#pricefield breakup

[mydastouch]

Spoilers for Life Is Strange: Double Exposure

Please read before you filet me. Now… don’t kill the messenger but I am absolutely not surprised Chloe and Max breakup in LIS:DE. And I say this as someone who chose Bae over Bay and love Max and Chloe (individually) with allllll my heart.

For starters, they had a LOT - and I mean A LOT - of unresolved trauma from their past. I’m specifically talking about Max not talking to Chloe for five years after literally leaving town once Williams funeral was over.

It’s not Max’s fault she left but she was wrong for not staying in touch with Chloe. Again, I say this as someone who also sucks at staying in touch (it’s a big big character flaw of mine).

Next, the fact that for Chloe to live means everyone - including her fucking MOM - had to die. Suddenly and horribly. In a storm. That came from nowhere in their point of view.

There’s NO WAY both Chloe and Max don’t hold major guilt from that. Chloe with survivors guilt and Max with just guilt period. And the fact that they would have started their relationship right after that… how can a healthy relationship form with that as the foundation.

Next, Max has a habit of using her powers to kinda manipulate situations to go her way. In the game AND in the comics. And from what we have seen: she doesn’t stop doing that even after the storm. Chloe literally cannot SEE a future with them together because she doesn’t know if Max went back in time or not.

Im not saying Max is a manipulative sociopath - of course not - but, damn, isn’t that just a bit fucked.

It’s not like Chloe is innocent either. She pushes Max to use her powers so much, is selfish and abrasive, and lowkey guilt trippy AS FUCK in LIS.

I love them both down individually but together.. I’m just surprised they lasted more than a few months.

Last but not least, the game kinda centers on Max trying to have Chloe stay alive. It’s actually insane how many times my girl Chloe died and my girl Max had to rewind time to save her. It’s almost like the universe was saying “Hey Chloe gotta go” imho.

Now, if you were in Max’s shoes, you would probably choose your loved one over the town in a heartbeat. However, even with this ending the situation is still fucked and I’m not surprised at all they broke up.

They needed space from each other and their past. How can they do that when they’re trauma bonded?

(Again I love them down individually and they had many cute moments but let’s be realistic y’all. Life is Strange and life is ass)

(Also also some of y’all clearly have a bias towards Chloe that is kinda blinding you from the reality. I will agree though that them breaking up over a letter is fuckeddddd and unrealistic)

[goodfellowe]

how we feeling baers

[stringcage]

They did not break up because this is just an objectively in love thing to do 🙂‍↕️

[hersterical]

My observation of the lis fandom is that those who view the pricefield breakup as it plays out in de as in character generally views Max choosing Chloe over the town as the basis of their relationship

while those who view the break up as it plays out in de as out of character generally views Max and Chloe’s friendship as the basis for their relationship

[friendlyneighbourhoodlizard]

okay but WHAT IF chloe is actually going to be a central part of the narrative again and they don‘t want to spoil too much yet? we were freaking out about how max powers "just changed" and then decknine revealed that her powers changing is actually going to play a big role in the mystery and is not simply going to be swept under the rug, so i think there‘s a point to be made regarding chloe‘s absence - we barely know anything about it so far and maybe there is a good reason for it

[pochapal]

another day another decknine career suicide move. sad for them.

[fire-in-my-woods]

I'm guessing the person you're talking about is crimsonxe. This is not that weirdo's first rodeo. Just ask the RWBY fandom's critical tag. This person has been a menace in fandoms since 2016.

Bro has absolutely nothing better to do i guess LMAO

[nicole-ashwood]

Chloe’s fatal flaw and greatest strength is that she loves too much too quickly and too passionately. The reason PriceField is so sacred is because in Max she finds someone who feels the same way.

Having a breakup occur is admitting you don’t understand this and that you fundamentally don’t understand the characters.

Some relationships break.

PriceField doesn’t.

[5ivers]

this is how the pricefield breakup went

[thealexchen]

thoughts on LIS: Double Exposure?

This is probably gonna be my hottest take in awhile, but: I deeply dislike the idea of an official LiS1 direct sequel game existing. Excluding all my thoughts on the gameplay, story, Max's character, etc. I don't think a game like Double Exposure is necessary.

This isn't a new take either; back in 2020 I made a Reddit post saying I was glad we never got a continuation of Max and Chloe's story, because in order to have a plot, you have to have conflict. And to have conflict means your characters are forced to change or struggle in some way, and I simply wasn't interested in seeing that again. I never even read the comics. As long as Max and Chloe's future existed only in the fanbase's collective imagination and not in an officially licensed game, Pricefield could be as happy as I wanted and I wouldn't have to witness DN or D9's version of canon.

A lot of fans, including myself, are also confused and upset as to where Chloe could be in Double Exposure. Even if Chloe winds up having a surprise role, it would likely be too logistically difficult to write Chloe into one version of the story and not the other. Either way, DE is strongly pointing to Chloe no longer being the deuteragonist. If D9 was going to make a direct sequel with Max and Chloe, I could at least be intrigued by how they might write their dynamic and how they'd use Max's power in new and interesting ways. But instead there's... none of that. Chloe's nowhere to be seen and Max can't time travel anymore.

On a narrative level, Max and Chloe are the heart of the original Life is Strange. They represent the game's central relationship, and their very first interaction (Max saving Chloe's life) kicks off the entire story. Throughout the story, their dynamic advances the plot and mutually motivates their character arcs. You can't have LiS1 without either Max or Chloe; the story simply wouldn't exist without them. Now in DE, they don't even seem to be in each other's lives anymore. It's true, this series is meant to reflect universal feelings and experiences, which could include breakups, but the romantic catharsis of Pricefield as canon soulmates who defied time and space itself to stay together forever is something you can only get from the beauty of fiction. To jab DE's story with a dose of reality and go, "Eh, they grew apart. Shit happens," totally undermines everything the Bae ending stood for.

On a technical level, Max's rewind was an objectively brilliant game mechanic. LiS1 arrived onto the scene after Telltale had paved the way for the resurgence of choice-based, episodic games, but LiS1 totally reinvented the wheel by giving the player the option to go back and weigh each option before continuing, essentially save-scumming in-game. But the right choice was never that easy to determine, and Rewind brilliantly complemented Max's character arc of overcoming her indecision and learning to live with her choices. Not to mention, you could also use Rewind to solve puzzles, instead of the endless fetch quests the later games had. No other LiS game since then has given the player that kind of agency and interactivity. LiS2 had telekinesis, but the player couldn't use it, only Daniel. D9 tried with Backtalk and Empathy, but Max's Rewind was truly the narrative and gameplay jackpot that they haven't been able to recreate since.

So if you take away one half of the central relationship that made the first game so memorable, and the supernatural power/game mechanic that made it so fun to play... why even bring Max back at all? It just feels like D9 threw away their golden opportunity to build upon the major selling points of the first game and are only relying on name recognition of the Life is Strange "brand" and Max Caulfield.

What upsets me most of all about a direct sequel existing is that it proves that Life is Strange, as a series, now stands more for profits than originality. Life is Strange will always be an IP meant to make money for Square, I know that, but back when LiS1 was just a brand new episodic game, it stood out for how different it dared to be. In a landscape saturated with shooters, sexualized female characters, and casual misogyny, LiS1 instead featured a teenage girl in a contemporary setting that took her seriously and made her the hero of her story. Before it was a franchise, LiS wasn't concerned with the bottom dollar; it was a piece of art that just wanted to tell a thoughtful, unique story.

Whether you love it or hate it, Life is Strange 2 was an insanely risky follow-up to Life is Strange that refused to rely on the convenience of a direct sequel because Dontnod stuck to their artistic vision. Meanwhile, all of Deck Nine's games have leaned on the first game's following to generate interest (BtS being a direct prequel, TC bringing back Steph, and Wavelengths expanding on Steph's connection to Chloe, Rachel, and Arcadia Bay). In other words, all of the subsequent LiS games by D9 have played it very, very safe. It's worked like a damn charm because there are still elements I love about each game, but the basic principle is nostalgia-baiting fans. It's just that now, Double Exposure isn't hiding that nostalgia bait at all anymore and prioritizing profits over telling a unique story. It's sad to see that LiS has strayed so far from its risky, daring, original, and unique artistic beginnings.

Before I end, I'll say that I can't be too cynical about it all, nor do I want to be. Because I can't deny how much joy this whole series has brought me, too. LiS was what got me into narrative adventure games and pushed the boundaries of what a video game could be. If nothing else, I am truly thrilled that Hannah Telle got the chance to play Max again. D9's always been great at maintaining relationships with their actors, and the casts of their games always have consistently great chemistry. Getting recognized by Erika Mori on my own blog is still unbelievable and speaks to the amazing community that LiS has built. As you can see, I'm still posting and reblogging stuff about Double Exposure. And while I don't see myself buying or playing this game for myself, I know it'll keep all of us talking for awhile, and I still live for a good discussion.

Thank you for asking! And thank you for reading.

[gabiisfics]

No, thousands of posts talking about Warren are not enough for me, now I know what you Pricefield fans are feeling, No joke, I'm completely devastated that they reduced Max and Warren's beautiful friendship to this.

Max would never say that about him, especially about someone who might be dead (Since the dialogue doesn't change if you choose bay or bae)

Sacrificing Arcadia Bay is not only painful for Max because it kills thousands of people, but also because his friends are there. Everyone is there in Max's nightmare, caring about her so as not to let them die with countless lines like dana "I'll never be able to dance again" Yes, Max will always suffer the loss of Chloe or her breakup, but she will always love those people whose lives she used her powers to make a little better.

[dalekofchaos]

I wish fans were more concerned that D9 cultivated a toxic work environment, rampant sexism, homophobia and transphobia and protected a Nazi than Chloe's omission or a Pricefield breakup

[maxthesillyy]

i hate the pricefield breakup as much as the next guy— but i would be lying if i said i didnt enjoy the ‘pathetic, sopping wet, divorced, never got over their ex’ trope mixed with max’s obsession and unwillingness to talk about it.

[hersterical]

I just wish that the pricefield breakup had more of the vibes of the Nick/Jess breakup in New Girl

like “We may have been the right people for each other but it’s not the right time.”

And

“before we were in love we loved each other as friends more than anyone else and I really miss my friend so no matter how badly this relationship crashes and burns and no matter how uncomfortable, weird, and even painful it gets, I am going to fight for this friendship with everything I have.”

Then maybe we can have little hints of their continued friendship and even have like, a saved voice message or something from Chloe not long after the breakup where she’s like “I really need to talk about this to someone but the only one I want to talk to is you so I’m going to do that and just pretend that I’m talking about someone else because I just really need my first mate right now.” And then the voice message goes on for like another two hours (Chloe fell asleep about an hour into it and the rest of it is just Chloe snoring)

Then if you’re not romancing either of the two new love interests there could be even just a single text message that hints at the possibility of Max and Chloe getting back together at the end of the game

[dressthesage]

My biggest beef with Double Exposure breaking up max and Chloe off screen isn't even about the breakup itself. Like, yeah blah blah blah I ship pricefield whatever, but it's more like a massive red flag that this is a desperate, lazy cash grab.

Like I actually really love the stuff we've seen of the new love interest in the new game. The story itself, with max removed, seems pretty cool actually. I love the idea of a murder mystery plot where you bounce between universes where it did and didn't happen. That's a really cool idea that I would love to see a game of!

The problem is none of it feels Max Caufield. Even if you want to try and justify it by the shit max did in the last chapter of game 1, that was max time traveling to various points of her own life and then popping back up in the present of the world after her changes. Unless it turns out max is the killer, it just doesn't track the same.

It feels like they wrote an entirely separate story for a new mc and pushed Max in as an after thought. Genuinely, if they'd put a new mc in the game I'd be overjoyed for it. Like they wanted to use Max for the marketing pull but didn't want to make one ending canon or put in the work to write a story about a longstanding relationship already in progress. So they just broke em up so they can write another "new couple coming together" plot that's way easier.

Like it or not, Chloe Price is an essential element of the story of Max Caufield. Max's powers being time travel are a clear expression of her wanting to make up for her mistakes in the past, mostly around the harm she did to Chloe by abandoning her. Chloe's death is a result of max abandoning her because she wasn't there to help her friend when she was needed most. Max's devotion to saving her is based on that guilt and the fact she still loves her best friend. Sacrificing Chloe is Max admitting she can't undo the harm she did but trying to stop from hurting others. Sacrificing the bay is her saying she is WILLING to do whatever it takes to make up for her mistakes and make things right with Chloe.

Even if you wanted to do some exploring of what it means to break that kind of bond with someone, you don't do it BY HAVING THEM BREAK UP OFF SCREEN. Lazy, hack, spineless bullshit is what that is.

If you have something interesting to say with a change in direction for a character, have the confidence to stand on it. If not, then either leave it the fuck alone, or put in the work to follow the core of a story to its faithful successor.

Idk, if it really knocks folks socks off I may give it a shot but all I'm saying is this feels like a big warning sign that the team making this sequel kinda don't give a fuck.

[chloepleasestopdying]

And anyway: I do agree that a pricefield breakup is possible and in character if done right. My problem is that I don’t think they’ll do it right.

Plus I’m a firm believer that even if they do break up they’ll always end up together at some point.