L.A. Noire

[PZ]

Looking forward to your experiences!  :-X

[Fiach]

Its a love/hate game, I have mates who love it and hate it, hope you are one of the former. :)

[Binnatics]

Well, first of all about my worries. The cop I am, Cole Phelps, Looks a lot like Sean Penn in his ways and acting. Cole really reminds me of Sean's role in [imdb]colors[/imdb]. I was kind of prepared to that, and so far I like being like that. Must have been the preparation thing on donut eating jerk off's >:D

I'm impressed like you all for the facial expression. I also like the way they sort of blur the graphics. For the faces and also for distances. It's a good way to save on calculating power I guess.
I was a little annoyed by the way the graphics seem to stutter a bit. The image doesn't really run fluidly when moving fast, like in a car turning round a corner for example. Doesn't matter what I do with the settings, it stays that way. I have everything maxed out now (AAx4 and maxed detail) and it seems to be a little better. I also found that I can choose between 1920x1080x25 or ...x29, ...x30, ...x50, ...x59 or ...x60. No idea what the difference is, or what it means. First I thought it should be the desired framerate, but since it doesn't influence anything as far as I can see, I don't get it.

I'm starting to like to guess what's the best question to ask and to choose weather you doubt an answer or not. But so far I suck at it big time :-D I think I don't even have half the questions right.
I'll post some pics as soon as I discover the way to make screenshots. '47 L.A. sure does look nice ;)

[PZ]

I'll post some pics as soon as I discover the way to make screenshots. '47 L.A. sure does look nice ;)

:-X

[Binnatics]

Can't find a way to make screenshots. That's too bad. You guys 'll just have to believe me the graphics are great. I found a solution to the stuttering. The camera for the car was set to be fixed with the driving direction. I could move it a little with the mouse, but it would rapidly return to its position. I changed to setting to have free looking in car and now everything runs fine ;)

I do find the clue-searching a bit annoying sometimes. But I'm getting used to it. Just look farther than your nose length ;) Sometimes though it's hard to focus on items since you have to be at the exact right spot to be able to. That can be frustrating.
I'm getting better at the questioning though :-()

There's one bad thing to this game. It's the autosave. I don't mind autosave in general but this game only saves once you solve a case. And that takes quite some time. So if you're halfway the investigation and want to stop, you'll lose your progress or have to continue playing >:(

I, Cole Phelps, can be a real a$$hole at times. I say to a pregnant woman that she'd better tell me the truth about her small-time criminal boyfriend or I'll put her and her unborn in jail :o >:D But my partner on the traffic department is even worse ::) >:D

[Binnatics]

I managed to make a screenshot. It's a bit complicated though; use 'Prtscn' and paste it into 'Paint' works.

Here's a busy street impression:

[smg id=4124]

[Art Blade]

looks nice  :)

[PZ]

Indeed - a sort of retro GTAIV  :-()

[Binnatics]

Yep. There are some differences though, compared to GTA. There's a border to the gameplay area, which is formed by fences and streets who just don't continue. There's more city, as you can see on the map, but that part is not accessible. At least not yet. There's no coast and beaches to be explored, just a seemingly endless number of blocks.

Something else that's starting to get on my nerves is the fact that the game decides weather you may shoot or not. And that the game parks your car for you when you approach a crime scene or investigation area. You just miss the liberty that fits an open world environment like this. And then suddenly there's that fence

The idea of creating a detective game is nice, but I agree with the rest who wrote here that the way they gave birth to it is rather annoying sometimes :-\\

[Art Blade]

stuff like that reminds me of the film [imdb]The Thirteenth Floor[/imdb] where at a certain point one of the main characters finds out that he lives in a world that turns into a grid after leaving the city and crossing the border.. ??? :)

[Binnatics]

It took me some sweat, but I finally managed to kill an innocent:

[smg id=4131]

I was trying to run people over for 15 minutes already until I found this young lady sitting on a bench. I drove through it and hit her against the wall. Then, when she kinda got stuck there I pushed her over the side-walk for an entire block. When she finally fell, I was able to properly run her over and kill her  >:D >:D

[Fiach]

I think I killed someone during a chase and I think I failed the mission, because of it.  :D

[fragger]

Binn, regarding screenshots - have you got IrfanView? You can get it from here:

http://www.irfanview.com/

Have a read about it there ("What is IrfanView"), and if you decide to download it go for the CNET download option (the first one in the DL list).

It's freeware, and it's very functional. If you do a PrtScr and then Alt>Tab to your desktop, you can then open IrfanView and paste the image into it from the clipboard, then immediately save it wherever you like. Then go straight back into your game, and leave Irfanview open until you do another screen capture and repeat the process. I think it's better then putting the image into Paint as Irfanview allows a greater range of file format options to save as, and it's easier on your resources than Paint is if you want to leave it open in the background while you're gaming. The .jpg compression functionality is about the best I've ever seen - better than Photoshop's even, allowing excellent compression ratio vs. image quality. I used it to do all the Tomb Raider pics I posted here, as well as CivV and any game that doesn't have a built-in screen capture function (which seems to be most of them for some stupid reason).

It has heaps of other handy features as well, like allowing you to easily put together slideshows - lots of stuff. Some of the chaps here at OWG put me onto it and I've never looked back - an excellent product.

[Art Blade]

or, in the case you don't get PRNT to w@&k, download this "SMAA" which is a dll you place in your game folder. It will improve AntiAliasing (it is an "injection" for directx-based games) without the need of using your gfx AA functions (can even be disabled in the gfx card's driver) and you toggle it with PAUSE/BREAK (very subtle AA and damn fast) and also...

..it will add a screenshot function when using PRNT -- it will create a BMP in the game folder.

This is basically what STEAM and FRAPS would have done.

[fragger]

Forgot to mention - Binnatics, you're a very naughty boy for running ladies over with your car \:/

[Art Blade]

Aw come on, he had such a hard time accomplishing it.  :-D

[fragger]

True - he did go to a lot of trouble... OK then :-X

[Fiach]

Careful when installing stuff from CNET and also what you are clicking when installing, they try to add spyware toolbars on some stuff.

[Binnatics]

Thanx for the tips guys!

I'm working on it :)

[Art Blade]

I bought the game today. It's installing now. I'm in a sunny L.A. mood, maybe that's why I couldn't resist the 'complete edition' for €40,-

Same, only for less than 14.--€ (steam weekend sale) with help from Binnatics who purchased it for me.  :) :-X

This is my second case. It is easy: That is one violent case of a heart attack.  :-()
[smg id=5923 type=preview align=center caption="2013 04 27 00014"]

I like the game so far, I enjoy searching areas for evidence and doing interrogations. There are some shootings and fist fights, too, which is fun. Funny thing, being a cop, to have stats that include headshots. I would have guessed that as a cop you try to incapacitate someone by, say, shooting his leg or some such but no, I strive to blow their brains out  :-D

[Binnatics]

...headshots, yea, that was one of the reasons why I left the game behind. The lack of liberty to draw your gun out in most situations. Only when the game decides that it's punishment-time you suddenly have firearms to your possession ::)

But I clearly remember the sunny mood. The whole mood in L.A. Noire is brilliant, to be honest. Maybe I'll pick up the game where I left it one of these days. First, I'm going to check out Raccoon City 8)

[Art Blade]

I also found that I can choose between 1920x1080x25 or ...x29, ...x30, ...x50, ...x59 or ...x60. No idea what the difference is, or what it means. First I thought it should be the desired framerate, but since it doesn't influence anything as far as I can see, I don't get it.

Those last two digits, e.g. x59 or x60, stand for your hardware's refresh rate in Hz that the video driver will be set to and your monitor has to be able to deliver. It did make a difference when we used the old tube monitors which probably no one is using any more but it may be useful if you use a TV set perhaps as a secondary display device. Flat screen LED monitors that we're using these days will w@&k nicely when set to 59 or 60 Hz.

Sorry for the late reply.  :-D

[Fiach]

...headshots, yea, that was one of the reasons why I left the game behind. The lack of liberty to draw your gun out in most situations. Only when the game decides that it's punishment-time you suddenly have firearms to your possession ::)

But I clearly remember the sunny mood. The whole mood in L.A. Noire is brilliant, to be honest. Maybe I'll pick up the game where I left it one of these days. First, I'm going to check out Raccoon City 8)

I really like Racoon City, make sure its patched and all should be good. If you are having difficulty finding 100% cameras and data, one of the classes (forget the name, but its a kinda spy guy) has the skill to see all data and cameras, so just reload the mission and use them to clear the data etc.
Good game, got alot of hate because it wasn't like Resident Evil 4, but I really liked it alot....not being like R4 is nearly like a bonus for me lol :)

[Art Blade]

So far I find the game very nice.  :)

Graphics are really great and it is open world as long as you're not doing main missions which in a way makes sense, usually you need to search the area for evidence. A chime gives you a hint that you're almost looking at a clue (plus you can have the game display a magnifying glass on your mini map along with the sound) so usually it's no big deal to find them all.

There is a little trick: you acquire "intuition points" (up to 5 can be kept at once) that may be used in case you don't know what to do. If you check for the option to spend one on evidence not yet found, you'll obviously know that there still is evidence around IF you can spend one point and that there are no more if you CAN'T spend one -- easy to save your points, then :-()

As to interrogations, the deeper into the game, the longer they become (more questions and branches) but it is quite easy to learn during the first small interrogations what truth looks like in a face and that the difference between doubt and lie is for you to choose as follows: if you have evidence then choose lie, if you don't have evidence to prove that they're lying, choose doubt. So indeed the facial expression is identical for those two. Basically all you have to do is to check whether they're telling the truth or not and if not, whether you have evidence to prove it. So far, I've always got all answers right and found all clues so my cases have all been rated five stars  :-()

I don't have to sympathise with my character or his partners, they're just there and the main thing for me is to solve cases which are all nicely done. Many people are involved and damn it, they all  lie more or less often when interrogated  ::) :)

When not on a case, you may enjoy some free roaming the city and find hidden cars and some such and just walk or drive around. La Ciudad De Los Angeles (city of angels, L.A.) is really nicely done. All those old cars, the fashion wear, women's make-up, advertisement and of course the jazz music are very convincing.

The street crimes are fun, you get to do all kinds of fights and chases, involving climbing over rooftops and tackling suspects or shoot-outs in a parking lot, a lot of fun, really  :)

Here I poke fun at the profession of a policeman: Driving around with an obviously stolen car  :-()
[smg id=5932 type=preview align=center caption="2013 04 28 00029"]

[Fiach]

, the fashion wear, women's make-up, advertisement

Huh???? OK....  :-[ 8-X

Note to self : never...NEVER enter a lingerie section with Art.... >:D