How to Stay Cool Without A/C

A lot of Northerners were very kind during the freeze in Texas this winter with tips on how to stay warm for people who had lost heat. This is an attempt to repay that favor for people in the Pacific Northwest and other northerly locations who are facing dangerous heatwaves without built-in A/C. My qualifications to give this advice are that I was a summer camp attendee and counselor with no A/C for many summers in humid-ass central Texas with highs over 100F basically every day. Hopefully some of it will be of use to somebody who isn’t used to the heat.

1) PUT ICE WATER IN YOUR BODY. Ice water is your best friend and the #1 way to drop your body temp. Drink more than you think you need (like, at least a half-gallon a day and closer to a gallon or more if you have to be outside doing manual work all day) to cool your insides down and stay hydrated. Have some bananas, trail mix, or a sports drink to help replace the electrolytes you’re sweating out and keep you from getting cramps, but try to have most of your fluid intake be water. I used to take a giant water bottle, fill it part way with water, and freeze it on its side so the ice would slowly melt over the course of the day and my water would stay cold longer.

2) PUT ICE WATER ON YOUR BODY. Cold water, ice, or a damp rag on your head and neck, the backs of your knees, the insides of your elbows, and under your armpits will help you cool down the best, because your blood runs close to the surface in those places. Cold packs designed for injuries or lunchboxes, bags of frozen vegetables, etc. can substitute for ice water as well. Even room-temp water will pull heat away from your body better than body-temp sweat will, especially if it’s humid, so if you don’t have enough ice, the sink, bathtub, or hose will do fine. Dipping your feet into cool water helps a ton as well if you have to sit and work and don’t want your clothes to be wet.

3) WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO GET SO MUCH ICE?  To make sure you have enough ice to last you the weekend, especially through a potential power failure, I recommend getting a cooler (even one of the cheap styrofoam ones is fine in a pinch) and ~10lbs of ice from the big coolers at most gas stations, drug stores, or grocery stores. Try to do this now, before anybody loses power, and store as much in your freezer as you have space for to keep it from melting. You can use it for drinking or to keep your food cold in a power failure. You can use it for a party later if you don’t end up needing it during the heat wave, but you will probably be very happy you had it.

4) AIR FLOW. Being inside a room with the windows closed is the worst possible place to be if you don’t have A/C, because glass windows create a greenhouse effect and the hot air can’t escape. If at all possible, find a shaded place outside where you can catch any possible breeze. If not, open all your windows and, if it’s safe, doors so you can get a cross-breeze. Hopefully you have window screens to keep pets and kids in and bugs out. If not, you’re gonna have to do your own risk assessment. Fans of all sizes and descriptions are your friend; ceiling fans should be set to spin counterclockwise in summer. Even if you have A/C, finding or making a handheld fan will be worthwhile for when you have to venture outside. If you aren’t in a situation where you need to conserve ice, blowing air over a cooler full of ice will give you a makeshift A/C. 

5) SHADE. You will probably immediately notice that direct sunlight is a miserable place to be when it’s super hot. Find or make a shaded location, and don’t be afraid to move around to avoid the sun as the day goes on. Stay on the shady side of the sidewalk whenever you walk someplace. Try to shade your windows as best you can without obstructing airflow using blinds, curtains, shutters, etc. especially if they’re directly in the path of the sun. Do not be a jerk to your neighbors if their shade solutions are ugly. If you can get a shade for your car windshield, I highly recommend it, as the steering wheel, dashboard, seatbelts, and even seats can quickly become too hot to touch in a sealed car and will hold that heat for a long time.

6) CLOTHING. Light-colored, loose clothing that is as close to 100% cotton or linen as you can find is your friend. It doesn’t necessarily have to be short as long as it’s breathable. You will sweat through anything you wear, so I personally prefer only wearing machine-washable stuff. Sun hats, sunscreen, sunglasses, aloe gel for sunburns, mosquito repellent, anti-chafing supplies, etc are all worth looking into if you aren’t used to spending time in the heat.

7) TIMING. Try to stay out of the sun and avoid doing anything strenuous in the middle of the day when the heat is the worst. If you have a choice, plan to be more active early in the morning and late at night when the temperature is more bearable, and take a break in the middle of the afternoon.

Here’s a graphic from the CDC about how to recognize heat-related illnesses and what to do about them. I will add to this that if it’s hot and you stop sweating, you are getting to a dangerous level of dehydration and need to drink something BEFORE you start having more serious problems.

This is absolutely stunning!

It is! Sad but beautiful! Thank you for sharing your art :)

White allies and white leftists and liberals need to read this.

In regards to posts about racism or intersectionality with race involved you MUST listen. Not respond. LISTEN

What I have seen so many white “allies” do is add onto posts (my own included) to put their own thoughts and opinions. In some cases take the words of the original poster and try to “translate” what is being said to other white people.

You are ACTIVELY taking away the voices of poc and speaking over them when you do this. When you tack on your own personal anecdotes or try to to give a definition of what a person or color is saying you are in the simplest of ways insulting their intelligence

I have multiple posts on this site talking about racism and there is ALWAYS a white person ready to reblog it with their own commentary. You are NOT helping. And you are being micro aggressive

Your job as an ally is to uplift our voices. Not add your own.

Please sit down with yourself and ask yourself why you feel the need to insert yourself into a conversation that does not need your opinion. No matter if you agree or not.

Please save your thoughts and opinions for the tags. This isn’t a blackboard discussion class

This won’t get as many notes as my other posts and I know this but I still must say it because it’s so very aggravating and honestly very rude

To other Asian-Americans out there, I hope you’re doing ok mentally and staying safe physically in light of recent events. To everyone else as well, please remember a few things as you support Asian-American communities

- This is absolutely no reason to talk over BLM or pitch either communities against each other. We need to be uplifting of one another against white supremacy. Know that the phrase Asian Lives Matter, while with good intentions, does the same harm as All Lives Matter. Promote these phrases instead when possible: StopAsianHate, TheyCantBurnUsAll, AsiansAreHumans, ProtectAsianLives

- Remember that there are regions outside of East Asia—most of the victims in Atlanta were Southeast Asians. SE Asians often face more racism and are even more heavily underrepresented in media, they deserve full protection and support as well. Blasian (black/asian) people exist as well and they should not be overlooked either

- Refrain from insensitive phrases along the lines of “if you like anime/kpop/vocaloid you should be paying attention” because you should not need a reason to care about human lives. Not only do these usually refer exclusively to East Asia media, our worth isn’t based on how much our content entertains you

- And remember that while I am referring to an incident in America, be mindful that racism against Asians does not only happen in the US. Anti-Asian racism has ridiculously spiked in Europe as well (within the UK, Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Germany to name a few countries specifically) as a result of the pandemic

Okay, so I might be shipping trash, I’m pretty sure that’s well established by the fics I write, but I’m going to gush about Marshfield a lil bit. I started a replay of LiS since I need to play video games to start healing from my concussion, and just holy crap I totally missed this when I first played.

First off, Kate is basically the only person Max actually knows and spends time with other than Warren, and unlike Warren, she actually has physical contact with her (as seen after you stand up to David).

Max basically doesn’t know her classmates outside of her bullies and Kate. Hell, Stella doesn’t even know her name.

But Kate? Kate texts Max to ask when she’s free to have tea, and Max can offer to spend time with her to ‘have a cup o’ tea and bitch about life’. For someone as socially anxious and introverted as Max, willingly offering to spend time with someone is a huge thing. She didn’t offer to hang out with Warren and watch the movies on his flash drive (which was probably what he had been insinuating they should do when he first gave it to her) and she clearly has very little else to do with her classmates.

Why Kate though?

Kate, as a person, seems driven to help others. We know she’s involved in Meals on Wheels and she’s eager to help Max when asked in episode 4. Now picture Kate on move in day, nervous about starting a new school where she fully expects to be mocked for her faith, and a girl who seems equally if not more anxious starts moving in across from her.

Kate’s urge to help kicks in, she sees a lonely, lost soul and she reaches out. Just meeting for tea. Low key, somewhere of Max’s choosing and with a set activity. For someone with Max’s particular mental health struggles and implied neurodivergence, that sounds like a lovely combo and a way to actually make a friend, plus Kate’s kind, nonthreatening appearance and demeanor don’t hurt either.

Jump forwards to LiS. Max frets that her inability to not answer Mr. Jefferson’s question makes Kate look back by association, and later Kate expresses concern about Max, remarking that she looks pale. These two care about each other, even if Max’s tendency to hole up in her dorm room makes it so she’s largely unaware of the rest of Kate’s social life.

And then there’s standing up to David. Sure she has the time power backing her up, but standing up to people, directly and verbally, is so out of Max’ comfort zone. Sure she had to indirectly stand up to Victoria when she was physically blocking her path, and the player can choose to have Max give Victoria some payback when it’s one on one, but when Victoria has her friends, that’s not an option. And David’s an authority figure on campus, he can cause serious problems for Max, and yet she can stand up for Kate.

And then just… look at her face when Kate is thanking and praising her for her actions.

Just look at that dopey little smile and that shy posture!

This, to me at any rate, is the posture of a girl who just impressed her crush and is riding high on those endorphins.

And that’s not even getting into how Max’s tone of voice is subtly softer when she’s talking to Kate, or how Max pulls out a new power to save Kate like she did to save Chloe.

I fully expect that if Chloe hadn’t come crashing into Max’s life like the blue haired wrecking ball she is, something might have eventually happened between Max and Kate. Or maybe in a post Bay world if they reconnected after Max bailed on Blackwell.

It also says something about Max that she’s had like three tea dates with Kate and now considers Kate her friend. Admittedly, part of this has to do with the fact they rewrote the LiS timeline. There are multiple clues about this - for instance, Chloe’s truck repair bill is for I think the 17th of October, and the Vortex Party literally happens three days before the start of LiS, but Max comments on Kate being unhappy for “weeks” and her church disowning her. In three days. (Also, two Vortex Club parties within a week of each other?)

But by condensing that timeline, it definitely gives Max an even greater baby gay vibe. She is falling for Kate without even realizing it. And then Chloe comes roaring back into Max’s life and she is drawn into a whirlwind. 

Unfortunately, I don’t see Marshfield as a byproduct of Sacrifice Chloe. Even with Kate by Max’s side, Max won’t ever dare tell anyone what she went through. And more… Kate is a visible reminder of Max’s own experiences in the Dark Room. Much as Kate isolated herself, Max is going to isolate herself because she sees Kate and hears Jefferson whisper “always take the shot, Max,” and because she left Chloe alone for all those years. How can Max ever be around people again? She doesn’t deserve friends. She doesn’t deserve anything. She should have died on that bathroom floor, not Chloe….

And with Kate going through the shit she was going through? It might be easier to just let Max go quiet. She’s going to be going through her own shit, what with allegations against Jefferson and Nathan… and Max just falls off of the radar. Until one of two things happens.

First? Jefferson gets out of jail. If he does, for whatever reason, you may end up seeing Max vanish. Jefferson wanted Max, and given the chance he’ll go after his target gladly. And second? Max finally deciding “okay. I can’t do this anymore” and jumping off the cliff or overdosing on Benadryl or the like. 

While Dayeanne Hutton (VA of Kate) doesn’t think it likely that Kate survived the Storm, I like to think she did. While Kate might have been born in Arcadia Bay’s medical center, I think her parents were in a town outside of Arcadia Bay due to the fact Kate lived on campus, but we had several students (like Justin) who didn’t have dorm rooms but still attended Blackwell and likely were locals. And Kate mentioned that her parents were going to pick her up from the hospital on Friday morning. Seeing that storm clouds were gathering that morning, Kate’s parents likely rushed her out of the medical center, hoping to avoid driving in the rain. 

Kate would be heartbroken to hear about the Storm on the radio, even as her parents were grateful they avoided being trapped in Arcadia Bay. But even in her misery knowing her friends were gone… she’d be given a glimmer of hope when she learned that Max was safe, thanks to her blue-haired punk friend dragging her to safety at the last moment. She might even be bemused to learn that Victoria Chase, of all people, also survived the Storm… and horrified to learn how Victoria survived and that Victoria was also a victim of Mark Jefferson.

After the events in LiS? I like to think that Max and Kate kept in touch. Whether or not Max ever admitted her crush on Kate though… that I’m not sure of. And I suspect Kate only ever really saw Max as a friend (and later angel in saving her) but still cared greatly for her friend. No doubt when Max and Chloe eventually tie the knot, Kate will be there as one of Max’s bridesmaids, if not her maid of honor. 

Meh. I’m rambling. Anyway, thank you for your thoughts :) 

I just wanted to throw in something in defense of Marshfield to consider. If we had a Bay ending, I really don’t think that Max and Kate would avoid each other, or let the other one go. They are absolutely going through their own shit, you’re right about that. However, they both survived a similar trauma. This could lead to avoidance, but that shared trauma could also be really comforting to both of them. Victims share an understanding, and being with them and accepting what happened can be extremely healing.

It could end up exactly like you described. I hope that Max never commits suicide in any universe, but that would be a very likely ending if she fails to communicate. I doubt Kate would ever let that happen, though. Max saved Kate from jumping off of a building. Even with everything else going on, that fact remains. They are bonded for life as Kate wouldn’t even have a life if Max wasn’t there for her. That would be an extremely difficult bond to break no matter how ugly things got in their world.

But that’s just it. Max didn’t save Kate. Kate never ended up on the top of that roof. Chloe was shot and killed before any of that happened. And that alters the entire dynamic… especially as the Max who was around Kate during the first week after Chloe’s death was not the Max who is at the funeral. That’s beta-Max (a nickname I adopted from a rather enjoyable fanfic), or auto-pilot Max as others have called her. 

Max goes from sad about Chloe’s death and not getting to see her to despondent. She went through a week from hell that her other self never experienced… and her pain is going to be more intense because it’s more immediate. She experienced Chloe’s death. Her old self “wakes up” and hey, that girl is dead and it’s Chloe. No. This is a Max who murdered Chloe. And she’s going to believe she deserves everything that happened to her.

Can Kate get that Max to actually reach out? I honestly don’t know. Because this isn’t the Kate that Max knew either. The Kate she knew threw herself off of the top of a building because of harassment. This Kate forced herself to be “together” for the sake of her friend who’d lost a friend… but her mother at that point had already disowned her, her church had refuted her, and given how society treats rape victims, I honestly don’t see any of that changing just because Mark Jefferson got brought in for questioning. And that assumes Jefferson stays in jail.

After all. In Life is Strange 2, if you chose to kill Chloe, David Madsen is worried about Nathan getting out of jail and planning on murdering him if that happens. But honestly, how could Nathan ever get out of jail… unless Rachel’s body was never recovered. Officer Anderson Berry did state he’d do anything to get out of the debt his family owes the Prescott family. Warning Prescott of Nathan blabbing about the Dark Room and Rachel’s body? That’s well within his power. If the evidence from the Dark Room is taken before the police get a warrant and Rachel is dug up and hidden elsewhere? Then Jefferson may escape charges entirely… and Nathan is only in jail for manslaughter. On appeal he might get that overturned as self-defense.

The moment Mark Jefferson walks back into Blackwell Academy, Max is out. I don’t know if she kills herself at that point or is expelled for making a scene or what, but she will be gone and Kate won’t have any real contact with her (and we already know Max will just not contact people - her friends from Seattle never hear from her, Chloe never heard from her… why should Kate?) until she hears about the sad suicide of Max Caulfield.

That’s why for me? Kate’s best chance of survival and remaining a friend of Max’s is in the post-Storm setting. Her parents were going to visit and likely bring her home at that point. At any event she’s in a medical center and those are built to survive even storm strikes so I think it far more likely Kate survived the Storm than not. And upon learning Kate survived the Storm… I can’t help but think Max would keep in touch with a distance friend this time around.

I disagree that Officer Berry tampered with evidence, in the image we see of the timeline changing, David is with them when they raid the bunker. He saw all the evidence, so if Berry destroyed or tampered with it, he’s toast.

If anything, Nathan is probably likely to avoid serious jail time because his confession was almost definitely part of a plea deal. He spilled everything for a much reduced sentence, on top of assuaging his guilt and gives them everything they need for the big fish. Judging by the sheer number of binders, and where Jefferson’s career has taken him, the FBI are getting involved and they are going to nail him to the wall for all the counts of kidnapping and who knows how many felony murder charges for his victims who died or killed themselves.

That said, I think the reason Max just up and left Blackwell is because she gave up on her dreams. Her photography was so tainted by it’s association with what had happened that she can’t bare to pick up a camera again.

And like I said, if she ever bumped into Kate again, she might see it as another chance to make amends with a friend she abandoned, this time without the storm in her future. Or maybe she sees staying in touch with Kate as a way of not repeating her mistake with Chloe and stays in touch, not wanting to abandon a friend again.

I can also see Kate tracking her down in an effort to try and help her, given how driven Kate is to help people in general and Max in specific. It’s not like finding people is particularly difficult in the modern age, especially with Brooke and possibly Warren helping her out. Maybe there’s a fic to be had there?

I tend to imagine Max committing suicide after Bay in one of two scenarios:

I’m not convinced Jefferson’s going to be let out pending trial, at least not without a lot of surveillance. The evidence is pretty clear that he’s going to be a risk - especially when (a) the Prescotts are going to be throwing him under the bus to make sure he’s on the hook for Rachel’s murder and not Nathan; and (b) at least a couple of the other girls or their families are going to be suing the shit out of him.

As for how Kate and Max get back into touch, Max could try to seek out Kate and repent of her past sins with Chloe, or she could withdraw into herself in a self-destructive spiral and Kate might need either a lead or some additional impetus to track her down and start an intervention before it’s too late. One impetus might be that Max’s withdrawing is expressed in patterns that Kate recognizes in herself, but even then it’s not clear if Kate realized as early as Monday that she was actually in danger of killing herself, so that alone might not be enough… [EDIT: to finish the thought here, it might take more impetus because Max may well have left Arcadia Bay entirely while Kate would still be busy with her own classes and scholarship… she’s here as an illustrator and her “main” art teacher isn’t Jefferson so that part of her classes would be largely unaffected]

The thing is, if Max has her powers, it’s already established that they won’t let her die. Every time that potentially happens in the game, the power forces her to rewind.

Which when you think about it, is even more hellish for Max if she decides to try and take her life, her power undoes it.

You’re not correct in that. Max can die of drug overdose. She can only Rewind so far. So if she overdoses on drugs, she will die. In fact, I believe there is a Nonstandard Game Over in LiS if, after David gets taken down by Mark Jefferson, Max doesn’t Rewind before Mark Jefferson reaches her. He burns down the barn and flees the destruction of Arcadia Bay in the rain.

The instances that we get a Forced Rewind are not moments when Max is about to die. It’s moments of intense personal risk. For instance, we have Frank going after Max for stealing his keys, or moments when Chloe is about to die or having just died. Or, for that matter, Max not answering a question correctly in the classroom in the first chapter of Life is Strange itself.

I’ve never encountered that, every time Jefferson was about to overdose Max, the rewind kicks in and forces it to be undone. So presumably the rewind would kick in as Max is trying to take the overdose, as it’s a moment of intense personal risk.

That’s not true, otherwise Max would never be drugged in the first place.

The moment the drug enters Max’s system, it is a part of her. The moment the needle goes into Max and the plunger is being pushed, then the needle will contain less drug because Max is carrying the drug in her person. And the more Max is drugged the less she can Rewind. The Rewind could “save” Max with three or four Rewinds, but each time she’d be more and more drugged until finally she is overdosed and will die no matter what.

Now let’s take pills. It takes a couple hours for these to take effect. The moment she has taken them, she cannot Rewind them away. Thus the Rewind cannot save Max from a drug overdose. It’s been shown in-game by the Rewind mechanics.

I’ve tended to interpret the freeze-force-rewind thing as voluntary on Max’s part - it’s always in response to (a) things she can see coming and (b) something where she would not do anything other than rewind. I don’t think the involuntary surefire total rewind happens in the game at any point other than the first time Chloe gets shot. (I didn’t want to respond to Rainboq’s point at first because I kinda got fixated on how to circumvent the force-rewind as presented and that led to a few - not nice - places)

Damn. You know, you’re right, @riotouseaterofflesh - I never realized that, but every instance of the Forced Rewind, Max is conscious of what she is doing. It may be a “split second just-before-dying” moment, but Max is doing this herself. And being unconscious would prevent her from using the Rewind.

Most curious…

Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod?

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3c8cDUP

by SufferingIsAChoice

Chloe has moved on with her life. Then a call comes, David is dead, and she has to deal with that. Minor Pricefield. One off ventfic.

Words: 1373, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3c8cDUP

🦋  Max knew she was very close to Chloe when she reached the trail of all their moments frozen in time. So eerie yet beautiful. And Max knew that following every frozen moment would lead her to Chloe, to a Chloe unfrozen by time. Seeing all these moments frozen walking through a fragmented world was almost like walking through a museum of her and Chloe. Moments shared between just the two of them, put on display for just her and as she walked by each one she would hear their voices echoing both close and far away at once, the words they’d shared in each moment all around her, even though they remained frozen. Walking through that trail, reliving each moment, hearing their words echo back to her… Max knew it was all Destiny. Destiny she had been brought back to Chloe, Destiny she had been in that bathroom, Destiny she had rewinded time to save her. It was their destiny to be together. Destiny that their bond had gone beyond best friends, so much deeper and intense. Max knew, somehow, that their love for each other was what created this mysterious and hauntingly beautiful path of her and Chloe frozen in time, a path that would lead her back to her unfrozen Chloe. And when she neared the final frozen moment, she heard Chloe crying for her to wake up and Max knew more than ever that this was all Destiny.   The Second Frozen Memories in Time 🦋  The Third Frozen Memories in Time 🦋 

…As Max nears the final frozen moment, the frozen memory in time, she hears Chloe’s voice. It’s not her voice from a memory, but her voice right now, calling to her.  🦋  Come on Max, we’re almost there! Please wake up! Max, can you hear me? Hang on, Max, we can make it! Listen to me! Max! We’re near the lighthouse! Wake up! Dammit, Max, don’t let me down! Max, come on now! Don’t worry… we’ll be okay.

🦋  The First Frozen Memories in Time 🦋  The Second Frozen Memories in Time

Alright this is from this video commercial filmed in 2013 called xPhobia for italian Cornetto Algida ice creams, they did a lot of short movies to promote and this is just one of them.

I found myself looking for it cause I had watched it back in 2013/2014 and loved it a lot when I was younger, the aesthetic and vibe stuck with me but I had never rewatched it and only remembered it vaguely so I thought why not?

The thing is uhm this is crazy similar to Max’s character design like so similar it’s almost well...hella strange but wait cause it gets better

Her room is filled with Polaroids, okay

Her and the love interest meet like this, uhm reminds you of something? And his car too...

Going on...

Later her and this lad actually go to a junkyard and it gets romantic, idk since this was filmed in 2013 it cannot possibly be inspired by life is strange but the first picture like her haircut and the style, the bag, the shirt she had with the damn deer shirt it’s just kind of freaky, not to mention the junkyard! And her name is Marie which is tbh not even too different from max. Even tho her personality is more like Chloe. But still.

got any theories? or does anyone know something?

You can find the link here: https://youtu.be/2A1ee8Vz6kw

i know i post a lot about racism and other fetishy/orientalist themes in Star Wars media, past and present, but in light of John Boyega's most recent interview, as well as previous statements from Kellie Marie Tran, i believe that now is the time, now more than ever, to hold creators, writers, and directors accountable for this:

and this:

and one of the best ways you can do this, especially if you are not a fan of colour, is to boost the voices of people of colour who are speaking out against this. listen. learn. provide space and treat others with dignity. stop praising creators for being inclusive when they only give crumbs of diversity and fall short of true inclusivity and proper representation. use your platform to elevate voices of colour instead of drowning out the cries, even if your own cries are well intentioned

sometimes the hardest part about being an ally is knowing when to be quiet

Workout For Daily Life

Reblogging for the neck pain ones… whoa Nelly, do I ever get the most killer neck pains.

Everything you need to know about Daniel in Life is Strange 2

As we approach the #JourneysEnd, we wanted to take some time to deep dive on one of Life is Strange 2’s most important, but also most misinterpreted systems. We hope that this added insight will help guide you in your decision making as you start Life is Strange 2 either for the first time or on a repeat playthrough.

As you may know, choices and their consequences in Life is Strange 2 are centered around your brother: Daniel. What we purposefully haven’t outlined properly to date is the depth of this system or how it actually functions as we believe a Life is Strange is best experienced purely rather than trying to game the system underlying it. Quite often we will see players deconstruct the outcome of a Life is Strange 2 episode using the choice and consequence system of previous games: “If you choose these specific three or four options you should get outcome X”. Today we wanted to take some time to explain that interpreting Life is Strange 2 solely through that kind of system can only lead to confusion.

Before we get into the new system underlying Life is Strange 2 though, know that each entry in the season does have episode-specific consequence systems that conform to the more traditional choice and consequence approach. Your relationships with secondary characters, for example, are often based on the branching that you’ve come to expect from a Life is Strange game. If you work hard to build a specific relationship, that character’s attitude towards you may change significantly which in turn will open or close off options that determine the fate of these characters.

With respect to Daniel however, the system has added layers of complexity. From what we’ve seen so far, Daniel’s education is believed to rely on a “one-track” model similar to the one described above. That is to say that you can, for example, only teach Daniel to either be “Good” or “Bad” and that only certain key decisions will affect his education by nudging him towards becoming either a good or an evil person. The truth, however, is that Daniel grows and learns from your example based on two separate values: Morality and Brotherhood. • Daniel’s Morality state determines how he acts in any given situation. Does he act in a kind and considerate way, or is he entirely selfish, without regard for other people’s feelings or safety? • Daniel’s Brotherhood state determines how he responds to what you, as Sean, teach and ask of him. Does he trust you to make the right choice for the two of you, or will he disregard what you say because you’ve been unable to win his trust?

Here’s the thing: the choices you must make in Life is Strange 2 are, like in other Life is Strange games and life in general, imperfect options. There is no true “right” or “wrong” decision, and all of them are laced with their own pros and cons that could contain a sting in the tail.

While some decisions may improve Daniel’s Morality, those same choices can have a negative impact on his trust in you, and vice versa. There are some choices that may add to both Morality and Brotherhood, just like there are others that may reduce them both, or only impact one while leaving the other unaffected. You will have to weigh up each option for yourself and decide which outcome will be better for your personal Diaz brothers.

It’s also key to note that opposing choices aren’t just mirrors of one another. That is to say, choosing option A, which may award an increase in Morality, doesn’t mean that option B will reduce Morality by the same amount. Each choice is weighted individually and entirely on its context. Choosing the opposite of a choice that would have affected Daniel’s Brotherhood and trust may not impact his Brotherhood either negatively or positively.

In the diagram below we’ve outlined a small number of hypothetical examples of how this concept functions – please note that the diagram and the choice examples are purely for illustrative purposes and are not present in Life is Strange 2. The diagram is also greatly simplified as it has been trimmed down to just 5 examples rather than the multitude of choices that play into determining the consequences you will experience.

While major choices will have a greater impact on Daniel’s education overall, the lessons they teach him can still be outweighed by the many smaller choices you may make throughout your journey and the example you set. You can’t choose to only be righteous when it counts, if that’s what matters to you. You have to be an example to Daniel in everything you do and say.

This is also why certain playthroughs result in different outcomes, even though players may have made the same major choices as their friends and other players. These outcomes are likely down to choosing differently in a series of smaller choices.

To date, Life is Strange 2 has featured over 50 individual choices that have pushed Daniel towards becoming moral/amoral and/or trusting/not trusting of Sean. This is what we mean when we say, “everything you do will have an impact on Daniel.”

You have so far had 50 opportunities to mold Daniel into the kind of person you want him to become - 16 of those already appearing during Episode 1. Each opportunity and decision will have stacked on top of the others, to cumulatively determine which outcome you see at the end of each episode, and which endings (that’s right, we heard you!) will be available to you at the end of the game. This additive system means that a single save file will not be able to see every single outcome of Life is Strange 2 as you will not be able to simply reload and re-pick one or two choices in order to see all other endings.

You will also notice that Daniel’s moment-to-moment behavior throughout the season also subtly changes depending your choices. Some of those subtleties will be evident in his general behavior, interactions with Sean and other characters as well as the words he uses. Others become apparent through the “look at” cues you can investigate that relate to Daniel and what Sean thinks of him. 

As Daniel becomes the person you are teaching him to be, his learned state of mind will also open up or close off some bigger and smaller decision options that you are given. There are cases throughout the episodes where you may try to interact with Daniel in a particular way, but he refuses to listen or accept your advice or help. That refusal may mean that what you’re trying to teach him may not have the same impact as if he had accepted it. This is because your previous choices have reinforced and compounded themselves as you proceeded through the story of Life is Strange 2. This is particularly visible if you have a sudden change of heart or feel strongly about a certain decision that may not align with what you’ve taught him so far.

Daniel’s Morality and Brotherhood values aren’t just on a 0-100 scale either. It is entirely possible for Daniel’s values to dip into negative numbers, which is when players will truly start to see Daniel’s dark side.

There is absolutely some truth to the idea that if you end up with a Daniel who is entirely misbehaved, never listens and doesn’t trust Sean… then that’s a direct result of you choosing to raise Daniel in that way.

The ultimate outcome of the Life is Strange 2 story reflects the accumulation of all your previous choices with regards to Daniel. His actions and demeanour are determined by what you taught him throughout the season, in interactions big and small. This will be important, particularly when he reaches a point where he may well assert his independence and start making big decisions of his own.

We have purposefully not gone into exact details about which choices impact Daniel’s education, or to what extent, as we want you to experience Life is Strange 2 using your own personal feelings about right and wrong as a guide, rather than trying to ‘build’ a specifically good or evil and obedient or rebellious Daniel. Choices, just like in real life, can be messy and are rarely clear-cut. You will often need to make peace with what you feel is best for the Diaz brothers as they journey towards Puerto Lobos. We’ve outlined a few examples to explain the system a little bit more on our official Youtube Channel (you can also watch it below), though this video will include spoilers. We’ve structured the video in a chronological manner so that you can view it up until the spoiler warnings for an episode you haven’t yet played to avoid getting spoiled. If anything at all about what we covered in this blog was confusing, the video at the bottom of this blog will be sure to help!

We’re now just under a month away from the full release of Life is Strange 2 and are looking forward to hearing whether knowing more about how Daniel is taught changes how you approach the game in the weeks of the #JourneysEnd that lie ahead.

Roles of the Ages ~

#11 Harley Quinn

Well done!! Looks great.

Abandonment Issues

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/39JjCAS

by RatMonarch

Everyone important in Chloe’s life leaves her. Her dad left her, Max left her, even her mom was choosing David over her…

But hey, at least she has one consistent person in her life, right?

Words: 604, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/39JjCAS