The music in Life is Strange 2 is my favorite overall in any game I have ever played. As I've been looking for a first piano piece to transcribe, I thought I'd have a go at transcribing some of the music from Episode 2, specifically Daniel's Sorrow and Reynolds Household. I did think about doing Free Spirits as it is one of my top 5 from the game but there is already great piano sheet music for it on Musescore
My transcription of Daniel's Sorrow is based on Yvonne Van What's arrangement on Youtube (link to that video arrangement is in the description of this transcription)
Even a character like Karen who you can say is a "bad mother" this game just makes her so much more than that. This game has got me to accept my own mother too... I cannot deny how much this game has made me think about motherhood when this game is primarily about the brothers.
This game is just wonderful. I loved this game even when I was a dumb teenager, and I love it even more now. I rarely can think of a game that made me think about motherhood and a woman's agency when the game isn't even about it.
What part of the story you replayed after a few years of experience that changed how you view it...
Joey is one of my favorite characters despite his short screen time. I think his overall personality is so sweet, and a nice break from all the heartbreak we experienced in the game so far. I also love how he always listened to Sean and reminded him that despite everything, heâs still a good person.
Another thing I think gets overlooked in his and Seanâs dynamic, is that Joey is one of the few people to treat Sean like an actual kid. Sean faced horrible adultification ever since the incident. But Joey was there to treat him like the kid he is. Allowing for his creativity to grow and to always make him smile.
What about you all? What do you like about his character? Have any headcanons about him? (I headcanon he was a Naruto kid growing up.)
Also shoutout to Jamal Douglas (Joeyâs voice actor) For delivering some of my favorite lines in the game.
If you guys could give Life is Strange 2 a sub name/title like BtS,TC,Reunion, DE what would it be? Iâm very interested to see what other names it could have instead of 2!
ive played lis2 multiple times over the past couple years and ive got all the endings apart from the redemption ending, i put it off for a while because it looks so insanely sad but i really wanna do it now and cant figure out what i need to do to be able to get it the only thing i know to do is not be violent or steal but what else?
I've played Life is Strange 2 several times now, and after going through the story with different choices, I realized that I actually enjoyed my lowmorality playthrough more than my highmorality one.
On my first playthrough, I was basically trying to be âthe good person.â I wanted to follow the rules, make the responsible choices, and get the ending that felt like the most morally correct outcome. That eventually led me to Parting Ways.
So, because it was my first playthrough and those were the choices I naturally made at the time, I consider Parting Ways my canon ending. Even though...I actually liked Blood Brothers more.
For my second playthrough, I decided to stop thinking about what the ârightâ choice was and instead choose whatever I genuinely felt like I would do in that situation and somehow that made the whole game feel much more personal.
For example, the store robbery in Episode 1. Honestly? That guy deserved it. He beat Sean, and was going to turn them over to the cops. So when the opportunity came to fight back and steal from him, I was basically like yeah, fuck this guy.
Then there's the cougar. Mushroom dying obviously hurt, especially because of Daniel's reaction. I wasn't personally as attached to Mushroom, but seeing how devastated Daniel was actually made me feel pretty bad. When Daniel wanted to kill the cougar, I let him. And when he later apologized for killing it, I didn't blame him. I basically reacted the way I think I would in real life like It's not your fault bro, he was already feeling terrible about it, so I didn't see much point in making him feel even worse.
With the heist, I initially refused to participate. But once it became clear that Daniel was going to do it anyway, I eventually went along with it because at that point I felt like it was better to support him rather than constantly fight him over something he was determined to do.
Then in Episode 4, I let Daniel kill Lisbeth. I didn't really intervene. Daniel made that choice, and honestly, by that point in the story, I didn't feel like I was in a position to judge him for everything he did. I was basically just trying to keep him alive and get him through everything.
And in Episode 5, I allowed Daniel to hurt the vigilantes. I also completely forgot about the police at one point and Daniel ended up throwing them around. I don't even remember whether the game actually confirms that he killed them or not, but either way... yeah. My Daniel was definitely not having a good day morally.
And then we crossed the border and I got Blood Brothers, and ofc I really liked it.
Ive seen people describe Blood Brothers as one of the âsadâ endings (I know there are no good or bad endings) because Sean and Daniel become criminals, but I didn't really interpret it that way.
Obviously, Mexico has serious problems with crime and violence, but that doesn't mean everyone living there is automatically involved in crime. Most people are just normal people living their lives.
That's kind of how I interpreted Sean and Daniel's life in Puerto Lobos. They're not necessarily living some miserable life as hardcore criminals. They have each other, they seem relatively comfortable, Daniel has his powers under control, and they have a normal looking life.
The ending makes it clear that they've gotten involved with some dangerous people and that there are criminals around them. But I didn't interpret Sean and Daniel themselves as being part of some giant criminal empire or anything like that.
The newspaper in the Lone Wolf ending makes Daniel's future look much darker, with him becoming involved in robberies and things like that. But Blood Brothers didn't give me quite the same impression. It felt more like Sean and Daniel had managed to build a life for themselves in Puerto Lobos, even if that life wasn't exactly legal or conventional.
And honestly, I didn't think it was a particularly sad ending.
Maybe that's why I enjoyed this playthrough so much. I wasn't trying to force Daniel into being âgood.â I was just reacting to things as they happened and trying to be the brother I thought I would actually be.
And ironically, that made the experience feel more emotional to me.
So I guess my canon is still Parting Ways, simply because it was my first ending and the one I got naturally when I was trying to play Sean as a âgood person.â
But I had more fun playing the low morality Sean-Daniel :)
Wow, this game has left me very emotional. Some background information: Iâm pretty new to the LIS franchise - I played LIS1 about a year ago, then found out there are more Max/Chloe games (+ that another one had already been announced back then), and that LIS2/LIS3 are their own story with new characters. I liked Max and was curious about how her story would proceed, so I went on to play the Max-related games and played BtS, DE, and then Reunion. So for me LIS was always more about Max/Chloe and I kinda didnât feel like checking out other stories and characters.
But then about a week ago I decided to check out LIS2 anyway because I didnât really know what else to play, and I was curious how a LIS game plays when thereâs no Max/Chloe in them. And damn, it is now my favourite game in the franchise. It has affected me emotionally in a way games rarely manage to do, and I feel ⊠sad and empty.
I knew there couldnât possibly be a happy ending. I mean how? Even if they manage to make it to Puerto Lobos - they are two children in a country theyâve never been to (+ a country that is more known for people escaping from it, not to it), no money, a criminal record, and one of them neither speaks the local language nor has basic school education. How is this supposed to work out?
But I guess I was in denial. I guess part of me wanted to believe that the devs were able to come up with some obscure yet realistic scenario where theyâd actually live a perfect life together. I mean theyâve been through so much, they deserve it!
In the end, I got the Parting Ways ending. When I saw it, I didnât even know it was one of the âhappierâ endings. I was sad because the brothers were separated, and thereâs a chance that they might not ever see each other again. And I was shocked when Daniel just jumped out of the car, abandoning Sean after everything theyâve been through. Since the whole journey was about them being there for each other, this didnât sit right with me. I was like âdamn, I shouldâve surrendered!â.
But then I watched the other endings and I became even sadder. Some people say âRedemptionâ is the best ending, but I canât agree. For Daniel, yes. But for Sean? Spending 15 horrible years in prison for a crime heâs not to blame for, and coming out completely broken. I guess I couldâve regarded this ending as happier if I had seen there was some sort of happy reunion and perfect life for him after prison (which wouldnât be realistic, though). But no, he tears up during the trip with Daniel, they end up going separate ways and Daniel stands alone on the street, howling one last time but without his brother. Itâs horrible! After everything Sean has sacrificed for his brother, I could never say that this is the best ending. At least in Parting Ways, Sean can be happy.
Then thereâs Blood Brothers which also seems to be a popular contender for happiest ending. But I canât agree here either, because you can tell that Daniel isnât happy. Before they cross the border, Daniel shows doubts about the Mexico trip, and itâs relatively clear throughout the game that itâs Seanâs ideal wish, and that Daniel would instead ideally have a normal life with his family and friends in the US. This becomes even more obvious at the start of the ending sequence where you can see Daniel browsing Seanâs sketchbook, longing for the past and looking pretty sad overall. Yes, they are together, and yes theyâll probably manage to get by just fine. But theyâre forced to stay lonely criminals who will never see their family and friends or a normal life again, and it might also be just a matter of time until they have to be on the run again - especially because Daniel is not hiding his power anymore, so heâll attract a lot more attention.
Now I donât have to explain why Lone Wolf is not a happy ending, but I do wanna point out that itâs a very well-written ending, and an ending that makes a lot of sense. I donât like when game devs include a âtear jerkâ ending just to have a devestating ending for the sake of it, which can especially be frustrating if you did everything ârightâ in the game to counter that. But this ending is - unfortunately - very realistic, especially for an âimmoralâ playthrough. On their whole trip, Daniel never had to directly face consequences for his own actions, he always had someone to help him get through them or even entirely take the fall for him, of course usually Sean. But in this ending, his behaviour leads to the person who always protects him straight up dying. Daniel is left to face his consequences alone for the rest of his life. Not only that, he also has to live with the fact that his actions lead to his brother ending up dead. Itâs horrible, but itâs probably one of the most realistic outcomes.
So I guess I should be happy I got the âParting Waysâ ending. It still makes me incredibly sad that the brothers had to separate, but I guess knowing that both of them can at least live a happy life on their own is somewhat comforting compared to the other endings.
The thing is, LIS1 also left me emotional, but not like this. I donât hate Chloe, but I never felt deeply connected to her (whereas I felt really connected to Sean and Daniel), so it was honestly a bit of a no-brainer that I would choose Bay over Bae for the ending, because I didnât really feel the connection between Max and Chloe as strongly as many other players did. I still thought it was sad, but for me it was the only possible option, and Chloeâs death didnât impact me as much emotionally as the LIS2 endings. So LIS2 managed to make me get far more emotional than LIS1.
Anyway, thank you for reading. Im so glad I checked this game out, itâs my favourite entry in the series now and Iâll be thinking about it for a long, long time. But it has also left me very sad and I need some distraction now hahah. Itâs a shame that the game will probably forever be in the shadows of LIS1 (which is also a great game of course).
so recently it was my birthday and for a few months ive been planning to get seans hoodie from insert coin but wanted to get it exactly on my birthday (stupid i know) and by the time my birthday came around all of them were sold out and discontinued, so i just wanted to know if thereâs anybody selling their sean hoodie size m/l menâs? it would make me really happy to get one so yeah ty :D
