L.A. Noire

[PZ]

I just now went from uniformed cop to my first suit.  In between main story line cases, I've been hijacking cars, but it is more fun so far to turn on the siren and watch people get out of the way as I race down the streets of the city.

Even though the old signage is not authentic with respect to companies, it is lots of fun examining the old advertisements  :-X

The gun fights and fist fights are also fun and add a small element of excitement to the detective w@&k.

[Art Blade]

Heh heh, so the fever has caught you, too :) "I can virtually taste it,"  as our FC2 merc friends would say  :-()

[PZ]

Indeed, and the only bad thing (if you can even call it bad) I have encountered while playing the game is the up-in-the-face realization how much head-banging music is in most games (and television).  The music in this game is so pleasant and a wonderful breath of relief.

For example, this morning I watched a program called Restaurant Impossible in which a chef (Robert Irvine) is invited to rejuvenate a failing restaurant in two days.  I've watched this program periodically for the past couple of years, but this morning realized how assaulting the music to one's ears.  Robert (and others in the program) literally need to shout above the "background" heavy metal head banging guitar music.

Just goes to show you how one can filter out the annoying while focusing on the content.

[Art Blade]

yep.. one of the reasons why I haven't watched TV nor listened to the radio for years.

During free roam I realised that in L.A. Noire they put on radio shows from back in the day. I listened to a comedy programme that was about a married couple, at night, husband snoring, wife couldn't go to sleep due to that. Then a funny dialogue ensued. I remember a few funny things (partly paraphrasing)

wife <whistles a few notes>
husband: "what was that?
wife: "nothing.
husband: "you whistled!
wife: "only to keep you from snoring.
husband: "I don't snore.
wife: "Yes, you do.
husband: "stop talking and let me go back to sleep.
wife: "I have to keep talking to keep you from snoring!
husband: "Go back to sleep, god damn it!
wife: "it seems that the only way I can get any sleep is to stay awake all night!

***

wife: "that's not true; you don't tell me anything any more!
husband: "Oh, I told you a lot of things that weren't true at all.

***

wife: "You don't love me.
husband: "Well, I married you, didn't I?
wife: "Why?!
husband: "So I couldn't forget you.

[Art Blade]

there are so many different vistas to check..  :)
[smg id=5984 type=preview align=center caption="random impression 05"]

[PZ]

Does a train run on that track?  ????

When playing the Fallout series, I installed a mod that allowed me to play my own music.  I found a site that had old radio stories and advertisements, which I installed into that mod.  It was great fun roaming the waste land listening to the retro sounds.

[Art Blade]

No, they're not moving there. Only the "trolley" (electric tram) but apparently you can't use any public transports, unfortunately, just cars.

[Art Blade]

Correction. At Union Station, I saw more than one train that moved. The one in the background to the right (orange) just arrived. I happened to get there because I decided to do the film reel quest -- in the end there is not much else to do except again street crimes I already did and free roam. Now I do want to see crazy locations where they hid those reels. Got 10 now, one was around here. And by chance I found a police shield (badge) here at Union Station, too  :-D
[smg id=5986 type=preview align=center caption="moving trains"]

[PZ]

There seems to be quite a bit to do in the game.  :-X

[Art Blade]

Yay! I've got the 100% achievement.
Only 4 out of 1,000 steam players got that achievement, the hardest achievement to get for L.A. Noire.  :)

Here, time really goes by.. those clocks do w@&k! (1 minute game time = 1 second real time)
[smg id=5991 type=preview align=center caption="as time goes by"]

[Art Blade]

By the way, the longest road I know is 7th Street. I have a record of 2 minutes and 6 seconds of full throttle non-stop, going up or down that street.

Here a pic that shows the aftermath of powerful shotgun hits. Check the walls in the back..  :-D I got shot at because I walked in John Wayne style and wiped them all out without ever seeking cover.
[smg id=5992 type=preview align=center caption="blood shot walls"]

[PZ]

Congratz on the achievement!  :-X

As I was racing across town I received an achievement called "Lead foot" 

[Binnatics]

Great tips and achievements Art!! :-X

It gets more and more tempting to get back to the game. Currently I'm not playing any game (reading books for a change ;)) but once I get back to gaming, I think this will be the game that attracts me most. I'm looking forward to the unwinding effect of it ;)

Indeed PZ, the jazzy sounds greatly help in that matter, plus the whole sunny environment and the antique setting, that gives you the feeling that no matter what you do, you'll be late anyway. So what the heck, why hurry??!! :-D

[Art Blade]

Thanks, guys :)

100% = 60/60 achievements (actually 59/60 and that made it 100% so for that I got the last one, called The City of the Angles, at the same time I got #59 :)

The lead foot was one of my earliest achievements, too :)

The sunny mood is case dependent. Some cases will let you see transitions, day to night, sunny to rainy, and stay there until after the case. Only in free roam there is an actual day/night cycle as you may have guessed by the picture of the clock "as time goes by"  :)

[PZ]

The 1940's look is exactly what I like about the game;  I can just stand and watch the traffic go by  ^-^

[Art Blade]

Makes me want to dive right back into it.

I just watched a film again, called..

[menu][button active=true url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117107/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1]Mulholland Falls[/button][/menu]..which reminds me a lot of L.A. Noire.

This film is about the adventures of a 1940's special anti-gangster police squad in Los Angeles, the infamous 'Hat Squad.' The four members of this squad are big, tough, no-nonsense cops who don't hesitate to break the law, if it suits their purposes. When a local woman is murdered, their investigation turns up the fact that she had been romantically linked to several prominent men and had secret films taken of her liaisons. Since one of those men is the powerful U.S. Army General at the head of the then-new Atomic Energy Commission and another is the (married) leader of the Hat Squad, complications ensue. The FBI even gets involved in an attempted cover-up.

[PZ]

Looks like a good movie!

Good use of the enhanced bbc by the way (and the title bar in your signature)  ;)

[Art Blade]

The film is quite nice. An IMDb rating of 6.1/10 may look a bit cheap but it isn't, particularly not considering the ambience: 40s/50s and hat-wearing L.A. cops, some of the cars there look like those seen in the game, a murder case of a female victim, the married lead character (cop) having an affair with a beautiful woman,  a hidden camera filming the room next doors and the film a means of blackmailing, a political cover-up.. all known as parts of the game :)

And thanks, was about time I tried the BBC code :-()

[Art Blade]

Tip regarding Chicago Piano gun and 12-gauge shotgun in the trunk
These weapons are actually not only in the trunk of your partner's car but in every police car's trunk (the common black and whites) :)

Here a tip, regarding the International Police Wagon.

Hard to get your hands on as they don't drive around in normal traffic, you won't see them unless you're on a case or street crime. So IF you see one of these, ignore your current case and enter (if you can, sometimes they are locked) the International Police Wagon to make it your own. After the case it should still be there, most certainly if you acquired it during a street crime. The Bus Stop Shooting is an Arson Desk street crime where you can get your hands on one of those and keep it. Here it is:
[smg id=5993 type=preview align=center caption="International Police Wagon 1"]

Tip: The biggest jump
..can be achieved on 4th Street going from East to West, the jump is right in the middle of the E of CENTRAL division 1 on the map. One street crime will make you jump there during a car chase. Cars tend to dissolve on landing (  :-D ) but I did the jump with the big police wagon and was able to continue driving  :-()

Here the jump location and below, I'm on my way down using the IPW :-()
[smg id=5994 type=preview align=center caption="jump on 4th street"]
[smg id=5995 type=preview align=center caption="International Police Wagon 2"]

[PZ]

Excellent tips; I don't think I'd have discovered them on my own. +1  :-X

[Art Blade]

thank you, very kind of you, PZ :)

[Art Blade]

I love the jump on 4th street. Do you see the car that is parked half on top of a wall, half in the street, below that billboard centre left? That's Phelps's police car after a "fly-through."

Once you landed, reverse (if the car still drives, that is) and go around counter-clockwise: Flower st., 5th st., Grand Ave., 4th st. again and jump. Excellent for testing a car's driveability. How well does it take corners (drift) at full speed with handbrake on firmly, durability on impacts, speed, engine power (i.e. when driving uphill, is it still accelerating or nearly stalling) and.. coolness factor.

The blue one here isn't half bad.  :-D

[smg id=5996 type=preview align=center caption="jump on 4th street 2"]

[PZ]

Cool!

I finally made homicide  :-()

[Art Blade]

sounds as if you were moving up the ladder rather quickly  :-X :)

[PZ]

I've not been doing any of the side missions  ????