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

The Lamp said:
Yeah, it is really bad design. They encourage that kind of gameplay, however, with the insulting notion that you have to investigate "correctly" and get "correct" answers out of suspects, instead of just letting you investigate how you wish and dealing with the consequences of the case. :l

A lot of people have said this and I agree. I think I'd like this game infinitely better if there were no scoring system or that one right answer. I know it doesn't matter if I get a question wrong or don't five star cases. It's cool cases can play out differently, but I don't get the deal with the consequences people. I'm a gamer. I like getting high scores. I just don't want to limp across the finish line of a case with one star and just say whatever. I want to know that I'm doing well.
 

eXistor

Member
I can't even belive you guys are ragging on the game so hard. It's flawed, I think no one will say otherwise, but its amazing atmosphere (love the technicolor), great acting, cool storyline (I don't get the criticisms here at all, ending included) amke this a must-play in my book. The game sounds amazing, it's original, questioning people works fine, you just have to pay attention to what you do. If you screw up it's your own fault.

A sequel should fix any problems, but I think they did a hell of a job with this one.
 

daviyoung

Banned
Mifune said:
I fail to see how it's bad design and not just "design I don't particularly like" but whatever.

Because it's carrot and stick. Game tells you that you can do things, then takes it away when a plot element needs to be injected. You're constantly fighting the narrative.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
eXistor said:
I can't even belive you guys are ragging on the game so hard. It's flawed, I think no one will say otherwise, but its amazing atmosphere (love the technicolor), great acting, cool storyline (I don't get the criticisms here at all, ending included) amke this a must-play in my book. The game sounds amazing, it's original, questioning people works fine, you just have to pay attention to what you do. If you screw up it's your own fault.

A sequel should fix any problems, but I think they did a hell of a job with this one.

I keep thinking that I haven't hit the point where the game completely falls apart, but then I see people just throwing around terms like bad design and I realize that maybe I don't have the right brand of STRONG OPINIONS for the GAF.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
daviyoung said:
Because it's carrot and stick. Game tells you that you can do things, then takes it away when a plot element needs to be injected. You're constantly fighting the narrative.

Maybe I just haven't gotten far enough, but this hasn't been the case at all in my experience.
 

npm0925

Member
This is the rare game where an observer can enjoy it almost as much as the player. The graphics are great, the dialog well- wriiten and spoken, the cases interesting, and they can can give their opinion on the interrogation sequences -- at which point the game pulls the rug out from under them with the wrong answer bullshit that interrupts the narrative flow of the case. It boggles the mind that this aspect of the game made it into the final product. It's a gigantic flaw in an otherwise excellent game.
 

Montresor

Member
Are you criticising the game because there is only one right way to play a case? I don't see the problem with that. I liked it because when you screw up a case you get a different ending, or things play out a little differently in the middle of the case. And then I have a chance to redo the case and hopefully get a better ending.

The ragging on this game seems unbelievable.
 
Mifune said:
I fail to see how it's bad design and not just "design I don't particularly like" but whatever.

By the end, it's flat out bad design. Everything falls apart with the narrative. Noire is like if the Titanic set out to sea with holes already in its hull, only to hit the iceberg later.
 

daviyoung

Banned
Montresor said:
Are you criticising the game because there is only one right way to play a case? I don't see the problem with that. I liked it because when you screw up a case you get a different ending, or things play out a little differently in the middle of the case. And then I have a chance to redo the case and hopefully get a better ending.

That would be fine if I knew why this piece of obvious evidence couldn't prove a lie, or why he's looking away and still telling the truth, or why the plot is going this way but I'm being forced to go that way.

When I bought the game the clerk offered me a guide and I dismissed it with a 'nah, it'll spoil the game'. To be honest, the guide probably complements the plot nicely.
 
Mifune said:
I fail to see how it's bad design and not just "design I don't particularly like" but whatever.

The way it presents the player with a choice but constantly informs that they're doing it wrong if they're not following the critical path means that the game isn't about investigating but predicting which way the writers want events to occur. It's a system that makes the player feel dumb when they get the question wrong and then makes them question the game's logic when the story never fully explains itself.
 

StuBurns

Banned
If you get it 'right' or not, the game's story is in directly opposition to it's player feedback, so it's irrelevant regardless.
 

tedtropy

$50/hour, but no kissing on the lips and colors must be pre-separated
The more I read the post-impression the more I fear I'd wind up being one of those gamers that would fall asleep in the middle of this game. I would really love to play like a one-case demo of it.
 

daviyoung

Banned
deadnoob said:
Am I missing something on how to answer questions? I get like 70% of them wrong.

Maybe you're being too quick to judge. Review your clues, look at their expressions and re-read what they say in the log. Of course, as has been discussed, getting it wrong is sometimes inevitable.
 
Just platinumed the game. Amazing experience with some flaws but to be applauded nonetheless. The collectathon at the end made me appreciate the cityscape even more, even if it's not as interactive as in 'proper' RAGE-games. Too bad they didn't give you cool shit like some suits or a bad-ass car for finding all those things like the film reels


Also another idiot-tip: don't go spend 2 hours of driving to get your 194.7 miles trophy and quit the game @ 180 miles when you're getting dinner. No auto-save meant I had to do all that shit over again ....
 
npm0925 said:
This is the rare game where an observer can enjoy it almost as much as the player. The graphics are great, the dialog well- wriiten and spoken, the cases interesting, and they can can give their opinion on the interrogation sequences -- at which point the game pulls the rug out from under them with the wrong answer bullshit that interrupts the narrative flow of the case. It boggles the mind that this aspect of the game made it into the final product. It's a gigantic flaw in an otherwise excellent game.
This is exactly how i feel as well. I'm currently doing the homicide cases and I'm very much annoyed. If only they would give a small sample of what Cole would say when you select an option in a interrogation, that would help a lot. There are too many cases where I select 'doubt' and where Cole flips out on the person and starts making accusations. The game hasn't really shown me how to be good at interrogations, and I keep failing at it constantly. It's the same problem I've had with GTA4 and RDR; you're forced with a narrative is hardly ever representative of what you really want to do.
 

dwebo

Member
deadnoob said:
Am I missing something on how to answer questions? I get like 70% of them wrong.
There are some cheap tricks you can employ if you're really intent on answering them all correct.

Less cheap: Don't be afraid to accuse someone of lying, as you can always back out without penalty, and the additional dialog helps immensely (both to determine if they're actually lying or not, and to narrow down the required evidence).
Incredibly cheap: Pop up your intuition window and look at the percentage of people guessing correctly after removing an answer. High percentages (>95%), at least out of ps3 players the past week, almost always means either truth or doubt.

On the other hand, if you're having trouble figuring out if someone is telling the truth or lying, then I don't know what to say.
 

Mayyhem

Member
I'm on homicide and its getting really boring/repetitive. I just started the case where you
find a dead women by the train tracks
how much more until im done this desk?
 

jett

D-Member
Mayyhem said:
I'm on homicide and its getting really boring/repetitive. I just started the case where you
find a dead women by the train tracks
how much more until im done this desk?

A few more.

Then you'll move to the rest of the desks which frankly aren't much different.
 
Mayyhem said:
I'm on homicide and its getting really boring/repetitive. I just started the case where you
find a dead women by the train tracks
how much more until im done this desk?

You're pretty close to Vice if I recall correctly.
 

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
Valion said:
No. The characters are awfully written, and show essentially no development throughout the game. The story is awful. Most of the major plot points are unintentional comedy. If it weren't for the title, no one would connect the game to noir at all.

At no point do you feel like a hard-boiled detective, or anything like that. Cole is essentially the anti-Phoenix Wright in terms of competence, getting results, or mental stability. He would be a horrible detective, except that he's apparently the only person in the police department that seems to attempt to do any work at all.

There are no great moments of revelation based on piecing together evidence. There is lots of collecting random crap by walking around and mashing a button (in true awful adventure game fashion), then yelling at people, ultimately leading nowhere. There are a few terrible 'twists' that you will likely guess 5 hours ahead of time, as you slog forward wondering when the damn thing will finally wrap up.


thanks. I was feeling something like that. Y2kev's post just confirmed my suspicions.

Pass.
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
I was inspired. :p

lanoiremeh.jpg
 

netguy503

Member
Has this been posted:

LA Noire DLC News Coming Next Week, Including Deets on the Rockstar Pass
Written Saturday, May 28, 2011 by Dan Webb

Rockstar Games has announced via its Facebook page that details on the previously exclusive pre-order cases and content will be coming next week and that they’ll also reveal details on new DLC and the Rockstar Pass.

“Next week, look out for new info on downloadable content for L.A. Noire, including the release of all the retail exclusive pre-order cases and content, along with details on new cases and the Rockstar Pass,” says the Facebook post.

The retail exclusive pre-order DLC that the post mentions are of course the cases: “A Slip of the Tongue” and “The Naked City,” which each carry a 100 achievement points with them. This ultimately means that anyone wanting to get the initial 1,200 Gamerscore will be able to sooner rather than later

Oh, and we’ll hear about the illusive Rockstar Pass and some new DLC too. Can’t be bad!

If you’ve still not picked up LA Noire, then you’ve obviously not read our sister site's review!
...................................

So details on how we can get the retail exclusive DLC AND new DLC is going to be unveiled next week (I can't believe talk of new DLC is happening so soon but if they cut out two entire desks from the game I assume they have alot of content at the ready). I'm pretty excited. Oh, and this was taken from ps3trophies.org so of course they talk about trophies/achievement points in their posts. :)
 

dwebo

Member
netguy503 said:
Has this been posted:
Here's hoping for reasonable pricing, like max $2-3 for an individual case, $10 for an entire desk. I don't remember how much the crappy RDR DLC cost, but Undead Nightmare and the GTA4 episodes were both priced fairly for their amount of content.
 

LifEndz

Member
NullPointer said:
I'm curious to see how large the downloads are for new case DLC. The facial animation data is supposed to be huge isn't it?

Could they maybe compress it until you're playing the DLC?
 

netguy503

Member
dwebo said:
Here's hoping for reasonable pricing, like max $2-3 for an individual case, $10 for an entire desk. I don't remember how much the crappy RDR DLC cost, but Undead Nightmare and the GTA4 episodes were both priced fairly for their amount of content.

Since when have you seen DLC go for $2-$3? Each one is going to be at least $5 minimum and I'm fine with that.
 

netguy503

Member
NullPointer said:
I'm curious to see how large the downloads are for new case DLC. The facial animation data is supposed to be huge isn't it?

Ask Xbox people how big the Naked City and A Slip of the Tongue is. The new DLC should be following that pattern I would think.
 

dwebo

Member
netguy503 said:
Since when have you seen DLC go for $2-$3? Each one is going to be at least $5 minimum and I'm fine with that.
Hey, a man can dream. I absolutely adore the game, but I still wouldn't pay $5 for a one hour case. Ending spoiler:
The ending also makes me less inclined to want to further explore Phelp's story.

We'll see soon enough, I guess.
 

M.W.

Member
eXistor said:
I can't even belive you guys are ragging on the game so hard.

You do know what site you're on right?

Anyways, finished up a case earlier, only got about 30% of the questions right and still managed to get 3 stars. Phew.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Playing this on a rental. I'm in the Traffic cases, so far it's pretty good. If the rest of the game follows the same routine, I can see the feeling of repetition setting in, but so far I'm having fun. I like scanning the crime scenes and interrogating people, even though I keep getting all the questions 'wrong'.

playing it on PS3 only makes the lack of a PC version hurt even more... :(
 
Just finished the first case on the Arson desk. I'm still having fun with it, though I do have the same complaint others have cited about the "mood swingy" dialogue.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
bonesmccoy said:
You can fail the interrogation and not be able to charge someone. I don't know if how much evidence you collect impacts your questions yet, because I'm playing with the musical queues in a completion run. The case still gets closed as you still have to finger someone, but you're later given mega-shit and informed that your charge didn't stick.

LA Noire is noir story, but in the way Super Mario is an adventure story.

I'm just happy we actually have a detective game in this gen (even if it is a times quite muddled).
I just don't think it's much of a detective game. Unles you just mean that you play a detective.
 

BurningNad

Member
I'm really starting to get to the point where I'm forcing myself to play through the game.

The last case in homicide was boring as fuck. I was not in the mood to
check all the different landmarks on my map to see if the poem I had was referring to it. Oh boy, climbing buildings is fun! Also, the balancing across the chandelier and wooden planks was pretty frustrating with the janky controls. Walking through the tar pits was irritating as well, apparently if you reach the end of one of the platforms and don't instantly move away, you die. I got stuck on an end in a corner of one of them, then fell over and died.
That whole sequence seemed thrown in at the last second.
 
I have a feeling that this is going to turn into one of those games that had its share of problems, but then hyperbole and hive-mind take over, and it gets put up as the worst game of all time. I already know I'm going to hear about this over and over and over and over in every single thread whether its relevant or not.

It isn't the best game. I'm having a lot of fun with it, but try not to play it for too long because too many cases in a row can start to get old. I have no real complaints with the controls, the game-world, the acting, or any of that. The cases and the gameplay are becoming a little stale and repetitive, but I still enjoy trying to find out if they're lying or not, and looking for evidence. It's not 9 out of 10 material, but its certainly not "the worst game of all time lol" either. Or garbage. Or an abortion. I know how much people like to throw those terms around. This hasn't happened yet, but its definitely going to pretty soon.
 

JBuccCP

Member
BurningNad said:
I'm really starting to get to the point where I'm forcing myself to play through the game.

The last case in homicide was boring as fuck. I was not in the mood to
check all the different landmarks on my map to see if the poem I had was referring to it. Oh boy, climbing buildings is fun! Also, the balancing across the chandelier and wooden planks was pretty frustrating with the janky controls. Walking through the tar pits was irritating as well, apparently if you reach the end of one of the platforms and don't instantly move away, you die. I got stuck on an end in a corner of one of them, then fell over and died.
That whole sequence seemed thrown in at the last second.
And then in the cutscene you see them
just riding across in a boat. Awesome.
 
LA Noire would probably be OK as an XBLA game, that lasted the length of a movie.

The mechanics and characters are not strong enough to last more than a few hours.
 
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