26.0 hours played
Written 29 days ago
I absolutely loved LiS 1. BtS and Captain Spirit were nice prequels that I appreciate. LiS 2 completely blew me away in every way and subsequently managed to beat LiS as my favourite game in the franchise. It was very obvious to me almost immediately that True Colours wasn't developed by Don't Nod--overall that game is a mixed bag.
Double Exposure is a downright insult to LiS 1 and the legacy Don't Nod created. (And no, I'm not a Pricefield meat rider--I thought they were better as friends and Chloe's absence is actually one of the less important issues of this game.)
I actually can't believe this game exists, it takes everything that makes a LiS game special and throws it out the window.
SPOILERS AHEAD
After what happened in LiS 1, Max should never have wanted to use her powers again, it doesn't matter if you sacrificed the bay or Chloe. Obviously she should want to avoid a repeat of that at all costs, but no, when she finds Safi's body, she's like "if I could rewind and save you, I would" like ???????? Hello???? Max???? Did you just forget EVERYTHING that happened???? It is LITERALLY the SAME situation as Chloe, so Max KNOWS what the consequences of saving Safi would be, does she want another storm????
And yes, for everyone who chose to sacrifice the bay, Chloe "Max, I'll always be with you, forever" Price left Max. Yeah, because that makes sense. But they wanted to bring Max back, so we have to retcon that ending as well I guess.
Even if you ignore that fact, Double Exposure still doesn't make sense if you sacrificed the bay. Unless of course you're implying that Max would just continue to rewind time to save all her friends any time something happened to them and just let every town she did so in get destroyed by another storm before she just moved onto the next???? That's so stupid, but apparently Max just doesn't care about what she KNOWS will happen if she messes with time.
This idea is pushed even further when Max just refuses to shoot Safi and they go into the storm. But apparently the storm in Caledon was a light breeze because it barely did any damage in the end at all? And everyone survived? I literally don't understand this, it makes no sense and completely undermines the point of the storm in LiS 1.
Also, that whole nightmare sequence doesn't make sense. Apparently it wasn't even a nightmare, but ACTUALLY happening, even though that's not what it was in the first game. In this game, Max implied that the storm is what caused that, but that isn't accurate. The nightmare sequence in the first game was caused by her messing with time, and it wasn't actually happening. It was just that: A NIGHTMARE. In DE, it all felt like a cheap attempt to try and imitate that scene from the first game, but this one just felt lazy and pointless. Especially since Max just gets off scot-free at the end, since the storm does nothing and then just disappears.
I didn't think it could get worse, but then we got that joke of an ending. In my opinion, one of the things True Colours lacked was ending diversity, it's all pretty much the same. This game takes it even further, player choice literally doesn't matter at all. Nothing matters, since the story always leads to one point, and it's not even an ending, it's a setup for a sequel. That's terrifying, because I could see what they were trying to do by that point--what I could subtly feel the game turning into when they first revealed that Safi has powers: Some sort of Avengers initiative.
D9 have completely missed the point of what a LiS game is meant to be. It isn't about the powers, it's about the PEOPLE. Ordinary people who get thrust into strange situations, with a little hint of supernatural on the side. The focus shouldn't be on the powers, it should be on the situations brought forth from said powers and how the characters navigate through that (as LiS 1 and 2 did). But no, now suddenly Max isn't the only powered-person in this game, and they plan on bringing them all together.
Only the protagonist (or one of the protagonists e.g. Daniel) in a LiS game should have powers. When you introduce others, it takes away the story and turns it into something else.
For the first three chapters I couldn't find a single reason beyond blatant cash grab as to why they brought Max back as the protagonist, and the last two chapters just completely destroyed LiS 1's story and the LiS universe as a whole.
On top of this, all the characters are incredibly boring and forgettable and Safi has nowhere near enough screen time given how important she is to the story. She basically does nothing for the first 3 chapters and then when she actually becomes involved, I'm suddenly supposed to care for her the same way I cared for Chloe? They also tried to make Maya Okada the new Rachel Amber, but without any of the interesting parts. They pretty much just slap her, Safi, and all the characters in your face and expect you to suddenly form some connection with them.
Also, one of MY biggest issues: I hate the way D9 formats their LiS games. With Don't Nod, it really felt like they were telling a story episode by episode, which made every episode impactful, beautiful, and left you wanting more. It feels like D9 just made the whole story at once, and then went back and randomly cut it up into 5 parts without even trying to make each beginning or ending impactful. There's often no music, no end credits, and no cinematic scenes. Just boring cut offs that they expect you to ignore (this includes True Colours). Just remove one of the best parts of the LiS franchise, I guess. And what ever happened to the cool evolving menu screens? D9 made BtS, and that game actually felt faithful to LiS 1, so I'm confused as to why they decided to be completely unfaithful going forward after that.
I joined the franchise very late (played the first game last year) but apparently people have always wanted a direct sequel to LiS 1??? And everyone thought LiS 2 was terrible????? Ya'll deserve to step on lego for those opinions, because they have definitely played a part in D9 pushing out this steaming pile of trash. A direct sequel to the first game could NEVER work, because there's no point. The story ended there. Don't Nod literally said they thought Max's story was complete, so bringing her back could only do harm. LiS 2 was a perfect break off from the story of the first game while still entirely capturing the magic I felt playing it. But no, apparently everyone just wanted more Max and Chloe and so LiS 2 didn't perform well enough to make Square Enix happy and then they demanded the franchise "return to its roots" or some shit. Delusional request actually. LiS 2 WAS the perfect sequel to the first game. You got insight into some of the characters 3 years after what happened (even Max and Chloe if you chose the sacrifice bay ending) without undermining their story at all or feeling forced or taking away from the new story being told. People should have been happy with that, but now it's too late and LiS 1 has been ruined.
I can only hope that DE's numbers were so abysmal that they just scrap the moronic idea of the sequel that they threatened us with. Because if not, I fear they'll just throw everything away (even more than they already have) for this stupid Avengers idea. And I'm 90% sure that would include trying to bring back Daniel and Alex, which would just screw over the story of those games as well.
TLDR: This game is a blatant cash grab that destroys Don't Nod's legacy while simultaneously pretty much ruining any chance at another decent LiS game in the future. LiS 2 is criminally underrated and I'll never forgive everyone who shit on it and asked for a direct LiS 1 sequel because they definitely contributed to this. If ya'll want a good LiS-like game just go play Don't Nod's Lost Records: Bloom & Rage.
Lowkey hit the max word limit l so I gotta stop here. Anyway, at the end of the day, this is only my opinion.
