Warning!! The following contains spoilers for Life is Strange: True Colors, available now.
Alex Chen, the main protagonist of Life is Strange: True Colors, has the power to feel and experience other people's emotions. She uses this gift to read other people's thoughts and secrets, and even enter an altered reality based on what emotion she is experiencing. She uses these powers to help the people of her small town and solve the mystery of her brother's death. Supernatural elements aren't new to the Life is Strange series. The original Life is Strange's Max Caulfield could travel backward through time, and Life is Strange 2's Daniel Diaz had telekinetic abilities.
True Colors is still grounded in reality, but one special event during the game takes it out of that for a moment. This special event not only leads to the best sequence of the game, but it also feels like it was ripped straight out of Square Enix's own Final Fantasy series in a true JRPG throwback.
In Chapter 3, "Monster or Mortal," Alex takes part in a LARP where she and her friends act out a fantasy session for Ethan. Ethan, who still feels emotional over the death of Alex's brother, takes on the role of a character he created and the two play out a campaign created by Steph, exploring a makeshift fantasy land at the behest of a king (local barkeep Jed) in order to find three gems. Along the way, they'll encounter a few fights.
Whenever Alex and Ethan encounter a battle, the game switches from the traditional Life is Strange gameplay of exploration and observation and turns into a turn-based RPG. Players then make decisions on what attacks and magic powers Alex and Ethan use to defeat their enemies. The adventure culminates in a final battle against a powerful wizard with a magic sword. Unlike the previous battles, the world transforms into an actual fantasy realm when Alex's powers kick in during the final battle, resulting in a throwback to classic Final Fantasy battles, with Alex and Ethan taking on the appearance of a bard and a knight, while Jed turns into a twisted, evil king.
The turn-based battle sequences are a nice change of pace from the rest of the game, but they're also a nice throwback to other classic Square Enix RPGs like Final Fantasy. The way that combat is structured, the use of magic powers and special attacks and the items used to power up characters feels directly lifted from the Final Fantasy series. the UI isn't exactly like Final Fantasy's, but the layout and audio design of the encounter are close enough that you can see what they're going for.
Of course, the Final Fantasy influence can also be seen when Alex and Ethan spend most of their time finding jewels. Nearly every Final Fantasy game features crystals in some form playing a major role in the game's plot or worldbuilding. While crystals aren't in the True Colors LARP event, the three jewels serve as their stand-ins as Alex and Ethan need to collect them in order to activate the magic sword, defeat the evil wizard and win the game. It's all a fun throwback (and even a little foreshadowing of the game's shocking final act) and makes for an incredibly memorable moment in a game that is already full of unforgettable adventure.