Topic: Pure Xbox Game Club Double Bill - Banjo-Kazooie / Solar Ash (Apr)

I'm guessing everyone who was going to play Life is Strange has done so already as there hasn't been much activity in this thread for a while.

I might kick off the next month a bit early and update this thread at the weekend unless there are any objections. Might be good to have a bit more time to play Mass Effect. I know it's shorter than its sequels but I'm guessing it's the sort of game where you can get embroiled in side content quite easily.

Also, I might actually join in for Mass Effect! I'm done with my playthrough of the Yakuza games on game pass and my PS Plus sub runs out next week so I am just playing and finishing a few games from that this weekend. So yeah, I'll be commitment free game-wise!

I am still not sure I will join for next month. I played ME for the first time in 2019 and it is my favourite in the series (I actually liked the very RPGesque gameplay as on PC my sniper rifle was a Monster!!). It is kind of early to play it all over again but maybe... I have just started today nier 1.22... and I will think about if after that I guess

@ralphdibny I have already started Mass Effect, is it just the first one we are doing then? That will be handy if so, I will be able to catch up with Bioshock 2 for the other team.

I have played the first Mass Effect about a dozen times, but this is the first attempt at insanity difficulty. Going straight in with a new character too, should be interesting.

I finished Life Is Strange a while back, fantastic game. Funnily enough, I played Guardians of the Galaxy just before, coincidence it was last months game lol

I've one final chapter of Life is Strange to finish although I want to go back to chapter 4 as I missed lots.
I started Mass Effect a few month ago and stopped for no reason so this will make me get back into it.

I finally started Life is Strange: True Colours, although on seeing Steph at the beginning I realised I've not played LiS: Before the Storm yet so I might bash that out really quickly first. (I have played, and liked, all the others to varying degrees including Tell me Why)

Having been away and far too social recently I'm bunkering in this weekend to revert to my inner antisocial gaming nerd so should be able to get through at least one, if not both.

My initial thoughts were mostly all positive I got up to when Alex hits her brother so still early days. My only criticism and it was the same with the first game is the use of music with the characters just feels they are trying a little too hard to be cool with it all, for me cool is usually effortless, and it feels a little forced almost a bit cringy at times. Still that's probably pretty representative of normal life right? and it's a very minor thing that didn't stop me enjoying the first game at all.

Lastly a little sneaky tip on games leaving Game Pass
Did you know if you put your console into offline mode you can keep playing games after they leave the service? I mentioned that I was trying to finish FFX before it left on 15 May, I didn't quite make it, but I thought i'd try putting my console offline to see if I could keep playing, and it turns out I could.

However there are a few caveats.
1) You don't appear to earn any of the achiemvents even when you go back online and it locks you out.
2) Obviously as you are offline you can't do other online tasks like Rewards, Quests, online play etc.
3) You can only do this on your primary console and I believe you need to go back online every 30 days.

I don't think this is some giant loophole but it might be useful if anyone is ever very close to finishing a game but won't quite make it, like me.

@jarvismp Matt, thanks for sharing a part of your story. It's great to hear this game resonated with you so strongly and always nice to discuss how this shared hobby of ours affects our lives. It's not sad at all, but a wonderful thing, kudos to you for being so open and honest.

Looking forward to experiencing the rest of the game and discussing at length.

Haha I know you normally finish the monthly game within the first few days but I think playing it 4 years before it's announced must be a new record!

Kidding of course, and no worries. You are still welcome to join in on the discussion if you've played it already.

@TuckNorris85 yeah it's just the first one, maybe we will get around to 2 and 3 in later months but perhaps not. I think we've only played one game and it's sequel in this thread over the last couple years which were Psychonauts and Psychonauts 2

Nice one on the head start! I am going in completely blind as I've never played a Mass Effect game before. Really looking forward to it as I'm a massive Trekkie and it comes highly recommended by other Trekkies.

@lookupmore @themightyant i might still update the thread early if that's cool just because it's the weekend and I have a quiet day at work today. Can still discuss Life is Strange even if the thread title changes.

@ralphdibny Yep no worries. Played half of LiS: Before the Storm last night, it's only 3 chapters I see. To be honest I started off not loving it. Chloe is so damn angsty, I just wanted options to get her to chill and be nice, which weren't there. And it has the same thing of trying a little hard to be cool. But by about half way through the first chapter I was won over and fully engaged in these characters and their story. I know many say it's the least good of the games (it wasn't made by Dontnod) but i'm enjoying it. Should finish up tonight and get back onto LiS: True Colours for the w/end, just about in time.

Looking forward to Mass Effect. I haven't actually played the first one since it's release in 2007. It's one of my favourite game series, so i'm hoping it doesn't sour that memory.

However I do have a slight issue and was wondering if anyone else has the same. I feel like my head canon is the right one and i'm not sure if I want to change that and muddle it in my head, I often have this issue with branching games.

That said I do usually play games like this twice - one thorough paragon playthrough (MaleShep) and one shorter renegade playthrough (FemShep) - but there's enough difference in playing a different sex, different personality, different team mates, different decisions that I can separate the two in my head. However i'm not sure I want to muddle that further and am tempted to make the same choices.

On the flip side i'd love to give FemShep a proper go. I chose MaleShep on release day without giving it any thought and without knowing Mark Meer vs Jenifer Hale was a mismatched battle. But with saves continuing across games I mained the stock Paragon MaleShep through 1-3, with my mean b*tch FemShep being a quicker playthrough on each game. She has no real friends, uses everyone to get what she wants and everyone dies. lol

Anyone else in a similar position or have a problem with branching stories and personal head cannon?

@themightyant yeah I have the same problem with games "where you make your own story and therefore it is infinitely replayable" as my choices don't change next time around as I chose what I feel is the right decision. For instance I replayed the Witcher 3 and just tried to change a few things the outcome was not to my liking first time around (bloody baron, loosing Triss, etc)

@ralphdibny hehe I am all forward for Guiness records!!!

@themightyant is there an actual difference between the male and female playthroughs or is it just how you played them? I was thinking of playing as the woman. I don't really know much about it, I guess you romance people, can you romance the same people whether you are male or female?

@ralphdibny you will love Mass Effect if you like Star Trek. Honestly, it is one of my favourite game series, this must be the 12th time i have played it at least, could be more to be honest though lol.

@ralphdibny I played the trilogy as the male but I believe the choices are the same or very similar so the difference should come only from the choices itself. Regarding romance you can pretty much go for anyone (almost)

@ralphdibny There are certain characters you can only romance if you are the male Shepard and ones you can only romance if you are female Shepard. There are only three romance options in the first Mass Effect, so that's simple. Kaiden for FemShep only, Ashley for MaleShep only, and Liara for either one.

@ralphdibny as @KilloWertz said there are differences in romances depending on the character you are interested in's sexual preferences. You only get very limited options, choice of 2, in the first game anyway so it's not a huge deal. And there's only one correct choice and she goes both ways

But it makes no real difference to the rest of the story. The biggest difference is that the actress playing Female Shepard, Jennifer Hale, is an industry legend with a much wider range than Mark Meer who played Male Shepard. Though he does a good enough job, he's not awful, and damn it he's my Shepard!!!

As you said it's more the difference of how I played them, I have a fixed story of how events played out in MY head and changing to be a Paragon female Shepard and changing choices would be like someone rewriting a book I love, it just feels a little odd whenever i've done it, not sure I want to do that. A little stuck on what to do, but glad i'm not alone @Balta666

@Balta666 @KilloWertz @themightyant hmmm interesting. I have had a look at the romance options now too. Not sure really, I normally but not always prefer to play as women in games where I have the choice and the praise for Jennifer Hale's performance has me leaning that way. However I am tempted to play as the male character. I suppose it might come down to me deciding on the character select screen. Might depend on what I can make them look like assuming I can customise the character. I want to make the right choice for me as I suspect I will play 2&3 and take my character with me and I also suspect that I will only play these games once.

Finished Before the Storm a good game though Chloe frustrated me with her angst, understandable perhaps considering her difficult circumstances, but still grating at times. However I loved the story of her and Rachel and that there were some truly difficult moral decisions to make especially the one at the end. My main complaint is that, depending on your choices, it doesn’t quite make sense fitting in with the first Life is Strange. E.g. In my play though Chloe and Rachel were very much a couple and yet in the first life is strange she’s a bit of an afterthought and Rachel had a relationship with Frank, who she met here, but apparently didn’t know. It doesn’t quite work, a continuity error perhaps. Still a a good game I enjoyed.

What completely blew me away was the bonus episode with Max and Chloe as younger kids, showing Max’s last few days in Arcadia Bay, before she went away. There was a wonderful childish whimsical nature to it, similar to Captain Spirit, until the death of Chloe’s dad. Didn’t expect to be sobbing into my cereal but there I was. Truly wonderful art.

And onto True colours. Similar emotions again at the end of Episode one, should have seen it coming but Gabe’s death hit hard. Into episode 3 now and loving it, the town feels like a community. Will report back with full view once finished

I resumed my Guardians of the Galaxy playthrough and beat the game. At first, I didn't like the incessant chattering and the confusing gameplay and controls but the more I played it, the more I liked it. You reach a point when you naturally assess every new situation, considering the abilities of the team that you become familiarised with. Controls start to make sense and upgrades make finding collectibles and exploration more fun. Battles are like in Xenoblade Chronicles, chaotic but with underlying strategy. Reading the compendium is necessary because even if you have watched the films, there are lots of new things in the video game, most of them from the comics. So, at first, I didn't like it very much but then I loved the game and I think it deserves a solid 9/10.

@Clankylad that is an interesting point. I think I did well but I may come back to see the reactions to a different outcome.

@Clankylad Before the Storm That's a fair point. It's also fair that we don't know all the info, much is second or third hand, so some of it is connecting the dots. I felt that Rachel was potentially very flighty, a free spirit, whatever was treat of the month then move on. While he was a creep, in my playthrough at least, perhaps Eliot had some of that right. She was a good actress and good at getting what she wanted from people, much like her father. I thought that Rachel loved how Chloe made her feel versus Chloe who actually loved her for her. Although there was a bit of that too for Chloe, they helped each other out of a hole at a tough time. On the flip side Chloe could be intense and had abandonment issues from her Dad and Max, it's not a huge leap to think she could be jealous as we saw a bit in in LiS when she found out about Frank.

This is all part of what I like about Life is Strange in general, well rounded characters who we love warts and all. No one's perfect. Most of them feel far more real than your usual VG fare.

Maybe I'll go back and deliberately ruin the play, I think I got it right, Victoria certainly thought so and sent me a bitchy text .

Back to the actual game True Colours. Finished Chapter 4 last night. Honestly I was a bit disappointed with the cliff-hanger, though I kinda saw it coming from the start. With such a small cast SOMEONE 'good' had to turn and be a big-bad. But Jed turning on Alex seemed all too predictable, he was painted as a hero by all and TOO nice. I knew about Typhon buying the bar for him, but it just still seemed a bit lazy and predictable on the writing front. Perhaps that will make a little more sense by the end once I find out what is buried and what Jed's specific angle was, but it just seemed a little cheap to have him shoot, and presumably intend to kill Alex, felt heavily against character. A bit deus-ex machina, though maybe I missed some hints.

Loving it regardless.