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Team Bondi's L.A. NOIRE |OT| Watchin' Faces, Solvin' Cases

The Lamp

Member
I'm doing a few cases a day (about a desk every 2 days), and I feel like that pace really complements the game. If I do too many cases at once it feels like I've bitten off more than I can chew from this incredibly predictable game.

But I find Vice cases much more interesting than Homicide cases, strangely enough.

I also like color better than black/white, because I don't want to feel like I'm watching a movie of the 40s...I want it to feel like I'm actually in the 40s...which had color. Lol.
 
The Lamp said:
I'm doing a few cases a day (about a desk every 2 days), and I feel like that pace really complements the game. If I do too many cases at once it feels like I've bitten off more than I can chew from this incredibly predictable game.

But I find Vice cases much more interesting than Homicide cases, strangely enough.

Maybe because the Homicide cases were
The same case over and over

Traffic had the most memorable cases for me by far.
 

Irish

Member
BannedEpisode said:
Maybe because the Homicide cases were
The same case over and over

Traffic had the most memorable cases for me by far.

I feel the same way. The traffic cases were actually pretty varied and made for a lot of fun.
 
Gooster said:
You have to finish your run in a division first. So once you finish your Traffic assignments, for example, you unlock the free roam to get landmarks and respond to dispatch.
OK I just finished traffic and got promoted to homicide. I was expecting some kind of reprieve after that last case - a chance to just mill around and examine the world, but no - cue the splash of letters spelling out the next case and there I am back in the police station being told to make my way to the next crime scene.

Its just one case right after another, with no intervening gameplay or change of pace, and it can wear out its welcome quickly. Haven't had a real chance yet to explore or just get the feel of the town, unless I'm supposed to take these opportunities while running a case. I'm not partial to doing this though, especially after the game let me know I didn't reach one of my destinations quick enough so I lost opportunities in the last case I completed.

I like some of the characters (although not the protagonist)
(who seems to have no problem watching another detective backhand a lady)
, and I like some of the scenes and acting, but that's really about it. And yeah, interrogation still makes little sense to me, for instance I got all my questions wrong in an interview in the last traffic mission
The one where I was questioning a drugged lady driver
. I'd like to know how I was given in-game clues to determine the right line of questioning.

So frustrating since the core concept holds a lot of promise. I just don't like the game its packaged in.
 

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
NullPointer said:
Haven't had a real chance yet to explore or just get the feel of the town, unless I'm supposed to take these opportunities while running a case. .
Yes, it is pretty obvious this is when you can do your exploring.
 
xxracerxx said:
Yes, it is pretty obvious this is when you can do your exploring.
So the idea is to explore while the game tells you to go to the next objective?

That makes sense. /sarcasm

And like I said, one of my mission briefs chastised me for not reaching one of the case locations quick enough, so...
 

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
NullPointer said:
So the idea is to explore while the game tells you to go to the next objective?

That makes sense. And like I said, one of my mission briefs chastised me for not reaching one of the case locations quick enough, so...
Well I haven't been chastised for taking too long yet. But I will go and explore the town as soon as a case is assigned or if I am going to go interview a witness.
 

Irish

Member
NullPointer said:
OK I just finished traffic and got promoted to homicide. I was expecting some kind of reprieve after that last case - a chance to just mill around and examine the world, but no - cue the splash of letters spelling out the next case and there I am back in the police station being told to make my way to the next crime scene.

Yeah the only time you can truly free roam without actually being on a case is to do so using the Cases feature from the main menu and selecting the 'Free Roam' option from a completed desk's case folder.
 
I'm taking my time a LOT more when considering my answers for questions and things now and I'm doing MUCH MUCH better with everything, it's working out for me heaps better. The last two cases I've only gotten one question wrong and I'm feeling the groove so much more.

I've been driving carefully and slowly in between places and just looking at the surroundings and trying to act differently to the way I would normally play an anarchy / violence based free roaming game. I'm stopping at red lights, looking left or right before entering cross roads etc, and it's actually making me feel really inside the world and I'm REALLY REALLY loving it.

I'm well into Homicide now and I was doubting the game before but I'm thoroughly impressed with it now. The world is so beautifully realised and I love the atmosphere and solving crimes and such.

I hope this starts a crime solving game trend and that another game like this is created but taken further but in future times with more forensic evidence such as hair and finger prints and DNA... I'd love that :D
 

The Lamp

Member
BannedEpisode said:
Maybe because the Homicide cases were
The same case over and over

Traffic had the most memorable cases for me by far.

Yeah I was itching for homicide to be over by the second-to-last case.
Exact same formula, and towards the end, you already knew that everyone was being wrongfully convicted and that it was one serial killer, so all your clue-finding and interrogations and convinctions felt useless anyway. And then they were like, SURPRISE! It's this dude! And you kill him. And that's that. Kind of lame.
 

CatPee

Member
Currently on the 3rd case of Homicide right now. I think the game's a solid 7/10 for me so far. Monotony, piss-poor narrative/story, and awkward interrogations seem to be the biggest problems for me so far. I do love mystery/crime stuff though.
 
Tricky I Shadow said:
HA! I just finished that case not long ago and got the exact same outcome (it's probably not even changeable! -_-) and I was like huh? This game makes Heavy Rain at times look like the greatest videogame of all time.

Ha. Oh, man. That's sure saying something. And like many others have said before me, I really hate how it tells you so explicitly what you've done correctly and what you've done wrong. It's such a poor decision; I feel it's only there to draw some cheap replay value out of the game.
 
Irish said:
Yeah the only time you can truly free roam without actually being on a case is to do so using the Cases feature from the main menu and selecting the 'Free Roam' option from a completed desk's case folder.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. THIS is what I needed to know. I had no idea that you could find a free roam option in Cases, but now that I've looked there is an option in my traffic folder.

Now I can actually take in the world at my own pace for a little while.
 

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
mickcenary said:
Ha. Oh, man. That's sure saying something. And like many others have said before me, I really hate how it tells you so explicitly what you've done correctly and what you've done wrong. It's such a poor decision; I feel it's only there to draw some cheap replay value out of the game.
If you are talking about the music and the vibrations, just turn that shit off.
 

watershed

Banned
Is there any way to skip cut scenes or dialogue? I quit some missions in order to redo them but I hate watching the same stuff again. Any help?
 
xxracerxx said:
If you are talking about the music and the vibrations, just turn that shit off.
I've slowly been weaning myself off of them, keeping them all on from the start until I got a handle on some of whats expected of me in game. After finishing my first beat I turned off the vibration, and now that I've reached homicide I think it's time to ditch the music cues.

I couldn't find a way to turn off the "tips" and prompts the game brings up though. Like every time I pick up an item of value, the game reminds me that I can move it around and feel the vibrations - great. I kinda picked up on that the first fifty times.

TheExodu5 said:
He's talking about the interrogations.
It does feel good when you get a perfect score, although I've done that all of once so far ;P
 

Irish

Member
artwalknoon said:
Is there any way to skip cut scenes or dialogue? I quit some missions in order to redo them but I hate watching the same stuff again. Any help?

Some of the stuff is unskippable like the very first cutscene of a case and a few others.

NullPointer said:
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

No problem.
TheExodu5 said:
He's talking about the interrogations.

Yep and they make damn well sure that you know you've failed to correctly respond to a certain question. Giant X in notebook. Bad chime. X/Y Correct.
 
xxracerxx said:
If you are talking about the music and the vibrations, just turn that shit off.

I think he means during interrogations when you know as soon as you ask a question whether or not you fucked up. I really hated that.

It would have been a lot more immersive if they just let you go on without telling you that you picked the wrong line of questioning. I wanted to restart a case at least a handful of times because I felt the line between doubt and lie was real close to bullshit levels of thinness.

After a while I just rolled my eyes whenever a dubious incorrect answer chime played.
 
BannedEpisode said:
I think he means during interrogations when you know as soon as you ask a question whether or not you fucked up. I really hated that.

It would have been a lot more immersive if they just let you go on without telling you that you picked the wrong line of questioning. I wanted to restart a case at least a handful of times because I felt the line between doubt and lie was real close to bullshit levels of thinness.

After a while I just rolled my eyes whenever a dubious incorrect answer chime played.

Yep, that's what I mean. And yep, that's exactly what I feel, too. The game has a complex; it just HAS to be better than you :).
 
i don't know what peoples problem is with this game, it's totally rad. i'm nearing the end of the homicide desk and i already consider it one of my favourite games.

living in the 40's would be awesome
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Just finished Homicide.
Explains a lot about my issues with earlier cases, but wow that was stupid. The whole stretch of cases were the same and all stretched on for too long. A lot of them didn't have any conclusive evidence to put together, so putting away innocent people wasn't satisfying at all.
 

Zoso

It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time.
Turns out this is a terrific social game. Me & 3 friends were taking turns playing through a case & it was an absolute blast. We had a pretty lengthy conversation near the end of the case going over the evidence/motive of each suspect to decide who to charge. It was really a great experience.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Papercuts said:
Just finished Homicide.
Explains a lot about my issues with earlier cases, but wow that was stupid. The whole stretch of cases were the same and all stretched on for too long. A lot of them didn't have any conclusive evidence to put together, so putting away innocent people wasn't satisfying at all.

Yeah the Homicide desk is pretty terrible. I hope it gets better. I liked the first case or two, but then it was the same thing again, and again, and again. And it was quite obvious what was going on. Even though you knew what was going on, you couldn't do anything about it. The conclusion was fairly disappointing as well.
 
Papercuts said:
Just finished Homicide.
Explains a lot about my issues with earlier cases, but wow that was stupid. The whole stretch of cases were the same and all stretched on for too long. A lot of them didn't have any conclusive evidence to put together, so putting away innocent people wasn't satisfying at all.

Good news: you still have the best case of the game ahead of you.

Bad news: everything else is pretty bad.
 

watershed

Banned
googoomuck22 said:
i don't know what peoples problem is with this game, it's totally rad. i'm nearing the end of the homicide desk and i already consider it one of my favourite games.

living in the 40's would be awesome

To be fair people's complaints have been pretty clear. Nobodies trolling the game and most of the problems are consistent from poster to poster.

My question for you is, did you like the game from the start and has that level of enjoyment risen or fallen? Because for me I'm near the end (seems like it) of working traffic but my enjoyment has fallen considerably because of the controls, the repetition of each case structure, the sometimes odd logic or emotional inconsistencies, and the lack of things to do in the open world (I know free roaming comes later).
 
artwalknoon said:
To be fair people's complaints have been pretty clear. Nobodies trolling the game and most of the problems are consistent from poster to poster.

My question for you is, did you like the game from the start and has that level of enjoyment risen or fallen? Because for me I'm near the end (seems like it) of working traffic but my enjoyment has fallen considerably because of the controls, the repetition of each case structure, the sometimes odd logic or emotional inconsistencies, and the lack of things to do in the open world (I know free roaming comes later).

i enjoyed the game as soon as i started it and my enjoyment has continued to grow as i progress through it. maybe this game isn't for everyone, maybe people were hoping for or expecting different things but this is like my perfect game. I really enjoy each aspect of the gameplay, i love scouring a crime scene for clues, questioning witnesses, chasing leads etc. i mean, yeah i guess it is repetitive but no more so than most games it's just that it sets out it's core mechanics from the very start as opposed to having new mechanics open up as you progress.
 
googoomuck22 said:
i enjoyed the game as soon as i started it and my enjoyment has continued to grow as i progress through it. maybe this game isn't for everyone, maybe people were hoping for or expecting different things but this is like my perfect game. I really enjoy each aspect of the gameplay, i love scouring a crime scene for clues, questioning witnesses, chasing leads etc. i mean, yeah i guess it is repetitive but no more so than most games it's just that it sets out it's core mechanics from the very start as opposed to having new mechanics open up as you progress.

overall game spoilers, so if you havn't finished best to avoid

Did you enjoy constantly charging innocent people for crimes they did not commit? I could almost forgive the game if they kept that element to the homocide desk, but the arson desk is the exact same fucking thing and it was a hell of a lot more obvious that the guys you were charging were innocent.

You spend all this time investigating and it amounts to nothing. The game would have worked so much better if all the cases were individualized and not connected, like the traffic desk or part of the vice desk.
 
googoomuck22 said:
i don't know what peoples problem is with this game, it's totally rad. i'm nearing the end of the homicide desk and i already consider it one of my favourite games.

living in the 40's would be awesome

I honestly think that a lot of people are initially blinded by the uniqueness of this game and the fact that, for the majority (myself included), it's very different to what they have played in the past and hence, it's quite exciting. Once this initial excitement wears thin, however, all you're left with is an enormously ambitious title that ultimately falls flat.

And living in the 40's would suck, mang. NO X-BAWX!
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
TheExodu5 said:
Yeah the Homicide desk is pretty terrible. I hope it gets better. I liked the first case or two, but then it was the same thing again, and again, and again. And it was quite obvious what was going on. Even though you knew what was going on, you couldn't do anything about it. The conclusion was fairly disappointing as well.

The second case makes it EXTREMELY obvious what was happening,
the golden butterfly. Mr. Moller has the murder weapon, shoe size, and the bloody work outfit with his initials tied to him. The pedophile had the golden butterfly he said was dropped. Everyone is rooting for you to take out the pedophile even if he didn't do it, but given the evidence more stuff linked the husband. I didn't really feel like he did it, but then the game actually bitched at me for it and gave me 2 stars. I redid it and got the pedo, even though nothing links him to it at all, and got 5 stars and the captain was happy with me. At that point it was clear that there was just an overarching plot to this, they should have made the captain happy either way so you could pin who is the more likely murder suspect...at least TRY to hide what you're doing with the plot.

The fact that the game actually penalizes you for this choice is the best part.
They're both wrong!

Count of Monte Sawed-Off said:
Good news: you still have the best case of the game ahead of you.

Bad news: everything else is pretty bad.

That's good!...I think? Is the good case in Vice or Arson?
 
Papercuts said:
That's good!...I think? Is the good case in Vice or Arson?

I really liked one of the Vice cases, haven't really seen any one else highlight it so I'm not sure how anyone else felt. It's a standalone case and feels how the game really should have been handled to me.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off said:
I really liked one of the Vice cases, haven't really seen any one else highlight it so I'm not sure how anyone else felt. It's a standalone case and feels how the game really should have been handled to me.

Alright. I've been posting pretty frequently in here about the game so I should get around there within the next day or so. I actually liked some parts of the last homicide case, going through the tar pits and such...but then the game made that part drag on too long. Atleast it was something different.
 

Sethos

Banned
The Lamp said:
Great. Turning a car should be as simple as turning a car in a video game. Requiring "thought" for meager tasks quickly takes the fun out of a game, especially if the feature is just a means to an end.

Im not talking about GT5 obviously though. And im on my phone so I can't really elaborate on what I mean.

Different stroke for different folk, there's a reason why racing sims are popular, because what's the point in driving if it requires no skill whatsoever, where's the fun.

Mafia II nailed it with a fun handling model, same with GTA. Not asking for realistic handling whatsoever, just a unique handling model that requires a bit of brain power to master. It's already apparent from this thread that a lot of people aren't loving the handling model.
Apparently the Mario Kart handling isn't a fan-favourite in other games than Mario Kart.
 
thelurkinghorror said:
It's incredible to find here on Gaf people who don't know what l.a.noire really is... It's not GTA and not Phoenix Wright...
I just described it to a friend as GTA4 with everything fun from that game removed, and injected with gameplay that's 100% mission based with detective bits that aren't as rewarding as Phoenix Wright.

Harsh, yes, but when it comes to giving advice to my friends I tend to be brutally honest.

I do love the setting, ambience, acting, and facial animation tech though.
 

Fjordson

Member
mickcenary said:
Once this initial excitement wears thin, however, all you're left with is an enormously ambitious title that ultimately falls flat.
Not for all of us. As I said before, my enjoyment only increased as the game went on.
 

Sethos

Banned
Have to agree with whoever used the AC1 comparison, very much spot-on. Game has a ton of potential but right now, it does fall a bit flat.
 

Irish

Member
K.Sabot said:
Awesome, just bought the game.

Got 10 minutes and it shut down for overheating. Any ETA on this fix?

Which system? I'm pretty sure a patch was just released for the PS3 version, but I can't confirm at the moment.
 
NullPointer said:
I just described it to a friend as GTA4 with everything fun from that game removed, and injected with gameplay that's 100% mission based with detective bits that aren't as rewarding as Phoenix Wright.

Harsh, yes, but when it comes to giving advice to my friends I tend to be brutally honest.

I do love the setting, ambience, acting, and facial animation tech though.

As harsh as that sounds, I agree. I probably enjoyed it a touch more than you though.
 

Leeness

Member
So, I'm beginning the Homocide desk, but...yeah.

I really think this game could have benefitted from one strong narrative to tie cases together. Not necessarily all of them, but anything than what I'm doing now (just going from case to case to case).

Like... I dunno. Here, have my fanfic version of LA Noire, which does have spoilers from the rest of the game:

Develop Cole's wife and their relationship, and then when he gets promoted to homocide, HIS WIFE IS MURDERED NO. And the guy doesn't get caught and a string of murders similar to his wife's murder start popping up and you have a serial killer on your hands that you have a revenge motive against.

And I know Cole gets busted down for some scandal, so he's struggling with not being able to find his wife's murderer because he's not a homocide cop anymore... Throughout the game and at some cases, you pick up more clues as to who the serial killer could be and at the end and maybe he could become a rogue cop and ~break away~ from the police department to take down the serial killer on his own, or maybe you don't even find the killer if you missed on some clues, whatever.

Whatever. Point is, the game would really have soared with some kind of strong narrative to tie it all together. Now...maybe it's gonna get better from where I am, but from everyone's impressions, it sounds like it doesn't. We'll see, though and maybe I'll eat my words.

The game also does suffer from control issues. I had to give up on an action sequence at one point because the controls were being so derpy that I kept getting caught by the witness I was trying to tail (Cole kept trying to duck to keep out of view and instead of going around corners, would stand up and stand in plain view and get caught).
 
BannedEpisode said:
As harsh as that sounds, I agree. I probably enjoyed it a touch more than you though.
That said I do plan on finishing it and have a renewed interest now that I know how to free roam, even if it isn't filled with a lot of side missions and the like. I just really love well crafted open worlds.

And I hope they get a chance to make a sequel. Unfortunately though, what I think needs fixing isn't the kind of thing that DLC usually takes care of.
 
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