when confronting jed, “ hey my father was in there you prick, and you didn’t save him, so I’ll never forgive you” etc. They should have added Alex’s backstory throughout the story. Like parts when she starts getting emotional since she seems to have emotional problems, apparently. Plus in the background they should have made them the age they were when all that happened. Cause I don’t wanna see a grown woman do all that and speaking like a child. If they had shown the progression on age maybe things would have been different. Btw, even the gamers couldn’t have hid the awkwardness of the dialogue.

[@Unknown-zn8cg]

I was extremely disappointed and ripped off about this game, there is literally NO gameplay at all. Lis1 had time rewind and LIS 2 had Telekinesis, LIS3 has “hold L2 + R2 to read someone’s mind”, it doesn’t even let the player use this power to be a psychopath or a manipulator, we HAVE to help people with their feelings. I don’t think DeckNine know how to make a good video game because BTS is a nice add on to LIS1 but it lacks gameplay unless you count the linear “argument” mechanic. LIS3 wouldn’t even be a good movie, it’s way too much slice of life instead of sci fi drama.

[@primroseprom]

My main issue with the game is the morals and the impact of said morals. The game treats deciding to not tell a woman’s granddaughter about her dementia as letting her deal with it on her own as a good decision because you respect the woman’s wishes to keep it to herself. But then there’s parts of the game where you can hear Eleanor’s thoughts and she literally says, “If I can just keep my dementia to myself, I won’t have to be a burden on Riley.” And that’s just such an unhealthy way of dealing with it? I understand she doesn’t want Riley to lose her chance at going to a good college so she can take care of her, but at the very least I wish there was an option to help Eleanor find a support system so Riley can still go to college and Eleanor can get the help she needs. There’s a completely canonical ending for this game where Alex, the only person outside of Eleanor’s doctor(s) that knows about Eleanor’s dementia, doesn’t tell Riley about it, letting Riley leave town, and then leaves town herself and, in my opinion, that’s just so fucked up. Then there’s the parts where you can take away emotions. You can take away Charlotte’s literal hatred of her son and this is treated as a bad thing because, for some reason, she needs to be hate her son and blame him for Gabe’s death in order to have the courage to stand up to Typhon? Like I’m sorry, but, in my opinion, it would make more sense if she tried to tell Alex “In the end, Ethan disobeyed Gabe and I and went up into the mountains. That’s not Typhon’s fault. That’s Ethan’s,” if you decided not to take away her anger for him. And then when you take away Jason Pike’s fear of Typhon he’s able to stand up to them. And yeah, that makes sense, but why is it only good to take away his fear of a corporation but not a mother’s literal hatred for her son? It would have also been nice to see some other consequences for this. Like maybe taking away his fear would cause him to just announce to people that they’re going after Typhon which ruins any secrecy of their mission. There’s also the fucked up little bit where no one’s really that good of a friend to Alex? Like Alex *just* got into town and is acting as pretty much everyone’s therapist all the while mourning the loss of her brother whom she was only *just reunited with,* and the *one* time Alex lashes out (and she’ll only lash out if you decide to take Charlotte’s anger), Steph and Ryan bail on her. Another issue I have with the game is how it just feels so slow. With the exception of the first episode which was all about getting us to actually give a shit about Gabe and gave us a good introduction to the characters. But the other chapters just feel so slow. Especially chapter 5 which is a lot coming from me because I loved the sequences and especially conversation “Gabe” and Alex have when she’s in the adoption center. It just felt like it rolled on forever and just as Alex escapes the mine, the game ends like 15-20 minutes later.

[@youssefa.2251]

8:53 Because cultivated/healthy directed anger/rage can be great motivation for change/initiative. It may not have been well executed but that's the only moment in the entire game that was really deep with the possible meaning behind a certain emotion. This game had the potential to help players understand emotions on maybe even on a philosophical level and harness them and use it to our advantage if the writing and execution and focus was better.. Her becoming extremely apathetic makes total sense because of the simple fact she was angry, meant that deep down she cared. And the game made it an option to take what could be special away from her. Even if it was painted as "this anger could kill her" which makes it all the more misleading. Other than that, it can be a good lesson about how Empath's should remove themselves from a toxic situation like that. "Leaving her" was effectively the most healthy choice an empath could make despite it being painted as "cold or cruel" in-game. We can only help when needed, but never at our own expense, a trap many empaths fall into. Another unpopular opinion from me is that The Chloe Character would've suited to be in this game much more; especially since we're talking about Alex instead of Max. Empaths are often the victims of Narcisists, gaslighters and generally toxic/demanding people and it would've been awesome if there'd be a buildup to a moment where the toxic person would be called out on their bullshit, in a meta, introspective manner maybe, followed by public humiliation or a well thought-out atonement... (I think a pure redemption is impossible). THAT would've been much more interesting than whathever chapter' 5's finale was xd

[@youssefa.2251]

@@Mangakamen Good points man! I guess I learned some new things and found some holes in my thinking patterns to keep in mind. Thanks for the reply!

[@barrybend7189]

Psychonauts did it better than Life is Strange.

[@youssefa.2251]

@@barrybend7189 Yeah I've been meaning to play that game. Got the ps2 version on my ps4 for some time but school and lack of proper time management got in the way xD Life is strange should've taken notes first before developing a new game on a whim xD

[@blossomblair]

@@Mangakamen I agree with OP here. Her anger was misplaced but its still part of the coping process. The one feeling she had about his death is taken so she doesn't have that motivation to stand up for him in the finale. I don't think the anger "came out of nowhere", as you said, her future husband just died and this was just the first time we saw how his death was really affecting her. When you ask her about it before she gives some vague answer like "oh im hanging in there". It makes sense that shes bottling up strong emotions considering she was the closet person to the brother. Using the LARP and attending the wake as a way to suggest "she cares" doesn't really make sense because Jed did those things too and we all know how he turned out. Unlike Charlotte's, the police officer's fear isn't a direct emotion to Gabe's actual death. It was just apparently towards Alex, Steph's and Ryan's well beings. He still wanted justice for Gabe, he just was afraid of what Typhon would do in the process. That's how their situations differ and why they react differently.

[@Can_O_Crayola]

@@Mangakamen It was a good idea. Confronting the unpleasant part of grieving where the person in question gets angry and starts blaming people around her illogically is a realistic event. People do that all the time when they're dealing with traumatic experiences like loss. Charlotte expressed several times in that conversation she has abandonment issues and it was hard on her even opening up to Gabe coming into her life. It's natural that she's going to take that loss extremely hard and have irrational feelings. Having Alex confront that, knowing she had the power to drastically affect Charlotte, was a good idea. The consequences of taking away someone's ability to go through loss properly? That's a powerful, terrible ethics question to confront. Problem was, like you said, Charlotte was written extremely inconsistently with this event and the anger bit came literally out of nowhere. This should've been the focal point of her character through the entire chapter, and instead felt like it was a side-quest that could've been ignored or missed entirely. Her not mentioning Typhon in that scene is an odd thing, for sure. Likely an oversight of writing, but that's hardly an excuse. This was the closest thing in the game to a well-written empathy moment, and they still mucked it up awfully. True Colors had the opportunity to really confront some societal/cultural issues surrounding our emotions and how we handle them, and missed the mark entirely. Which is depressing, because despite the flaws it had, LiS2 didn't pull its punches. Sean went through some pretty horrible shit and highlighted some ethical and cultural issues behind the world we live in. Despite being the oldest main character thus far, Alex ended up feeling like the most safe and boring.

[@LodanSD]

When you have nothing better to show in the Trailer than a Main Story Point that could be a Spoiler, then you have Failed as a Storyteller!

[@bfargthesquat8504]

I agree with just about everything in this video except for one thing. I still think the first game is the best one. True colors does some things better than the first game but has more new problems than solved problems imo.

[@blueparadoxium]

That's how I feel too. Plus, even though the first is cringe, I still felt like I experienced somewhat of a story. There were also a couple characters that I liked in the first game.

[@hummus_exual]

Same. I don't know if it's just nostalgia, but the first one made me really care about what was going on and for some of the characters, no matter how cringe or tropey they were. And despite the second one (while it's quite hated, it's actually my favourite LiS) not focusing as much on secondary characters, the bond between the two brothers and their feelings feel *so* genuine, and I want them to be happy. But in True Colors... I don't really care. I don't really care about any of these characters, not even the protagonist.

[@Kingdom850]

playing through 2 and True Colors (skipped BTS because lol prequel to a choice based game) made me realize the first game works better as a one and done. These sequels shouldn't have existed.

[@piztolice3459]

To begin with, I love the game. It caught my attention because when I was dealing with emotional distress and problems over the past few days and thought a game that focuses on relationships and making choices would ease me up a bit, and It did. It became my comfort game a litte while, but I agree with the mistake of the developers revealing Alex's brother's death by literally putting it on the synopsis/trailer, it decreased the shock value of your relationship with him when you lost him. If the developers can't properly execute a framing device, they could've done us a small favor by hiding the fact he will actually die early on, if they didn't want to hide it then they could've made your relationship with Gabe build up more, instead of dedicating half of a chapter doing a larp with some idiot kid who ultimately caused your brother's death. Half of chapter 3 was such a wasted potential that could've contributed more to your relationship with Gabe or expand the Typhon plot. Overall, the game still has the ability to attach you to some characters, but not enough to make a grown man cry. The only reason I'm still willing to overlook this mistake is because I didn't know about Gabe's death until he gave me his apartment so it still shocked me a bit Knowing Gabe dies in the trailer didn’t have to be a weakness if DeckNine worked at making the death actually feel upsetting. Barely knowing a guy before he gets Goofy-ed off a cliff wasn’t it.

[@cvetomirgeorgiev9106]

I enjoyed the game a decent amount, but most of your criticisms are pretty valid. Definitely would have enjoyed the first part of the game more if they didn't spoil the death though.... I hated LiS2 tho, so I'm kinda excited for the video on that

[@assaultrifle9704]

Oh god, LiS2 makes True Colors look like pinnacle storytelling in comparison.

[@Saltedroastedcaramel]

Was okay with it, got annoyed how fans were like "omg NO LESBIANS?!?!??! NOOOOOOOOOOO!". Which explains how all the main protags are bisexual now. The whole cop thing happened and I headed out.

[@jasmeen5712]

8:34 The thing here it's because these are two different situations. Prevent someone to grief is not the same as "convicing" someone to speak against "the bully"="the villain". By taking her (justified and normal) anger, you prevent her from grieving which here result in a sort of depression caused by Alex in her mind while when taking his fear, you push him to be brave enough to help, which is a positive thing that he will remember at the end. At least that's how I interpreted it.

[@bobmclovin4886]

Without fear there cannot be bravery.

[@Granthumb8128]

If a game has a good story/interesting characters, then it can be good even if you already know the twist. Most people that I know (myself included) knew the true culprit in persona 4 and still had an amazing time

[@KneeGearGamer]

You forgot to add that’s she could read the emotions/memories of dead people in the mine as one her gained Powers

[@theycallmecaaamm]

i guess it’s kind of consistent because when she was trying to cheer up steph she could see the emotions of the foosball and the bottle .. but idk

[@fortnitefanningfunnymomets7613]

it was the emotions imbedded in the objects.. yk the stuff she can look at throughout the entire game

[@Cj-iu5px]

It has a strong start but then sparks out fast, still good but I easily prefer the last 2, especially their endings. These ones are: Stay or leave with love interest #1/2 or nobody.

[@crumblyairship]

my only gripe with the game is that it was too short i want MORE

[@miguelescobedo5112]

I guess you can say Life Is Strange and it's sequels are pretty much mixed bags when it comes to people playing them,

[@mattwo7]

15:08 I was playing Fate/Extra and there's a point where there's an enemy mage and his heroic spirit you know nothing about talking to each other. Your heroic spirit wants to charge in but the smart thing to do is to reign them in and try to eavesdrop to get more information on the enemy heroic spirit. If you chose to let your heroic spirit charge in, you get curbstomped and get a game over because you died. How is it that such an old game does such a better job of respecting your choices?

[@WeekendWarrior1]

The John Xina joke is peak culture

[@taniaroman5857]

Is it bad that I laughed when the Boulder hit Gabe?

[@jluck1399]

Nah, his death was comical 😂

[@niellin5161]

Lmao

[@sanjuktasahoo3083]

Yep

[@RaiderThePig]

We start the video with a Metal Gear Rising reference!? That's it, 10/10 no need to watch the full video

[@zteezee_5677]

i actually really enjoyed it. the characters were so much more interesting compared to the other games and i love that they brought Steph back and gave her more development. i agree alex’s power was really inconsistent which was incredibly frustrating at some points, but overall i liked it. probably cause i’m an empath and i enjoyed a power centered around it

[@dontworryboutmyname6972]

You (an empath) enjoying this game.

[@addison_v_ertisement1678]

I mean, was it really empathy? It seemed more like telepathy to me. She can see people's memories, and even read their minds.

[@NeonPaste324]

I saw the trailer so long ago I didn’t remember anything about it. Gabe’s death being unexpected was great and set the tone. I would’ve hated to have that spoiled for me

[@headshotmaster138]

That shit isn't a video game. Just an interactive movie.

[@fortnitefanningfunnymomets7613]

@Stix N' Stones TLOU? has a ton of gameplay what are you talking about lmao

[@jasondphoenix]

Honestly, the thing that annoyed me the most...is the romance... Like, why do I have to chose between one of em? What if I don't want either?

[@Mariusweeddeath]

The problem with Life is Strange powers is that they all rely on them being 'soft power' system but then try to really encode those same powers into gameplay. There is an obvious disconnect between these two things though since when you give someone a toy system, they will ask about all of the rules and conditions to play with said toy but the nature of it being a 'soft power' means that it can be as loose and vague as given and can fit the needs of the writers whenever they see fit. In LiS1, its basically everything involving time travel itself. There are no real hard set rules to the time travel in the game when you dig into it since the gameplay rules are then broken at will or never really touched upon. When Max goes back in time to inside the principals office after both her and Cloe bomb the door to get inside, there should be a Max next to Cloe who is waiting to go back in time to sort of 'fix the loop' issue but that never really happens. You can rewind time with items taken from other characters which would then mean copies of those items should exist but they don't. Then there come the moment where your not allow to use your powers and those are within the designated zones of power usage (like when you try to stop that girl from suicide). The game is telling a story about the 'soft power' of time travel and the implications or emotions around someone very empathetic using them in every day life but because its in a game format it has a hard time juggling the two together. In LiS2, they had a better deal with this since they managed to relegate it away from the player and put into a player side-character in Daniel's brother. This means that the instances of the power being used, they don't really have to show many contradictions because its eaiser to just write around it by having Daniel just not know how they work or understand his brother completely. In LiS3 the power they say is empathy but the more you look into it, it seems to be more around some idea of emotions or emotional control. Her being 'empathic' has nothing to do with the ability to basically steal/remove certain emotions from people to either turn them into more confident people or to lobotomize them or why she can basically become a conduit for strong emotions within the area. This also goes more into the rest of the games abilities as well since you can gleam that the only way to have that confrontation with Jeb was to basically have a emotion based combat between Alex and Jeb entirely internally.

[@anoopgrewal2176]

I think the game could of done soooooo much more. Even though I did enjoy the game, there’s so much untapped potential for the characters, plot and power. There’s so much I feel like u could of done with that power but it’s only really important for a couple sections and that’s it. Love the vids as always

[@Kingbeat1]

Max was 18 in the first game and Chloe was 19 they were both adults pleases stop calling them teenagers.

[@zencyn4682]

EighTEEN, NineTEEN... teenagers seems legit to me.

[@husariuspl117]

well...EighTEEN and NineTEEN...still a teenager but also an adult

[@andrebryant5081]

@@zencyn4682 Lol break a crime at 18 and 19 and see if judge give you a child's level of punishment

[@Kelenerz]

Do you know what the word "teenager" means?

[@katthekitkatbar]

Lmfao they're still teenagers- just with more sense than most- young adults. Who can still be just as dumb sometimes.

[@addison_v_ertisement1678]

I love the Enu face in the thumbnail. I didn't know why you put Spamton in the thumbnail at first, but I got it once you made the comparison.

[@devingunnels3251]

Respect for being open-minded enough to give this game a fair chance instead of deciding to hate it arbitrarily. Sure it wasn't a good game anyway, but you were still they better man here.

[@ad-di5qr]

did you think about reviewing tell me why as well? i actually think that besides the last choice, it was pretty darn solid and the best game the devs put out so far. it's a shame it gets overlooked, really.

[@Zealant]

“Her power is empathy.” I guess you missed the part where it’s psychic

[@jeangomez7733]

So in another words it not the worst thing to come out but it not the best thing to come. Am I right or wrong

[@lxyal7s]

Considering how much I love this game and love the entire franchise altogether and how I wouldn’t stop going on about true colors, I respect your opinion and it honestly makes a lot of sense!! Just hate it when everyone feels like cause ur a funny dude who does reviews on games doesn’t mean everyone has to be rude about it just to be one of ur subscribers yerno. Does that make sense? 😅

[@moonmoon2479]

Kinda sounds like you are mad about it. That or you wish that this guy had a positive opinion so that it would drown out the negative ones. That’s what I’m getting from you.

[@meat2023]

@@moonmoon2479 I'm pretty sure they're cool with his opinion and is just pointing out the rude comments in this section.

[@lxyal7s]

@@meat2023 yeah its just comments like “cringe” when there’s no need yerno?

[@lxyal7s]

@Drills agreed, honestly agree with him a LOT

[@IsaLevens]

I havent watched this entire review, so excuse me if this is being talked about later on. My adhd & (almost)psych nurse ass feels the need to write down my own analysis right at this exact moment. If you’re interested in mental health shit, I’d love to hear where you agree/disagree/have additions. If not: I hope you… try to enjoy…. at least one thing today 🤷‍♀️ I haven’t seen anyone mentioning that Alex’s “power” is basically a common trauma response (i believe its called fawning or people pleasing, but there might be a different official term), only it’s obviously magnified/glorified for the game, by adding the aura’s and by alex telepathically knowing the literal words someone is thinking. However, imo everything else fully adds up when you view alex’s power as a learned means of survival. Her ‘power’ isn’t necessarily a ‘supernatural’ power, and in the game you can actually choose whether or not you want to adress it that way. Multiple times even. Every ‘big choice’ moment basically comes down to ‘do I want to do what I think is best, or do I want to help the other?’ Figuring that out, to me seems to be her main goal in the game. She even says the whole typhon mystery solving is just about getting justice for gabe. Is she not mentioning her need for closure, or is she not aware of this need? Or did i just miss that part lol. Alex has a history of absent parents, (violent parent + sick parent), abandonment, ongoing rejections in foster care, subsequent attachment & self esteem issues, and even before foster care there was this parentification that resulted in having little to no space to show emotions and get her own needs met. So much so that she later on seems to not even recognize them anymore. Let alone control them. (After all, theres no space for your emotions when you’re 10 yrs old and taking care of your dysfunctional family bc you promised your dying mom that you would (because she said you were always so strong because you never cried). In real life, i’ve often seen similar experiences result in hyper vigilance of other peoples moods and needs, and the tendency to put their needs before your own. Or ya know, some people develop traits that we associate with the more well known personality disorders. In the game, you can see that for largest part, Alex only journals about the emotions and memories of other people. She also only acts out of emotion when other people feel very strongly i think (mac’s anger at gabe, mutual anger at gabe’s wake). If I remember correctly, it’s actually feeling/expressing anger that she struggles with the most. Which makes sense, having grown up with an abusive/alcoholic dad. It’s not until she’s shot by Jed that she’s forced into this dream-like semi-unconcious state where she has to face the memories (traumas) that she had blocked out or misremembered for years. After every memory that she ‘corrected’, you can see her fully experience the pain/grief/sadness accompanied by that experience. That’s when she starts feeling her own emotions, and actually writing them down, instead of the feelings of others. I’m not even mentioning here how much growth she shows by relating her own emotions to jed’s emotions so she can understand him, and in my gameplay was able to forgive him I could go on forever on analysing this game, but the point is that I understand the game is ‘alright I guess’ for the general public. Its predictable probably. Maybe boring even, or just unlogical (how did she fall down the mine, fully black out and miraculasly find her way out and walk back to haven springs in surprisingly good health?) But I can also imagine that for people who have gone through similar experiences, or for ppl who recognize these certain patterns, this game offers a kind of validation and insight that’s really hard to see up close in everyday life. Also, the fact that you are in control of the choices that are made in a safe virtual world… Very powerful! Therapeutic even. However, yes, I understand that’s not what most people are looking for when they just want to relax and play a game. Gotta respect the Larp tho. Imma need to create my own character.

[@flyingmintbunny1286]

Both my mother and brother got diagnosed with covid yesterday night. This video really put a smile on my face :) thank you kamen x

[@flyingmintbunny1286]

@Stix N' Stones literally not funny.. my brother is still in hospital with it but my mother has fully recovered.. but thanks :)

[@whateverworksmate.721]

Here's my personal experience with this is franchise: 2015: I'm 13 when LiS comes out. I watch a let's play and I love it. I think the story is compelling, the soundtrack is beautiful, I relate to Max, etc. I still listen to the soundtrack every now and then and bask in the nostalgia. The game holds a special place in my heart as you can imagine. I recognize and agree with pretty much all of the criticisms - bad writing, Chloe is just a bad character, story faults, and so on, but I still love it in a way. Year whatever: BtS comes out and I'm super excited. I remember it was the end of the summer, I think I was close to finishing highschool (maybe was about to start 11th) and I play the game with my brother. This time around I had huge expectations. I was excited to see what terrible-person Chloe had gone through, see Rachel and her whole deal, Frank's part in all this and even Jefferson's. I'm sure you can imagine how that went. The writing *immediately* struck me as way worse, I couldn't stand Chloe's backtalk mechanic and Rachel was... underwhelming. Not to mention, I didn't think I was signing up for Amber family drama. I did however really like the music. At least was there. Even further in the future: LiS 2 comes out. Seeing the trailer, I was excited. I needed something to redeem the franchise for me and since there were gonna be brand-new characters and a brand-new story, I thought it was a great opportunity to start over. Anyway, that game was, I'd say, on the okay-er side of bad to me. The concept itself could've made for a great story, but it was _so_ on the nose about its messaging at times, it made me feel talked down to frankly. This and the tons of other issues addressed in hundreds of video essays. Overall, I didn't really find it that compelling or memorable and I probably couldn't really describe what happens in each episode without playing or watching them again. NOW, True Colors. Do I get my hopes up? After seeing the trailer, yeah kinda. Visually I thought it looked beautiful and I was intrigued by what they might do with this new power. Fast-forward to when I finished the game a couple of days ago and... yeah, it was pretty middling. While I'm completely indifferent to the second game, this one had a lot of things I liked, most of which were described in this video. However, it was fluffed to hell and the main plot reduced to a tiny little bit of the whole experience. And yes, I didn't really feel anything for the other characters either. I knew some stuff about Steph from briefly meeting her in BtS, and I ended up liking her in this game, but I can't say the some for a lot of others. I like Alex as an MC, but her power was all over the place. I remember getting to that scene with Charlotte and being like "oh okay guess i can take away emotions now?? It's like Max going into photos all over again" Again, I thought the music is was good, but that's just my taste I think I'd put this game on the upper mid tier or lower good tier. Something like that. 乁( •_• )ㄏ It's been the biggest franchise win for me since the first game anyway. And I don't think I can look at that game objectively since I was 13 and I'd never experienced anything like it before. So yeah, that's my take, thank you for your time~

[@rayleighmarin7478]

I admire your objectivity and restraint in your description while trying to put forward your subjective assesment of the games. Your story resonate with me, I was 16 when I discovered the first game. Having replayed the franchise with a more mature eye, I tend to focus on the objective faults of the games. But you accuratly described my journey through these games for the first time. And I believe you put it in a way that even unconviced players could understand and relate to. I like it.

[@whateverworksmate.721]

@@rayleighmarin7478 thank you! I tried to describe my experience while staying true to the clear bias I have towards the first game and also recognizing its _many_ flaws. It might be trash, but it's my trash. And honestly, just like MangaKamen said in the video, if they decide to make more games, I think this is a good direction they're going in.

[@rayleighmarin7478]

@@whateverworksmate.721 "It might be trash, but it's my trash". It's a pretty summary 😊

[@revi6482]

Yes! Waited for this all day :D

[@Sonic_the_hedgedog]

The game is still mediocore... ...

[@yitzu48]

so why does the game has so many positive reviews i dont get it, this game is a scam

[@Saltedroastedcaramel]

@@yitzu48 That can be said for Life is Strange franchise as a whole.

[@yitzu48]

​@@Saltedroastedcaramel to be fair LiS1 had very low rating and is arguably better game than true colors

[@jojocookies]

All three mcs from all three lis games give me major Bella Swan vibes! With max I still found her somewhat likable but then recycling her character and basically just changing the looks of the Mc is so lazy!

[@jluck1399]

That’s basically what they did, which made Alex my least favorite main character by default

[@jojocookies]

@@jluck1399 yup same! First scene of her awkwardly blinking made me roll my eyes!

[@MarxMayhem]

Cultured editor as always

[@jackall-trades6149]

I've got to say, an empathy mechanic? That I really like. It's a big step in the right direction. Also they seem to be getting more creative with in-game mechanics. Ok, I can see good stuff here. Thanks for showing this. Appreciate it.

[@raicrush]

Loved the live stream!

[@Crunchynote]

Max's "eat shit and die" voice line is now super funny to me for some reason

[@rushingtide1710]

Have you played Tell me Why? I actually kind of enjoyed it since the scenery of Alaska is my kind of place. It's also developed by don'tnod and is another choice game. I'd kinda like to see you opinion on it.

[@emokiller907]

it was way better than this game not as good as LiS tho

[@Rihcterwilker]

The first LiS was a luck shot. You know, right time at the right place. Not even they knew what to do with it by the end. Whatever came after it tried, for sure, but failed hard at capturing the atmosphere of the first one.

[@memesjack3615]

I think the reason why Life is Strange is the best is that it focuses primarily on the dark room crime, which is an interesting storyline by itself and that whatever pandering you may find is secondary. They wanted to tell a story first a foremost, and they give you one of the coolest superpowers ever, the ability to manipulate time. Meanwhile, in the following games is either pandering first, story second like the second game or a completely boring story like the third game. And either they give you lame superpowers like backtalking and empathy or they give the cool superpower to your brother.

[@holloworacle3140]

Yes the new video, what's great about this is that were a part of the journey

[@user-my2qs1tn3d]

Your editing skills have improved quite a bit, keep up the good work!

[@highvibe6081]

I didn’t see any spoilers so I didn’t know the brother was going to die , so I’m happy on that part lol

[@milkboy2967]

One of the only scenes they did, decent was when Alex stopped Ryan from jumping in my opinion. But that might only be from how they did Kate’s scene from the first game. They also, STRONGLY pushed for Ryan as a love interest. You can just, tell they wanted that to be the outcome and not romancing Steph.

[@thesilvermario99]

I remember when this game was showed off and the main characters power was revealed and i remember someone said "the writers made the woman's super power being able to empathize with others " or something akin to that

[@howdytherepardner318]

It's more than that, but still not as godlike as time travel and telekinesis. I'd say it's more mind-reading.

[@misterzygarde6431]

10:17 Speaking of twist villains. I wonder if the Disney villains like Jafar, Ursula, and Hades to name a few look down upon the twist villains like Hans, Bellweather, and Callaghan.

[@truecaliber1995]

17:43 This, right here, is something I can get behind. As someone who dropped the series after getting Before the Storm for Christmas, picking up True Colors a couple months back on a whim and playing it in full just yesterday, I can honestly say, yeah, while I enjoyed my time with the game, its characters, and couldn't get over how gorgeous Haven Springs looked, your criticism is still valid; I can accept that some people didn't like this game. Those critiques aren't unfounded, too, because some of the flaws you pointed out, I pushed to the back of my head during my first playthrough, like the fact that True Colors _could_ be extended to give its cast more screen time, or that the game lies to you in bold text claiming "your actions will have consequences", or the fact that Alex's powers don't make a whole lot of sense under scrutiny; even though I, personally, could suspend my disbelief, but I digress; etc, etc. Despite everything wrong with True Colors, I came away from this experience feeling positive, hopeful, and the narrative flaws, i.e. the contrivances, predictable plot points, and pacing issues, being _the_ biggest flaw in the game among a small pool of problems, only amplifies that hope for this franchise. IMO, the last hurdles Deck Nine must overcome are only 3 big problems that have plagued LiS since its very first installment: inconsistencies with the protagonist's powers, narrative problems that only snowball until the end, and the lack of player-freedom in gameplay, mainly related to the "crucial" choices you make. Take notes from Quantic Dream, Deck Nine. Have enough faith in the player to let them fail horribly; let their actions have real consequences, both good and bad, throughout your narrative experience. Then, and only then can this franchise truly reach its full potential. Is it unlikely we'll ever see this idealistic vision come to fruition. Perhaps, but, if there's one message I can take away from Alex's story, it's that there's hope for everything and everyone.

[@mrminecraftcubeable]

Tgey just gave away the ending with that rpg segment, and it was pretty obvious without if

[@CloakofAuron]

*Opens with a satirical bit of "Red Sun"* Oh, this is going to be a FUN one, I can tell.

[@thiffio9134]

Dear MangaKamen, I love your reviews. They're fun to watch as they provide good talking points. My question to you is was the stream really that bad if people complained about it? I ask because I didn't see it. From what I know playing video games is easy. Entertaining an audience is hard.

[@brooklynnbien-aime3859]

I will say though, one thing I do like is that Alex used her powers for mostly good when it came helping people or finding out a mystery but mostly helping people. I didn’t like how Max would just use her powers selfishly that would only benefit her. It also shows what a good person Alex is, I did like how she helped Eleanor when it came to her illness helping her retrace her steps and I also liked how she helped Duckie dancing with him when he’s sad over his wife passing.

[@brooklynnbien-aime3859]

@@Mangakamen right! I hated that! Like I do like how Max was there for Kate on the roof but why wasn’t she there to help Kate in the bathroom! She didn’t even need rewind powers to do so, if she was able to step in when David was harassing Kate. why didn’t she do the same when Kate was getting bullied in the bathroom? Or at least give us the option.

[@brooklynnbien-aime3859]

@@Mangakamen EXACTLY!! Like that’s so dumb when she was able to do something like that in the game like getting Frank’s keys

[@Usagi393]

I was really put off that the player (Alex) had to go around helping other people cope/cheer them up over Gabe’s death. How am I supposed to care about his death when his sister barely emotes?

[@spookwagen-thegreat1350]

This game feels like it was written by the inspirational quotes AI, like godamn even the room has better more human dialogue than this

[@Eddiebleakley]

i like the game but your criticisms are spot on.

[@Devilsblight86]

"$60 for a really short game." ....Don't Nod learned from Nintendo's mishandling of the Famicom Detective Club games...

[@yitzu48]

this game was made by Decknine... the ones that made Before the Storm so the scam was spected lol

[@davesecx]

I loved LiS 1 a ton, and this is the closest to that one, but I am tired of having a game with tons of choices where none of the choices REALLY affect the end of the game, No matter what you chose, it comes down to the same endings. Nothing will be a time travel power from the first game though. That is just a cool mechanic that none of the other games can top.

[@memesjack3615]

I think the only thing that can rival time travel is the ability of teleportation or mind control.

[@jasmeen5712]

9:37 I didn't felt like it was a new power but just the staging (?) (I don't if it's the right word in english), just a dramatic effect to show the final confrontation with the villain while the others were probably listening.

[@jasmeen5712]

@@Mangakamen Yeah I understand.

[@thetruestar6348]

No that was literal time stopping none of the other characters reacted to anything that was happening or happened during that scene

[@tomo8940]

Did people think it wouldn't be? This is the same people that created Chloe and her hateable personality.

[@pinkieglitterheart]

whats your opinion on life is strange 2 (the one with make protagonist) and the one with this super kid that plays pretend?

[@tasnimbari4012]

Love the new vid

[@cuboidgamez7577]

I completed this yesterday and this genuinely changed my prospective, tho i still tried so hard to not cry in the last chapter's dream part

[@ambientlightofdarknesss4245]

There's actually a video essay I watched on true colors which basically explained why it's the best game in the franchise and how it's their favorite. pretty interesting to see two sides of the coin. and the review was very well written too and they live streamed the game and they genuinely enjoyed it. I genuinely enjoyed it. ngl it is not worth 60 bucks. it's more of a spinoff again. just a nice little morsel to chew on. in the review they said the plot was lacking and it wasn't as "grand" or big as the previous games but they seemed to really like the characters and they were pretty moved by the ending scene with Jed. i also don't think they watched the trailer cause they were truly surpised when gabe died.

[@AE_Sunset-Nutrix_AE]

Which essay was that?

[@jasmeen5712]

While watching my first playthrough of the game, I was doing something else on the side because the game is so... "calm". I only catch that Ryan was Jed son in episode 5...

[@puliluli2097]

Ahhhhh thank you!!!! Finally someone who is on point with their review. Uhg the 5. chapter was so weak

[@CatwithaKnife12]

It was definetly a big improvement from the last games (to be fair it wasent a high bar to surpass lmao) Shame that this time they played it "to safe" with the characters, definetly would have enjoyed more time with the romantic inclined characters and maybe no evil twist villain at the end would have been nice :')))

[@ZihaireEAdams]

I would like to know your opinion on Tell Me Why or LIS 2.

[@ChiefMedicPururu]

0:54 Oh, hey, a cameo from Skull Kamen!

[@jakejohnson9151]

Have you played any of the telltale games, and if yes, what's your opinion on them?

[@lukethelegend9705]

Ah man, I actually thought I was the only one who experienced the “serious research” glitch in 2. That was so weird

[@JianimalGaming]

Love the outro song choice. Takes me back to Yakuza 0:D

[@yatofia]

no bc i was watching a gameplay and when the youtuber posted a video titling it the final chapter of LIS:TC i sat there like ???? wait ??? that's it?? why was it so short??

[@Brixton0kk0tsu]

What’s the name of the song that plays in the credits? Super catchy

[@louielouie4395]

I agree with most of this! I still really like the game but I agree with your points. It really needed another episode

[@geoffreytbaker8724]

Sorry, was that Stormwrither or Storm-Trooper cuz Jed can't aim for s***. Also, the idea that someone who grew up in the system would trust a cop might be the most unrealistic thing about this game.

[@legendaryhero132]

Tbh from what I saw in the trailer this actually looked like a game might play sometime and still might sometime if a friend recommends me it or if there was a demo to try out.

[@Dark_Peace]

"it's like having a murder mystery and showing who's the murderer at the beginning" Columbo : am i a joke to you ?