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Team Bondi's L.A. NOIRE |OT| Watchin' Faces, Solvin' Cases
- Thread starter ColonialRaptor
- Start date
greycolumbus
The success of others absolutely infuriates me.
Foliorum Viridum said:
That was the most frustrating bit for me. Well, that and when
Kelso had to outrun a bulldozer. The gamiest parts of this game are just awful.
Amory
Member
Im pretty sure i'm not in the majority here, but I really like the shooting/fighting parts quite a bit. The street crimes are a great diversion when I get tired of the collect clues, interrogate suspect cycle. Plus they're really quick, so you can run through one or two of them and get right back to the game.
On an unrelated note, does anyone else laugh every time Cole does his agony scream? It's so over the top.
On an unrelated note, does anyone else laugh every time Cole does his agony scream? It's so over the top.
I think you should just start to accept wrong choices. The flaws of the game are very apparent if you start to redo cases.TeK-DeLorean said:
I personally kinda like the fact you can mess up interrogations and thus branch out the case in a different way. I would have liked to see even more emphasis on that. And I would have loved to see replaying cases be less of a chores. Once you re-do cases, then it's really annoying you can't skip half of the conversations/cutscenes, and the clue finding becomes a real chore.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Yeah, I know it's nitpicking to a degree, but the game does the investigation angle so well that whenever something action-y happen it really breaks the illusion and feels too gamey.edotherocket said:
StevePharma
Member
jett said:
I also noticed that the faces when used while being in the game-world and not static up-close when in interrogation adds so much immersion.
Best examples from the top of my head:
- Pressing Cole against a wall while he's yelling "Drop down your weapons!!"
- In-game conversations with your partner while walking from the desk to your car. Just turn the camera 180 degrees and pick up on Cole's expressions and eye-movements...so much detail in that. Imagine those techniques while in a car in GTA or when on a mission with a NPC combined with RAGE and Euphoria.
Just platinumed this game. Here's a quick and easy way to get the Public Menace trophy/achievement:
The Phantom Corsair is worth 24,000 and the Deusenberg Walker Coupe is worth 25,000. Just destroy both of these, finish the Driver's Seat case and you'll have it. They're both hidden cars, so their locations will be on the map.
If you log into Rockstar's Social Club site, you can see which side missions you've completed/missed.
The Phantom Corsair is worth 24,000 and the Deusenberg Walker Coupe is worth 25,000. Just destroy both of these, finish the Driver's Seat case and you'll have it. They're both hidden cars, so their locations will be on the map.
daviyoung said:
If you log into Rockstar's Social Club site, you can see which side missions you've completed/missed.
one thing to note.. they ARE counted as "clues" in the final mission tally. If you've completed every clue in a mission you've gotten all of the papers. You SHOULD be completing every clue if you've left the music cues turned on. If you are going super old school with vibration and music cues turned off.. well, good luck with thatdaviyoung said:
one thing I thought of last night
1) I am SO GLAD this is not GTA1947.
2) I REALLY want GTA1947
Played free roam on traffic and homicide to clean up side missions and grab some cars, and while I am very happy I can't be a total jag/villain/crooked cop, etc in this game... racing around 1947 LA and causing havoc (what little I can) is very fun. C'mon Rockstar... buy out Team Bondi, grab their assets for 1947 LA, and give us a good old fashioned (literally) GTA!!!!
Meanwhile Team Bondi can work on the sequel to LA Noire, which I will buy day 1 the same as I did this.
PooBone
Member
I feel like if they didn't say "you got this question right, you got this question wrong" then it would be much better and less frustrating when choosing your conversation path. You don't get music that plays when you are talking to someone in real life, so why have it here? It's too game-y for something that is trying to be a very real/humanistic mechanic.CoffeeJanitor said:
I3rand0 said:
I keep forgetting this thing exists, thanks. I'll need to check it out.
Finished the game yesterday, yes the ending is
anticlimactic
VeryGooster
Banned
GillianSeed79 said:
That was a really cool video.
I watch The First 48 a lot, and even then when they're at the crime scene they don't always seem to get fingerprints right away unless there's a vehicle involved because of the painstaking process that it is I'm guessing. It's a LOT of witness interviews (and much reliability on cell phone records... Heh).
I'm also taken aback that the detective says those phone boxes were removed only like 15 years ago, along with how the L.A.P.D. station looked.
The English Conquistador
Member
statham said:
Yeah, I've seen a lot of people kinda losing steam with the game in the homicide cases. Vice improves things, but Arson is where the story starts to unwrap itself fully. Fingers are pointed and a lot of shooting ensues.
macfoshizzle
Member
any of you guys find any crazy bugs like someone flying or anything?
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Despite my misgivings with the plot and the writing, it's difficult to fault the actors. Just about all of the main characters do great work. The acting's really good in this game.
Outside some of the interrogations anyways.
Outside some of the interrogations anyways.
mattiewheels
And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
That part where they just walk out was the most ridiculous thing ever. That and theedotherocket said:
bulldozer chase
BobsRevenge
I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
Yeah, very awkward scene. Felt like I was thrown into amattiewheels said:
Crash Bandicoot
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Dries said:
The Quarter Moon Murders
BobsRevenge
I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
Yeah, I think it hasDries said:
05
bitoriginal
Member
Gotta say, I feel my perseverance paid off with this game. I struggled to get into it at the beginning, but after the homicide desk it really had me interested. I've learnt to forgive the misgivings to enjoy the experience it offers. It's a game I think is best played in short bursts, and playing a case or two a night seemed like just enough for me to not get annoyed with its issues. Overall, my inital sour experience has faded into something magnificent. I'm truly glad this game made it to see the light of day.
Nearing the end of the game and while I thought I had a handle on the interrogation system before, it's totally hit or miss for me now. Facial reads are definitely getting harder from what I can tell (not a whole lot of truthful = stoic face and lying = "OH GOD HE KNOWS I'M LYING OH GOD" face anymore) but it also seems like you can't really rely on it. A lot of the people I'm talking to aren't being entirely forthcoming and the game seems really arbitrary about how I press for more information. I don't even know if it really matters; sometimes I get more information out of a "wrong" choice than out of responses the game says are correct. Oh well, I kind of just want it to be over at this point.
Also wtf at the
. Christ.
Also wtf at the
bulldozer chase scene
bender
What time is it?
I finished the Golden Butterfly case last night and I'm not sure if I want to continue playing.
Maybe I'm over analyzing but a lot of the cases left me wanting to investigate more, granted to a lesser extent and none have left me as unsatisfied or frustrated by the outcome.
As an aside, and I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but I really wish they'd gone with a presentation that doesn't remind you that you are playing a game constantly. I'm fine with the case grading systems telling you what you did right and wrong as well as giving hints for your next play through but I really wish you could turn off the interrogation prompts that tell you if flubbed a conversation path or not.
In my estimation, neither of the suspects are guilty but I'm faced with pinning the murder on Hugo or the pedophile. I go with Hugo as it seems there is more evidence pointing towards him and after getting every interrogation question correct and overlooking one piece of evidence I'm given a three star rating. It seems the game wanted me to choose the pedophile but it seems obvious neither are guilty. Why aren't these options available:
-Consult Malcolm Carruthers about rabbit blood on Hugo's shoe.
-Go to either the marina or mechanic shop and examine jumpsuits/look for rope.
-Search Hugo's car for a missing tire iron and/or rope.
-I'm fairly certain California had one of the first crime labs is the US. What is with the lack of fingerprinting options? I think that technology was available before the time period of L.A. Noire.
-Same question could be asked the footprints at the crime scene.
-Determine the pedophile's shoe size.
Though the way the clues and interrogation were setup, even with more options, you'd probably still be pointed towards both suspects while being vague enough to eliminate them down the line (just guessing both suspects are red herrings). But why penalize the player for selecting either one? Maybe I'm missing something?
-Consult Malcolm Carruthers about rabbit blood on Hugo's shoe.
-Go to either the marina or mechanic shop and examine jumpsuits/look for rope.
-Search Hugo's car for a missing tire iron and/or rope.
-I'm fairly certain California had one of the first crime labs is the US. What is with the lack of fingerprinting options? I think that technology was available before the time period of L.A. Noire.
-Same question could be asked the footprints at the crime scene.
-Determine the pedophile's shoe size.
Though the way the clues and interrogation were setup, even with more options, you'd probably still be pointed towards both suspects while being vague enough to eliminate them down the line (just guessing both suspects are red herrings). But why penalize the player for selecting either one? Maybe I'm missing something?
Maybe I'm over analyzing but a lot of the cases left me wanting to investigate more, granted to a lesser extent and none have left me as unsatisfied or frustrated by the outcome.
As an aside, and I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but I really wish they'd gone with a presentation that doesn't remind you that you are playing a game constantly. I'm fine with the case grading systems telling you what you did right and wrong as well as giving hints for your next play through but I really wish you could turn off the interrogation prompts that tell you if flubbed a conversation path or not.
MrDanger88
Member
So yeah I'm awful at this game. I've only got 3 stars on each full mission I've done so far. Reading faces doesn't come naturally to me I guess.
UberTag
Member
Phelps was clearly bipolar and somewhat of a social misfit.edotherocket said:
What would have completely made the game hysterical for me is if they had a series of interactive dialogue sequences at Cole's home where he interrogates his wife and kids just like he does his criminal suspects.
Marie: Would you like steak for dinner tonight, hon?
Player selects either Truth, Doubt, Lie.
Daughter 1: Did you like my fairy performance in the school play, Daddy?
Player selects either Truth, Doubt, Lie.
This would ring especially hilarious given that the actors who played Cole & Marie Phelps (Aaron Staton & Connie Fletcher) are married in real life.
I think the Golden Butterfly case is borked on purpose. I played it through a couple times (and searched around online) and it seems like there's no right way to finish that case. It's come up a couple times as I'm further into the game, so it seems like it's going to play a bigger role in the story.bender said:
I'm the same way. I keep quitting out of my interrogations and starting them over to figure out the correct answers through trial and error. After finally getting my 5-star achievement last night, I think I'm done with that. Just gonna play it through to the end and if I get stuff wrong, so be it.MrDanger88 said:
In the middle of the last case, I am really loving this endgame. Totally understand and agree with the hangups over a few of the action scenes, but everything else is just hitting all the right notes for me.
The fact that Kelso was never really foreshadowed as being such a major player made it a nice surprise for me once we start seeing things from his perspective, and then I got another surprise at how enjoyable of a character he is and how well he fits into the cast. Great contrast to the Cole, and he really helps tie together some story threads that I didn't care much for earlier in the game.
Kind of pissed that Fontaine isn't your final target. That guy was the scummiest of all, and he had his fingers in everything. Going out the way he did was too easy for him.
Kind of pissed that Fontaine isn't your final target. That guy was the scummiest of all, and he had his fingers in everything. Going out the way he did was too easy for him.
Rated-Rsuperstar
Member
Can the outcome of cases change? I just played a case where I ended up shooting a guy at the end. If I had done things differently might that not even happened?
Well finished it, took about 20 hours. My overall impressions are virtually the same as my early ones. Great atmosphere, impressive presentation and production values, poor game design. The overarching plot is so terrible it doesn't just feel unfinished, it feels like it was thrown together at the last minute, especially the conclusion, which there is none.
Speaking of poor game design, the whole investigation process got old by my third stab at it, and then it went on and repeated itself with zero variation 50 more times. Same goes for the interrogations mechanics, which are just poorly thought out. The lie/doubt/truth thing is just CRAP, of all the dialogue trees system I've experienced this is easily the worst, mostly because there is no tree I guess. You can't follow a line of questioning, you can't actually press suspect further and further until he breaks, you simply follow the neat little questions the game prepared for you one by one. It's stupid, it's unimaginative and I'm sorry to say but the Far Cry 2 director had it right(I've never played the game btw), when it comes to actual gameplay there's no ambition in here. And again, no variation to the interrogation process. This is one of the most infuriatingly repetitive games I've played. I can't recommend anyone to buy this, maybe rent it just to experience their groundbreaking animation system.
If it wasn't for that particular piece of tech, I'm not sure if this game would've received any attention. It is an amazing thing to watch, every time, and it's just smart. Easy way to save yourself some money and time on actually animating faces. Best thing about it is the facil animation during actual gameplay when you're walking about or in the middle of a shooutout, it's always garbage in every single game, including the Uncharteds. First time I saw Cole shout out something while I was in cover was truly a revelatory experience.
In summary, this game's going back to the store.
edit: You know what, I had more fun with the Heavy Rain demo than with this.
Speaking of poor game design, the whole investigation process got old by my third stab at it, and then it went on and repeated itself with zero variation 50 more times. Same goes for the interrogations mechanics, which are just poorly thought out. The lie/doubt/truth thing is just CRAP, of all the dialogue trees system I've experienced this is easily the worst, mostly because there is no tree I guess. You can't follow a line of questioning, you can't actually press suspect further and further until he breaks, you simply follow the neat little questions the game prepared for you one by one. It's stupid, it's unimaginative and I'm sorry to say but the Far Cry 2 director had it right(I've never played the game btw), when it comes to actual gameplay there's no ambition in here. And again, no variation to the interrogation process. This is one of the most infuriatingly repetitive games I've played. I can't recommend anyone to buy this, maybe rent it just to experience their groundbreaking animation system.
If it wasn't for that particular piece of tech, I'm not sure if this game would've received any attention. It is an amazing thing to watch, every time, and it's just smart. Easy way to save yourself some money and time on actually animating faces. Best thing about it is the facil animation during actual gameplay when you're walking about or in the middle of a shooutout, it's always garbage in every single game, including the Uncharteds. First time I saw Cole shout out something while I was in cover was truly a revelatory experience.
In summary, this game's going back to the store.
edit: You know what, I had more fun with the Heavy Rain demo than with this.
Well, got this yesterday but wasn't able to play it 'till 1AM today. Even when trough the years I was aware of the game (when it was exclusive, Rockstar buying it, etc.) and some mentions of the Black Dahlia case; I ignored most of the gameplay elements. Was also aware of the complaints some have been talking since release, even a few friends. Stuff like you can't do much in the city, why put an open-world to do nothing, not being able to change the radio station...not being able to shoot people randomly...
But so far, those are parts of the reasons I'm liking the game a lot so far; since with GTA-like games, my attention-span is lost the moment I'm in the city. And at least there are some hidden things and arrests to do while around it; so is not like there's absolutely nothing to do.
I also wasn't expecting the game to be "like Phoenix Wright", so I'm liking the aspect of the game. It is true that you know you'll always and only question people that are directly involved and usually they're lying and are guilty too; but I still like it. It's fun to look for clues then try to to see not only when they lie but counter that lie with actual evidence.
I'm barely starting, after the case of the "shop with the siren"; but I'm really impressed by the game. Loadings are uber short too, granted I installed all 3 discs (360 version), but was still expecting long loadings. Visuals are way better than I thought, after seeing the analysis from Digital Foundry and Lens of Truth, that bridge scene from the beginning looked really bad in those comparisons, but looked quite nice actually.
Facial textures are not very-high, but the animations and expressions more than make up for it, just the best on any game so far. Glad that Assassin's Creed Revelations will be using thee same technology. Overall visual quality is very high anyway and quite varied.
Oh!, and the Badge Pursuit Challenge-negatives in Gamestop copies was really nice. +1 for packaging.
But so far, those are parts of the reasons I'm liking the game a lot so far; since with GTA-like games, my attention-span is lost the moment I'm in the city. And at least there are some hidden things and arrests to do while around it; so is not like there's absolutely nothing to do.
I also wasn't expecting the game to be "like Phoenix Wright", so I'm liking the aspect of the game. It is true that you know you'll always and only question people that are directly involved and usually they're lying and are guilty too; but I still like it. It's fun to look for clues then try to to see not only when they lie but counter that lie with actual evidence.
I'm barely starting, after the case of the "shop with the siren"; but I'm really impressed by the game. Loadings are uber short too, granted I installed all 3 discs (360 version), but was still expecting long loadings. Visuals are way better than I thought, after seeing the analysis from Digital Foundry and Lens of Truth, that bridge scene from the beginning looked really bad in those comparisons, but looked quite nice actually.
Facial textures are not very-high, but the animations and expressions more than make up for it, just the best on any game so far. Glad that Assassin's Creed Revelations will be using thee same technology. Overall visual quality is very high anyway and quite varied.
Oh!, and the Badge Pursuit Challenge-negatives in Gamestop copies was really nice. +1 for packaging.
tiff said:
I cannot believe I forgot to mention the spoilered part when I was giving my big post on what I thought. That is easily the funniest thing in the whole game,
out of nowhere this random asshole just chases you in a bulldozer, crashes, and kelso just walks away. There was also the part in the hall of records where you decipher the number and suddenly a bunch of people come in that you need to kill, what happened to the employee that was helping you? Just like when phelps makes the giant chandelier fall in the homicide section, the guy on the main floor just vanishes and you waltz out like nothing happened.
bender
What time is it?
I want to punch a wall now that I'm playing through the next case, The Silk Stocking Murder.
Grrr.
My guess for the overall plot:
Now Cole is asking everyone their shoe size. Where was that during the last case?
My guess for the overall plot:
the temp bar tender you met earlier in the game is the serial killer.
MrCompletely
Member
Even if you disable the crime scene assists (controller vibration, audio cues), you can still tell if there's evidence left uncovered by looking in your notebook. Once you've uncovered ALL evidence, the location is struck through in your notebook; if it's not struck through, there are still clues to be found. Also, your partner will go to the car if you've found all evidence.
LifEndz
Member
greycolumbus said:
Couldn't agree more. Those two parts had me ready to throw a controller. Luckily I use the Karate Kid for the NES method to control my anger at video games. Usually I cool down and am able to get past it. But yeah, the
bulldozer part and the chandelier part were incredibly frustrating
TeK-DeLorean
Neo Member
Funny you say this, voice actor for Garrus is in the game, he's one of the cops you talk to in Vice.Joe Shlabotnik said:
Just finished the game. I only got 8 out of 13 newspapers so maybe that might have an effect, but as it is, what a mess. It kind of sums up the whole game, really: I could tell where they were trying to go and it wasn't such a bad idea, but through either lack of time or competence the whole thing just came apart.
Last two scenes are especially bad. That's how you kill the main character? Really? Laughable.
Papercuts said:
I was at least hoping to interrogate the guy, maybe ask him why he tried to kill me? But Kelso just walks away. Fuck it.
I noticed that as well. This is a game full of lot of nicks and naggles that work against it in the end.MrCompletely said:
I wished it didn't concede to being "gamey" as often as it did, and instead really tried to pull off the investigation simulator. Ultimately, I think Bondi/Rockstar made a game that is trying too hard too appeal to a wide audience, which is what I feared would happen with a game this budget.
Still, I really enjoyed the ride, and the interrogation gameplay, with some keen improvements, could really be something else.
LifEndz
Member
Mr. Sam said:
That was my guess as well. Especially when
the bartender said the temp would know more and that he was the one who served the vic.
Guess what all of us are asking for is a game that allows you to solve the mystery early if you're capable of doing so. Guess most people are upset that they were forced to take certain actions despite knowing the people being arrested were not the real killer.
Guess what all of us are asking for is a game that allows you to solve the mystery early if you're capable of doing so. Guess most people are upset that they were forced to take certain actions despite knowing the people being arrested were not the real killer.