Life is Strange 1 entered the stage at a time where decision based videogames were dominated by Telltale, whose games aren't really faithful to the appeal of the genre. If you've never played a Telltale game, all you have to know is that the decisions you make in them are not relevant long-term. The Walking Dead series, their most well known work, is filled with characters who you can save only for them to die or be taken out of the story regardless and more choices that only shape the story superficially. Life is Strange 1, regardless of its actual quality, broke the mold bygiving you a tool to interact with the decisions as a whole: time travel. The ability to not only be able to take back decisions you make but also be able to gage if the consequent action matched its description (which was a problem in the genre).
Inversely, True Colors feels much more caged in the conventions of the decision-based genre. Sporting the power of super empathy, you control Alex Chen in her new life in a small town while dredging through the inhabitants interpersonal drama and solving a mystery. Considering that very superficial synopsis I just gave, it really blows hard how much the game focuses on the mystery rather than the drama, specially in later chapters. As much as the town is presented as a community, the townspeople's problems are very disconnected from eachother and are given very little time and space to properly have any sort of impact on the main plot (aside one, albeit significant, part of the final chapter) or the town as a whole unless you really love to read their faux facebook.
The main plot, which is given much more attention, also is a huge letdown. It's very rushed, there is barely any motivation to learn the true story behind the accident aside from the need to have an overarching plot, and it's also a bad fit for the gimmick of empathy. It's an uninteresting, hack script that in its conclusion trips itself up by only being able to humanize a murder by personal association (it's a game about empathy!! hello??).
Empathy really gets the short end of the stick here, man. It only functions as a pseudo telepathy more than anything and the rules around it are wildly inconsistent. It's need of a character focused plot gets sidelined by the main plot in ways that leave it unimpactful and a wasted gimmick. Like they really had no clue what to do with this shit than having you read minds, c'mon dog.
Where I really feel its trapped by the genre are the really forced moral dilemmas. The foundation for a lot of them is so bad that I took the decisions almost instantly, there's barely any reason for them to exist in the first place. I lost my shit when the game went "you can stay here and live a wonderful life" (that's me summarizing a long ass monologue) OR "you can use soundcloud". It really feels like the game HAD to have choices to justify itself but they couldn't come up with anything so they just had to come up with the most stupid shit.
Speaking of choices, God I hated when the game REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAALLY wanted me to get it on with the love interests. They both sucked. I still got in a relationship with one of them for some reason, which I have no idea why.
The game as a whole lacks a lot of thought behind it. I really wish the game just focused more on Alex. I do like her as a protagonist, but her spotlight is relegated to the last chapter and I'm not sure where I seat on its execution. I do like her journey of finding a home and her experience with mental institutions but the game doesn't really focus much on it. She's stuck in a game that scattershots its premises while barely bothering to connect them in a way that makes the experience feel cohesive or fulfilling
Inversely, True Colors feels much more caged in the conventions of the decision-based genre. Sporting the power of super empathy, you control Alex Chen in her new life in a small town while dredging through the inhabitants interpersonal drama and solving a mystery. Considering that very superficial synopsis I just gave, it really blows hard how much the game focuses on the mystery rather than the drama, specially in later chapters. As much as the town is presented as a community, the townspeople's problems are very disconnected from eachother and are given very little time and space to properly have any sort of impact on the main plot (aside one, albeit significant, part of the final chapter) or the town as a whole unless you really love to read their faux facebook.
The main plot, which is given much more attention, also is a huge letdown. It's very rushed, there is barely any motivation to learn the true story behind the accident aside from the need to have an overarching plot, and it's also a bad fit for the gimmick of empathy. It's an uninteresting, hack script that in its conclusion trips itself up by only being able to humanize a murder by personal association (it's a game about empathy!! hello??).
Empathy really gets the short end of the stick here, man. It only functions as a pseudo telepathy more than anything and the rules around it are wildly inconsistent. It's need of a character focused plot gets sidelined by the main plot in ways that leave it unimpactful and a wasted gimmick. Like they really had no clue what to do with this shit than having you read minds, c'mon dog.
Where I really feel its trapped by the genre are the really forced moral dilemmas. The foundation for a lot of them is so bad that I took the decisions almost instantly, there's barely any reason for them to exist in the first place. I lost my shit when the game went "you can stay here and live a wonderful life" (that's me summarizing a long ass monologue) OR "you can use soundcloud". It really feels like the game HAD to have choices to justify itself but they couldn't come up with anything so they just had to come up with the most stupid shit.
Speaking of choices, God I hated when the game REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAALLY wanted me to get it on with the love interests. They both sucked. I still got in a relationship with one of them for some reason, which I have no idea why.
The game as a whole lacks a lot of thought behind it. I really wish the game just focused more on Alex. I do like her as a protagonist, but her spotlight is relegated to the last chapter and I'm not sure where I seat on its execution. I do like her journey of finding a home and her experience with mental institutions but the game doesn't really focus much on it. She's stuck in a game that scattershots its premises while barely bothering to connect them in a way that makes the experience feel cohesive or fulfilling
FranzMagitek
1 year ago