Just finished the game a few minutes ago, and I have to say, I found it a bit disappointing. For me RDR was a good western that ended up becoming an amazing and emotional story as it progressed. RDR really moved me, and I can seriously say the song Exodus in America brings me almost to tears. Marston's journey was one of sacrifice and redemption, with the general message that you can't escape your fate, one made even more gut-wrenching by Marston's efforts to redeem himself. RDR was probably the game that had the largest emotional toll on me. And Marston's death was the only way to finish that game. It was natural yet difficult to watch.
As I played L.A. Noire, it was a good procedural adventure that I enjoyed in a similar manner to Phoenix Wright. But I seriously doubted that it would have anywhere near the power RDR had. As I finished homicide and vice and played arson, I was proven wrong. When Phelps was demoted I legitimately felt like shit. And as the cases came together and the plot unfurled I was blown away. But Phelps' struggle never quite matched Marston's. The bulk of the game's appeal was more the story of corruption and how the large cast of characters were related. When Phelps died, it felt undeserved. It only served the purpose of showing that Phelps would put Elsa and Jack before him, that he had been humbled by his life as a detective. And while I can't think of another ending that would have fit and had an aftermath that would made sense (imagine Phelps trying to take down every authority in the town. There definitely would have been conflict), it nonetheless felt contrived. Opinions?

I believe Red Dead Redemption had a stronger ending. Cole cheated on his wife for basically no reason and didn't seem to care at all about it, whereas John Marston was a good family man all the way till his death.

I think RDR has the greatest video game ending of all time.. and L.A. Noire's has one of the worst. So yeah I agree.

I agree with you that I felt like shit when Arson started but as soon as I started playing as Jack, well I forgot about Cole and his death was undeserved.

But yes, Red Dead had more emotional impact, nothing in L.A. Noire comes close to this scene

@DaemonBlack said:

I think RDR has the greatest video game ending of all time..

I think it's lame that LA Noire hides critical information from you. They elude to the affair by showing two or three short scenes of Cole at the Blue Room, but the it pretty much came out of nowhere. It would have been a more effective scene if the player had any relationship at all with either Elsa or Cole's family, but as it is I just kind of went "Huh, weird" and continued playing without really caring. 

I agree that the ending of LA Noire was kind of 'meh'.  Having to play as a different character at the end really hurt the ending by separating the player from Cole, so when he died the player was kind of indifferent about it.  At least that is how it was for me.  Also, the funeral at the end was dumb and unemotional.  I think at the end, Cole was still trying to pay for his failures during WW2 and dealing with his guilt which was great character development during the middle of the game but then they didn't go anywhere with it.  You also never know why he cheats on his wife.  Does he have some kind of self-destructive behavior?   
 
RDR's ending was truly amazing and the vast majority of games are going to have a tough time competing for that level of emotion.

L.A. Noire's ending was interesting because during the whole game, Cole is motivated for selfish reasons (gain reputation, get promoted...) that actually get him where he wants to be, but the one rare time he acts selflessly, he dies. I still hated it, though. His death was way too quick and not dramatic at all. It's not even explained how the water levels went all berserk in the first place. That plus not even controlling the character you played with for something like 85% of the game made for a bad death scene. 
 
Read Dead Redemption's was indeed miles ahead of L.A. Noire's. Not only is it a tale of redemption for John Marston, who can't escape his fate, but after his death we learn that it's the same tale for his son, who had so much potential to be an intellectual or someone better than an outlaw evidenced by his appreciation for books, when he vows to take revenge for what happened to his father. 
 

When Cole was cheating on his wife, I thought there would be a big reveal at the end that he really wasn't but had to look like he was for the greater good, but no, he just did..John Marston FTW!

RDR had a much better ending IMO. I felt way more attached to marston than I did Cole. Especially after the whole cheating on his wife thing. The last quarter of la noire wasn't that great honestly. I loved the game but the more I think about it the less I like it. Marston's death was done way better too. Stand off with a bunch of dudes protecting your family is ten times better than random water that made no sense.

RDR is better

RDR ending was amazing.  I've never played a game that kept you guessing as much as that game.  First it was Dutch, then it was riding back home, then it was the ending "missions", then the scene at the barn, the reveal that the game continues, and finally the REAL ending with credits.  Video game endings simply do not get any better.   
 
BioShock impressed me even more, but that wasn't really the "ending" of that game, and the real ending kinda sucked. 
 
LA Noire was total crap by comparison, and the first game I've EVER sold back for store credit.

Red Dead Redemption doesn't have a good ending. 
It has three phenomenal endings.

Red Dead is a phenomenal ending. The decision to have Cole cheat on his wife is perhaps the worst writing Rockstar has ever done. The whole ending of LA Noire is terrible in concept, but well executed at least.

I agree with you that I felt like shit when Arson started but as soon as I started playing as Jack, well I forgot about Cole and his death was undeserved.

But yes, Red Dead had more emotional impact, nothing in L.A. Noire comes close to this scene

I was pretty disappointed by L.A Noire's ending, didn't feel like the cheating on his wife was explained well at all... I totally agree with others in this thread about how amazing Red Dead's ending was.

While I agree that there was strange plot holes in L.A. Noire I personally felt the ending fit the Noir style they were going for. Phelps did all he could to redeem himself for all his sins but it's still not enough in a city of corruption. Having Roy Earl speak the eulogy and say such ironic things was perfect and really cemented his character as well. I am always reminded of the ending of Chinatown and I feel like that is what we are seeing here. "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"

I see a lot of "It didn't really give us a whole lot of information" or "strange plot holes" posts and, well, that's kind of what Noir is about. 

L.A. Noire has a bit of unexplained story. They never explain why Cole cheated on his wife. So he ends up becoming a douche bag that's hard to like. John Marston on the other hand is a likeable character from start to finish and his death when you exit the barn in dead-eye and try to take down as many as you can, was way cooler, had more impact, and was just far better than Cole's self-sacrifice.

@MatPaget said:

I see a lot of "It didn't really give us a whole lot of information" or "strange plot holes" posts and, well, that's kind of what Noir is about.

Agreed, which is why I don't knock it too hard on that. When it comes down to capturing that style I think they nailed it, especially after looking at the list they released of movies that helped inspire the game. Plus that ending makes you hate Roy Earl so goddamn much because of who he is, which I appreciate, I don't hate him because he was written so well to be hated.

@Dany: That scene was ruined for me because I fell off of that bridge on the way home and had to do it all over again.

@jaymorgoth said:

While I agree that there was strange plot holes in L.A. Noire I personally felt the ending fit the Noir style they were going for. Phelps did all he could to redeem himself for all his sins but it's still not enough in a city of corruption. Having Roy Earl speak the eulogy and say such ironic things was perfect and really cemented his character as well. I am always reminded of the ending of Chinatown and I feel like that is what we are seeing here. "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"

Yup.

I agree there are some inconsistencies in LA Noire's plot and it isn't as strong as Red Dead, however I think a lot of the criticism of the plot comes from really weird places. Like people that don't get why the ending was so open and deliberately unsatisfying, don't really get the premise of a noir story.

Anyway, I've had walls of texts defending this plot in too many threads now, so I'll just add this: the affair was not a plot hole or a mcguffin. There was subtext and a thematic undertone, plus it was outright eluded to multiple times and the sudden reveal is completely genre-appropriate. It could have been developed a bit more but if you really thought it just happened out of nowhere then really, pay more attention to subtext.

@jaymorgoth said:

While I agree that there was strange plot holes in L.A. Noire I personally felt the ending fit the Noir style they were going for. Phelps did all he could to redeem himself for all his sins but it's still not enough in a city of corruption. Having Roy Earl speak the eulogy and say such ironic things was perfect and really cemented his character as well. I am always reminded of the ending of Chinatown and I feel like that is what we are seeing here. "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"

Yup.

I agree there are some inconsistencies in LA Noire's plot and it isn't as strong as Red Dead, however I think a lot of the criticism of the plot comes from really weird places. Like people that don't get why the ending was so open and deliberately unsatisfying, don't really get the premise of a noir story.

Anyway, I've had walls of texts defending this plot in too many threads now, so I'll just add this: the affair was not a plot hole or a mcguffin. There was subtext and a thematic undertone, plus it was outright eluded to multiple times and the sudden reveal is completely genre-appropriate. It could have been developed a bit more but if you really thought it just happened out of nowhere then really, pay more attention to subtext.

@Maluvin: Yeah I agree, they should have at least portrayed his wife in a way that made it obvious what parts of him he could never share with her. I still remain it is very obvious why he could do that with Elsa.

@Maluvin: Yeah I agree, they should have at least portrayed his wife in a way that made it obvious what parts of him he could never share with her. I still remain it is very obvious why he could do that with Elsa.

Noir endings tend to be ambiguous, yes, but LA Noire's ending wasn't ambiguous, per se, just terse and abrupt. Neither was the affair's sudden appearance very genre-appropriate. Most noire stories spend a good bit of time exploring personal relationships (even unhealthy ones), and LA Noire didn't. It wasn't because of the genre, it was lazy storytelling.
 
Was RDR better? Sure, I guess. I just wish that Rockstar (and whoever they subcontract their games to) tries to get out of this genre-cliche rut. Between RDR's blatant and uncreative ripoffs of other westerns, and LA Noire's sad attempt at creating a Noire narrative, I'm pretty disappointed. I liked playing both games, but for me the stories in both were obstacles, not enhancements.

Although I wish they had delved further into Cole's cheating, I actually thought it made sense. What I took away from the WWII flashbacks and Cole moving through the ranks was that he began to realize how his idealism hurt others (which is why I thought Kelso was a good foil; he was a pragmatist). And IMO there's no better way to display that he's lost his ideals than him cheating on his wife. Sure we don't really know the exact why, but I still felt it contributed to the game's story. Maybe that's where RDR and L.A. Noire differ. Marston is a great character because he is an outlaw that in the end actually has morals and substance, where as Cole's progression is kind of the opposite.

Red Dead Redemption's ending was...wow.. 
 Three times you think its gonna end, but it gets better and better. I've never been more attached to a character in a video game; I got choked up when he gets reunited with his family, and got pissed as hell when John died. Let's just say I filled Ross's body with lead when I killed him as Jack. 
 
More games need that kind of narrative.

huh.. i forgot i owned L.A. Noire.. i should finish it sometime 
 
still at the homicide desk, and the game's box is gathering dust 

I remember that Cole never wanted to talk about his family with his partners. Maybe he had trouble with his wife.  I did like the exchange Kelso and Biggs had at the funeral.
Honestly i think it would have been a better ending if Cole got blamed for something and you had to prove his innocence or if he just went to jail for murdering Roy Earle after he goes to far, then Cole is blamed for killing a fellow officer. Something other than him dying to water.

I actually did like the ending to L.A. Noire, though I know nothing about the noir genre at all. I thought it was interesting how they corrupted Cole as a character. For the incorruptible man he's shown to be initially, I think it's the fact Elsa shared a common bond with him that caused him to cheat. They both survived World War II, and both of them had issues: Elsa with her drug addiction and Cole with his guilt over sending Ira Hogeboom into the cave with an M2. It's Cole's dedication to doing things by the book that leads to his downfall, while men like Roy Earle can bend the rules and continue to succeed. 
 
I genuinely liked Roy's ending lines in L.A. Noire. They showed him to be the kind of guy who can fit any scenario while remaining as corrupt as he was.