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

Snookie

Member
I have a love/hate relationship with this game. To me this isn't a game I can just power through. I do about a case a night or maybe every few days. I just can't get that into it to have a long play through but I like the game. Also pisses me off that I get all the questions right but I'm guessing vehicle damage is making me 4 star. I really don't want to redo these cases either for the trophy. Ugh
 
Just finished. Great game. Rockstar is on a roll this generation. I think they'll end up with 3 great new IPs this generation when it's all said and done (Agent, RDR, and LA Noire).
 

Diablos

Member
So uh, yeah, I rented this game from Redbox yesterday, and just spent eight hours playing through ten cases. :lol

This game is amazing; will be buying it pretty soon.
 
Fjordson said:
Lie is only for when you have evidence pertaining to their specific statement. If you don't think they're telling the truth, but don't have a specific piece of evidence that can factually disprove what they just said, pick doubt.

but sometimes it is hard to decide on whether you have evidence or not :D or from 2 pieces of evidence, to choose the one the game wants you to pick.

usually they choices are easy but there are some pretty tricky ones too...
 

Mesijs

Member
Getting the game one of these days and I have a question.

Are you guys actually playing in BLACK AND WHITE or not? What do you prefer?
 

Fumoffu

Neo Member
Mesijs said:
Getting the game one of these days and I have a question.

Are you guys actually playing in BLACK AND WHITE or not? What do you prefer?

For me the novelty wears out after awhile. Colour all the way!
 

Guzim

Member
mandiller said:
The same thing happened to me. It kinda sucks. I guess we both failed a bunch of critical questions in the interviews

But

This is a little spoilerish though:
Don't worry about charging the wrong person. Just continue on to the next cases
I love after
charging the wrong person you get yelled at by your superior, but in the next scene he's talking to you at a diner and says he was impressed by your work in the case.
 

Mest30

Banned
Diablos said:
So uh, yeah, I rented this game from Redbox yesterday, and just spent eight hours playing through ten cases. :lol

This game is amazing; will be buying it pretty soon.

You're a stronger man than me. I've had the game since release and have only finished 12 cases. After the first couple cases, I thought this game was amazing. But after doing the same thing over and over and over, it's just not fun anymore. If I played for 8 hours, I'd probably sleep for 7 of them.
 

SephCast

Brotherhood of Shipley's
Just beat the game. The game is a lot better when you skip all the driving and get straight to all the mission points without the down time. I enjoyed it, 8/10 is an accurate score.
 

Crazylegs

Member
I finished this a few days ago. It was fun, but I didn't find it 'amazing'.

The Good Stuff:

- Face capture tech is very, very cool and (obviously) adds a human dimension to the characters. I think I even recognized a few actors' faces in there (e.g. Greg Grunberg, who played Matt Parkman on Heroes)

- The graphics detail and art direction is stunning. Coupled with the face capture stuff, I really felt like I was watching a very long movie set in the 1940's.

- The interrogation system is a really novel idea.The notion of calling out a suspect's answers as Truth, Doubt, and Lie adds a lot of depth to the game, for sure.

- The storytelling and voice acting are very strong. Team Bondi obviously did their research and has a great feel for the Noire genre.


The Bad Stuff:

- Repetition, repetition, repetition. There are only so many drainpipes, car chases, and fistfights one can put up with.

- The interrogation system felt very flawed for me - but maybe I just suck at it. As good as the face capture tech is, it still came off as 'weak' in some of the interrogation sessions.

- The map of L.A. was kind of boring. While amazingly detailed, there's nothing about 1940's L.A. that screams out 'landmark' to make me want to wander the streets.

- No free-roam after you complete the game? Maybe I missed something?

- Having recently finished the more 'open play' world of RDR, L.A. Noire felt somehow claustrophobic in its more linear storytelling.

Like I say, it was fun. But RDR really set the bar for me - and L.A. Noire just doesn't measure up.
 
Wow, for some reason I always only get 4 stars in the cases. Now i got 100% clues and only missed one question -> fucking idiot drives straight into my car while I drive with sirens on -> damage -> 4 stars -> FUCK YOU
 

Davey Cakes

Member
So I've been working through this game slowly. I've done some cases in homicide.

The Golden Butterfly. WOW. Just fucking WOOOOOOOW. Talk about absolute bullshit trickery on that case. So much ambiguous and potentially circumstantial evidence. Vagueness.

Thankfully this game lets you go back and make the right choice after making the wrong one. I thought about the conviction decision for a good 15 minutes. I looked over the logs. I looked over the evidence. I was convinced that the game was tricking me but I wasn't sure which way it was tricking me. Rusty's flip-flopping, where he goes from saying "take down this guy" to "the evidence points to this other guy." The initials "H.M." can mean two different things. Eerie music plays with one suspect, while the other says he's not speaking any more until his lawyer; where both of these things seem mysterious to me. A tire iron which ends up being completely circumstantial even though it points to one of the suspects more than the other.

Such a balancing act of logic, intuition, and "is this game trying to play me like a fiddle?" bullshit. Frustrating and yet it's still fun enough to keep me engaged, dang it.
 
Tryckser said:
Wow, for some reason I always only get 4 stars in the cases. Now i got 100% clues and only missed one question -> fucking idiot drives straight into my car while I drive with sirens on -> damage -> 4 stars -> FUCK YOU

If you're going for 100% just let your partner drive.
 

vocab

Member
Just got to Vice. Homicide was starting to get a little repetitive (the crimes), but they all integrated into each other, which is a nice change of direction. I look forward to more. The game does have its problems, but it's still doesn't deserve some of the hate it has here.
 
Rash said:
So I've been working through this game slowly. I've done some cases in homicide.

The Golden Butterfly. WOW. Just fucking WOOOOOOOW. Talk about absolute bullshit trickery on that case. So much ambiguous and potentially circumstantial evidence. Vagueness.

Thankfully this game lets you go back and make the right choice after making the wrong one. I thought about the conviction decision for a good 15 minutes. I looked over the logs. I looked over the evidence. I was convinced that the game was tricking me but I wasn't sure which way it was tricking me. Rusty's flip-flopping, where he goes from saying "take down this guy" to "the evidence points to this other guy." The initials "H.M." can mean two different things. Eerie music plays with one suspect, while the other says he's not speaking any more until his lawyer; where both of these things seem mysterious to me. A tire iron which ends up being completely circumstantial even though it points to one of the suspects more than the other.

Such a balancing act of logic, intuition, and "is this game trying to play me like a fiddle?" bullshit. Frustrating and yet it's still fun enough to keep me engaged, dang it.


Yeah I just finished this case and it really mind fucked me as well. Had no idea who to convict. I ended up going with
the pedo
but really it could have gone either way, and you don't get any acknowledgment at the end. I think this game really challenges the "OCD/Completest" nature that games have formed in us lately. I'm starting to come to grips with the idea that I just have to let it play out, even if I get an interrogation question wrong, rather than restarting. I almost wish they wouldn't tell you when you are wrong, or worse, when the little quips show up at the end of a case telling you what you could have done differently. There doesn't seem to be any direct penalty for it. It's just strange, but I can't figure out if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
 
I loved the game. It's not an intense experience, but rather one that you can savour at your own leisure, and that change of pace from most other games on the market was definitely welcome. The number of cars they modelled was jaw-dropping, as is the sheer size of the city. You can argue that a lot of it is boring to look at, but that's true of a real city (for better or worse). It's certainly a shame they couldn't have given you more of a 'beat' where you got to really know a neighbourhood, but it really does feel like you're driving around in 1947 L.A. to me. The facial tech is stunning and really does make a massive difference from a storytelling perspective, even if the animation is still the same old clunky stuff we're used to.

The game mechanics were hit and miss. The driving, running, and shooting all felt fine. The 'clue' setup was fine too. The interrogations were a great idea, but they way the choices have sometimes been implemented leaves a lot to be desired (mostly because there's a disconnect between what's being discussed prior to your choice and the things that you say after the choice) and it sometimes felt like you were trying to guess what the developer was thinking rather than trying to read a face in conjunction with the evidence. It also felt slightly too linear for my liking whereby there were limited options in terms of how you actually approach making the cases; most of the 'branching' in cases stems from interrogations rather than deductions made in the face of the evidence. I like how the slower pace of the main missions is offset by the 'cut to the chase' nature of the street crime, giving the player the ability to customise their own experience by injecting more action whenever they feel the need for it.

The overall story wasn't too bad, although I thought the ending could have been stronger. Ending spoilers:
I wasn't a fan of the switch to Kelso. He was an asshole IMHO and whatever flaws Phelps' character had, he was the one we'd followed throughout the course of the game and grown attached to.
On the whole though I thought the story and characters were pretty good. There's certainly plenty of scope for good DLC beyond what's already in the pipeline; in fact, this game is probably more suited to 'compartmentalised' DLC than any other game I can think of. So far I've played through the 3 available DLC cases and enjoyed all of them.

On the whole this is a very good game and I'm glad I've had the chance to play it. After reading the 'downer' opinions here I'm a little surprised at the reaction that some people have; I suspect they were expecting a very different game to the one that Team Bondi always intended to make. One criticism that bears discussion is the similarity (or repetitiveness if you want to be harsh) in the homicide cases... but there is a good and interesting reason for that and the final homicide case is absolutely brilliant as a result.
 
I am enjoying the game, but I can understand some people's complaints. It can get repetitive, and the most highly touted feature, the facial capture interrogations, can be frustratingly confusing at times. Like I said before, it's almost as if the game was built around you not knowing if the choices you were selecting were correct or not, only they had to make it known afterwards to satisfy the "videogame" part of it. I wonder just how much of a compromise was made, or if the developers original vision put them in over their heads.
 

gdt

Member
Just finished it, and boy, the 2nd half was so much better than the first half. Soon as you hit ad vice, things start to get awesome. Homicide was solid too.

The final act was great.

Cole, in the end, turned out to be a great, and unconventional main character.
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
I liked Cole alot. Flawed as fuck, but did his best.

Didn't like Kelso that much. I wanted to finish the game as Phelps :(. And how sad was that fucking ending. Poor Elsa :(
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
Ichor said:
Just finished it. Game went downhill after homicide, still I loved it, but could never replay it. I'd be interested in a sequel if it focused more on the homicide.

Why the fuck do you play as Kelso in the last few missions? Ruined the fucking ending for me.

Same. Just... same.
 

Darklord

Banned
vocab said:
Just got to Vice. Homicide was starting to get a little repetitive (the crimes), but they all integrated into each other, which is a nice change of direction. I look forward to more. The game does have its problems, but it's still doesn't deserve some of the hate it has here.

I'm at ad vice now too. I love this game. Yeah, it can be repetitive but it's so fun. The acting is simply amazing.
 

TheOddOne

Member
MaddenNFL64 said:
Same. Just... same.
I think they did that, because both Cole and Kelso both pride themselves on doing the right things, but caused the whole ordeal. Cole was responsable for the flametrower guy and Kelso could have prevented the narcotics from hitting the streets, both indirect but the blame can be put on them both.
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
TheOddOne said:
I think they did that, because both Cole and Kelso both pride themselves on doing the right things, but caused the whole ordeal. Cole was responsable for the flametrower guy and Kelso could have prevented the narcotics from hitting the streets, both indirect but the blame can be put on them both.

No, I get it in that way, just i didn't like it at all.

And I know noir never has happy endings, but... I wanted one :(.
 

Darklord

Banned
Just finished Vice.
What a depressing ending.
Kinda Wish there were more Vice cases. I think I'll be picking up all the DLC when I finish.
 

jgminto

Member
I think this would have been a great game and not just a good game with a great concept if in Homicide and Arson
You could actually pick the actual criminal atleast once. It constantly has you choosing between the right and wrong person but in the end they are both fucking wrong. Makes me sick in retrospect. They could have just given me a straightforward case just once.
 
jgminto said:
I think this would have been a great game and not just a good game with a great concept if in Homicide and Arson
You could actually pick the actual criminal atleast once. It constantly has you choosing between the right and wrong person but in the end they are both fucking wrong. Makes me sick in retrospect. They could have just given me a straightforward case just once.

Absolutely agree, turned what should have been a groundbreaking game into an incredibly frustrating one.
 

NIN90

Member
What a great fucking game.

Anyone put a list together called something like "The faces in L.A. Noire you recognized but couldn't put your finger on" ? :p
 

Kaldea

Member
MaddenNFL64 said:
I liked Cole alot. Flawed as fuck, but did his best.

Didn't like Kelso that much. I wanted to finish the game as Phelps :(. And how sad was that fucking ending. Poor Elsa :(
This is basically my opinion right here.

Great game. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I'm gonna have to get the DLC now. :D
 
NIN90 said:
What a great fucking game.

Anyone put a list together called something like "The faces in L.A. Noire you recognized but couldn't put your finger on" ? :p

I'm pretty sure Rockstar themselves did one, and plan to release more in an ongoing series.
 

fernoca

Member
endlessflood said:
Do we know when the Reefer Madness DLC is coming?
July 12. (next week)

At the moment, it's also the last case that will be released as DLC; but guess we'll see. (Or at least the last one that the Rockstar Pass covers).
 
Rash said:
So I've been working through this game slowly. I've done some cases in homicide.

The Golden Butterfly. WOW. Just fucking WOOOOOOOW. Talk about absolute bullshit trickery on that case. So much ambiguous and potentially circumstantial evidence. Vagueness.

I think that case kind of defines your stance on the game. I totally agree with you. For me the game started out great, with a few flaws. But once I got to the GB case I realized the game wasn't a detective simulator and there was a overarching narrative that took precedent over anything you did. In the end, I still enjoyed the game, even the ending, but the it just seemed “off” for some reason. Also, as much as I marveled at the recreation of 50s era LA, the open world city was rather pointless. There's so much filler in LA Noire. As far as I can tell the only purpose for the city was street crimes, which were cool at first but by the fourth case were annoying as all hell.
 

JMizzlin

Member
Is there a map for Gold Film Reel locations? I'm sick to fucking death of finding only text description-based guides, and videos. I just want to print a map and know where to look. Any help would be much appreciated.
 
Eye Drop said:
Is there a map for Gold Film Reel locations? I'm sick to fucking death of finding only text description-based guides, and videos. I just want to print a map and know where to look. Any help would be much appreciated.

Rockstar invented the Social Club just for you. It has all the film reels on a map with descriptions.
 

Nori Chan

Member
fernoca said:
July 12. (next week)

At the moment, it's also the last case that will be released as DLC; but guess we'll see. (Or at least the last one that the Rockstar Pass covers).
I thought it said that it would also give discounts to future LA Noire DLC?


Also, will the separation of Bondi and R* affect future dlc plans for the game?
 

The Lamp

Member
Been almost two months since I originally played this game at launch. The more I think about it, the more my opinion sours. It simply wasn't worth my money. It was such an unpolished, badly-strewn-together piece of faulty game design.
 

fernoca

Member
Noriega said:
I thought it said that it would also give discounts to future LA Noire DLC?


Also, will the separation of Bondi and R* affect future dlc plans for the game?
Well, back then they meant" "future" as in the Electroplating and Reefer cases, and the discount was basically buying everything for 50% less; though the Rockstar Pass at $10.

But, yeah. If things are as bad as it has been reported later, it basically confirms that there won't be any more DLC released. Around the time of the pass-announcement, some posts/reports in websites suggested that they had no plans for them. So i guess Bondi will continue working on their own thing ,and whoever ends with LA Noire might get to work on a sequel and release it in a few years.
 

voltron

Member
So how long until it starts getting interesting?

Seriously. I want to get into this game and I sense that its a game that Ill enjoy but the first 2 or 3 cases are just mind numbing.

Am I alone in thinking this? I want to be rewared for actually applying some grey matter.
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
voltron said:
So how long until it starts getting interesting?

Seriously. I want to get into this game and I sense that its a game that Ill enjoy but the first 2 or 3 cases are just mind numbing.

Am I alone in thinking this? I want to be rewared for actually applying some grey matter.

Keep it up. I think the last traffic case may get you into it. If not, maybe Homicide is better for you.

I dunno what to say. I fucking loved the game outside of gripes with how I wanted it to end, but that's just a creative beef.
 
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