Life is Strange almost had Male Protagonists

[Freya]

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Life is Strange is the a new interactive drama episodic game being released by DONTNOD entertainment and SQUARE ENIX. The game has an element of rewinding time to cause butterfly affects with the story line. The choices you make will cause rippling effects throughout the timelines. It features female protagonists, which almost didn't happen.

When DONTNOD was marketing the game to various developers, most wanted to change the main two female protagonists to male ones feeling that male would resonate more with players. It wasn't until they came upon SQUARE ENIX that they weren't told to change the character's gender.


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"Square is basically the only publisher that didn't want to change a single thing about the game," DONTNOD co-founder Jean-Maxime "J-Max" Moris says in the video. "We had other publishers telling us 'Make it a male lead character,' and Square didn't even question that once."

Life is Strange is about a highschool senior who rewinds time to find out how a friend went missing. Life Is Strange will be available Jan 30th, 2015 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

What are your thoughts on how Square Enix was the only Developer that wanted to keep this episodic adventure intact?

[Colonel Angus]

Doesn't shock me. Square has always been fair w/ female protagonists &/or strong female characters. Parasite Eve, FFVI, FFX/X-2 are just a few games that feature one or the other. I know XV is a sausage party, so maybe they're hoping this'll balance things out.

[Freya]

Square enix confuses me sometimes. They do this then they have boobalicious Cidney. This is a great move though.

[Colonel Angus]

Square enix confuses me sometimes. They do this then they have boobalicious Cidney. This is a great move though.
Well, just because Cidney is boobalicious it doesn't make her a weak or poor character. Everyone's making assumptions on just her look w/o getting to know the character.

[Ayen]

GOOD!



Square enix confuses me sometimes. They do this then they have boobalicious Cidney. This is a great move though.
Well, just because Cidney is boobalicious it doesn't make her a weak or poor character. Everyone's making assumptions on just her look w/o getting to know the character.

Don't know who's been saying all that. All I see are comments that's the outfit is sexualized, stupid, etc. And I agree with that.

[Vyk]

Well I guess I'm definitely buying this game. I hadn't heard about the controversy over things like Remember Me until well after my girlfriend had rented it and played through the whole thing, or I would have bought that game for the same reason. I don't think I've ever heard of Square doing executive meddling into any of their side developers. Pretty sure Sleeping Dogs and the Tomb Raider reboot were allowed to do their own thing. I imagine that's how Human Revolution ended up being such a tolerable entry into the Deus Ex franchise

Edit: Actually, upon further reflection, I think I'd like to know what developers they tried first who were trying to force them to appeal to all male gamers. I doubt that information is in the video, or if they'll ever release it, but I haven't watched the video yet. About to go make dinner

[Depression Moon]

Square Enix taking it without hesitation doesn't surprise me either like others have said, but I wonder why they didn't go back to Capcom since they already accepting of a female protagonist the first time. Japanese companies in general seem to be fine with making games with female protagonists. Capcom for example had Resident Evils 1, 2, 3, and Code Veronica with female protagonists. You also have the Dino Crisis series, Tron Bonne adventures, Okami, and the face of Darkstalkers is Morrigan. Square has had FFs VI, X-2, XIII, XIII-2, XIII-3, Threads of Fate, and the Parasite Eve series all with female protagonists, not to mention the recent Tomb Raider.

I have a feeling that they go to western publishers first, because when I think about it, there aren't many western studios that have a track record with a lot of female protagonists.

[Freya]

Well I guess I'm definitely buying this game. I hadn't heard about the controversy over things like Remember Me until well after my girlfriend had rented it and played through the whole thing, or I would have bought that game for the same reason. I don't think I've ever heard of Square doing executive meddling into any of their side developers. Pretty sure Sleeping Dogs and the Tomb Raider reboot were allowed to do their own thing. I imagine that's how Human Revolution ended up being such a tolerable entry into the Deus Ex franchise

Edit: Actually, upon further reflection, I think I'd like to know what developers they tried first who were trying to force them to appeal to all male gamers. I doubt that information is in the video, or if they'll ever release it, but I haven't watched the video yet. About to go make dinner

It doesn't say in the video. What's quoted in the original post is what is said in the video.

It was probably western developers. They seem to have the harder position of female leads in games.

[Mirage]

I'm just wondering who's decided that a game must have a male protagonist in order to appeal to someone who is male.

[Rin Heartilly]

I'm just wondering who's decided that a game must have a male protagonist in order to appeal to someone who is male.

I second this.

[Del Murder]

I'm just wondering who's decided that a game must have a male protagonist in order to appeal to someone who is male.
Nobody decided that, because that's not what the article says. I'm sure there's truth to the market research even if it isn't right.

Kudos to SE for actually going with the creators' vision.

[Mirage]

I didn't say that's what the article said. That wasn't really the point.

[Night Fury]

I read elsewhere that they didn't want a female protagonist because males wouldn't want to see their character kiss a male. (http://www.themarysue.com/square-enix-life-is-strange/)


“We had some [publishers] that said, ‘Well, we don’t want to publish it because that’s not going to succeed. You can’t have a female character in games. It has to be a male character, simple as that.’” Moris also said of that game that the lead character’s gender “just felt right from the beginning of development,” and that changing it for marketing purposes would have “endangered the consistency of the whole game.” Apparently with Remember Me, people took issue with male gamers playing a female character who kisses a male character. “We had people tell us, ‘You can’t make a dude like the player kiss another dude in the game, that’s going to feel awkward,’” said Moris.

[Ayen]

Two words: Mass Effect.

Go smurf yourself, anonymous publishers.

[Mirage]

I remember that time i vomited all over my keyboard because my shepard had sex with that beefcake down in the hangar.

I actually wanted to friendzone him but he would have none of that shit

[Vyk]

Jimquisition made two or three good videos on this topic (thanks Psychotic), and even chided that if you're a guy, and the only things you want to play have big muscular beefy sweaty meat-clods on the cover, and you get to spend the entire game looking at their ass the whole time... Well... The viewers knew what he was getting at. They may be hiding or denying something if they're THAT against playing as a female. Methinks thou dost protest too much, yo

[Shiny]

I remember that time i vomited all over my keyboard because my shepard had sex with that beefcake down in the hangar.

I actually wanted to friendzone him but he would have none of that trout

Uh that's because you should have went for Liara because she was the only one who bothered to keep looking for you after you died. True luv obviously. Plus Kaiden is boring and Ashley is a racist. Liara ftw! Or are you talking about the black beefcake? There were so many beefcakes so I dunno.

*ahem* anyway I digress, I don't think men have an issue playing women as seen by the success of the Tomb Raider series and the reboot. Beyond Two Souls also did well.

[Mirage]

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130929093934/masseffect/images/d/d1/James_and_computers.png

This guy


And I was actually not being serious. I went for Liara when possible. I don't remember who i actually went for in ME3

[Polnareff]

Haha, I just bought Remember Me today, too. I'll be getting this.

And yeah, Japanese developers (especially Capcom and Square!) are fine with having female protagonists, but I don't understand why other companies are so against them, since games like Tomb Raider make money hand over fist.

[Leigh]

This sounds really good! It's too bad that the soundtrack will feature a bunch of indie b*tches on acoustic guitar, lyricing morose, self-indulgent and tuneless "melody". :(

[Egami]

I read elsewhere that they didn't want a female protagonist because males wouldn't want to see their character kiss a male. (http://www.themarysue.com/square-enix-life-is-strange/)


“We had some [publishers] that said, ‘Well, we don’t want to publish it because that’s not going to succeed. You can’t have a female character in games. It has to be a male character, simple as that.’” Moris also said of that game that the lead character’s gender “just felt right from the beginning of development,” and that changing it for marketing purposes would have “endangered the consistency of the whole game.” Apparently with Remember Me, people took issue with male gamers playing a female character who kisses a male character. “We had people tell us, ‘You can’t make a dude like the player kiss another dude in the game, that’s going to feel awkward,’” said Moris.

lol at these "publishers", this is just nonsense. I'm a guy an in games that give the choice, I very much always play a female character. In Mass Effect and Skyrim, for example, my female characters even got into relationships with people from both genders. I honestly have no problem whatsoever with that. So in my view the logic of these publishers is completely bogus.

[Vyk]

I wonder what happened. Sometime between mid 90s and 2000-something, game developers loved putting women in their games, even shoe-horning them in if need be. Tomb Raider proved be insanely popular. All the boys were playing that game. It was actually a good way to make money. The Aeon Flux, Bloodrayne, Oni, Ghost in the Shell games that were all sub-par would not have survived if they had male leads. They barely survived having female leads. Making a game with a female protagonist used to ensure you'd sell a few more copies. Now developers and publishers think it ensures you sell LESS copies? When did this even happen? It's obviously just an illusion the publishers tell themselves. But I'm genuinely curious why and how they came to that conclusion

[Leigh]

So, anyone got an opinion on Episode One yet? I completed it this afternoon.

I quite like the story, but it is hardly fleshed out in the first episode. It's definitely more interactive movie than 'graphic adventure'. There's virtually no backtracking unless the story leads you back to the area as part of natural progression, and a virtually non-existant puzzle and inventory system. I'm leaving my opinions about the rewind mechanic until I have completed the story in its entirity since it leans so heavily as part of the narrative.

A question for anyone who has played episodic games before; what's the economic incentive for releasing them in such a way? It seems a bit of a waste of time since the playtime of each episode is miniscule. I literately finished this in just under two hours, and a little under four after reading all the literature on the characters, experimenting with alternative choices and collecting all the photos. Releasing once a week, I could understand, if they wished to simulate some sort of television serial - but six weeks between each episode, when each episode has such a limited range of content and storyline... I'm confused. Ha!

[Shauna]

Oh yeah, I got this. Gonna have a go later on, I think.

[Freya]

Leigh, I haven't played this one yet (still at work!) but as for episodic games in general, i've played a few. The games themselves don't usually allow you to go back to areas, that's normal for the genre, unless something else important happens there. They play like interactive stories, shows really. By being episodic, they let themselves, as developers, get things out to their fans quicker rather than wait until the whole game is completely polished. It also lets them set up climaxes and have that whole cliffhanger want that tv shows leave you with. Have you ever binge watched a tv show? Seeing it back to back, the story isn't as obsessively compelling. If you watch it live where you have to wait a week before the new episodes, you become more invested as you have to wait! You think about it all week and you neeeeeeed to know. Same kinda premise, I think. Also it allows players to just try out part of a game before fully investing. Pay 4.99 for a game you may not like or pay 29.99 for a game you may not like.

[Leigh]

Leigh, I haven't played this one yet (still at work!) but as for episodic games in general, i've played a few. The games themselves don't usually allow you to go back to areas, that's normal for the genre, unless something else important happens there. They play like interactive stories, shows really. By being episodic, they let themselves, as developers, get things out to their fans quicker rather than wait until the whole game is completely polished. It also lets them set up climaxes and have that whole cliffhanger want that tv shows leave you with. Have you ever binge watched a tv show? Seeing it back to back, the story isn't as obsessively compelling. If you watch it live where you have to wait a week before the new episodes, you become more invested as you have to wait! You think about it all week and you neeeeeeed to know. Same kinda premise, I think. Also it allows players to just try out part of a game before fully investing. Pay 4.99 for a game you may not like or pay 29.99 for a game you may not like.

I think I understand. :)

I suppose I have never really done the whole week waiting for a television show really. I tend to have to binge a tv series by waiting a couple of years for it to finish, then I'll check it out! Ha - otherwise I just lose interest. Either i'm not a patient person, or I just simply can't sustain the same content over a long period of my life. I prefer to get things over and done with. Haha! :)

[Ayen]

It's out already?

These games are coming out way too fast for me. I'm old, guys. I think it may be time to retire.

[Vyk]

I'm with Leigh, waiting between episodes is more annoying to me than waiting out the whole thing and enjoying it at my leisure. I always binge on shows I enjoy, because I would lose interest in the interim. I figure if I'm going to enjoy it, I'll give it the best chance to succeed with me. I waited on The Walking Deads and The Wolf Among Us. I'll be waiting on this, and there is one other episodic game out there that captured my interest. Hopefully it holds up and I'll be waiting on that one too. Telltale has started something >.> Oh, and Borderlands and Game of Thrones of course. Ugh

[Shiny]

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130929093934/masseffect/images/d/d1/James_and_computers.png

This guy


And I was actually not being serious. I went for Liara when possible. I don't remember who i actually went for in ME3
I thought James Varga was gay or was that just wishful thinking?

[Mirage]

nah he tried real hard to get in my pants

it was like one single mis-step in the conversation tree and he was all over me

[Vyk]

I always thought he was a "soft" romance option. Like the assistant chick next to the galaxy map. You could flirt with her, and even invite her to your room. But nothing happens. I've watched my girlfriend play through ME3 a few times, and while she always went for Garrus and sometimes Kaiden, she never held back from flirting with Vega. But it always ended up as just flirt buddies. In fact they were almost like bros, but with opposite genders. Always giving each other shit or compliments in equal measure

[Mirage]

Nothing happens? The assistant chick gives you a lapdance.

[Vyk]

I was actually unaware of that, as I always pursued Tali <3

But what I meant was that they are not "tagged" as your romantic partner. Like if they're a sequel, they're not going to be your boyfriend/girlfriend. They just flirt and mess around. But I'm only aware of it through second-hand information. I was told Samara was the same way. You can profess your love for her and she'll give you a kiss and tell you to move on or something. I dunno

[Mirage]

in fact, she gives you one regardless of your gender

[Randy]

Square enix confuses me sometimes. They do this then they have boobalicious Cidney. This is a great move though.

It's almost as if their entire business isn't run by 1 dogmatic agenda!