Bae Over Bay

The spoiler tags I'll be using are:

Double Exposure Spoilers

Life Is Strange Spoilers

LIS Spoilers

Because knowing Aasim, I would bet he phrased his question as bluntly and accidentally offensive as possible. I've always thought he probably said something like: "So. The others asked me to kiss you, on a dare. I thought maybe we could just get it over with?"

And that might have very well hurt Ruby's feelings if the guy she had feelings for was only offering her affection on a dare, which would explain why she punched him in the shoulder for asking.

It's crazy to me that anyone doesn't think he's the villain!

Like, yes, he didn't know the wish was going to be real when he made it. I don't think he actually did something wrong INITIALLY, since there's no logical reason a person would think a wish item would actually work. I mean, in the real world people do "love" rituals all the time. Stuff like: Pulling petals off a flower to "she loves me, she loves me not," to tell if a crush likes you or not, or blowing dandelions or a birthday candle out to wish for love. Stuff like that is normal and nothing bad happens. I think at worse his wish was kind of whiny and selfish since he bought the gift for Nikki but ended up using it for himself instead of giving it to her.

At first, his main flaw his his cowardice.

Where he first gets actually evil is when Nikki starts acting weird, and he embraces this relationship with her while he thinks she's having a mental breakdown. Here he is, telling Ian that he's worried about her and he doesn't think she's well, but when she shows up to his house he throws all that concern out the window because she's telling him what he wants to hear. Even if there wasn't a wish involved, it would still be evil to be taking romantic and sexual advantage of someone having a mental health crisis.

But then he realizes that there is a wish, and reacts by: Asks the real Nikki why it's so bad to be with him in a possessed body that she's trapped in. Has sex with her knowing she's possessed, which is rape. Asks the entity to be more like the real Nikki, so he knows it's not her and isn't trying to break things off, rather he's trying to "fix" things and make them more palatable for him. Tries to alter the wish instead of cancelling it. And when he's trying to make a second he wishes that Nikki would just love him as a friend, which is still trying to control her feelings, he could have "I wish Nikki was back to normal," but he didn't. He still wants her to love him in some shape or form.

The holy trinity of LIS ships for me is Pricefield, Amberprice, and Alex/Ryan.

Pricefield because everything about it is insane. Childhood best friends who haven't seen each other in ten years reunite, and realize one is a time traveler and the other is doomed to die. Then they defy fate to be together, and then years later find each other again. Literally one of the craziest ships of all time.

Amerprice because this is just a good teenage WLW romance. Chloe and Rachel are somehow so similar yet so different, and I think they're the only two people who really understand in each other in some ways. They both gave each other hope for the future when their lives had gone to shit, and in many ways Rachel saved Chloe when her life was the bleakest.

Because sometimes you watch a play through where the person mentions that they're an only child, and what I've noticed is that a lot of these only children are endlessly supportive of Daniel. They don't play pranks, or play fight against him in Episode 1, and tend to choose the more nurturing dialogue options.

While I've noticed people who play the game and say they have siblings, are more likely to be teasing towards Daniel. They play pranks, and play fight against him in Episode 1, and tend to choose the more playful dialogue options. (EX: Choosing "Dealing with Daniel is my power," instead of "I don't have a power," in Episode 3.)

I think it's really interesting, because a lot of people without siblings play a more idealized sibling relationship, while people with siblings are more likely to play the game in a typical sibling manner.

Even me, I'm the oldest sibling and I was one of the few people who questioned Daniel instead of confronting Brett. When I was thinking about WHY I made that choice, I thought about my own younger brother, who was always in trouble growing up. I think projecting is why I made a more uncharitable choice towards Daniel, because as the older sibling of a rowdy younger one, I made the choice I would have made with MY brother due to his personality, and not the choice DANIEL needed in the moment. I also pranked Daniel a lot on my first playthrough because me and my brother grew up messing with each other, so being an older sibling did affect my playthrough a lot.

I think it's cool that we get to see what a blue version of her LIS 2 hair style would look like.

I actually like him a lot, and feel bad for him. I think he's an interesting character.

He clearly has a lot of trauma and is coping with a mechanism that isn't realistic in the world of the zombie apocalypse. On paper I don't think his belief is wrong, it's just that in practice their world has raiders that kidnap children and after his trauma he struggles to see the nuance in getting rid of someone like that. I really like all three of his endings.

In the first, you don't shoot Lily and kind of play into James's fantasy that the apocalyptic world can be fixed if people just try hard enough. This leads to him getting stabbed in the back, showing that his ideals are deadly and people like Lily aren't just going to accept peace because the people around them want it. Yet, in the end he does get to keep his hopes for a better world. In a way this is his "best" ending where it feels like he might just get what he wants.

Then you have the option that lives him alive. This leads to two paths: One where you can get James to fight zombies for Clem and AJ, and one where he storms off. In the ending he storms off, he's doubling down on his ideas, refusing to see nuance, and the clinging to the idea that he's one of the only humans left in a world full of monsters. I don't love this ending, but I do think it's very realistic for someone like James to learn nothing and double down. In that way I respect this ending.

The one I like and prefer however, is the one where he makes sure Clem and AJ won't be followed, and attacks the walkers to protect them. He finally starts to see Clem and AJ with nuance, and realize they aren't mindless monsters going after people for the fun of it. Despite the fact that Clem would easily choose to live in a world where she didn't have to worry about killing and dying, that choice isn't up to her, and I think James realizes that in the end. They're all just people trying to survive in a world full of monsters. And for the first time in a long time, he's able to tell the difference.

I don't like any theories about any women working with Nathan and Jefferson, because the plot of LIS 1 is the horrors of men, and when people try to rope women into with theories, it does kind of feel like "I can still blame a women if I try hard enough!"

And I've seen people who like "Stella was involved," "Rachel was involved," theories argue that if a women was involved that it would show how some women will pick men over other women every time. But we already kind of have a character who does that WITHOUT implicated in the horrors of what Jefferson did.

Brooke is a character who puts men over women. She would get along with Max real well, but if Max accepts Warren's invitation, she acts super catty and petty over a boy who's just keeping her as his backup option if his crush doesn't pan out. She's prioritizing a man who barely cares about her over a women she could have a genuine friendship with.

But she's not implicated in what Nathan and Jefferson do because their actions aren't the fault of women. It's their fault, and misogyny's, and the patriarchy, but it's not on the shoulders of the women around them who were also at risk of being victimized by them.

I actually love what a lot of people hate, her flaws!

Chloe isn't a "perfect victim" despite the fact that she is a victim. She's moody, and thorny when she feels hurt, and reckless, and not the full of hope thirteen year old that Max remembers.

But despite this, Chloe is still profoundly loved by Max, who still see's that thirteen year old that she left. She see's a Chloe that's a version of her that existed before William, before Rachel, and before Nathan. And because of that, Chloe is able to find that part of herself again. She starts the week and angry and talking about dropping a bomb on Arcadia Bay, and she ends it and standing at the same cliffside where she mentioned bombing the bay and asking Max to sacrifice her to save the town and people they both care for.

I really like how Chloe grows, Max's presence allows her to "rewind" and find a part of herself that seemed long gone. But I also like her flaws, because it would have been very easy to make Chloe plateable and then ask the players "Arcadia Bay, or this perfect girl?" Instead it does something more interesting and asks the players: "Arcadia Bay, or this troubled girl who Max loves more than anyone?" Chloe is loved despite her flaws, and even if you do sacrifice her, that's presented as a tragedy, not making a happy choice.

Like in LIS 2, the game tries to use Episode 3 to make a point about legal selling being bad because it would regulated by the state and put people out of business.

Then in TC, Charlotte owns a giant trendy dispensary and hands out coupons for weed.

And to be real honest, I don't really agree with the point LIS 2 makes about weed. I do get what they're saying about the government banning something and then wanting to regulate it when they realize it's a money maker, but I don't think people (Especially people who need it because of medical issues and are going to be in intense pain if their dealer stops dealing or gets arrested.) being able to get weed legally is a bad thing.

HOWEVER, despite the fact I disagree with LIS 2 on the weed subject, I still respect for standing by it's own more controversial opinion. It's doing it's own thing and making it's own point and standing for it's own beliefs. Meanwhile, I do agree with TC's framing of weed is better overall, but I also think it feels more corporate and is going for the "safe" framing of weed that more people are going to rock with. It feels very "See youths? We, the developers of TC, can also rock with the weed," while I think LIS 2 isn't trying to please everyone with what it's saying, but it is saying something.

I even think LIS 1 does more with the weed subject. Because Chloe and Max don't see it as a big deal, but the older people of the town do and Chloe is given shit for her smoking habits. So in a way they're using weed to show the generational divide and being like "See? Chloe and Max are young and have more younger people beliefs. While the town is still stuck on weed being the devils lettuce." So I think the game is making a point about Chloe being from the modern age while the town is more stuck in the past.

I feel you anon! I actually struggle to romance Steph because I'm the opposite, I want my Alex to stay in Haven, and I just feel like romancing Steph is holding her back.

And narratively I KNOW the point of the romances is that Alex becomes Steph's adventure, while Alex becomes Ryan's home. So the game is saying that Steph can be happy in Haven, and Ryan can be happy not in Haven.

But personally, I just struggle with it because I think I'm seeing it too realistically instead of from a video game perspective where these are characters instead of people. Because the game says "Steph will be happy wherever Alex is," but I as a person who knows how other people usually work think to myself "Giving up your dreams for another person is a lot."

And to be fair, sometimes dreams do change! Sometimes you think you want something, then something happens and things change, but you're happy with how they changed! That does happen, but also with Steph and Ryan's characters are so wrapped up around travel for Steph and Haven for a Ryan, a part of me is like: How long until a on the road Ryan starts wanting to settle down, and starts suggesting that maybe they could find a permanent home somewhere? How long until a stay in Haven Steph starts wanting way more than a small town can give her, and starts getting an urge to leave? In these two routes, is it inevitable that Ryan and Steph will be less happy than if they just stayed the path of what they wanted originally?

And like I said, maybe I'm just being to cynically realistic about a video game. But I JUST replayed Steph's side story, and when she was struggling during pride month because of the lack of community in Haven, I did think to myself "I'm glad I picked Ryan to stay in Haven with, because I don't know if Alex will give Steph that community feeling forever. Steph seems to want a large community, and parades, and plenty of queer connections, and that's a TOTALLY valid thing to want, but I don't know if she's ever going to get that full experience in Haven, even with Alex with her. Small mostly straight towns are still small and mostly straight even if you have a girlfriend.

Like. In the game Steph is 100% the more narratively compelling option considering since she has a whole side story about her, is a returning character, loves music the same way Alex does, and only completes her character arc if Alex romances her.

But the version of Alex and Ryan that exists in my head where the cutting rope moment and Jed being Ryan's Father matters more than it does in canon is SO good and compelling. Especially when I think of a Ryan who leaves Haven to be with Alex.

This is very cute and I love it. I love ally Kate Marsh headcanons so much, so thank you for scratching that itch!

Arcadia Bay could have pride though! I live in a small town, and we don't have like a big pride parade, but a few of the local LGBT members went out and had a small party with rainbow streamers, rainbow flags, and meet together to get lunch. I didn't go because I was busy when it was happening, but it was open invitation!