Sorry to assist in resurrecting the thread, but I only just finished the game yesterday.
Cole's "twist" mid way through:
Kelso:
The ending:
Cole's "twist" mid way through:
I understand why people feel sort of cheated that it all happened so suddenly. I thought Rockstar did it really well when I thought about it though.
Up until that point in the game, we get the impression Cole is spotlessly clean and flawless. We follow him through his work life as a policeman and see the truly decent side of him.
However, his affair is the result of his damaged psyche and inner suppressed guilt that we only really guess at until near the end.
I think a lot of people missed the assumption of when he got with his wife. It's hinted that they were married before the war, with his kids presumably conceived afterwards. My bet is that the psychological trauma he sustained during the war (and his guilt at his actions) caused him to grow distant from his wife, and he had the kids to try to repair that rift. Unfortunately it went deeper than that and he had his thing with Elsa.
It was foreshadowed a lot, just very cleverly. Cole gets pissed off for example when Rusty casually mentions how every man's eye "wanders" in the car. It seems odd how angrily he denies that at the time, but it makes sense later.
I think he may have gone back to his wife if he'd had time to repair the damage, we just see the initial argument between them. In that way, the game continues the theme of disillusionment felt by the returning GIs, Cole among them.
Up until that point in the game, we get the impression Cole is spotlessly clean and flawless. We follow him through his work life as a policeman and see the truly decent side of him.
However, his affair is the result of his damaged psyche and inner suppressed guilt that we only really guess at until near the end.
I think a lot of people missed the assumption of when he got with his wife. It's hinted that they were married before the war, with his kids presumably conceived afterwards. My bet is that the psychological trauma he sustained during the war (and his guilt at his actions) caused him to grow distant from his wife, and he had the kids to try to repair that rift. Unfortunately it went deeper than that and he had his thing with Elsa.
It was foreshadowed a lot, just very cleverly. Cole gets pissed off for example when Rusty casually mentions how every man's eye "wanders" in the car. It seems odd how angrily he denies that at the time, but it makes sense later.
I think he may have gone back to his wife if he'd had time to repair the damage, we just see the initial argument between them. In that way, the game continues the theme of disillusionment felt by the returning GIs, Cole among them.
Kelso:
Yeah, I too felt Kelso's sections were the game's weakest. Especially how he just went around shooting everything up with no actual evidence. I thought he was meant to be an investigator, not Rambo?!
I found it quite laughable when he goes to the Hall of Records and gets attacked by the henchmen. You leave three or four guys lying riddled with bullet holes in the middle of a public city building...and then next scene, he's meeting up with Sheldon as if nothing happened.
Where are the police? The murder charges? Why didn't the guard at the door do anything? :\
Don't get me started on the bit where he just busts into Leland's mansion and basically voids the entire investigation by killing 50 men and shooting him in the leg -.-
It also seemed really jarring how they kept swapping between him and Cole. I enjoyed the interrogations and investigations the most, it was kind of lame how the last few levels turned into a shooting gallery.
I found it quite laughable when he goes to the Hall of Records and gets attacked by the henchmen. You leave three or four guys lying riddled with bullet holes in the middle of a public city building...and then next scene, he's meeting up with Sheldon as if nothing happened.
Where are the police? The murder charges? Why didn't the guard at the door do anything? :\
Don't get me started on the bit where he just busts into Leland's mansion and basically voids the entire investigation by killing 50 men and shooting him in the leg -.-
It also seemed really jarring how they kept swapping between him and Cole. I enjoyed the interrogations and investigations the most, it was kind of lame how the last few levels turned into a shooting gallery.
The ending:
I thought the ending was okay. It was disappointing that it wasn't light and happy, but then that wouldn't have fit the grittiness throughout the game. I would have liked to at least explicitly have seen Monroe go to jail or something though - it would have rocked if he was made a scapegoat by the other Suburban Redev. investors.
Also, I was really hoping that smug bastard Roy would get some kind of downfall. I think it would have been great if they cut to a brief scene in the future showing him OD'd from Morphine, a victim of his own excess. It would have been doubly ironic given his disdain for addicts.
I'm hoping that the way Kelso says to Herschel that he was "Never Phelps' enemy" is significant. He seems to be watching the funeral intently, as if he's planning to do something in the future against the corrupt guys attending it.
For Cole himself, I think he confronted his demons and ultimately triumphed over them. He puts aside his animosity with Kelso and saves both his life and Elsa's at the end of the game.
He demonstrates that he does really have the bravery he was awarded for "falsely" in the war and even has a brief moment of apology in his discussion with Hogeboom (flamethrower guy) and Kelso, though I think that scene could have been longer.
All in all a good game, but I'd like to see some sort of sequel perhaps. At least some payoff, possibly in the form of DLC, for the whole Arson branch of investigation.
Also, I was really hoping that smug bastard Roy would get some kind of downfall. I think it would have been great if they cut to a brief scene in the future showing him OD'd from Morphine, a victim of his own excess. It would have been doubly ironic given his disdain for addicts.
I'm hoping that the way Kelso says to Herschel that he was "Never Phelps' enemy" is significant. He seems to be watching the funeral intently, as if he's planning to do something in the future against the corrupt guys attending it.
For Cole himself, I think he confronted his demons and ultimately triumphed over them. He puts aside his animosity with Kelso and saves both his life and Elsa's at the end of the game.
He demonstrates that he does really have the bravery he was awarded for "falsely" in the war and even has a brief moment of apology in his discussion with Hogeboom (flamethrower guy) and Kelso, though I think that scene could have been longer.
All in all a good game, but I'd like to see some sort of sequel perhaps. At least some payoff, possibly in the form of DLC, for the whole Arson branch of investigation.