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

JonCha

Member
Er, I got to Arson today. What just happened? The last Vice case was really good. Major disappointment at this point at the way the story has gone.
 

greycolumbus

The success of others absolutely infuriates me.
Foliorum Viridum said:
Wow, nothing breaks the pacing and verisimilitude of the game like
tightroping across onto a chandelier and then having it break with you needing to swing it from side to side, made worse with horrible controls.

Fire the man who thought of that.


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.
 

jett

D-Member
WrikaWrek said:
Can't stop from giving them props on the facial animation.

Other games are gonna look like kids shit after this one.

Not every game strives to have their characters look photoreal. I hope GTA5 uses this MotionScan thing though.
 

Sectus

Member
TeK-DeLorean said:
This This This This THIS.

I started off loving the game, but I'm on disk 3 and the small flaws are really starting to wear on me. It's driving me insane to the point where I'm replaying interrogations, still failing 1-2 questions and getting pissed off and rage quitting.. I haven't reacted like that over a game since Battletoads for NES ffs.
I think you should just start to accept wrong choices. The flaws of the game are very apparent if you start to redo cases.

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.
 
edotherocket said:
I couldn't stop laughing at the way Phelps so casually walks out of the building after that entire sequence as if nothing happened. It gave me a total Frank Drebin vibe.
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.
 

Atruvius

Member
Insaniac said:
out of curiosity...

when playing as kelso and you're investigating the elysian fields, and you end up fist fighting like 3 guys, I lost the battle, but I thought it was cause I kept dodging at the wrong multiple times in a row, but are you supposed to lose, considering the story continued after that.
Yes. If you KO one or two of the guys there comes a cutscene where they beat Kelso.
 
jett said:
Not every game strives to have their characters look photoreal. I hope GTA5 uses this MotionScan thing though.

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.
 

WrikaWrek

Banned
StevePharma 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.

So true.
 

Mr_Brit

Banned
How does the presentation of the newpaper stories work? Can you miss any papers as I've found 5 and the last two have felt pretty disjointed to the previous ones and I'm wondering if I've missed any.
 

daviyoung

Banned
Mr_Brit said:
How does the presentation of the newpaper stories work? Can you miss any papers as I've found 5 and the last two have felt pretty disjointed to the previous ones and I'm wondering if I've missed any.

You can miss them. They add (a lot) of background to final story, unfortunately there's no way to know how many you've missed until you beat the game.
 

I3rand0

Member
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.

daviyoung said:
You can miss them. They add (a lot) of background to final story, unfortunately there's no way to know how many you've missed until you beat the game.

If you log into Rockstar's Social Club site, you can see which side missions you've completed/missed.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
daviyoung said:
You can miss them. They add (a lot) of background to final story, unfortunately there's no way to know how many you've missed until you beat the game.
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 that :D

one thing I thought of last night

1) I am SO GLAD this is not GTA1947.
2) I REALLY want GTA1947 :p

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. :D
 

PooBone

Member
CoffeeJanitor said:
Because, realistically in terms of budget/ambition, this is about as far as you can take this in an interactive experience. Adventure games like this are always going to create dissonance between the player and the player's character.
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.
 

daviyoung

Banned
I3rand0 said:
If you log into Rockstar's Social Club site, you can see which side missions you've completed/missed.

I keep forgetting this thing exists, thanks. I'll need to check it out.

Finished the game yesterday, yes the ending is
anticlimactic
to say the least but not wholly unexpected. Game engrossed me for the most part, but thinking back on it I don't have any reason to go back to it other than trophies, which was exactly what I feared.
 
GillianSeed79 said:
That was pretty cool to watch. I think he makes some good points too. I think Team Bondi did a good job of taking the right artistic liberties. If it was completely 100 percent accurate simulation of detective work, each case would last a very long time. Like the point about calling in the car description, in th 40's they would have to spend several hours sifting through records to get the owner.

I notice one thing people point out is the lack of concern for fingerprinting. I admit, the lack of putting gloves on is kind of weird, just using a hankerchief would be inaccurate but less jarring. In reality, fingerprint identification is really a painstaking process, though. Even 20 years ago, you would be talking about comparing prints to physical prints and not simply running them through a computer program. Even today, fingerprint analysis is a time consuming process. The state I live in, it might take you several months for the lab to come back with a final report. That's not even mentioning the fact that there might be prints belonging to more than one person on say, the murder weapon, which makes prints not really that useful.

I think the best point he made was that the best detectives can have a conversation with anybody and that even with all the clues and evidence in the world, if you can't get someone to talk, you aren't a good detective. A lot of interviews are actually being nice to a person, pretending to be friendly and lulling the suspect into a false sense of trust. Many times it not about just yelling a people and shoving evidence in their face.

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.
 
statham said:
that great to hear the homicide missions did kinda kill it for me, I'll jump back in tomorrow. some of the chase scenes can be delt with early if you know whos running, if you know what I mean.

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. :)
 

Korosenai

Member
Got my 45th achievement in this game yesterday. The last 5 I need are the slip of the tongue case, which I won't be able to play until it gets released on XBL marketplace. I put about 30 hours into this game and I can say right now, I loved every second.
 
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.
 

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.'
edotherocket said:
I couldn't stop laughing at the way Phelps so casually walks out of the building after that entire sequence as if nothing happened. It gave me a total Frank Drebin vibe.
That part where they just walk out was the most ridiculous thing ever. That and the
bulldozer chase
in the second arson case, my lord that was dumb.
 

BobsRevenge

I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
mattiewheels said:
That part where they just walk out was the most ridiculous thing ever. That and the
bulldozer chase
in the second arson case, my lord that was dumb.
Yeah, very awkward scene. Felt like I was thrown into a
Crash Bandicoot
game out of nowhere.
 

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.
 

tiff

Banned
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
bulldozer chase scene
. Christ.
 

bender

What time is it?
I finished the Golden Butterfly case last night and I'm not sure if I want to continue playing.

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?

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.
 
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
edotherocket said:
Phelp's erratic mood during the interrogations reminded me of the old Monty Python sketch with the man who is alternately rude and then polite.
Phelps was clearly bipolar and somewhat of a social misfit.

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.
 

Doodis

Member
bender said:
I finished the Golden Butterfly case last night and I'm not sure if I want to continue playing.
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.

MrDanger88 said:
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.
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.
 

megalowho

Member
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.
 
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?
 

jett

D-Member
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.
 

fernoca

Member
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.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
tiff said:
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
bulldozer chase scene
. Christ.

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.
Now Cole is asking everyone their shoe size. Where was that during the last case?
Grrr.

My guess for the overall plot:
the temp bar tender you met earlier in the game is the serial killer.
 

Mr. Sam

Member
bender said:
My guess for the overall plot:
the temp bar tender you met earlier in the game is the serial killer.

That's my guess as well. Shame Cole isn't smart enough to figure it out - it's pretty much getting screamed in my face during that case. Maybe he'll catch on before the end.
 
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:
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.


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
. Boo to the man that thought to include that.
 

LifEndz

Member
SPEA said:
Wow. That was pretty awesome. Props to G4 for doing this. Everyone should watch this when they have a spare 11min.


I watched it and it was effing awesome. Loved hearing his perspective on things. The part where he said he assumes most people are lying to him during the initial convo was crazy. I know cops are cynical but cot d@mn!
 

tiff

Banned
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 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.

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.
 

pakkit

Banned
MrCompletely said:
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.
I noticed that as well. This is a game full of lot of nicks and naggles that work against it in the end.

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's my guess as well. Shame Cole isn't smart enough to figure it out - it's pretty much getting screamed in my face during that case. Maybe he'll catch on before the end.

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.
 
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