Is anyone playing L.A. Noire?
It looks kind of adventurey... any thoughts?
Also, they seem to have ripped off By The Numbers' interview system :=
From what I've seen of it, it seems very adventurey.
It's weird, though...I have zero interest in playing it. I don't know why, exactly, but it just...maybe it's the setting, or something. :-\
Quote from: LimpingFish on Thu 19/05/2011 01:47:28
From what I've seen of it, it seems very adventurey.
It's weird, though...I have zero interest in playing it. I don't know why, exactly, but it just...maybe it's the setting, or something. :-\
Hmm... I saw one trailer of it some time ago and I'm not interested at looking at L.A. Noire the second time either. But I can't say that I found that footage "adventurey". More like movie like. But maybe that's just because of my personal prejudices - suspecting that the better a game looks, the less interesting and interactive it is. It still might be a decent action game though.
I was about to wine how us PC gamers would have to wait months for the release when I found out that it is going to be released TOMORROW :D
I've been looking forward to this game for a long time, picked it up yesterday and have been playing it steadily since. It is fairly adventure-y, with a nice balance of action tossed in.
The main cases cater to the adventure fans, as the bulk of those involve investigating crime scenes, looking for clues and evidence, interviewing suspects, etc. Then there's the side quests aka street crimes which usually involve shooting bad guys or chasing people, geared more towards the action fans.
The ambiance is great, and you really feel like you're in 1947 LA, especially since the map is HUGE (seriously, is this the biggest in-game map in a Rockstar title to date? It certainly feels that way) My only minor nitpick is with the radio. It kind of comes on at random times so you can't opt to listen to it exclusively or change the station, but whatever. The game's score is fantastic too. It really feels like you're playing through an old noir film.
The motionscan tech is pretty impressive, and I'm curious to see if it will be used in future games. Also, I like that it's not always clearly obvious who is lying, adding more of a challenge to interrogations.
Quote from: Khris on Thu 19/05/2011 02:00:41
I was about to wine how us PC gamers would have to wait months for the release when I found out that it is going to be released TOMORROW :D
WAIT WHAT
Er... I hadn't heard of this and can't find any sources confirming. If it were true, I'd be a very happy panda.
I found this: http://www.vgreleases.com/PC/ReleaseDate-416969.aspx
Looking at the source though:
QuoteSadly, the only release dates that have been officially announced were from US / Europe on May 17 / May 20 landing at PS3 and Xbox 360 without any confirmation if it’ll be available on PC as well.
Anyway, if you will based the tradition of Rockstar Games, it appears they usually reveal a PC type of version 2-3 months after its release on the console. So theoretically speaking, you can expect L.A Noire to hit your computers on August of this year.
>:(
Quote from: Ascovel on Thu 19/05/2011 02:00:04
Hmm... I saw one trailer of it some time ago and I'm not interested at looking at it the second time either. But I can't say that I found that footage "adventurey". More like movie like. But maybe that's just because of my personal prejudices - suspecting that the better a game looks, the less interesting and interactive it is. It still might be a decent action game though.
Oh, I agree that the trailers play up the action aspect (and the Rockstar brand).
But judging from the Quick Look over on Giant Bomb (http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-la-noire/17-4133/), it seems the much of the core gameplay (at least for the initial part) is made up of investigation and conversation rather than ventilating goons. Gunplay, for the most part, seems to be strictly limited to designated areas. Most of the time you'll be interrogating suspects in a way that seems to echo Phoenix Wright, but on a deeper level.
Still doesn't make me want to play it. :-\
EDIT: Grundislav beat me to it.
Quote from: LimpingFish on Thu 19/05/2011 02:22:52
Quote from: Ascovel on Thu 19/05/2011 02:00:04
Hmm... I saw one trailer of it some time ago and I'm not interested at looking at it the second time either. But I can't say that I found that footage "adventurey". More like movie like. But maybe that's just because of my personal prejudices - suspecting that the better a game looks, the less interesting and interactive it is. It still might be a decent action game though.
Oh, I agree that the trailers play up the action aspect (and the Rockstar brand).
But judging from the Quick Look over on Giant Bomb (http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-la-noire/17-4133/), it seems the much of the core gameplay (at least for the initial part) is made up of investigation and conversation rather than ventilating goons. Gunplay, for the most part, seems to be strictly limited to designated areas. Most of the time you'll be interrogating suspects in a way that seems to echo Phoenix Wright, but on a deeper level.
Still doesn't make me want to play it. :-\
EDIT: Grundislav beat me to it.
Hey, those GiantBomb videos seem interesting actually. I wonder if the game would run on my PC.
Quote from: Khris on Thu 19/05/2011 02:00:41
I was about to wine how us PC gamers would have to wait months for the release when I found out that it is going to be released TOMORROW :D
This is Rockstar we're talking about, they've pretty much given up on the PC.
The GiantBomb videos convinced me to pick this up.
$50 on PS3 from Fry's.
Quote from: Hudders on Thu 19/05/2011 09:10:26
This is Rockstar we're talking about, they've pretty much given up on the PC.
My guess is they might have contracts with Microsoft and Sony to push console sales by delaying the PC version.
Red Dead Redemption didn't make it to the PC yet, but all GTA4 stuff did.
My feelings about LA Noire can basically be summed up by: "Someone at Rockstar found a list of everything Dave likes and made a game out of them." It's lovely so far.
LA Noire looks sweet. But if anybody's getting it for Xbox or PS3 there have been some issues reported (being release day) where it overheats and shuts down your console. While I'm here Dead Island (http://uk.pc.ign.com/objects/829/829562.html) looks pretty promising too.
Yeah, looks very interesting. I haven't actually played any of the Rockstar games, but this is hitting a lot of buttons for me. But it won't be out on PC? Mmmm... I think I'll just get Portal 2, then.
BTW, my French-speaking roommate informs me that, yes, "noire" is correct French (and not just something Rockstar made up so they could trademark the title), being the feminine form of the adjective noir. Which I guess implies that LA is feminine (makes sense, since la cité is). Or that the title refers to an implicit dark woman from LA, maybe.
Actually, my roommate mumbled some nonsense about "noire" meaning "kind of dark, but not completely black" (once he even remembered that that wasn't how you usually spell "noir"), and I looked up the correct explanation in a dictionary (http://www.wordreference.com/fren/noire). French people are pretty damn illiterate in their own language.
Quote from: Atelier on Fri 20/05/2011 18:55:34
But if anybody's getting it for Xbox or PS3 there have been some issues reported (being release day) where it overheats and shuts down your console.
Those people just need to ventilate their console properly.
The job of the programmers is to get CPU/GPU utilization as high as possible. If some people's console overheat, they have done their job. Hooray!
Watched my girlfriend play a bit of it yesterday and I was surprised by how pure an adventure game it is in parts (think the Norman Jayden segments in Heavy Rain without the stupid fucking magic sunglasses), I think it's biggest triumph is in it's dialogue system which it makes an exciting part of the gameplay rather than an intermission. However I don't find the characters as memorable as the ones in Red Dead Redemption or the dialogue as well written (in fact I found it pretty 'herp derp, guess which movie I watched before writing this") and the actors do some awful facial mugging which looks pretty silly stuck on the (obviously separately recorded) stiff, awkward, motion captured bodies.
In terms of the driving, shooting, chasing elements I can't really comment since I was basically watching it as a movie. Hannah seemed to enjoy it, I liked the out-of-nowhere bit of platform gaming on the movie set level.
Rockstar has long since gave the middle finger to the pc crowd, but realistically they'd be utter morons not to release a game like this for the PC. It's like a traditional action-adventure game and PC gamers will totally mob this release, virtually guaranteeing it will outsell the consoles. I'm still extremely annoyed that they couldn't be bothered to port red dead redemption to the pc after months and months of conjecture and false promises.
Personally, I hope companies like Rockstar who piss on their roots (gta 1 was a pc exclusive, before they were rockstar all they made were pc/amiga shit) lose loads of money for it. And with GTA 4, it arrived on the pc a total mess like they couldn't be bothered to port it properly and it took them like 6 months worth of patches to make it decent. They've become a pretty disgraceful developer as far as the pc goes.
Quote from: ProgZmax on Sun 22/05/2011 04:05:22
gta 1 was a pc exclusive, before they were rockstar all they made were pc/amiga shit
GTA1 was released on the PlayStation, (although it was ported from the PC version by another developer IIRC).
From wikipedia:
Quote
The original Grand Theft Auto was developed in DOS, and then later ported to Microsoft Windows (using SciTech MGL), Sony PlayStation (developed by Visual Sciences using their "ViSOS" framework[1]), and Game Boy Color.
It was originally released for pc in oct. '97 with a ps1 release in dec., so while it wasn't as exclusive as I thought it was not developed and released 'later' by another group, it was flagshipped on the pc and Visual Sciences handled the ps1 port. GTA 2 saw a similar release structure. But let's not forget their birth on computers like the Amiga and IBM pc with classics like Lemmings and Hired Guns which were eventually released for both.
By the time Bully came out I was actually surprised they were even going to release that for the PC, and it turned out to be even better than the console versions. Rockstar just makes up tired excuses (when they can be bothered to say anything at all) for not spreading the love around to the computer market that made their success possible in the first place.
... Actually, never mind ...
Simply put, the only way to get developers to reconsider their console exclusivity is to boycott the game. Don't buy games for consoles.
It worries me that this is the stance companies are taking now. Regardless of what they say it's not much more difficult to pirate for a pc as it is for a console. Much easier than it used to be.
L.A Noire is a nice game though. Well worth the money, just a shame publishers and developers are killing the pc market.
On the bright side, it opens up the market for new startups and a fresh approach to PC gaming. I'm not a fan of most indie companies titles (bar a few exceptions) as they seem to mainly target a casual market or some other niche.
Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Fri 20/05/2011 17:47:32
My feelings about LA Noire can basically be summed up by: "Someone at Rockstar found a list of everything Dave likes and made a game out of them." It's lovely so far.
Glad you like it Dave. Maybe we can see some inspiration in your new titles. :)
Honestly I don't think the big leap in dominance consoles have taken has much to do with piracy; it's just where most of the gamers are right now. As far as I understand it gaming used to be something done in little secret sessions on bedroom computers, computers are where the work and the spreadsheets are meant to go and it was almost like a secret shame. Now games are big and shiny and accepted and mainstream they live on the television because the television is in the living room and the living room is where entertainment goes.
My two problems with this is that getting a game onto these consoles (even the X-Box arcade) requires so many resources that are beyond the reach of the average talented indie authors that communities like this produce meaning they get stuck on the dirty, shameful end of the market while big developers get to monopolise where the real money and the big audience is.
My second problem is that I HATE navigating a 3D world with a joystick. I haaaaaaate it. I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE IIIIIIIT.
Anyway, what are we talking about? I'm quite tired.
Also, LA Noir is actually inspired by the Max Griff games. there's a secret area where you can see Cole Phelp's framed 'first dollar'. Or there should be, one of those two. Did I mention I'm tired?
LA noire is IMO one of the finest games produced this year. While it has it's nuances, it can be forgiven as it has some of the most believable performances ever see ln in videogames.
The main reasons many developers chose to develop for consoles was the piracy issue. Now with the current issue of losing sales to 2nd hand purchases, pc is once again looking to be a more favorable option. Ther will probably be quite a shift going on soon where more games are available on pc that in recent years.
Quote from: EHCB on Tue 24/05/2011 04:07:54
My second problem is that I HATE navigating a 3D world with a joystick. I haaaaaaate it. I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE IIIIIIIT.
Navigating is not so bad compared to aiming in FPS type games.
I agree L.A. Noir looks very interesting, will probably pick it up at some point when I have more time.
On the subject of P.C. Piracy vs Console second hand sales (and touched on by Layabout a couple of posts back) Lionhead studios gave a very interesting interview recently to Eurogamer as they have just released a PC port of Fable III:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-05-17-lionhead-pre-owned-worse-than-pc-piracy (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-05-17-lionhead-pre-owned-worse-than-pc-piracy)
LA Noir is great fun, the facial animations add a fresh layer of depth to what would be a tired old game mechanic. I like how they start to mix up the structure of story progression around the 50% mark.
That failure sound in the interrogations is such a downer!
Quote from: anian on Tue 24/05/2011 10:34:45
Quote from: EHCB on Tue 24/05/2011 04:07:54
My second problem is that I HATE navigating a 3D world with a joystick. I haaaaaaate it. I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE IIIIIIIT.
Navigating is not so bad compared to aiming in FPS type games.
Yeah, that's what I meant. I always end up staring at the damn ceiling. I don't even like watching competent gamers aim with those things, so jerky and unnatural...
Quote from: EHCB on Tue 24/05/2011 04:07:54
Honestly I don't think the big leap in dominance consoles have taken has much to do with piracy; it's just where most of the gamers are right now. As far as I understand it gaming used to be something done in little secret sessions on bedroom computers, computers are where the work and the spreadsheets are meant to go and it was almost like a secret shame. Now games are big and shiny and accepted and mainstream they live on the television because the television is in the living room and the living room is where entertainment goes.
That's an interesting theory about gamers switching rooms which they devote to gaming's pleasures, but I think it's only half true. First of all, it doesn't seem like the PC market for games did ever shrink, just the opposite. It's simply now competing with the consoles for some of the very same titles - some of the biggest titles. And its' true consoles are currently better suited for the most expensive visual stuff. They don't have all the compatibility issues that PCs have. Also, the living room and giant screens are the perfect places to showcase flashy and loud kind of entertainment. And I bet Sony and Microsoft give the companies special offers regarding the publishing schedule and marketing of particular titles, while the PC is always a huge wild west.
Nevertheless, ultimately the PC is always the most flexible platform with the greatest amount of quality titles to choose from and the easiest to innovate on. Whatever happens I'm sure the PC will be the last gaming platform to die off.
Quote from: Ascovel on Tue 24/05/2011 16:25:09
Nevertheless, ultimately the PC is always the most flexible platform with the greatest amount of quality titles to choose from and the easiest to innovate on. Whatever happens I'm sure the PC will be the last gaming platform to die off.
Something from a new PC Gamer post to back me up on that statement:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/05/26/chris-taylor-on-why-pc-gaming-is-bigger-than-ever/
L.A. Noire is going to be released for PC!!! Somewhere in Autumn. Rockstar says that it won't be just a port. It will have controls special for PC, better graphics and 3D support.
I wish Alan Wake would do the same : (
That's very very very neat!