What is it with Rockstar? (L.A. Noire ending spoilers)

[Billy Deal]

This is what I find so frustrating - as soon as one has the courage to go on record saying they think we should've been shown more, they're accused of "needing their hand holding". Bit of a shame, that. Poor form.

Mornal laid it out pretty much perfectly. Sure the link is there to be made - people who say "I had no idea what was going on" may have missed the point, but they only need to have blinked or sneezed at the crucial moment to have missed it. Our point is just that it wasn't given the time it deserved, and it definitely seems like a major weak point in the plot's delivery. The idea that "we're only shown Cole's work life so it doesn't matter that a major plot point goes largely unexplained" is kind of pretentious hogwash in my view, sorry.

 

[Luciano Frias-Andrade]

This is what I find so frustrating - as soon as one has the courage to go on record saying they think we should've been shown more, they're accused of "needing their hand holding". Bit of a shame, that. Poor form.

Mornal laid it out pretty much perfectly. Sure the link is there to be made - people who say "I had no idea what was going on" may have missed the point, but they only need to have blinked or sneezed at the crucial moment to have missed it. Our point is just that it wasn't given the time it deserved, and it definitely seems like a major weak point in the plot's delivery. The idea that "we're only shown Cole's work life so it doesn't matter that a major plot point goes largely unexplained" is kind of pretentious hogwash in my view, sorry.

Agreed. Noir movies are all about character motivations; and a big part of this is linked to a character's personal life- Cole's was skipped over... The game ended and I still wasn't sure who Cole was.

 

[scnj]

Sigh. Here goes...

Spoiler

Homicide desk was easily the highlight of the game. The cases were well paced and cleverly put together. While the twist of every arrested suspect being innocent was a bit of a dickslap, it all wrapped up nicely. I especially enjoyed interpreting the poems during the last case.

Vice desk seemed like a step down. Not only was Roy Earle far less entertaining than either Galloway or Bekowsky, the cases seemed less important and the pacing fell off. Up until this point, all we knew of Cole was his military life and work life. We had no idea what his home life was like, which meant that the decision to cheat on his wife was completely unjustified. There was no emotion to it, and I lost all respect for the character because of it. When the demotion to arson desk came, it rang hollow, because I was at a point where I felt the character deserved it.

The first couple of arson cases were good, but that didn't last long. As soon as we switched to playing as Jack, it was all but over. The clever cases were gone, replaced by an extended series of chase scenes and shootouts, which were frankly the worst parts of the game. As for the ending, Cole's sacrifice was shallow and meaningless. The narrative had placed me in a position where Kelso appeared to be an asshole, there was no emotional connection to Elsa, and Cole was a cheat for no good reason.

As a proof of concept for the technology, LA Noire succeeds brilliantly. If the quality of the last two desks had matched the first two, I'd be inclined to give the game a 9 or 10 out of 10. Unfortunately, the narrative fell apart and the game stopped with everything that made it unique. The worst part is that none of the professional reviewers have called the designers out on this, so there's a possibility they won't bother improving these elements for any possible sequels.

 

[Saviordd1]

I agree. I hated the ending.

It didn't wrap up the character's story nicely at all, and was a shitty way to end the story.... literally.

I see what you did thar

As far as endings go i've seen worse, I mean it was dissapointing but its still miles better then oh, say, halo 2 or dragon age 2 XD

 

[Greatjusticeman]

Well, I didn't beat RDR yet...but I guess I know the ending now.

I didn't mind the ending. It was just the scene afterwards, and how fast it went by. It didn't give me enough resolution afterwards.

 

[Billy Deal]

Pretty much agree on all points, SCNJ. I'm just waiting now to see what the DLC details are - if it is in fact "Here's the stuff we had to take out that explains what the heck just happened a bit better for 800MSP" I might just bite, if not I'll be trading LA Noire in and not looking back

 

[Carnagath]

What I hated most was that Cole was an unrelatable asshole and a robot, so I spent most of the game not giving a fuck. The ending was like, yeah, whatever. And don't even get me started on whether that was actually a "noir" story. Noir characters don't kill 50 guys before breakfast and then give speeches about morality. Cole was more like the high school teacher that everyone hates and less like Philip Marlowe. Also most of the interesting cases were unfortunately ridiculous and would never happen in this universe, like the whole homicide desk storyline. Also, if you wanna make a world that is influenced by and faithful to the noir movies, you pretty much have to show them drinking and smoking. Being politically correct about it weakens your authenticity. I could go on forever, I really disliked this game.

 

[teutonicman]

I really, REALLY did not like the ending. It left me feeling so GOD DAMN bitter.

Spoiler

I could have tolerated Cole's death if it had accomplished something but NOOOOOOOOOO. Roy wasn't shot or any of the other corrupt officials caught. When the funeral was going on I was really hoping that Jack would shoot everyone........ Fuck you Rockstar stop leaving me depressed when I finish your game.

 

[WorldFree55]

I thought I was the only one.

Spoiler

RDR ending actually made a lot of sense because of the metaphor of the story but the ending for la noire seemed very forced. Did I expect a happy ending? Honestly no. However, I expected some clarity with what was going through with Cole Phelps emotionally, we didn't get into much detail with Micky Colihn who I thought was going to be the main antagonist for the game, Roy is somehow still alive after all the bs that has happened, and lastly, where was the family during the Funeral? Seriously everybody called Cole Phelps a hero again and despite given very little info about the wife and kids, its they were better off not existing and shown off in the game.

There was just too many plot holes that really needed to be covered. Again I did not expect a happy ending but I expected an ending that made sense and had at least some satisfaction with it like RDR did.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I really, REALLY did not like the ending. It left me feeling so GOD DAMN bitter.

Spoiler

I could have tolerated Cole's death if it had accomplished something but NOOOOOOOOOO. Roy wasn't shot or any of the other corrupt officials caught. When the funeral was going on I was really hoping that Jack would shoot everyone........ Fuck you Rockstar stop leaving me depressed when I finish your game.

Not only is that part of the Noir genre, it's also real life. In the NYPD during that time period, good, honest cops were either transferred out to the countryside or ended up in body bags while the corrupt officials were basically swimming in money.

 

[Elamdri]

So, I just beat L.A. Noire, and while I had a ton of fun with it, and after beating The Witcher 2, I'm going to have another playthrough, I must say I'm pretty disappointed by the ending. I mean

Spoiler

Why Rockstar/Team Bondi? First Red Dead Redemption and now this? Why do you feel that killing your main character is the best way to end a story? Sometimes it work, but in this case - it doesn't. There was no epic showdown, no nothing. You can call it sacrifice, since without his help, Jack and Elsa would've died as well, but come on. Getting flushed by the sewer water? That's your idea of an appropriate death for the protagonist? Instead of sadness for him, I felt only disappointment, because Cole went down in the worst way possible.

Okay, I feel better now. The game's still awesome, I would give it 9/10, but god damn it, that part of the ending sucks (the rest is pretty good and fits the gritty climate of Noir films, especially the irony of

Spoiler

Roy's speech at the funeral).

So what's your take? You liked the ending (and the game for that matter)?

I liked it. The game is called LA Noire, Emphasis on Noire. It's a genre hallmarked by pessimism, corruption and nihilism. It was never going to have a happy ending.

 

[lowej004]

I'm going to be honest, I really liked the game on the whole, but I felt in the later missions it relied too heavily on the story,without much explanation to doing so.

Spoiler

{If I'm honest my favourite desk was probably the traffic desk, because I went away from it feeling that every case I knew I'd got the right person.

I liked the homicide desk and this would be my favourite desk, although I would have liked at least one murder which wasn't committed by the same guy, possibly including a murder done by a husband.

In my view when we got to vice it went down hill. The cases didn't need to use the interrogations, one of the main reasons I got the game in the first place, as much leading to cases where everything is pretty much handed to you on a plate, with very little investigative work needing to be done, such as in "The Set Up" Case, where only three questions need to be asked.

I may have been naive but when Cole went to Elsa's apartment I just wanted it to have been something to do with the case rather than , so when Cole then didn't deny the fact then I felt let down by him.

After the demotion to arson, I would have liked the same thing as I had with homicide, at least one case where it was an insurance job or something similar, rather than them all being linked in with the main story.

I didn't like the move to playing with Kelso in the end, and hoped it would just be for one investigation or for part of the mission, but when it carried on to the end of the game

In regards to Cole's death, at first I didn't like it and didn't see why it was necessary, the first feeling I had with RDR. With both of these games I wasn't happy with how this left the rest of the game though. How am I meant to believe that I am recompleting cases with a person that I know is dead?
}

Overall I am not saying that games don't need a good story, but I feel that at times L.A. Noire relied to heavily on it and the cases to move this forward, which at times it didn't need to do, and as such I would have preferred to have more stand alone cases in which you just rose through the ranks.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

I agree, it remind me of No Country for Old Mens ending. They had something fantastic but failed to properly finish their characters ark.

 

[teutonicman]

I really, REALLY did not like the ending. It left me feeling so GOD DAMN bitter.

Spoiler

I could have tolerated Cole's death if it had accomplished something but NOOOOOOOOOO. Roy wasn't shot or any of the other corrupt officials caught. When the funeral was going on I was really hoping that Jack would shoot everyone........ Fuck you Rockstar stop leaving me depressed when I finish your game.

Not only is that part of the Noir genre, it's also real life. In the NYPD during that time period, good, honest cops were either transferred out to the countryside or ended up in body bags while the corrupt officials were basically swimming in money.

But this isn't real life dammit! I want some sort of uplifting ending to my stories.

Spoiler: RDR spoiler

In RDR John is betrayed and murdered in the end but at least you get retribution with Jack. There is nothing like this in Noire. Your asshole of an ex-partner gives your eulogy with the other conspirators are behind him. It was such a punch to the dick.

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

in noir, pretty much any death that happens is to highlight what a shitty place their in

Literally! As the final case implies.

But I gotta agree, it was really stupid. Overall, I'm kinda dissapointed that I didn't fight the mob more. You'd think when making a game that takes place in the 1940's that's the FIRST antagonist I would think of.

 

[Kryten1029a]

GTA IV was hardly better in that regard. No matter what choice Niko makes in the end, it doesn't end well. I didn't expect sunshine, roses and puppy dogs but he's scarcely better off at the end of the game than when he arrived in Liberty City.

 

[Yossarian1507]

I liked it. The game is called LA Noire, Emphasis on Noire. It's a genre hallmarked by pessimism, corruption and nihilism. It was never going to have a happy ending.

And I don't mind sad endings. I even prefer them to happy ones. But there's sad ending like in a very good and underrated movie from 2010

Spoiler

Buried,

and there's a disappointing ending like here. As I said, everything else is fine, I really liked the funeral part with Roy's speech, but the exact cause of death? Lame. Just lame.

 

[settlestone]

ya.. it all went sour when the vice stuff started.. I really feel like the high point of the game was the homicide.. it was really fun and engaging. I despised when I had to take over jack. really got me upset, had to put the game down for a day.

 

[bombadilillo]

Thread resurrection! I finally got around to beating this and I loved the ending. It fit the theme and any anime fan knows that the main character dying in repentance and fulfillment of their life is the only fitting end.

What they should have won? send the whole gov't to jail? LA is safe again? Not the way this genre works. Small personal victory in the face of insurmountable adversity.

I actually was very bored with the game in general and took forever to get around to finishing it. But I am very pleased with the ending and it saved the game for me.

 

[CaptOfSerenity]

So, I just beat L.A. Noire, and while I had a ton of fun with it, and after beating The Witcher 2, I'm going to have another playthrough, I must say I'm pretty disappointed by the ending. I mean

Spoiler

Why Rockstar/Team Bondi? First Red Dead Redemption and now this? Why do you feel that killing your main character is the best way to end a story? Sometimes it work, but in this case - it doesn't. There was no epic showdown, no nothing. You can call it sacrifice, since without his help, Jack and Elsa would've died as well, but come on. Getting flushed by the sewer water? That's your idea of an appropriate death for the protagonist? Instead of sadness for him, I felt only disappointment, because Cole went down in the worst way possible.

Okay, I feel better now. The game's still awesome, I would give it 9/10, but god damn it, that part of the ending sucks (the rest is pretty good and fits the gritty climate of Noir films, especially the irony of

Spoiler

Roy's speech at the funeral).

So what's your take? You liked the ending (and the game for that matter)?

It is a textbook noir ending: no happy ending, the showdown with the bad guys is bittersweet, and the bad guys get away. It wasn't suppposed to be "appropriate," it was supposed to be a downer. The whole point of the game is that people live and die miserably.