RowGames: BEFORE THE STORM AKA MORE LIFE IS STRANGE HELLA YAH!

Disclaimer: source of the game information via Square-Enix EU blog

Hello people of the interwebs!!!! Its a good day to wake up to as there was announcements at E3 that square enix is making not one but TWO NEW LIFE IS STRANGE GAMES! TIME TO RETURN TO ARCHADIA GAY i meant ARCHADIA BAY

We already know that the guys at DONTNOT announced in conjunction with the game hitting 3 million unique sales back in May that they are in the works of a new LIS game that we will not get any news till sometime next year BUT a couple of weeks ago there were leaks of Square-Enix making another LIS game, this time a prequel (yessss! this totally makes sense) to the ever so popular game which is being developed by a Deck Nine Games which, interesting... its not DONTNOD making the game but either ways if Square-Enix is willing to trust them with this beloved game franchise I don't mind it.

The most important thing (for me) about this game is that Ashly Burch aka Chloe's VA is back and while she's not reprising her voice (a little bit sad about this but I their judgements and hey new younger Chloe sounds similar) for this game, she does have a role in the writing process where she's the dialog writer for Chloe. This is kinda epic as Ashly is pretty much the perfect person to write the dialogs for Chloe given her performance in the original game. 

So from the looks of it were playing from Chloe's POV for this three episode prequel which this is gonna be refreshing as Square-Enix blog clearly gives a heads up :

"Chloe has no rewind power, so we highly recommend you think before you speak..! Chloe’s sharp tongue will require her to live with whatever she says and as before, every single action and choice will have a direct consequence in the short, mid and long term."

So ... no rewind memory remix powers here. No butterfly effect. Good luck handling super angst 16-year-old Chloe peeps looool xD But in all seriousness I'm excited to see how the game will go without the rewind mechanics as the choices in this game are so unpredictable! 

 

From the looks of the trailer, I'm assuming this event takes place sometime after Chloe's dad passed away and her mum remarries cause from the looks of the trailer the girl is in deep shit. There was a scene of her in a truck with her dad and her dad got hit, I'm gonna assume its a nightmare scene. Also since she's still 16 she's still in school, pre-blue hair tattoo days I supposed. Its weird seeing her without blue hair xD. I'm gonna say this game is gonna follow how she meet Rachel and how that helped her coped with all the shit she's going through in life as Chloe mentioned in the original game that Rachel was 'her angle' and the one who saved her. Really interested to see her interactions and their friendship.

Speaking which we finally get a chance to see and interact with Rachel! OMGASDFJKL; FINALFREAKINGLY WE GET TO like 'meet' her as I don't know about you but while we never see her in the original game I feel like we already know her well! Anyways looking forward to seeing if all those fan theories about Rachel are true. 

And lastly I didn't think they'll talk about this but we will actually have a chance to meet Max!

"We know that many of you would love to see more from Max. Due to the way in which the first game ended, we didn’t want to canonize one group of players’ choices over the other – a sentiment echoed strongly by our community. That being said, we will still be giving you one final chance to play as Max through the self-contained bonus “Farewell” episode, which takes place long before the events of Before the Storm. This stand-alone bonus episode, will release after episode 3, and is only available as part of the Deluxe Edition of Life is Strange: Before the Storm. Rest assured, anyone purchasing the complete season of Before the Storm will get the full story. Max’s ‘Farewell’ episode really is just a bonus episode for those who would like to play as her one final time."

GOSH! This i seriously didn't expect as I thought its gonna only focus on Chloe and Rachel as given how the original game ended, the cannon of the story of how Max is at that time in Seattle and the fact that for some players this might actually be their first time picking up LIS. Either ways, I'm excited for this! I'm excited to play as Max one more time even. Its gonna be bittersweet since I know where the story goes but I'm excited. 

OVERALL

If you guys stuck around this blog since 2015 you'll know this game is hands down one of THE BEST GAME I've played and that Chloe is one of my favorite characters in fiction and gaming.

From the looks of the trailer we're gonna follow Chloe as she be friends with Rachel and also cope with all the things happening in her life from the fact that she's having a hard time moving on from her dad's passing, her mum remarrying and so on. While we already know about this from the original game we only learn about this from Max's POV so its interesting to see this from Chloe's perspective. 

As I mentioned this is gonna be bittersweet given how the original game ended and from what we learned.

If you have not played Life is Strange I highly recommend picking it up as its a beautiful game with an intriguing story. Its one of those chill games that you can an episode at a time though by the time you reach episode three I promise you you'll be hooked. You can check out my review on the first episode (here) and I have covered every single episode and even did a rundown on my walkthrough on every episode I've played (here).

Also from the looks of it while it is possible to play Before the Storm before the original game since its not gonna affect the original cannon, I do recommend if you're a newbee to the LIS  franchise at least playing at least the first episode (its free off steam) to understand Chloe, her situation and personality first before jumping to the prequel.

Disclaimer: I'm gonna get a little personal about how much the game help me so if you don't want to hear my personal rambles you can X out. Thanks for reading ~ ROW xD 

 

Not only that but this game has a special place in my heart as its not only beautiful and unique for its time but it really helped me when I needed an outlet to escape the hell of reality

Do you guys remember the time where I opened up on ROWLIFE about being bullied at uni. Well its around that time when I was in deep shit in my life, harassed and bullied in my own dorm room, bullied online, struggling with my studies and not feeling safe in my own dorm room. 

Youtube lets plays was what turn to when I need a breather, an escape in from reality at the time as I also was in a read slump and the last thing I wanted to do was read a freaking book after reading a telephone book of law legislation. 

Anyways I stumbled upon Life is Strange on my favorite lets player GhostRobo and I marathon both episodes. Its watching episode 2 that gave me the push to open up first to my best friend who happen to live in the same dorm as me, second to my parents for advice, third to my dorm mate in another college who is also an RA who helped me so much to find the right people to talk to at uni and of cause the warden and resident office for help to stop this. 

Watching the game lets play (of cause later on playing the game) gave me the courage to open up when something is bothering me. This really helps as talking to someone I trust lift that burden. 

But not only that, one of the themes of this game is knowing how to let go and move on. Not gonna lie, moving on from what happen back at uni was though hence why I blogged about that in order to move on. 

Its been two years since that incident which also means two years since I discovered Life is Strange. This game really help me at the time I had no idea what to do with myself. It helped me with cope with the situation i was in but it also help me move on. It also bring a new sense of joy to my life, as I count the days till a new episode drops and spend a whole night binge playing an episode, discuss with my friends on the theories of the game at dinner, scroll through tumblr for all the awesome fan arts, head cannons, fan fiction, crackships etc. Heck I RAN (or took a bus) to EB GAMES on the day they released the special edition box set of the physical copy as i was THAT EXCITED!

To the developers making this games, thank you so much for the world of Arcadia Bay! As I say this game brings me so much joy and helped me when needed an outlet to escape! 

 

Otome Review: Ash Winters Main Story 3 ( Gangsters In Love)

   

Title: Gangsters In Love
Route:  Ash Winters - Main Story 3
Developer: Voltage Entertainment USA, Inc
Genre: Romantic Sim, Slice of Life, Mature YA, NA, interactive adventure, episodic 
Platform Played: iPad/Iphone (iOS)

Avalable on : iOS, Android

Disclaimer: CGs/SS/IMAGES belongs to voltage inc./ voltage entertainment USA or either one of this branches. Game routes purchased by me

Warning for spoilers from the route
  
If you're looking for a rough summery of the prologue I covered in my First Impressions Review Click here  which i recommend you check out to get an idea of the overview of the game or read the prologue. Also check out/ play Ash's Main Story 1 route (Review Here) and Ash's Main Story 2 (Review Here) before reading further as there will be links/ spoilers for the events that happened in the previous MS.

We start off where we left off in MS 2 as the MC learns about Ash's dark past and how it has affected him over the years. Because of this he tries to push her away as he finds the MC a distraction for him to seek revenge from Vyper. 

The Guy

This guy will give you a cavity as he is such a sweetheart even when he is being a bit unreasonable. There were times where I was waving my fist at Ash as he seriously was being unfair to the MC but then he flash those jade green puppy dog eyes making me feel bad for ever being mad at him. 

At the end of the last route we learn that someone he loves died while he was on duty as a cop. We learn in this route *warning now major major spoilers* that Emma is his little sister (WELP looks like its not a puppy nor a girlfriend) and was shot by Viper’s gang. Because of the anger and guilt over this Ash is fueled over the last 5 years of wanting to average his sister’s death by seeking revenge against Viper. It’s one of the reasons why he joined Chance’s gang (Chance is the only one in the gang who knew the full story of Ash’s past) and became Chance’s personal hitman.

I really like his development not just in this route but through the season as he's such a mysterious and hard to read character which is why I always say his both of his POV are a must unlock and read to understand what’s going through in his head. I really wish they gave his POV for the third MS but sadly (at least I can’t seem to find any) they don’t as it turns out the third MS has the traditional two different endings depending on the choices. 

I kinda like seeing this other side of Ash as he tries to push the MC away but in the end comes back to her like a loyal puppy. I also find it interesting how he is actually full of angst as he seeks revenge on Viper in order to get the closure on his sister’s death in order to move on.

The MC

I really like how this MC handled herself in the situations thrown at her through the season especially in this route. She has proved to the gang that she's a useful and even step up her game on improving herself for when the gang goes on missions. 

One of the best bit was when she insist on having a weapon to help defend herself when on mission with the gang and in the end settles for a hand grenade in the MS.  

She’s good at understanding and supporting Ash through the route especially during the tougher times where he shuts her off but also knows when to put her foot down when needed like when Ash tries to push her away saying they can’t be together one moment only to shower her with all this sweet gestures later which confuses the heck out of our dear MC (and maybe even me) as what he did was  freaking unfair playing with the MC's feelings (even if it was unintentional).

The Side Characters

I really enjoy the cast in the third MS and their interactions especially Chance and Aurora. Both of them stood out and have quiet major role in this route so you'll see them interacting with Ash and the MC while dealing with their gang business.

                            

As for Yoshimitsu and Irving... i can't help but feel like their characters are like shove to one side in this MS and in a way written off so that too many characters won't overcrowd the story. 

                                 

I meant literally they even break the forth wall when about them 'missing out all the drama and action'. 

Welp we finally defeat Vyper the baddie in this route but here's the thing... Volser??? There's another big bad???  

Last but not least we have Matoe who turned out not to be a Shitterson 2.0 (thank god for that) but now as an ally to the gang. I still don't trust him though though I have a feeling if his character keeps getting more airtime in the following season we might have another romancable character added to the list of romancable characters. Don't quote me on that but its just a prediction I have a feeling of. 

SCRAP THAT AS THIS REVIEW WAS DRAFTED MONTHS AGO AS HE IS NOW OFFICIALLY A ROMANCABLE CHARACTER AND IT LOOKS GOOD!!! 

Will I get this route?!?! maybe I will in the future or if there is sales as at the moment with voltage christmas sales going on and them pumping out more story than I can catch up with I can't keep up! 

Writing/Story

MS 3 took a dark turned as Ash's MS 1 and 2 were surprisingly full of cute fluff with some good action sequence and group banters here and there but this route was dark! Like we see Ash trying to deal with the death of his sister and get the justice and closure he needs to move on at the same time trying to push the MC away as he feels like she's a distraction to him reaching his goals. 

Once again the action scenes were well done especially when the MC and her hand grenade throwing moments are involve. 

The relationship between Ash and the MC in this route is a real a tug-a-war to the heart. Despite the angst and the 'don't fall for me' pushing the MC away moment, there were so many sweet fluffy between Ash and the MC that made me go 'awwww' every single time.

This is my first experience with an Amemix game so was a bit confuse with the ending. The third MS in the season is your traditional 'you get the CG if you unlock the super happy ending' aka the passionate ending which I didn't unlock on my first try. There is also an end set bonus where you get a cute fluffy epilogue ish story that ties in with the MS but not necessary a must read.

The 'Trilling Ending' you get a sweet confession between Ash and the MC on the beach. No CGs. 

The 'Passionate ending', it being MS3 means one thing *hint *wink *nudge xD hello sexy time :P A second to appreciate this SS. You also unlock this nosebleed worthy CG with that ^^. 

As for the 'Special' end set story. Its super cute!!! Its basically Ash teaching the MC how to shoot with 'nerf guns' and it ties in with the S2 storyline. You don't need to read the end set to understand S2 as its a bonus fluff  substory but I got it as I freaking adore Ash and the MC so I had to. Also remember the MC's phone Ash blew up in the first story??? He replaced it and was really sweet about it x. 

The route had a great conclusion to the season with Ash getting his closure yet it still leaves some questions hanging for S2 and so on like WHO THE EFF IS VOLSER or WHERE THE EFF ARE THE MC PARENTS. Ash (and all the other characters) S2 'Sinful Kiss' are out and S3 'Criminal Love' is coming soon! Really love this game and have since gotten Chance and Yoshimitsu's routes but Ash is still my bias in this game.  

Can't wait to play more of the GIL world. Meanwhile Voltage have just released a new Amemix game called 'Castaway! Love's Adventure' and ITS GOOD!!! Like good in a 'I have never seen anything like this in any of Voltage branches and I love it' way! So look out for a first impression on that as I did purchase a full season for one of the characters and am gonna make more purchases to some voltage apps are having sales on their game.

Lastly to those of you guys who were waiting for months for the last installment of this review I'm so sorry for the delay. If you have not read my LIFE UPDATE I have been busy with basically real life as a lot of stuff have been happening in the last few months hence me neglecting this blog and of cause reviewing. Anyways am back and am gonna get back on the swing of things and bring more rambly reviews to you guys. 

Rating :

 

What are your thoughts / route recommendation for Gangsters In Love?  Also follow me on tumblr (rotantrm) and the hashtag  #row plays otome  and #row plays GIL for more of my Otome rambling and game play commentary. 

Till Next Time