I've learned two things about myself while playing L.A. Noire.

1. I'm so OCD that I have to get the best scenario in a game - no matter how many times it requires me to restart a checkpoint or mission.

2. I'm a very bad detective.

So I restarted the game from the beginning because I lost my save file thinking it would be a breeze to make up the cases I had previously completed. How foolish I was... Here I am 14 hours later and still not even to the halfway point. Mind you I've only done 3 sidecases and most of the driving was done by my partner. Yet I'm still on the homicide desk and it doesn't look like I'll finish it anytime soon. So where did all that time go? Well, to put it bluntly - my compulsiveness. I'm just not capable of finishing a case without getting all of the questions right. At one point I literally found myself restarting the same investigation 7 or 8 times because I couldn't get one of the questions right.

Being a human, I choose not to admit it's my fault, but instead I'll blame the game. Some of the logic used in the cases can get very... fuzzy. This is especially apparent when it comes to lies. When you select "Lie" you have to back it up with evidence using the clues. Normally it's obvious which one to use, but sometimes it's so vague and there's so many answers that could work that it just becomes a process of trial and elimination until you stumble upon the right one. Herein lies my frustration.

Therefore in the interest of time and my receding hairline, I've decided to commit a great taboo. I've started using a guide while playing the game. In all the decades I've spent as a gamer, this is the first time I've had to resort to such drastic measures (naturally I don't count using an outside Pokedex for the pokemon games) during my first playthrough of a game. On one hand I hate myself for it, but on the other I really don't want to spend 3 hours repeating the same investigation over and over and over and over again because I picked "Doubt" instead of "Lie."

I can only hope that ultimately this doesn't reduce the impact of the story too much when I finally finish the damn thing.

I've learned two things about myself while playing L.A. Noire.

1. I'm so OCD that I have to get the best scenario in a game - no matter how many times it requires me to restart a checkpoint or mission.

2. I'm a very bad detective.

So I restarted the game from the beginning because I lost my save file thinking it would be a breeze to make up the cases I had previously completed. How foolish I was... Here I am 14 hours later and still not even to the halfway point. Mind you I've only done 3 sidecases and most of the driving was done by my partner. Yet I'm still on the homicide desk and it doesn't look like I'll finish it anytime soon. So where did all that time go? Well, to put it bluntly - my compulsiveness. I'm just not capable of finishing a case without getting all of the questions right. At one point I literally found myself restarting the same investigation 7 or 8 times because I couldn't get one of the questions right.

Being a human, I choose not to admit it's my fault, but instead I'll blame the game. Some of the logic used in the cases can get very... fuzzy. This is especially apparent when it comes to lies. When you select "Lie" you have to back it up with evidence using the clues. Normally it's obvious which one to use, but sometimes it's so vague and there's so many answers that could work that it just becomes a process of trial and elimination until you stumble upon the right one. Herein lies my frustration.

Therefore in the interest of time and my receding hairline, I've decided to commit a great taboo. I've started using a guide while playing the game. In all the decades I've spent as a gamer, this is the first time I've had to resort to such drastic measures (naturally I don't count using an outside Pokedex for the pokemon games) during my first playthrough of a game. On one hand I hate myself for it, but on the other I really don't want to spend 3 hours repeating the same investigation over and over and over and over again because I picked "Doubt" instead of "Lie."

I can only hope that ultimately this doesn't reduce the impact of the story too much when I finally finish the damn thing.

I used a guide for the last desk becaue I was getting bored and just wanted to see where the mess would end up. Didn't feel so bad, felt great getting five stars

Awww Hitler Pikachu, that's so awesome, and that's all i have to say.

Yeah, early on I was really sweating it whenever I'd miss one question and would just restart, but that got old after a few tries. The truth is, the questioning sequences just aren't done very well. I ended up spending a good 20+ hours with the game and decided that really, it's just not even that great. LA Noire's gameplay is actually really weak in just about every area. It's a game you want to enjoy, but it holds your hand way too much and never lets you feel like a real detective. It has a dull rinse and repeat method to it and the driving is such a complete chore. I want to love this game, but even its recreation of Los Angeles doesn't stand out as being all that interesting or spectacular. The game just is nowhere near as good as it should have been.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Awww Hitler Pikachu, that's so awesome, and that's all i have to say.

:]

Awww Hitler Pikachu, that's so awesome, and that's all i have to say.

Yup.

The interrogation mechanic is neat in theory, and the tech is undeniable. But it's a shallow dynamic on which to predicate a game, for the exact reasons you stated.

Worse even still, the game's ending renders much of the main action all for naught. So you're going through all this suffering for very little payoff.

I made it through the game using no guide on my first run and on my second play-through I used one in order to ace the game and see what should have happened on the cases I fucked up on. I made my way through the discs(playing on 360) and after scoring 4 stars on two cases on the second last desk despite having all clues and every question correct I just quit the game. The second play-through was already boring as it was and having to do two cases all over again was just out of the question. I'm probably never touching L.A. Noire again.

I didn't have as much trouble with the interrogations but I mainly had problems with some of the logic behind what evidence to use, or sometimes you had to call a lie even if someone didn't know something but you did. All in all it was an alright game but I feel they spent to much time working on the homicide desk, personally I enjoyed traffic and ad vice much more.

@Vegsen said:

I made it through the game using no guide on my first run and on my second play-through I used one in order to ace the game and see what should have happened on the cases I fucked up on. I made my way through the discs(playing on 360) and after scoring 4 stars on two cases on the second last desk despite having all clues and every question correct I just quit the game. The second play-through was already boring as it was and having to do two cases all over again was just out of the question. I'm probably never touching L.A. Noire again.

Yes, I did some of the cases so many times that I basically have everything memorized. There's certainly not that much replay value to the game.