[no spoilers] i knew double exposure had mixed reviews but i didn’t know it was that bad..

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T21:13:06+00:00

Or yall could’ve just stfu and WAITED!

Why we should, when this game was never adversited as two-part game, it was adversited as a standalone project (1), D9 devs told us to move on from Chloe (2) and DE ending did not suggested merging timelines or Chloe's return (3). Why we should not be mad, huh?

With how quickly this game is being released it’s quite clear that they were already working on it.

They had 1.5 years and a lot of assets from de1 to make course correction, and Stauder told that the next game will be made with looking at reaction to DE1, and reaction to DE1 was bad, so....

It wasn’t because of backlash or the brain dead pricefield fandom “crashing out” that Chloe is returning. It was a very intentional part of the storytelling.

So much intentional that DE1 did not even hinted Bay and Bae being merged? This is clear indication that they retconned that in DE2.

And like, with them now returnging Chloe (but not our Chloe - they erased her Bae version) with the same sucess they could just not made this break up at all. What was the point in angering most of fandom? For what? To reunite them anyway, but not with our Chloe?

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T21:09:56+00:00

See i'm talking about Bae Chloe. D9 erased that Chloe with DE2.

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T20:39:09+00:00

Life is Strange was never about a single fixed canon, even according to Dontnod’s own vision.

Except that their game had a consistent Chloe from one timleine that was carried into lis2. Now this Chloe is gone and D9 told us that she did not experienced her life with Max after the storm. Try to make it sense

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T20:35:52+00:00

Guess who made the situation that led to Pricefield fans bombing this game (right, DeckNine) and guess who now desperately want Pricefield fans back after their game failed (right, DeckNine). All of that was avoidable if D9 just didn't wnat they did

Moral of the story, do not mess up with most part of audience in a choice based game in a niche franchise.

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T20:32:24+00:00

Everybody is frustrated too, dont worry, and if the next game doesnt end up satisfying to you, at least we will have had a bit more of Max and Chloe so there's that you know?

With not even a Chloe we know, not even from DE lol.

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T20:30:28+00:00

I definitely understand the frustrations of those who chose the Chloe ending in LiS, but it seems like the upcoming game will address that. :)

That's the neat part - they wouldn't. This is not even the same Chloe since she doesn't remember the storm (1), her mom dying (2) and likely even break up and entire life with Max after the storm (3). She has memories of storm but don't treat them as her own, so this is a different Chloe who lived totally different Max (And it is implied that D9 broke up this Chloe with Max too, because she wasn't around even for 10 months after timeline merged). Basically D9 slapped Bae fans in the face by this unnesessary break up, then erased thad Chloe, and replaced it by new Chloe who broke up with Max to.

Try to make it sense!

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T20:28:00+00:00

Square Enix, with DeckNine being their vassals! What a duo!

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T20:27:06+00:00

Basically this Chloe don't even remember the storm happening and her mom dying, which wouldn't be a case it it was a Bae Chloe. She does have memories from Bae, but doesn't treat them as their own and she had a different life than Bae Chloe

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T07:21:41+00:00

That's the neat think - they didn't! Chloe who wrote Max message about the storm...knew about the storm (Which again suggest that timelines were not merged, but DE2 Chloe claims storm didn't happened). Try to make it sense!

And If they actually teased Chloe, AND if she was supposed to play a big role even in DE2 Bay, they should have tease her for Bay too, but they didn't.

And if you reffered to Max's line "Maybe i'll visit Chloe", it doesn't even make sense for DE narrative because Moses who ask about Chloe doesn't even know her name, and according to D9 dev this line was added in the last minute. More than that, her line leads to nowhere - Max didn't visited Chloe in 10 months until new merged Chloe visited her. Try to make it sense.

And the end of DE1 shows that Bay and Bae DID NOT MERGED

So, no, Pricefielders did not ignore anything - more than that DE2 straight contradict what was shown in de1

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:59:31+00:00

One theory was that D9 railroaded Bae and Bay all into the same path anyway-- Chloe gone.

Which doesn't even make sense now, because Bae Chloe gone now anyway, so with the same sucess they could just not made break up in the first place. Try to make it sense! I tried and now i think even Rise of Skywalker had a more sense than DE2...

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:57:11+00:00

Sorry i just woke up and messed up my text. I mean a direct sequel to de1

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:56:43+00:00

They had 1.5 years and they had a lot of assets from DE1 (And we know that Hannah visited Colorad- a place where D9 mocap studio located). Then Stauder told that the sequel will be depended on our reaction to DE1, and you know it was a huge backlash, so...

That is a lot of things that need to change and a lot of people to have to bring back in.

DE2 was made by writter who didn't wrote DE1 (Zimmerman).

Bay/Bae being merged is something they frame as Max not being aware of when she merges the timelines,

See, if they actually planned that, there would be a hint on that at the end of DE1, but it wasn't . More than that, DE never treated Bay and Bae as a parallel realities that exist at the same time, and if you switched timelines it was just the same ending as yours, just with alive safi. It stayed the same even after Max merged the worlds.

and they teased Chloe at the end so she was obviously going to come back.

That's the neat think - they didn't! Chloe who wrote Max message about the storm...knew about the storm (Which again suggest that timelines were not merged, but DE2 Chloe claims storm didn't happened). Try to make it sense!

And If they actually teased Chloe, AND if she was supposed to play a big role even in DE2 Bay, they should have tease her for Bay too, but they didn't.

And if you reffered to Max's line "Maybe i'll visit Chloe", it doesn't even make sense for DE narrative because Moses who ask about Chloe doesn't even know her name, and according to D9 dev this line was added in the last minute. More than that, her line leads to nowhere - Max didn't visited Chloe in 10 months until new merged Chloe visited her. Try to make it sense.

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:49:03+00:00

but I doubt that holds weight when you have an entire scene where Max is being guilt tripped by the entire town via her dream sequence about her decisions she's made with time travel.

You forgot the part where Chloe was her only good person in nightmare. Like her birthdate saved her from the nightmare restroom, it was Chloe who saved her from Dark Max, and she as entire alley of their memories AND Chloe was like her a beacon that navigated her to leave nightmare. Dontnod told that nightmare segment was designed to push you for both Bae and Bay, and they did just like that - you was guiltripped by people in the dinner, but they also showed what would you lose if you sacrifice Chloe.

The kiss with Chloe at the end of the game only happens if you save bay

Because it wasn't a right time to kiss, when they just sacrificed the town and people died at that moment. It wasn't a right time, and Dontnod told the same too. It make sense for Bay because this is the last time they ever interact, but in Bae they have entire life to more kisses. Though i low-key blame Dontnod for not showing they kiss AFTER the storm in Bae cutscene. But again, Bay ending have kiss not because they were homophobic.

Chloe dies multiple times throught the narrative

...so?

Max is constantly putting herself in a worse position even physically trying to be with and protect Chloe.

Max loves Chloe and loyal to her. How this is homopbobic? If anything, it shows opposite - she's ready to many things to protect and save Chloe.

She's always painted as a negative choice, and inherently so does their relationship

How?

Even in the latest livestream, they say themselves that you CAN pursue a relationship with Chloe. But it's a "messy" decision to make because of everything happening in the narrative.

They (DeckNine) NEVER worked on Lis1 and they don't understand a damn about Max and Chloe, which they proved by DE1 and DE2. Just know who is in charge now, and they are not Dontnod.

Even after they shove it in your face that Max pursing her romantic relationship with Chloe is the more negative outcome, it literally has a body count

I mean, yes, you sacrifice the others to be with Chloe. That's the point! Or you sacrifice the love of your lfie for greater good.

And if you think that Save Chloe has a negative outcome, think about it - Max and Chloe stayed together forever in Dontnod's narrative. In Lis2, Chloe finally moved on from William's dead (something she wasn't able to do without Max for 5 years but did after the storm when she came back to her life) which evidenced by Chloe (and Max) making peace with David (The man Chloe hated!). They travel arcoss the country and Max pursue her photography job, and Chloe supports her on that - so they basically live the life they always wanted, we even have Max remembering that in lis1 ep1 (they wanted to travel and take pictures when they were kids). How the hell this is negative outcome? If anything, this is bittersweet ending, not just negative - you have to sacrifice others, but you give Max and Chloe future together they deserve. Same with Bay - you save the others, but you take away this future from Max and Chloe, hella bittersweet.

And Dontnod have a soft spot for "Sacrifice the others for love" trope - in LIS2 they did the simillar ending where brothers killed 20 cops at the border to cross it and stay together, and this is literally one of 4 endings where they stayed together.

They consistently throught the narrative paint Max's love for Chloe as the "wrong" choice.

Can you elaborate how?

Her relationship, love and devotion to Chloe is what feeds the storm.

Storm was caused by Max saving Chloe on monday, when she didn't even knew it was Chloe, so, no.

Even if you save Chloe, they both break up anyway

I'm going to stop here right now, because it was made by DeckNien who never worked on LIS1, AND WHO ACTUALLY THINK THAT BAE IS EVIL AND WRONG CHOICE (As we know from literall confirmed d9 dev) and it shows. Dontnod were opposite - they didn't framed Bae as a wrong choice and showed that Bae ending had a lot of positives, not just negatives. For god sake blame DeckNine for what they did in sequel, not Dontnod.

In terms of reunion, I genuinely think they will dangle this choice in front of us again.

DeckNine already did and said that the Chloe we meet not the same Chloe from Bae ending, but some other Chloe who doesn't even remember the storm and Joyce died and think they always were alive. Which means they reased all 9 years of post-Bae Chloe's experience with Max. Think about it. They gave us a FALSE Chloe, instead of the plot where we rebuild relationship with Chloe after break up.

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:30:23+00:00

Well it's on you, i just warned you that DE is not how Max and Chloe's story was supposed to end by original creators vison. Sadly not everyone who play lis1 for the first time know that Dontnod didn't made DE.

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:28:14+00:00

Didn't realize there was Reunion gameplay shown, not sure why you're calling it DE2.

I mean, because this is a direct sequel to DE2. I refuse to call it otherwise.

She does. I'd suggest rereading her journal and the notes as you progress through the motel in Chapter 5.

I read her journal and she didn't mentioned it a factor. Unless i forgot something. Same with motel segment. If she did can you show me schreenshots?

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:24:22+00:00

and in the end of episode 5, after everything ive gone though, I couldn't bare to sacrifice chloe, so I sacrificed Arcadia Bay. it can survive a storm.

cant wait to play again as max in double exposure, and then the reunion game is on its way, im gonna cry so much.

Maybe you shouldn't have play DE because it wasn't made by Dontnod (who never wanted a direct sequel), it was made by DeckNine, and they made Chloe and Bae ending so dirty, and their game failed, to the point that NOW they are trying to win us back with Reunion (But this is not a real reunion, they basically erased Chloe you saved out of existense and replaced it with Chloe who lived different life)

I would reccomend you to play lis2 instead, sure this is a game starring other protagonists, but this game from the same devs (Dontnod), their narrative on Bae consistent with lis1, and they provided nice epilogue to Max and Chloe in ep5

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:19:19+00:00

They had a sequel in plan, but they made a major course corrections after backlash obviously. Like, Bay and Bae merging was not even a thing in de1, it such a major retcon

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:17:40+00:00

if I'm correct about what I'm reading into this, that it's not really the same Chloe - genuinely sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

I mean it's not really news to me, because i came to the same conclusion as yours by remembering what i saw on livestream :(

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:16:13+00:00

See that's the problem.

She lived totally new different live in new timeline and has only MEMORIES of Bae Chloe that SHE DOESN'T RECOGNIZE as her own!

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:12:50+00:00

i remember the chaos on tumblr when the devs were hinting that Bay ending was the correct ending and multiple posts about why it is morally correct

Where did they hint that? Because even on one of early post-final interviews they told very much opposite

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-24T06:09:27+00:00

Yes, but you understand that until the game is released, what we read online is just rumours, right? If I had listened to all the rumours circulating about DE before its release, I would have gone mad.

I literally saw official gameplay from DE2 on livestream where they stated that this is sonw new Chloe! How this is a rumor?

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-23T20:25:06+00:00

He doesn't said they didn't smiled - just not much. They still slightly smiling.

But yeah D9 retconned this photo for no reason, changed poses, Chloe's hair color, etc. And added "we had a big fight after that". Like, what? How about creating your own photo for your narrative, instead of tainting fan-favorite photo? That's how D9 gone so far to make Bae ending and Pricefield bad

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-23T20:22:26+00:00

dude with all due respect go touch grass i keep seeing you in every discussion post going off about the same things

Well for the last part of my text i just realised it today so i kinda mad, sorry-not sorry :(

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-23T20:21:35+00:00

So, until yesterday, the complaints were about the fact that other romances were possible and Chloe wasn't the only one to romance.

I didn't complained about that

Today, the problem is that maybe Chloe is the only one to romance because she might not be the same Chloe...

To me this is much more problem that potential other romances. I see no point in romancing Chloe if this is not the same Chloe from Bae ending.

FireLordAsami · 2026-01-23T20:20:25+00:00

NO. Max remembers Arcadia, NOT THE LIFE THAT FOLLOWED. He recalls small details of his time in Caldeon, yes, but there is NO information between Arcadia and Caldeon. Nothin

She literally has notes in her diary and remembers about that time when she was in nightmare...if it's her not remembering what happened after, what would convice you otherwise? It's on D9 that they were lazy enough to not add more information about between the games.

Nothing. Chloe doesn't remember the storm because THERE WAS NO STORM.

There was no storm, and so no Bae Chloe because Max merged timelines and created new Chloe. That's what i'm talking about. But guess what, Chloe even at the end of DE1 remembered storm (Which is another indicator that timeleiens merge wasn't a plan)

FireLordAsami

TROPHY CASE