It was dark, like the inside of a Derringer. It was raining, the kind of rain that you can't see in the dark, but you can hear it hissing on the end of your cigarette. Across the street a guy stood under a lamppost like he fell out of it. He shrugged the rain off his shoulders and touched his hat when he caught sight of me. I could see he had something in his hand, something I wanted. Something I needed.
And he knew it.
I crossed the street, puddles soaking my toes. These shoes cost five hundred dollars. I didn't care.
"What have you got there, Sam?", I said through the rain.
Houser had the grace to look a little guilty.
"L.A. Noire."
"I know it is, Sam. It's raining and the sun went down hours ago. Now let me see what you've got before I call my friend."
"Who's your friend?"
"His name is Colt."
"Easy, easy." He took a half step back and banged his shoulders into the lamppost. I smoked my cigarette and waited.
"It's a game, just a game," Houser stumbled over his words as much as he did over his feet.
"Just a game?"
"Take a look, mack. You tell me..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LfZq_OdU80
"That looks pretty damned good, Sam," I said, because it was true. Too true.
"I know! We reinvented facial movement, and did it so well that reading expressions can be part of the game itself, not just part of the graphics."
I read his expression. He looked pretty serious, but I wanted proof.
"Oh yeah? That's hard to believe, Sam."
"We get that a lot. Watch this and then see if you're convinced."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO03FXjPY3A
It was convincing, but I wasn't sold yet. Sure, the game looked like an open world extravaganza, sure it was a leap forward from GTA4 and Red Dead Redemption, but what about the story? The mechanics? I'm no easy mark.
"How do I know you're not shining me on with cinematic trailers, Sam? Let's see some gameplay."
"Hey, sure, you're no sucker. How about this?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aJymtKwNHs
I was sold. The rain came down out of the LA sky. I threw the cigarette in the street and reached for Sam's game. Instead, I got a face full of revolver.
"Not so fast, mack," he said over the barrel. His finger was on the trigger. I didn't move.
"Some kind of problem?" I tried to sound casual. It didn't work.
"What, you think because we showed this game as a
60 minute film at Tribeca, you can just walk up to me on the street and take a copy?"
"You want money? I've got money."
"Forget it, mack. You're going to wait, just like the rest of the world."
I didn't want to wait and I said so. He poked me in the forehead with the revolver. Suddenly, I wanted to wait.
"You're a tease, Sam, just like they said. When can I get the game?"
"Ask me again on
May 17th. Now get out of here."
I got out of there. It was dark, and it was raining, and I had a lot of drinking to do before May.
Posts
I'll repost this from the other thread:
The locations on the maps aren't quite accurate, as far as the dots go. But it helps.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
I had that happen during one of the newspaper cut scenes
apparently Kelso's model and audio didnt load in
obsolete signature form
replaced by JPEGs.
Hahahaha
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Without giving too much away, no. If you find the first homicide case doesn't fit what you're looking for, the next 5 are still homicide and are all similar to that one.
Speaking of which, I finished all the cases last night and was finishing up the Street Crimes.
What case was Dudley Lynch a part of? I don't really remember him.
Also the second to last street crime I did was a violent hit and run. Boy did that bring back memories.
Considering
Well I haven't done the first Homicide case yet, so I'm not sure what it contains. I finished the last Traffic one, watched the cut scenes until the title card for Homicide #1 came up, and turned it off for the night. I'll play the first case tonight and see if I think it would work. I didn't realize Homicide was that long.
Yeah, I'm thinking Traffic might be best for this. A violent, bloody crime scene isn't what I'm trying to avoid, since my in-laws watch all those CSI/NCIS crime cop shows (that's why I think they'd be halfway interested) and LA Noire's "gore" is much tamer than what those shows contain. I'm more trying to avoid the awkwardness of sitting next to my mother-in-law as we're examining the body of some naked woman on the autopsy table or grilling some dude about the 9 year old he assaulted.
And it sort of sucks that by correctly figuring out which location we needed to go to near the end, we missed one of the most climactic and important scenes of character development in the game:
The gameplay itself was flawed, mostly the fact that the AI in the driving and on-foot chase sequences was pretty ridiculous with how blatantly it would cheat to outpace you (zero to sixty from a dead stop after being smashed by two cars? Sure, makes sense to me!), but other than that I enjoyed it. Some tightening up on the rather arbitrary suspect questioning wouldn't hurt either, but I'll take the driving/foot chase sequence improvements over all else first. Goddamn those were annoying.
Far as the story goes though, I really enjoyed it. As impressed as I initially was by this facial capture technology, I thought the novelty of it would wear off after the first few hours of gameplay, but it absolutely didn't. It added enough to the experience that I find it difficult to watch some of the more standard facial models in other games now. Hopefully this technology becomes relatively inexpensive and more widespread as time goes on, I'd love to see more of it.
Re: the ending
There's a homicide case where you look at a piece of evidence, and Cole's body is ridged while his head/face is kinda moving ever-so-slightly.
I think that's what the game's missing over RDR, plot-wise. It may be bittersweet at best, but you can find the guy who screwed you over and get your revenge.
loved the game and I'd agree on problems with gameplay. my gripe is at times there seemingly was no gameplay and this felt like playing a movie, not a game. Especially when it came to detective work at times
Steam
XBOX
So if there was one question mark, it wasn't telling you "DAHLIA IS HERE," it was just saying of the 20 or so possible answers of where to go next, you'd only not visited one.
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I really wish it was the other way around, that the rating was based on the absolute truth, and that getting 5 stars sometimes meant pissing the captain off.
Or tell me that I have something wrong and to shut up and go play the game more, because I don't know the whole story yet.
You have something wrong, shut up and go play the game more. :P
You're right on your assessment on how the star ranking system works. But you'll see soon enough.
Well after this:
I just watched the beginning of the next case, and the cut scene does change slightly depending on who you chose in case before. I really hope that little change in dialog is the only thing that is altered story-wise from here on out, because I'll be pissed if the story is now forever tainted with a choice that wasn't what I wanted to choose, right or wrong.
Will this happen more and more in the rest of the game?
Shut up and play the game more, you'll be fine.
Has there been any sort of attempt online to list all the Mad Men actors that appear in the game? Not just the lead actors on the show like Aaron Stanton, Vincent Kartheiser, the guy who played Mickey Cohen who was the comedian, etc., but some of the smaller reoccurring roles as well.
I've recognized two former roommates of Joan and Peggy, and at least one of the secretaries.
IMDb can do that work for you:
http://www.imdb.com/search/name?roles=tt0804503,tt1764429
But then, I already knew that, because Bob Clendenin shows up freaking everywhere.
YES!
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Or is there a better way of not being spotted?
Benches, shoe shiners, storefront windows, and just generally taking cover like you would in a gunfight do the trick.
believe you get a prompt to press A when next to an object that allows it
Steam
XBOX
So many unsolved crimes in the City of Angels. And so many displaced buttocks.
xbl - HowYouGetAnts
steam - WeAreAllGeth
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/adventure/la-noire/news/6321475/igda-investigating-team-bondi-workers-rights-complaints
Video does not have anything to do with the controversy but does foreshadow the PC announcement quite well.
Heard this on a podcast. I don't know what to make of this report other than to feel gratitude and sympathy for the people who worked so hard on this game. Game takes six years and the allegations are that the game was under extended crunch constantly(I had to look it up, at first I thought they referring to the exercise). I'm glad to the game mad eit and is a success but I hope Team Bondi can relax a bit more in the future now that they have this stone to build on. It would be a shame that this turns into this generation's version of the Getaway(which they mention in the video in the link).
I've started trying to outright launch people into the air using my car. Due to the game's pedestrian safety AI, its a little tricky to do right. Hmm, maybe I should just let my parnter drive in the future.
As said before, it will prompt as a button when you get close to a place where you can go incognito. Taking cover around corners, cars and dumpsters works too. I got the achievement for not using either and it was rather fun. Just stand behind big things and maneuver around her line of sight. Little tricky but it can be done. One of the most satisfying achievements I ever got. Then I played Infamous one and the tailing missions made me not want to follow anyone ever again. Sigh...
You have to admit its effective. If you're going to do a videogame with a cast of hundreds without breaking the bank, you might as well pick people who are A)are used to playing characters from the 40s and 50s and might be doing this job in the same studio complex that they are doing other work in. I would not be surprised if they got economical with their scheduling. Just guessing here.
That reminds me of the story in the local paper a year back that PotC: On Stranger Tides were auditioning natural looking women. The audition reportedly included requiring actresses to run in front of the casting department people to watch for body parts that behaved ahem "out of character".
Nearing the end of the game now and I'm really enjoying the way the pace and urgency has picked up.