Life Is Strange

3 comments on Hacker News

1. NeutralBeetleBDec 24, 2023

   I grew up playing a lot of computer games (PC). A lot of them. It mostly stopped once I went to university - for the following decade I played only newer versions of games I was familiar with (e.g. newer Civilization, newer Command and Conquer, etc). And even that was the once-a-year binge - not continual. Then I stopped altogether.

   There were multiple reasons I slowed down. I was interested in my academics. I looked back at all the time I had played pre-university and (rationally) lamented the time lost. The genre I liked had died (adventure games), and I really didn't like 1st person shooters. And I didn't want to deal with the headache of upgrading my PC every 2 years just to play a game. Also, I switched to Linux, which didn't help.

   I bought a PS3 in 2010, but it was only for Blu-Ray and streaming. Then in around 2016, on a whim, I decided to check out a game from the library. I picked The Walking Dead (Telltale version).

   I loved it. I started checking out other games. Someone bought me an Xbox One as a gift. But this all lasted a few months before I stopped playing again.

   Finally, around 18 months ago, I felt guilty that I had spent $100 on games back in 2016 when I got the Xbox (some big sale, so quite a few games), but never played them. So I told myself I'll try a few.

   The first one I played was Life is Strange. Loved it. Then Oxenfree. Loved it. It's been 18 months and I haven't stopped playing.

   Before, I'd spend 30-60 minutes per day watching some TV show. I've merely substituted that time with gaming. And it is so, so much more rewarding than watching a TV show - even a great show. It's counterintuitive, but I find it both relaxes me and invigorates me at the same time in a way a good show on TV wouldn't (and I love good stories). With TV, you're just staring. With games, you're actively thinking. It's more dynamic. You make decisions. You're in control. And games can have great storytelling.

   I remember times in my life where my work was really stressful. Looking back, I wish I had played games back then.

   The funny thing is, while I had earlier lamented all the time in my youth spent playing games, when I look back now I have only positive feelings. I still have good memories of certain games - heck even certain achievements in games, from 30 years ago. That time wasn't wasted.

   I always find it amusing when someone belittles gamers as losers, but then they go watch TV.

2. PositivebliblahOct 15, 2018

   Those are some pretty sad games!

   Just wanted to add two games that straight up left a void in me for a while after I was done

   Shadow of the Colossus - Is on PS2,PS3, and PS4 and I really can't recommend it enough. Even if it technically ends with a hopeful ending its pretty pessimistic.

   Life is Strange - The first two episodes make is seem like a pretty goofy teen drama but the last two episodes definitely become exponentially more existential.

3. MixedggggtezOct 5, 2018

   I played The Wolf Among Us twice through. I thought the story was very interesting, and wanted to see what happened if you did everything different. Obviously you know a lot of content is going to be re-used, but by and large probably 95% of it was unchanged. It lowered my opinion substancially, though I still liked it more as a movie/TV show, than a game.

   While story based games do have to fight combinatorial explosion of possibilities, games like Planescape Tormet deal with that by having actual gameplay: random encounters, item drops, side quests, leveling up. All the traditional RPG mechanics.

   Life is Strange was also panned for having the illusion of choice, but I think was able to resist some of that criticism due to the strength of the story, and the different environment: most of the game is peaceful and sullen, not thrilling, so the limited gameplay isn't necessarily a problem.