r/LiSReunion

So on the 4th June next month, it will be 10 years since I first saw this franchise from the first game in the series from a YouTuber's playthrough back in 2016 and my 25th birthday is also coming on the 9th June. As fitting as it sounds, I think I should at least celebrate this in some way or another as this franchise has stuck with me for so long. From starting out as a viewer, from then playing the games that were already out for myself in 2020 and then playing the games that followed after.
I already have some things I have planned to post soon to lead up to this but I would like to ask a quick question. Does anyone have any ideas on how I should celebrate this or do? Should I buy some LIS merchandise?, should I do a marathon of all of the games in the series? or what? I'm open for ideas.

So I think there’s a lot to say about the LiS franchise. In my opinion, double exposure and reunion had a lot of flaws, but I still think they were good because they made me think A LOT(especially about my own life and the way I perceive things.) I think the strength of these choice-based games is that they actually make you realize how you act in real life, how you think and behave.

Let’s take Safi for example.
In double exposure, I really liked her character, I definitely wanted to romance her with Max because I think they were such a good ship. I loved what she represented. So I always spoke nicely to her and supported her, just like I would in real life with my friends. I deeply understood what she was going through and empathized a lot with her backstory about Maya.

But at the very end of the game, I started feeling a bit disappointed with her reaction toward Max. I didn’t agree with a lot of the decisions she made, and the fact that she decided to just leave after the mess she caused, to go find other people like her and Max, kind of made me mad. I chose to promise her that I’d have her back when she came back. I figured that even if I didn’t agree with her, she was still supposed to be Max’s friend. That decision made me realize that I often support people I love just because I love them, not because I agree with what they’re doing.

Then I started the new reunion game, and I realized I was actually really mad at Safi. After all this time, Max waited, supported her, saved her life, went through so much trauma for her…just for Safi to hide? And mess with Max the whole game?

At that point, I completely stopped trusting her.
And oh my god, don’t even get me started on Safi being mad at Max for choosing her fate. I mean, I get why she was mad, but at the same time… I really don’t.

By the end of the game, I didn’t even want to empathize with her anymore. When she begged Max to run away, or to go with Chloe, I saw how desperate she was not to be alone. I felt bad, but I stuck to my position: I didn’t want her in Max’s life anymore. She still survived the lighthouse in my playthrough. I convinced her to stay. Because at the end of the day, she just made mistakes and didn’t deserve to end like that.

Then I went on Reddit and TikTok and realized most people didn’t agree with my choices and were way more empathetic toward Safi than I was. All of that made me reflect on how I act in real life with others.

I think it made me realize that I tend to cut people out of my life the moment I can’t handle their mistakes, and that I might not communicate enough with them. Most of the time, I make decisions I don’t even agree with to protect the people I love until I don’t. Just like when I told Safi I’d have her back no matter what… until I didn’t.

These kinds of games are therapeutic. Even if you don’t like the story or the graphics, they make you question yourself how your actions have consequences, and how you can improve to be better. It even feels like “social training” sometimes. A lot of my social anxiety has improved thanks to LiS games.

I’ll miss Max and Chloe so much.
I can’t wait to see what’s next!

So I finished RE and heres what I liked and didnt like about it:

LIKED: Default answer here goes to CHLOE IS BACK. It was nice to see and hear her again. I know it was her BTS actress but still. Having Max and Chloe back doing their partners in time routines was the perfect ending to Maxes story. Do I need to say anything more than the boat scene? This game just made me cry more and care more. Moses and Chloe becoming friends was not what I expected but needed. It was so fun investigating the Abraxsis house mystery. The final confrontation with Safi had my heart pumping like a train. The white realm they were in made it so you knew nothing mattered at that moment besides the words you chose. I cried when they saved her. I finally felt like abraxsis had meaning since they didnt do much in DE. I think this game trimmed the fat a lot better than DE too. The music was impeccable. ive been listening to the soundtrack nonstop.

DIDNT LIKE: I guess I didn't enjoy the side characters in RE that much either. Vinh and Amanda were even more useless this time around. I didn't really care about the story of Lakeport. It wasnt bad but I don't think they did enough to get me hooked on that besides to just make that one bartender a suspect. Another thing I didn't like was Owen. Hear me out, I liked his involvement with the Abraxsis house and the youknowwhat that they found but his New Caledon 2.0 shtick was something I was not interested in. It was like they wanted to do a classism or arts vs science story but it didn't resonate with me. I also dont understand how the timelines merging still works..

Overall: I give this game 9/10. It felt like a true successor to Life is Strange and not just because our girl was back. The plot, the music, the vibe, all felt like the LIS we fell in love with. The ending was perfect. I gave Max the photo and she burns it herself. I teared up because I think that was one of the easier choices Max has had to made. When I say easy I mean she's not going to beat her self about it as much now. She's grown so much. I liked RE way more than DE but I highly recommend any new players to grab the DE and RE combo pack. These 2 games felt like an epic conclusion to Max.

Chloe was clearly having a blast messing with Safi.

https://preview.redd.it/9tb2mkbhytyg1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=834ea88d3a0aef5cae6a0b44a07de975ec56f265

https://preview.redd.it/xds3lxgjytyg1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=fc23d8963f06186e03d0da56293b1c70f6a96619

(Disclaimer) This isn't me defending Safi's Reunion story as I still think she got done dirty anyway. However, I think I'm now starting to understand the entire angle and I think it makes total sense given to everything we know.

First off, We know Diamond eventually left Caledon to meet Safi for their search to find others with powers but we later found out that Safi's plan had failed because they couldn't find anybody. With this being the case, Diamond probably got frustrated with what they were doing and she might have got into an argument with Safi and more than likely just ditched her leaving Safi alone to fend for herself. Diamond ended up doing her own thing which is why she wasn't in Reunion physically and away from Caledon.

Apparently Ivy (The woman she was posing for a large portion of the game 😒) was someone who was romanticly involved with Safi probably within that time frame and had seemed to have broken down quite quickly.

Safi's troubled past and mental health was already an issue from what we learnt in Double Exposure and I guess all of this just made it worse.

She came back to Caledon for Max's help originally because of the overlight visions but she also probably just wanted to see her which was clear even if you supported her or not (dialogue and slight changes taking effect). The picture that she showed to Max regarding Yasmin and Abraxes was most definitely not the only thing she came back for and that's more than likely the case.

She was so sure she was going to find other people with powers and she ended up with nothing. Diamond probably leaving her and the apparent short relationship with Ivy were all triggers for her alongside the visions. The girl would have been a mess at that point.  She went back to Caledon thinking that it was going to be a 'walk in the park' for her, but she arrived back at the worst possible time with everything that was going on at the university. This is probably the reason why Safi was so persistent and desperate in wanting to leave with Max and/or Chloe.

And that is why she didn't want to be alone anymore. She just wanted her friends....
She just wanted to have someone who was there for her.....

Do you think there's some weight to my theory? What do you think?

Goals: Find someone who looks at you the way Max looks at Chloe while she's sleeping.

Sweet Dreams

I won't pretend Reunion is perfect. It isn't. It's too short. The story is very simplistic. It could have been SO MUCH MORE. BUT, the Pricefield vibes are real. I missed these two together.

To be honest I got bored and decided to compare random place in these two games. Warning, Overlook is not normally reachable location in Reunion, mod has to be used. Imo thats the reason for a bit unnatural character lighting in Reunion.

https://preview.redd.it/5vnrldhe7fzg1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c58b99b1e8bf243c16e1169e69d172504be3a79

https://preview.redd.it/rn8r47ie7fzg1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=49abb453fd16eaa176ed9bcfb1ba43fc918d2d55

https://preview.redd.it/1anxjdhe7fzg1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=208cfd4f224006e0f38af3e82a1ae4c5b83a18ae