Got a few questions for you on life is strange:
What's the gameplay like compared to say, a telltale adventure game? Wiki makes it seem the rewind feature affects the outcome, but are there decision trees in dialogue and/or the actions you take?
How long has each episode been?
Don't want to step on Broodwars' toes, but I'd say the gameplay is comparable to the first season of Walking Dead, where there were actually kind of puzzles and you sort of had to do stuff to progress. The rewind feature is the gameplay hook, and the game structures the occasional obstacle around it. I've only played the first three episodes, but each has been around 3 hours if I recall correctly.
To add on to that, there are definitely branching conversation paths you can take, which the rewind feature lets you explore a bit (though sometimes the game will lock you into a series of choices w/ an area transition). And while there have definitely been puzzles, most of them are minor ones centered around "how do I get this item to this location when this event or obstacle is in my path at this point in time?" And yes, I've found the standard episode length around 2-3 hours, depending on how thoroughly you explore, how deep you go into conversation trees, and how many optional conversations you engage in (compared to Telltale's games, there are a LOT of NPCs you don't "have" to talk to, but who offer information or minor choices that pay off in later episodes).
That does change significantly in Chapter 4, though. There are some pretty significant logic puzzles and one MAJOR, intricate Sherlock Holmes-style investigation puzzle you need to do where you take all the clues you've gathered across the previous episodes & form a deduction from them. Also, episode 4 is quite a bit longer than the previous episodes, clocking in at around 4-5 hours for me.
It's also worth noting that, unlike Telltale's games, Life is Strange actually...
functions on a technical level. Aside from a framerate issue I ran into that was related to my PS4 just being on too long (which I resolved with hardware reboot), I haven't run into a single crash, weird jank, or choices not carrying over correctly. The only serious flaw I've run into on a presentational standpoint is that character lip flaps just
don't sync to the dialogue (and there's a bit of a "dead eye" problem with the models, where character just stare at you during conversations). They never have, and the developers have acknowledged their engine just can't do it. It's just one of those things you have to overlook in favor of just really solid storytelling and characterization.
I will say this, though: don't go into this series expecting heavy action. This is very much an "indie movie"-style adventure game, with a focus on character interaction and mood rather than "OMG!IT'SAZOMBIE!KILLIT!" It's a slow burn that I've found very rewarding to come back to every few months when a new episode releases and just enjoy "being in the moment" with the characters.
Topic: What are you playing? (Read 700042 times)
