An episode of Life is Strange 2
In Episode 3: “Wastelands," the long journey from Seattle to Mexico continues a few months after their dramatic escape from Beaver Creek, as Sean and Daniel Diaz arrive in the Redwood Forests of California. The brothers experience life on the fringes of society as they reunite with Cassidy and Finn, befriend a close-knit community of drifters and runaways, and begin working on an illegal farm in an attempt to scrape together enough money to continue their journey. New friendships, relationships, and mentors influence Sean and Daniel, encouraging them to learn more about themselves and each other. Their resolve is tested once again, as friction arises between them. Uncertain about their once united purpose, will their strong bond survive?
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This review contains spoilers
my daniel became such a violent little murder man in this episode jeez louise
sean is fine asl in this. the rest is kinda doodoo but it's a cozy setting and has a nice atmosphere
I can't give my review to the whole game, because I just cannot go any further. It is amazing how unlikable and bad all the characters are. How ridiculous all the situations are you are put in, that the game forces you into, even if I play carefully and then the characters blame my choices. Choices I did not even have!
It's like getting hit in the head with a brick over and over. I just can't do it anymore.
It's like getting hit in the head with a brick over and over. I just can't do it anymore.
the actual worst thing i have ever played in my entire life
While still relatively OK, this is definitely the worst episode out of all LiS games.
definite step down from what we saw in episode 2. it's not all bad, thankfully, but this is a very worrying direction for the game to go. it feels like so much of the mechanical intricacy with choices and organic conflict with well-defined characters has been left by the wayside in favor of. . . i'm not sure really. i don't dislike this episode, but i don't know what it accomplishes by trading that away.
to start with the good, it's nice to see sean a lot more often removed from daniel in situations. so much of sean up to this point has been building him as a brother and potential parental figure to daniel, but it feels like we've only gotten scant glimpses of sean as a teenager himself. seeing him interact with people his own age as he navigates socializing a bunch of different personalities is a nice way to flesh him out and also give the player a nice change of pace narratively. i don't think all the new characters are especially memorable (i guarantee i will completely forget about anders and ingrid in a week), but sean still gets a good moment with each of these characters, if not multiple good moments.
on the bad side, i strongly dislike how this game is now approaching the sean/daniel dynamics. it seems like this episode had no continuity with the previous episodes because despite my relationship with daniel being fairly positive and the game explicitly telling me that i ended the second episode on a good note with daniel, suddenly daniel borderline hates sean and is acting like an insufferable brat. meanwhile, every time sean talks to daniel, the game takes the least charitable approach to whatever dialogue option you pick to make the tension between them more palpable. or, in certain situations, you're just outright not even given a choice to sympathize or side with daniel. compare the situation where daniel gets caught sneaking around by big joe and you don't get any say in how sean reacts to this situation. meanwhile, when brett confronts you and daniel, you're given the option to either question daniel or defend him. but no, sean castigates daniel immediately because the player cannot save the sinking ship that is their relationship this episode. i even went out of my way to try and be nice to daniel by helping him do his chores, trying to choose the most patient options with him, and the game still gave me a lot of bitchiness from him. it's one thing for him to be a brat, but he approaches just being outright unlikable because no matter what the player chooses, he gets pissy and upset. he's clingier than an ex-girlfriend if sean tries to make friends, but then will reject sean for finn every time he tries to amend bridges. there's no winning, so why even try?
it's contrived and frankly just really poorly done because without having replayed this episode at all, i can see the artificiality of it all. daniel has to start the episode disliking sean, so that way sean has to respond in kind when daniel gets jealous of him spending time with other people. it's like resetting all the built-up relationship i had with daniel to this point, and that's extremely frustrating to see when sean and daniel's interactions are far and away the most important part of this entire narrative. how they grow and respond to each other is integral to my investment in where this story goes, so to tell me "no, this is how it has to be" but still presenting me illusory choices just fucks me off.
and yeah, i did still enjoy this episode for what it was, but this felt like the most plodding and least eventful episode so far. that's not in and of itself a bad thing, but when you remove the value of interpersonal choices in an episode mostly dedicated to interpersonal relationships, it starts to feel like a waste of time. again, knowing no spoilers about the rest of the game, i'm willing to bet none of the characters in this episode will make any meaningful reappearances later in the game. that by itself is completely fine, but what's the point of "you were nice to [character]" if that character completely disappears from the game after this? what consequences am i going to face? it's a choice with no outcome. i already live a mundane life where most of my choices don't really affect anything in the greater scheme of things. i don't need to replicate that here.
beyond that, i'm hopeful this is just a misstep and that the final two episodes stick the landing. i'm much more skeptical to that idea occurring than i was after finishing episode 2, but i'm not fucked off entirely. i would probably have given this a 2.5 or maybe even lower if i wasn't invested in sean as a character, because there's just not a lot here that i really cared for.
side note: what was with the usage of "DANCE" by justice here? feels completely out of place given the montage could've just as easily been set to something melancholy like "custom concern" by modest mouse.
edit: nvm i am docking half a star for that GOD AWFUL "So would you say you're bi or. . . " "Horny. I don't see gender, just people." interaction. barf. bi isn't a slur let characters call themselves bi. no one talks like this irl lmfao
to start with the good, it's nice to see sean a lot more often removed from daniel in situations. so much of sean up to this point has been building him as a brother and potential parental figure to daniel, but it feels like we've only gotten scant glimpses of sean as a teenager himself. seeing him interact with people his own age as he navigates socializing a bunch of different personalities is a nice way to flesh him out and also give the player a nice change of pace narratively. i don't think all the new characters are especially memorable (i guarantee i will completely forget about anders and ingrid in a week), but sean still gets a good moment with each of these characters, if not multiple good moments.
on the bad side, i strongly dislike how this game is now approaching the sean/daniel dynamics. it seems like this episode had no continuity with the previous episodes because despite my relationship with daniel being fairly positive and the game explicitly telling me that i ended the second episode on a good note with daniel, suddenly daniel borderline hates sean and is acting like an insufferable brat. meanwhile, every time sean talks to daniel, the game takes the least charitable approach to whatever dialogue option you pick to make the tension between them more palpable. or, in certain situations, you're just outright not even given a choice to sympathize or side with daniel. compare the situation where daniel gets caught sneaking around by big joe and you don't get any say in how sean reacts to this situation. meanwhile, when brett confronts you and daniel, you're given the option to either question daniel or defend him. but no, sean castigates daniel immediately because the player cannot save the sinking ship that is their relationship this episode. i even went out of my way to try and be nice to daniel by helping him do his chores, trying to choose the most patient options with him, and the game still gave me a lot of bitchiness from him. it's one thing for him to be a brat, but he approaches just being outright unlikable because no matter what the player chooses, he gets pissy and upset. he's clingier than an ex-girlfriend if sean tries to make friends, but then will reject sean for finn every time he tries to amend bridges. there's no winning, so why even try?
it's contrived and frankly just really poorly done because without having replayed this episode at all, i can see the artificiality of it all. daniel has to start the episode disliking sean, so that way sean has to respond in kind when daniel gets jealous of him spending time with other people. it's like resetting all the built-up relationship i had with daniel to this point, and that's extremely frustrating to see when sean and daniel's interactions are far and away the most important part of this entire narrative. how they grow and respond to each other is integral to my investment in where this story goes, so to tell me "no, this is how it has to be" but still presenting me illusory choices just fucks me off.
and yeah, i did still enjoy this episode for what it was, but this felt like the most plodding and least eventful episode so far. that's not in and of itself a bad thing, but when you remove the value of interpersonal choices in an episode mostly dedicated to interpersonal relationships, it starts to feel like a waste of time. again, knowing no spoilers about the rest of the game, i'm willing to bet none of the characters in this episode will make any meaningful reappearances later in the game. that by itself is completely fine, but what's the point of "you were nice to [character]" if that character completely disappears from the game after this? what consequences am i going to face? it's a choice with no outcome. i already live a mundane life where most of my choices don't really affect anything in the greater scheme of things. i don't need to replicate that here.
beyond that, i'm hopeful this is just a misstep and that the final two episodes stick the landing. i'm much more skeptical to that idea occurring than i was after finishing episode 2, but i'm not fucked off entirely. i would probably have given this a 2.5 or maybe even lower if i wasn't invested in sean as a character, because there's just not a lot here that i really cared for.
side note: what was with the usage of "DANCE" by justice here? feels completely out of place given the montage could've just as easily been set to something melancholy like "custom concern" by modest mouse.
edit: nvm i am docking half a star for that GOD AWFUL "So would you say you're bi or. . . " "Horny. I don't see gender, just people." interaction. barf. bi isn't a slur let characters call themselves bi. no one talks like this irl lmfao