Life is Strange (SPOILERS)

Sean Diaz. The new protagonist. Sensitive, creative, protective, and also a bit of a dork. But hey, Max Caulfield was also a bit of a nerd, so... anyways, this episode was a good start for this long road trip we find ourselves in. I also like how his spirit animal appears to be a wolf. That's my favorite power animal.

The intro of a normal life was nice. Lyla is a cool girl. Though, not as cool as Chloe in my book. After making the judgement call of the Chock-O-Crisp bar, I spent time reading through all the texts and reading the journal, just to get a better understanding of the life of Sean Diaz. Works at a grocery store, is part of a track team and has a talent for drawing. I think its cool he's got an art talent of his own, just like Max with photography. Speaking of which, I like how we get to do those short segments of observing and then drawing the scenes. Packed up some chips, soda, got a blanket and $40 from Esteban. And who says honesty doesn't pay off?

And then, shit hits the fan. The racist next door neighbor Brett starts trouble with Daniel and then it's one shit show after another. Got into a fist fight with him (something Max wouldn't do since she's a pacifist), a coward with a badge jumps to conclusions while waving a gun around, shot poor Esteban and Daniel unknowingly unleashed his telekinetic power. And thus the road trip begins. Hell of an intro, this one. And then it time-skips to two days later. Didn't expect that. While on the road with Daniel, I came up with priorities to remember; Be a good role model, always keep him close, fed, and never resort to stealing. There may be times where we'll get be desperate, but I won't let him become a thief. Daniel's too innocent for that, and should understand right from wrong. Oh, and since I pre-ordered the game, I was able to customize Sean's pack with Arcadia Bay patches, and yes, even allowed the Hawt Dawg Man keychain to be included.

Being in the woods with Daniel was a nice start of how life on the road with the little brother was going to be in this game. Though, I don't really approve of Sean keeping what happened to their dad a secret. It even shows a new feature where you can have interactions with certain things with Daniel.

Another feature is that money is an issue now. Gotta make sure I have enough to buy food and drinks whenever we can on this road trip. At the gas station, with $30.30, I bought a Chock-O-Crisp just like I promised, a 2 liter soda bottle, two hot dogs, a little pack of Mac-n-cheese and got some free water from the sink in the bathroom. I wanted to have plenty to eat but still have enough money for later. We even got to meet a real weirdo named Brody, who at first, I saw him as a peeving tom since he was "researching adult stuff" on his laptop.

Just when we finished eating and were making plans with the free map, Hank the racist hillbilly tries to play sheriff and kidnaps Sean. It's racist shit like this that really pisses me off. With assistance from Daniel, and his telekinetic power to knock out Hank, we were able to make our escape and met Brody again, who didn't even think twice to bail us out in his station wagon. Now I officially trust this weirdo. And of course, Daniel got it in his innocent mind to "rescue" the free puppy from Hank and bring her on the road with us. He even named her Mushroom. So cute.

Sean got to see Arcadia Bay from the distance, which is destroyed in my playthrough. There's barely anything left of it. I could still see the lighthouse, but it wasn't even on. There was even a plague nearby to honor the people who were consumed by the storm. Damn. This is probably the closest we will get to seeing anything from the first game in this sequel. Can you imagine what would be like if the Partners in Time met the Diaz Brothers?

I really like how supportive Brody has been to us with our road trip while he was on one of his own, to Utah to be with his mom. The new backpack he gave me looks cool. Definitely can carry a lot more than his school bag. Hopefully we'll meet up with him again. Sean had mentioned that their mother is "out of the picture"? Wonder what happened? Did she die and he's having trouble letting go, or did she and Esteban divorce and he doesn't want anything to do with her?

The damn TV news broadcast showed Daniel the truth about their dad just when I was about to. Damn it. That was when Sean witnessed Daniel fully using his power. It actually reminded me of El from " Stranger Things". It was so emotional when Sean was trying to comfort his little brother at that moment. Also, I did say before that since we already played as someone with powers, the next main protagonist in season 2 will be someone who hangs out and supports their friend with powers. Turns out, I was right. Based on the small preview of Ep. 2, Sean will be supporting Daniel with his power in learning how to control it rather than blowing everything away in stressful situations. There's a good chance that that's when we will see Chris (AKA Captain Spirit) again.


MY CHOICES:

Sean
* I confronted Brett. He started it, so I was gonna finish it.
* I tried to discuss with Hank. I was thinking, "You know what? Fine. Let's go inside so I can show you my receipt and your monitors to show that I ain't no thief."
* I ran away with Daniel. What Hank did was bullshit, but I didn't wanna steal out of spite. He already got his ass knocked out from Daniel's power.
* I called Lyla back. Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass, but I wanted to let her know I'm okay. For the most part.

- I gave the Chock-O-Crisp to Daniel. If I'm gonna be a good example to Daniel, might as well start out early.
- I told the truth to Esteban. I thought about saying I wasn't going to buy alcohol, but I figured he'd be too smart for that. It paid off though. Literally. Got $40 for honesty.
- I hugged Esteban. Ain't nothing wrong with giving your hard-working parent a hug.
- I didn't steal money from the jar. Like I was actually gonna steal from the family money jar.
- I didn't steal in the parking lot. How do I know some random hiker wasn't going to show up and get pissy at me for stealing his candy?
- I didn't beg for food. Seemed like a bad idea to me. That, and I was planning on paying for our own food.
- I didn't steal from the gas station. All part of being a good role model. We had plenty of money anyways.
- I promised Daniel I won't lie to him again. Hopefully, that's a promise I can keep.

Daniel
- He learned about trail blazing. Good trick to learn when out in the woods.
- He didn't fall in the woods. Always looking out for him.
- He built a "fort" in the forest. And what a mighty fort it was.
- He didn't do the wood race. Too busy with making the fort.
- He learned to skip stones. Took him a bunch of tries, but he did it.
- He didn't get mad at me. Guess I'm doing right by him so far.
- He was afraid of my stories and had a nightmare. And now I feel like an ass.
- He didn't have to beg for food. We had enough money to buy food.
- He didn't distract Doris. I didn't wanna use him for bad purposes.
- He didn't eat enough? Hmm, maybe I should've bought one more piece of food.
- He didn't get a Power Bear toy. I thought about it, but the crane game is nearly impossible to win and I had to .
- He didn't steal from Brody. Guess he learned from me about not resorting to stealing.