Foliorum Viridum
Banned
I've just finished the first Arson case and this game is rapidly starting to lose me. All the annoyances and bad gameplay choices are adding up.
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Team Bondi's L.A. NOIRE |OT| Watchin' Faces, Solvin' Cases
- Thread starter ColonialRaptor
- Start date
The English Conquistador
Member
.hacked said:
If I remember correctly, they are all nude female corpses. And if it's not all, it's definitely most of the homicide cases. So yeah, if you guys are having trouble watching, I'd suggest playing alone.
Incendiary
Banned
Just finished the Homicide desk. I can see why people say it drags a bit, but at the same time I feel like the payoff on the last case was worth it. Although the last case ended a little too abruptly, I would have liked a little more exposition.
Taking a break before I dive into Vice.
Taking a break before I dive into Vice.
TheVisualizer
Banned
just finished the last case tonight, wow this game really goes to shit in the final 3rd, what all all-around terrible ending
still enjoyed the game a whole lot as something different, but it fell flat on it's face down the stretch
still enjoyed the game a whole lot as something different, but it fell flat on it's face down the stretch
snoopeasystreet
Member
Y2Kev said:
I don't remember hearing anything.
snoopeasystreet
Member
Ok, finished the game right there. I'm still having a difficult time formulating an opinion on it. I know that the more I think about it, the less I'll like it. But when I was playing it and had that suspension of disbelief, it was very enjoyable.
I think the short way to sum up my feelings would be to call it "the best game that I never want to play again".
I think the short way to sum up my feelings would be to call it "the best game that I never want to play again".
bender
What time is it?
Y2Kev said:
Not that this is an excuse but he claimed it was rabbits blood and is "verified" to be the truth via interrogation. God forbid they actually let you confirm this by using the Malcolm Carruthers' services.
The homicide cases and terrible action segments really make me hate this game.
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
The DLC case (The Naked City) came up in the middle of the Vice desk during the main campaign. My god, that case was endless. I'm getting worn out on the game and I would have elected to skip it for now if it was possible; I assumed the DLC cases had to be selected separately.
bender said:
That may have been the weirdest case in the game for me, and the only one where I fucked it up.
I seriously thought Hugo had done it. He said the right kind of rope he'd use, the blood I thought he was full of shit about, he ran, burned evidence, couldn't confirm where he was, abusive, HM and work clothes in trunk. I just felt all the shit pointed to him and that there was much less/little pointing at the child molester guy. To be honest, I felt like neither of them were the guy we wanted, but the game told me I had to pick one so I went with the guy who had more shit stacked up against him. Turns out if you want a 5 star you should go for the guy with less and then it turns out he wasn't the one who did it anyway. :/
The English Conquistador
Member
Incendiary said:
Yeah, the abrupt ending to the last homicide case is pretty much bullshit.
kyo_daikun
Member
So we can download the DLC cases? How do you do it with the store down?
Im on the last case in the game and just can't bring myself to complete it...
Im on the last case in the game and just can't bring myself to complete it...
bender
What time is it?
zlatko said:
Please don't read if you haven't been promoted to Vice.
The problem with leading with that case, at least for me, is that I was positive that neither did it which made me question every case afterwards. Especially considering the not so subtle hints about bartenders and bars. Some of the later cases had more convincing suspects (like the later case that let you make a choice of who to charge for the murder) but I couldn't shake the feeling that they'd already lied to me and that they were lying again. The real killer was obvious and them limiting your investigation choices was a cheap way to lie to you. Combine that with the lackluster conclusion and not explaining how all these suspects had damning evidence against them and I'm starting to understand how the vocal majority on GAF feel about Heavy Rain.
Those are 360 players.kyo_daikun said:
bender said:Please don't read if you haven't been promoted to Vice.
The problem with leading with that case, at least for me, is that I was positive that neither did it which made me question every case afterwards. Especially considering the not so subtle hints about bartenders and bards. Some of the later cases had more convincing suspects (like the one that let you make a choice of who to charge for the murder) but I couldn't shake the feeling that they'd already lied to me and that they were lying again. The real killer was obvious and them limiting your investigation choices was a cheap way to lie to you. Combine that with the lackluster conclusion and not explaining how all these suspects had damning evidence against them and I'm starting to understand how the vocal majority on GAF feel about Heavy Rain.
The reason why they all had damning evidence is explained. Basically, framing someone else is part of the true killer's MO. In almost all cases, you end up finding the murder weapon and some other piece of damning evidence sitting out in the open in the middle of a suspect's room. How stupid would they all have to be to just leave something like that sitting there in plain view? With the hobo, you can even go visit his tent early, and none of the damning evidence is there yet, indicating it was likely planted later on. The act of the killer framing others is mentioned during the driving scenes as well.
ToyMachine228
Member
I'm on Disc 3 and I have to say I'm pretty bored of the game. It follows the same formula over and over and over and I find myself losing interest. The big homocide chain has been the highlight for me.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Uh oh, what have you done!bender said:
Well, I just finished the game.
Still an amaaaazing game. Of course there are faults, but no other game has immersed me into the story and characters quite like this game has. Most games, I have no idea what the story is. (Halo? Call Of Duty? I even get a bit confused with Gears of War and God of War). It's a very different game. I expect a lot of gamers have gone in expecting 1940s GTA, and come out with an even better experience.
Looking forward to La Noire 2, or at least the DLC.
Was a little disappointed with the ending and some of the story lines. Why did phelps cheat on his wife? That seemed to come out of knowhere. And since I was playing as him, I was feeling "No, I wouldn't do that, stop it! Why?!"... Although maybe now in retrospect, that was their intention. Was also a little dissapointed that the formula for all the cases was pretty similar. Would have liked a little more variation.
Still an amaaaazing game. Of course there are faults, but no other game has immersed me into the story and characters quite like this game has. Most games, I have no idea what the story is. (Halo? Call Of Duty? I even get a bit confused with Gears of War and God of War). It's a very different game. I expect a lot of gamers have gone in expecting 1940s GTA, and come out with an even better experience.
Looking forward to La Noire 2, or at least the DLC.
bender said:Please don't read if you haven't been promoted to Vice.
The problem with leading with that case, at least for me, is that I was positive that neither did it which made me question every case afterwards. Especially considering the not so subtle hints about bartenders and bards. Some of the later cases had more convincing suspects (like the one that let you make a choice of who to charge for the murder) but I couldn't shake the feeling that they'd already lied to me and that they were lying again. The real killer was obvious and them limiting your investigation choices was a cheap way to lie to you. Combine that with the lackluster conclusion and not explaining how all these suspects had damning evidence against them and I'm starting to understand how the vocal majority on GAF feel about Heavy Rain.
Yeah I totally agree here. As for the Heavy Rain comment I felt that was a better experience for me overall. The game didn't drag on, the changes were super varied, and at least the moments you mention that the vocal majority harps on Heavy Rain for was a total of 2 scenes if I remember correctly.
I definitely wanted to love this game, but it just wasn't meant to be.
bender
What time is it?
Clipper said:
Again, if you are pre-Vice desk, do not read.
That's believable but how they tie your hands during investigations to make one or more suspects look valid just seems like a cheap ploy to throw you off the trail of the real killer but this ultimately fails because they were less than subtle with the hints they did drop (repeatedly) to who that killer is. Not to mention the shoddy detective work. In the end, your locked into this roller coaster ride of murders and are solving them by putting away people you know aren't responsible. That just seems like an exercise in tedium which is capped off by a horrible last mission that make you meander around while waiting for Cole to figure out where to go to next in a terrible conclusion that consisted of, "he's the half-brother of someone important, let's sweep this all under the rug, congrats on the promotion."
As much as I hate being right about the identity of the killer, I'm genuinely surprised at how poorly it all wrapped up. My interest in the game was waining during that first homicide desk case and the conclusion has killed (unintended pun) any desire I have to play anymore. I hope someone takes this concept further and hopefully takes a look at the presentation and scales it back so that it isn't constantly reminding that you are playing a video game.
As much as I hate being right about the identity of the killer, I'm genuinely surprised at how poorly it all wrapped up. My interest in the game was waining during that first homicide desk case and the conclusion has killed (unintended pun) any desire I have to play anymore. I hope someone takes this concept further and hopefully takes a look at the presentation and scales it back so that it isn't constantly reminding that you are playing a video game.
zlatko said:
Amen to that.
Rated-Rsuperstar
Member
I'm up to Homicide now. I like the game but at the same time it doesn't really feel like GOTY material. Noire reminds me of Mafia 2 a lot but Mafia did shooting better, along with story, and it's world. Empire city actually changed to reflect what was going on in the story. As far as I can tell it doesn't in Noire. Noire's story also feels disjointed at times. I wish there was something in between the cases. Even if it was something simple like Cole going somewhere with his wife just to make me feel like he's living in the world.
PigSpeakers
Member
Hey, so I just finished the Adrian Black case, and then it started some flashback cutscene, but I quit the game because I was done playing. Just to check if it came back to that exact spot, I reloaded my save, and it didn't! Now I don't know what happened in that war flashback scene. Does anyone know or remember? Or even have a youtube link or something?
NullPointer
Member
Part of me thinks the game has reviewed so well not because of what it is, but what it could be. But then again there are plenty of posters here who absolutely love it, so maybe the fun that's there just doesn't resonate with me, which is weird, because on paper it seemed like a game right up my alley.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxOsXpu4pRAPigSpeakers said:
I think that's the one you're talking about, though it's got an annoying guy talking over some parts of it. It's pretty dumb that the only way you can watch flashbacks is by replaying the whole game. Would it have killed them to put a movie viewer option in the extras menu? Those first few flashbacks make a hell of a lot more sense once you already know the characters.
PigSpeakers
Member
Thanks, man. That was the one.
Yeah, I was disappointed that there was no movie viewer and that it skipped that cutscene when I reloaded me save. Strange choice considering they were nice enough to provide an entire log of everything that was just said in a conversation.
Yeah, I was disappointed that there was no movie viewer and that it skipped that cutscene when I reloaded me save. Strange choice considering they were nice enough to provide an entire log of everything that was just said in a conversation.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Just finished the game a little while ago.
So I take it the Assistant DA cut a deal with the police chief to keep the chief, Roy, and the Mayor from getting busted? I'm guessing the conditions were to shut down the kickbacks the vice squad was receiving from the drug trafficking as well as whatever other things they were up to like the Suburban Fund plot. Either that or the ADA's now getting a cut.
But where does the DA fit in all of this? I don't see how he would allow all that to happen and let the ADA strengthen his case to the public to get voted in and take the DA position.
But where does the DA fit in all of this? I don't see how he would allow all that to happen and let the ADA strengthen his case to the public to get voted in and take the DA position.
Tony Rocky Horror
Member
Guys. I suck at this game, especially the interrogating/questioning of people. Just finished the second/third case in
, the
case, where I ended up locking up the wrong person, netting me a 1-star rating. It's detecting wether or not they are lying is what makes it hard for me. I try to focus on what's being said instead of focusing on the facial animations, is that my problem? What usually gives it away? Also, questioning
is annoying as hell.
homicide
Golden Butterfly
children
semiconscious
Member
bender said:
once you begin realizing
that phoenix wright would not only prove that the guy you charged didn't do it, but would also likely end up identifying the real killer, & start to see that what you're doing is basically just bringing cases to their conclusions, rather than really solving them, reducing the whole 'questioning people' aspect to more of a mini-guessing-game than something actually integral to anything
if you thought you were going to be playing a 'detective' game, in which the outcomes of cases were determined by your skill in piecing together clues & information, you were mistaken...
& the simple fact that you can ace a case without truly solving anything only confirms this...
& the simple fact that you can ace a case without truly solving anything only confirms this...
Banzaiaap said:
It's explained in the manual, but facial twitches, looking away and not maintaining eye contact, and touching their face with their hands are the big ones.
It's quite hard to pick between 'doubt' and 'lie', especially since most questions don't explicitly point to a single piece of evidence.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
I just finished it. The game gets laughably bad at the end.
The first half of the game was really good. It was great visiting crime scenes, collecting evidence and questioning suspects. It genuinely felt like you were a detective slugging through it all to try and get to the truth. Halfway through homicide is where the game lost me, however, as the game totally cheated and had you
Then it got worse on Vice as the game began to focus
Finally, things get even worse in arson when the game
Honestly, I can't say enough bad things about the direction of the narrative in the second half of the game. They could have done an awesome detective game if it was 8-10 hours, but they stretched it out and tried to make it more complex and utterly failed. It was as badly handled as a game like Heavy Rain.
Outside of the direction the game took, there were other horrible flaws throughout:
- Horrible shooting that felt flat.
- Some of the worst controlled driving in recent memory (after a while I just made my partner drive everywhere)
- They re-used the chase mechanic far too much and it became too "gamey"
- Hand-to-hand combat was completely boring.
- I had major problems with the game logic at times when choosing between Doubt and Lie. I feel certain pieces of evidence were sufficient to successful call someone out for lying, but then the game told me it wasn't. It seemed too rigid.
- The open world felt like a waste. The game looked great in select areas/interiors, but the IQ of the city was really ugly and I wish they used their dev time to create bigger, better and more detailed crime scenes, rather than a city that was completely wasted outside of some boring side missions.
- Too many action sequences ruined the verisimilitude as well as simply being unfun to play.
This is a very negative post, but if you read any other my earlier posts in this thread you will know I was willing to overlook most of these bad aspects up until halfway through homicide as the game was doing so many things right, but it dragged on so long, took far too many retarded directions and grated me with the bad mechanics that I walk away feeling it's perhaps one of the most disappointing games I've played since MGS4.
Too ambitious. Scale it back, focus on the core detective gameplay, and LA Noire 2 could be great.
The first half of the game was really good. It was great visiting crime scenes, collecting evidence and questioning suspects. It genuinely felt like you were a detective slugging through it all to try and get to the truth. Halfway through homicide is where the game lost me, however, as the game totally cheated and had you
arrest half a dozen innocent people for crimes they didn't commit. Why couldn't you investigate a case, exhaust all leads and finish it without a conviction, ultimately leading up to the arrest/murder of the real serial killer? How on Earth did half a dozen people seem so absolutely guilty and turn out to be innocent? It's a complete plot hole and one that could easily be avoided.
Then it got worse on Vice as the game began to focus
more on Phelp's history in the war and tried to connect the narrative to that. Not only is the idea that all of his squad from the war will end up connected to this crime which he just happens to investigate is completely implausible, it's poorly written and not interesting in the slightest. Moreso than that, I don't buy that in a police station that has dozens of officers who openly admit to beating suspects, getting a conviction by any means necessary, not caring if their suspect is innocent, etc etc that the revelation Cole cheated on his wife would lead to him being the biggest scumbag in their eyes. If you wanted an excuse to demote him then fair enough, but that made it completely unbelievable.
Finally, things get even worse in arson when the game
yet again allows you to arrest the wrong people again, but worse tries to make those horrible newspaper stories into a big conspiracy. It barely felt like a detective game by this point and whoever made the choice to have you play as Kelso needs their head examined because it was far too late in the game to switch the perspective and have it seem anything other than completely forced. The love triangle aspect was horrendous, the massive shoot-outs ruined any verisimilitude that was left (which was very little) and it just wasn't well thought out in general. I didn't care who was setting the fires, who was profiting from it, why the real estate company were doing it, and had no desire to take down the powerful suits who were in charge. Everything they were trying to achieve with that story failed.
Honestly, I can't say enough bad things about the direction of the narrative in the second half of the game. They could have done an awesome detective game if it was 8-10 hours, but they stretched it out and tried to make it more complex and utterly failed. It was as badly handled as a game like Heavy Rain.
Outside of the direction the game took, there were other horrible flaws throughout:
- Horrible shooting that felt flat.
- Some of the worst controlled driving in recent memory (after a while I just made my partner drive everywhere)
- They re-used the chase mechanic far too much and it became too "gamey"
- Hand-to-hand combat was completely boring.
- I had major problems with the game logic at times when choosing between Doubt and Lie. I feel certain pieces of evidence were sufficient to successful call someone out for lying, but then the game told me it wasn't. It seemed too rigid.
- The open world felt like a waste. The game looked great in select areas/interiors, but the IQ of the city was really ugly and I wish they used their dev time to create bigger, better and more detailed crime scenes, rather than a city that was completely wasted outside of some boring side missions.
- Too many action sequences ruined the verisimilitude as well as simply being unfun to play.
This is a very negative post, but if you read any other my earlier posts in this thread you will know I was willing to overlook most of these bad aspects up until halfway through homicide as the game was doing so many things right, but it dragged on so long, took far too many retarded directions and grated me with the bad mechanics that I walk away feeling it's perhaps one of the most disappointing games I've played since MGS4.
Too ambitious. Scale it back, focus on the core detective gameplay, and LA Noire 2 could be great.
Homicide desk:
Definitely feel like the serial killer angle totally broke the mechanics of the game, if the murders had been individual cases then they could have had the players missing suspects entirely, failing to gather the right evidence, even let them fail to make a conviction and only felt like they had themselves to blame. As it is now even getting 5 stars doesn't mean you found the truth, which seems like a massive cop-out.
Should have been the best desk in the game, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth, definitely think they could approach it differently in the sequel and get a much much better result
Should have been the best desk in the game, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth, definitely think they could approach it differently in the sequel and get a much much better result
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
Banzaiaap said:
It's mostly facial tics and body language, although you should also listen to what they're saying. Some characters can lie with a straight face, but I don't think anyone in the game looks obviously nervous (eyes darting, fidgeting) while telling the truth.
If you're stuck between Doubt and Lie, always choose Lie first because you can back out of it if you don't have the evidence. In fact, you often have to choose Lie just to figure out what you're being asked to contradict, because what they say before and after the accusation are often completely different things.
José Mourinho
cocknose
So I've well and truly played out L.A. Noire. Only things I have left to do are find 49 films and 30 odd cars to get 100%. The car achievement is one of the worst out there, they all look the same! So I've give up.
As I played through the game I tried to defend it, but in my opinion, the game was a big let down. Some decent ideas that can probably be worked on, but so many annoying aspects of this game just make me not like it.
As I played through the game I tried to defend it, but in my opinion, the game was a big let down. Some decent ideas that can probably be worked on, but so many annoying aspects of this game just make me not like it.
I thought the last case made the whole thing seem like a waste of time. It killed it for me.Incendiary said: