L.A. Noire

[Dr. Javi]

I ultimately like the game, but the Question-and-Answer system seems really, really off, which was something I was looking forward too.

What do you guys think of it?

[Levistus]

I'll never pay $60 for a movie.

[Moondog]

I've enjoyed L.A. Noire in a very big way. It is everything I expected it to be, and delivered on all of its promises flawlessly.

Due to the nature of the game, and what it focuses on (taking advantage of FacialScan technology to read a person's face) combined with its narrative oriented approach, it isn't without a few flaws - it feels somewhat linear, and some of the cases feel a little disjointed, but all in all, it's a very good investigative game.

Further, the soundtrack, while a little overly dramatic (when driving, at times) is excellent, and the radio has a few interesting choices (including a song also featured in Fallout: New Vegas, which, if you've played it as much as I have, makes you expect radscorpions around the next corner), while the city itself, and the objects therein are lovingly detailed and period appropriate.

One thing that is very off, however, is the dialogue. There's a notable lack of period-appropriate slang, not to mention the prevalence of cursing (which was uncommon back then, as people were likely to be punched out for even mildly cursing), which if you're familiar with the genre and the time period, is a bit jarring, however I cannot take points away from the game for it, as most people will never notice it and it isn't a big deal at all in the long run.

Further, much of the slang used back then would be all but incomprehensible to people nowadays, so it isn't necessarily a point against the game.

The gunfighting and car chases are well done and neither broken nor incredible, so they add a necessary bit of livening up to the experience.

So all in all, I'd say it's a very good game at what it does, but it certainly isn't for everyone - more than a few people will find the focus on exhaustive searches of crime scenes, some of which border on pixel hunting, interrogation, and Q&A sections somewhat boring. Personally I'd give it a 9 out of 10. People who don't enjoy point and click adventure games (which this game is based off of, and in fact should be considered a 'modern adventure game') will probably average it around 8 or so.

Also Captain James Donnely is fuckin' awesome.

[Dr. Javi]

Also Captain James Donnely is fuckin' awesome.

I agree with everything except this.

EXCEPT THIS

[Moondog]

Also Captain James Donnely is fuckin' awesome.

I agree with everything except this.

EXCEPT THIS

WHAT
WHAT
WHAT

[Soja]

I don't like it when I choose to doubt an item of testimony and Phelps about flips the table in rage.

"... Kay, that's not what I expected."

Besides that, the line between Doubt and Lie seems very slim sometimes. I keep thinking that Doubt should have been changed to 'Press' instead as that seems to be more like what it actually is. For what it is though, it works quite well most of the time.

Shortage of period vernacular saddens me somewhat. If ADV could put in the effort to needlessly write in period-appropriate vernacular into Chrono Crusade's dub (it takes place in the late twenties-early thirties), I do not see why Team Bondi could not make the same artistic decision. However, it's not completely absent. There's still enough to give someone pause to extrapolate the meaning a sentence.

Other than that I've been enjoying the game thus far. The facial animations actually fit in with the body animations very well most of the time and don't create that eerie disjoint between real and unreal. The audio cuts are fairly sudden though, and like Shane has said the driving music is pretty ridiculously melodramatic.

[Moondog]

I do agree that the interrogation mechanics need a bit of work - I think they'd be better suited to a dialogue-wheel type system, giving you a hint of what the gist of Cole's about to say.

It does help that with Lie, you can back right out, and gain a *little* extra information from it that way.

[Dr. Javi]

I'm getting better at the interrogation system, I think. I've figured this out:

- There is only one difference between Doubt and Lie—when you accuse them of lying, you need strong evidence (found from your clues) that immediately contradicts what they've said. If they're obviously, blatantly lying, but you don't have the conflicting clue, then you should choose doubt.

- Truth doesn't mean, "I think the speaker is genuinely telling the truth." It means, "What the speaker is saying is true." For example [very small spoiler ahead], at one point, someone says something along the lines of, "My wife wouldn't divorce me," in genuine belief that his wife wouldn't divorce him. Earlier in that case, you found out that his wife had filled out divorce papers. Instead of choosing Truth, since the speaker truthfully believes his wife would never divorce him, choose lie—and select the "divorce papers" clue.

- People who have no reason to lie probably won't, regardless of how shifty their expression is. People who would probably lie, or conceal something, probably are. Sometimes I totally neglect shifty behavior or direct eye-contact in favor of picking the option that fits the character—not the character's actions (contradictory to what the game sought to achieve, also contradictory to what a real detective should be doing, but it works a lot of the time).

- Choosing Doubt or Lie might result in Phelps making an unexpected, extreme accusation, not simply doubting what the person said (like Soja said, sometimes he seems close to flipping over the table).

Right now, I'm on the Vice desk, and some of these guidelines are breaking down a bit.

Uh . . . that's all I can think of for now. I'm going to play more.  

(also, the captain is an overly religious prick. i hate him.)

. . . maybe that's what makes him awesome; i mean, i have to admit, as a character, he is pretty awesome

but the shitty kind of awesome that i want to punch in the mouth

[Moondog]

Just got on vice-desk myself.

Something about how the only black man in the game with a speaking role that isn't just "nod your head and say nice things to the nice officers, Uncle Tom"'s most used phrase is 'Mutha FUCKA' bothers me.

But then the non-period appropriate dialogue is weird enough.

[Dr. Javi]

I just beat it.

A great god damned game. The interrogation system, I think, is still pretty flawed—but it was a great, great game.

I recommend it to anyone. And no, it's not a "video game movie". I played through Heavy Rain, too, and this was less like that (though Heavy Rain was also good).

[DMD]

I couldn't agree with the language issues more. Just like in Red Dead Redemption, people did not drop the F bomb, the MF bomb or especially the GD bomb every other breath, because as Shane pointed out, it would get you decked, especially in polite circles or mixed company.

I think the driving controls could be better, if you give it much gas at all you're all over the road, and the AI drivers and pedestrians are just terrible. I can't count how many times cars have turned directly in front of me, or walkers have walked right into my car or stood directly in front of it for no reason.

I just started the game more or less, so I don't know about the whole interrigation to to much yet, I just now got to Driver Seat case.

[Inquisitor]

I think you guys greatly underestimate how much cursing people actually do/did in the past.

((Hint: it's a lot. Foul language is pretty much as old as language))

[Dr. Javi]

In today's age, a lot of media developers can use less-than-socially-acceptable language without having to worry about what the editors or censors have to say. Because of the lack of swearing in the media back then, I doubt swearing was as common as it is today. Take this, for example:

"Another thing," Spade repeated, glaring at the boy: "Keep that gunsel away from me while you're making up your mind. I'll kill him."

If you didn't know what "gunsel" was, you'd probably think it has something to do with being a gunman (a reasonable assumption when considering the context in which it was used). Hammet's editor thought nothing of it—but if he knew that "gunsel" is like saying "faggot", he wouldn't have allowed it, which is why Hammet snuck it in.

Nowadays, if your character says faggot, nigger, kyke, honkey, chink, gook, kraut, limey, jungle-bunny, jigaboo, nig-nog, porch monkey, wetback, fuck, shit, ass, cock, asshole, cunt, bitch, dick, pussy, ass, nigger-faggot, flamer, faggot-nigger, faggot-faggot, or nigger-nigger, the editor would probably allow it without any hesitation (take the amount of swearing in L.A. Noire, for example). I think it's reasonable to assume that a lack of swearing in the media correlates with less swearing in private life, especially since the media seems so much more prevalent now.

My theory as to why there was so much swearing in L.A. Noire is that it was a (perhaps lazy) way to show that the detectives were social outcasts who didn't care about being polite, like the hard-boiled detective novels in the 40s.

[Kade]

Nevermind that a game with highly conservative language wouldn't sell.

Even if it was "realistic" conservative language.

Also, /agree with Javi.

[SilverStreak]

Perhaps part of the 'problem' people are having with it has to do with the fact that, as far as I can tell, L.A. Noire is trying really hard to harken back to Film Noir.

The snappy, reserved dialogue has come to be one of the biggest defining characteristics of the genre, so I'm sure that's what some people were expecting. Without it, it's extremely difficult to get that "noirish" feel.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r69dQZHjkmY

(You could cut the sexual tension in that scene with a knife.)

I'll probably still end up playing this game in the future, so for now I'm withholding final judgment.

[Moondog]

The game is a great detective story. But it sure as hell isn't noir.

[WP]

I thought this thread would be about flamme...

[DMD]

The game is a great detective story. But it sure as hell isn't noir.

The more I play, the less great of even a detective story it is, a lot if not all of the cases are alike, and it gets kind of old hearing what a super cop Phelps is.

I mean in real life, a cop this good and straight and narrow?

The mob would kill him.

[Dr. Javi]

I've got a theory that Phelps is a schizoid, or some kind of borderline sociopath; he's not right in the head. I think his being so "straight and narrow" isn't something he adheres to because he has an overly-tough moral backbone—but it's his "I am still human" compulsion, and he doesn't know how to do anything else, if that makes any sense.

There are several times in the game where what he does seems less straight-and-narrow, and more emotionless psychopath who's functioning in society the only way he knows how. There are some minor spoilers ahead, I tried to word them in such a way as to not really ruin much for someone who hasn't played through the game. Highlight the text to see them.

- The only time I remember him showing real anger was when he was demoted, and he wanted to rub his new find (while on the Arson desk) in the department's face; only when he was "overthrown", so to speak. Other emotions are directed only toward wiping out crime.

- He left his wife and two kids without much trouble. You never see them, and he rarely talks about them otherwise.

- Through out the game, especially if you do the street crimes, he guns down many people and isn't particularly affected.

- His military career is filled with decisions that value a strict, almost mathematical system, as opposed to anything based in human reason or emotion.

- Near the end of the game, he says something like, "I need this man for my case," to Kelso. Phelps doesn't care about anything else, at all, regardless of how heroic or merciful it is.

- Etc.

That's just kind of the feeling I got while playing through the game. This is really my first time trying to rationalize and verbalize it, but I think there's a lot more to Phelps than, "I'm some guy who happens to be really, really, really morally inclined."

Discuss.

[Auvic]

@SS:
That's an amazing clip. o____o;;;

[SilverStreak]

@SS:
That's an amazing clip. o____o;;;

Double Indemnity is a pretty amazing movie. I highly. highly recommend it. Classic Noir.

[Moondog]

@SS:
That's an amazing clip. o____o;;;

Double Indemnity is a pretty amazing movie. I highly. highly recommend it. Classic Noir.

Agreed. Also recommended: The Third Man, A Touch Of Evil, Sunset Boulevard (the movie, not the musical), and a few others whose names I cannot think of at the moment.

[SilverStreak]

@SS:
That's an amazing clip. o____o;;;

Double Indemnity is a pretty amazing movie. I highly. highly recommend it. Classic Noir.

Agreed. Also recommended: The Third Man, A Touch Of Evil, Sunset Boulevard (the movie, not the musical), and a few others whose names I cannot think of at the moment.

I'd also recommend Out of the Past, and Mildred Pierce (a somewhat atypical noir flick).