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Psychotic Weasel posted:Eh, Black Caesar is used as a vehicle to introduce the actual plot of the game beyond a few newspaper flashbacks you may or may not have seen. Other than that it's fairly forgettable and straightforward. Reefer Madness, The Setup and Naked City are pretty fun though (too bad 2 of those are DLC though, I guess). Actually, all of the Vice cases are bad.
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Jun 28, 2016 03:16
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LivesInGrey posted:If I've said this before, forgive me. It's only in a couple of throwaway lines, so you probably missed it - but Cole actually goes from Traffic to Burglary, which was cut at some point during development, and we quietly time skip some time (a few months? I think?) ahead to when Cole goes from Burglary to Homicide. And I think someone makes an offhand mention of going from Homicide to Vice technically being a bit of a step down for Cole, but Earle had a use for him and pulled some strings to make it happen.
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Jun 28, 2016 03:33
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Like the shoutout to the Serial Killer arc from the Sandman comics
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Jun 28, 2016 03:34
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LivesInGrey posted:If I've said this before, forgive me. Phelps went to Burglary first, the game briefly mentions that. Coincidentally there is a Burglary detective that shows up a few times in the game, voiced by Brandon "Garrus" Keener, so there's some speculation that Burglary was a cut desk and Keener's character was supposed to be your partner. Homicide may be more prolific, but Vice is up there and Phelps also moved to a much more high profile part of town.
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Jun 28, 2016 03:37
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Gee, this last case was the one where the game really went cold for me. Frustrating maze, a silly running gunfight where both of you take way too many bullets, and an arbitrary "Forget it Cole, it's Chinatown" ending. I know they were going for an L.A. Confidental-style good-cop-makes-the-best-of-a-bad-system thing but the friends in high places schtick came on a little strong. Come to think of it, I don't know if I ever played past this case. The Psycho segment was really good though, man. One of your best, I think. Maybe I'm biased because I love that movie - Hitchcock's veneration is well deserved. Man was a master of his craft.
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Jun 28, 2016 06:18
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This being a video game, I'm willing to overlook the slight sillyness of the plot in light of its incredible delivery, but it really does feel like a ball was dropped somewhere. Shouldn't this big conspiracy surrounding a notorious serial killer you've been playing cat and mouse with for 5 episodes have been the culmination of the game? I was expecting the Werewolf to tie back into what Cole did in the war or to somehow be connected to him, especially given his supervillainy monologuing during the final gunfight. It would have been the classic kind of thriller ending these stories tend to have. Instead he was...uh...the temp bartender? OK??
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Jun 28, 2016 10:44
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Don't worry, we'll get to the bigger overarching war-related plot in a couple of cases.
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Jun 28, 2016 10:53
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I'm kinda bummed that we didn't get burglary, those cases would have been a lot of fun I think. Lots of evidence examination.
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Jun 28, 2016 14:28
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Spiritus Nox posted:Earle had a use for him and pulled some strings to make it happen. It's mostly this, Earl wants the city's golden boy serving as a screen and fall guy for him, and he has enough clout to do it.
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Jun 28, 2016 15:05
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Kurieg posted:It's mostly this, Earl wants the city's golden boy serving as a screen and fall guy for him, and he has enough clout to do it. Don't forget he also wants the department's best case man to make him look good and get the feds off the LAPD's back regarding the stolen morphine.
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Jun 28, 2016 15:37
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LivesInGrey posted:If I've said this before, forgive me. In most other cities, yeah, Homicide is the top rung of the ladder for detectives. But this is LA, and Vice is the only desk at the Hollywood division. It's the high profile, prostitution, drugs, gambling desk where you mingle with movie stars and all that crap. It's also the most corrupt out of all the desks for obvious reasons. Being moved to Vice might be a slight demotion technically, but when you essentially work in Hollywood and (people that aren't Cole) reap the benefits, it's not that bad of a desk to get moved to. To clarify some of the gripes some people have with the Vice desk, a lot of people hate it, the missions are meh and it really doesn't feel like you're doing anything to make a difference, unlike Homicide where you stop killers and such. You're paired with the most unlikable gently caress who cares more about himself than he does just about anything else. In my opinion, all this is intentional. The Devs wanted you to despise the Vice desk. You could probably argue that the cases being bland and bad isn't intentional, but the general feeling of the whole desk is more in your face about corruption and just how lovely the underbelly of LA is. Luckily it's followed up by one of the best desks in the game, at least in my opinion.
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Jun 28, 2016 17:15
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IBlameRoadSuess posted:In most other cities, yeah, Homicide is the top rung of the ladder for detectives. But this is LA, and Vice is the only desk at the Hollywood division. It's the high profile, prostitution, drugs, gambling desk where you mingle with movie stars and all that crap. It's also the most corrupt out of all the desks for obvious reasons. Being moved to Vice might be a slight demotion technically, but when you essentially work in Hollywood and (people that aren't Cole) reap the benefits, it's not that bad of a desk to get moved to. Yeah, the Arson desk is amazing and has my absolute favorite of all Cole's partners.
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Jun 28, 2016 18:13
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In the latest video you got my hopes up thinking you'd go for the classic killer movie of the 1930s, Fritz Lang's M. But I guess that was too much of a foreign film to qualify, even if its what put Peter Lorre on the horror movie map. It's an interesting, if a very preachy film, for showing a mob of people hunting after a child killer.
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Jun 28, 2016 20:56
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Crabtree posted:In the latest video you got my hopes up thinking you'd go for the classic killer movie of the 1930s, Fritz Lang's M. But I guess that was too much of a foreign film to qualify, even if its what put Peter Lorre on the horror movie map. It's an interesting, if a very preachy film, for showing a mob of people hunting after a child killer. Same reason I'm not covering The Third Man, yeah. All the films have to be Hollywood productions.
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Jun 28, 2016 21:13
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May I describe the film a bit further then for anyone who's interested in why I thought it'd be an interesting ending for the Homicide desk?
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Jun 28, 2016 21:18
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Crabtree posted:May I describe the film a bit further then for anyone who's interested in why I thought it'd be an interesting ending for the Homicide desk? Bobbin Threadbare posted:You're certainly free to explain why I should have covered it, though. Effort posts are welcome, and I don't care if you get to a specific movie before I do so nobody needs to ask permission, either.
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Jun 28, 2016 21:36
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Sorry, I'm never sure if I'm stepping on toes with film buffs. Welcome to Crabtree's Snooty Foreign Film Corner: Where we like to read as we watch. Today's topic: M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder AKA M - A city looks for a murderer, Mörder unter uns AKA Murder under Us or just M. Background: Many of you likely have no clue who Fritz Lang is so I'll try to be brief in catching you up to The Master of Darkness behind classic German Expressionist pictures like Metropolis and even other genres like the 1953 noir film The Big Heat. (Yeah, I know, Film Noir really had a thing for The Big something or other.) German Expressionism, where Friz Lang started out in his early film days after The Great War, was a short peiord of German Cinema that flourished and died with the heyday of post-war Weinmar Period of the 1920s for obvious reasons. Its emphasis on outright style, raw emotion, and even a preference for the anti-real and fantastic can be both its strength and its weakness depending on your tastes. if you lacked the budget for a big Intolerance set, the use of simple geometric shapes, wild (for black and white) colors and designs right out of theater could convey ideas and just as well with creative angles and experimental use of sound and emerging film techniques. Even if sometimes it was more flash than a decent story. Even their advertising art was bold.   Lang came about and made his marks in the silent era of film, so while I don't expect you to know Der müde Tod "Weary Death" or Destiny, simply understand that by the time of M, 1930-1, know that Fritz loved to experiment like any other Expressionist of the day and sadly by then was a big enough name to be noticed by the growing Nazi Party. When he first started to announce that he was going to make Murderer Under Us, a film about a child killer, he immediately got angry letters and was pushed away from Staaken Studios, the Berlin company that helped him film Metropolis, because the Nazis were worried this was criticism against them. And while it clearly wasn't, they wouldn't have to wait long in that coming to roost with The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, lets just say that Franz's time in Germany is about to run out before he flees for Paris and then the United States. M was Franz's first "talkie" or film that could record actual human words instead of relying on Intertile cards to explain to the audience what someone could be saying or what is going on. I think its a safe bet to assume that this movie was partially inspired by Peter "The Vampire of Dusseldorf" Kürten, who went after women, but according to his testimony he drank the blood of one of his victims. Lang denied the similarities between Hans Beckert and the real killer though. The Movie: M does not gently caress around as it immediately starts with children playing a silly nursery rhyme about who gets caught and chopped up by a killer, as they are often want to do with songs like Ring O' Round the Roses. The downward shot pans up from an overhead look of the children to a concerned mother waiting for her child screaming "STOP SINGING THAT AWFUL SONG". poo poo is bad in this unnamed city that is obviously Berlin, there's a child killer on the loose and so far no one's caught him. People won't stop talking up either the latest slaying or how horrible it is and many parents are rightly fearful for the children and weary of the situation. Momma Beckmann's got enough hassles to deal with cooking dinner and managing the home than to worry about her little girl, but she goes on setting up dinner in the hopes that tonight will be like every other. Enter little Elsie Beckmaan (Inge Landgut), playing with her ball on a wanted poster for 10,000 marks on the suspected murderer of Klaus and Klara Kilwitzky and the Doering sisters before a stranger's ominous shadow looms over her against the pole. He strikes up a conversation and takes Elsie to a blind balloon salesman to get her a cute little man balloon while whistling Hall of the Mountain King. Time passes, Elsie still hasn't returned. Mom's increasingly desperate for any sign that she's safe. Elsie's ball rolls around and is left in a unknown grassy location while her balloon flies off into the sky. She's never coming home again. The media is quick to send out paperboys bringing up the latest child disappearance and people are pissed. The Murderer, M, whistles his favorite tune as he writes a scathing note condeming the police for not being able to stop him so he's sending it to the newspapers. While this is happening, a crowd of people are angry that now a 9th child has been added to the other 8 slain. From the people on the streets to the smoking gentlemen reading at a dining table, the news tells them the police haven't done their job in finding any leads to the killer and paranoia grows as people being accusing anyone of being the murderer over the least bit of suspicion. When someone is held and arrested because he told a little girl the time, we see a regular thief trying politicize himself by yelling "You can catch a pickpocket but not get the murderer?!". Of course, eh only ends up being beaten up by a growing mob hoping someone's the murderer. As a criminologist attempts to decode the killer's mind from his writings, we see Peter Lorre making goofy faces in the mirror. The police's situation is described between a call from a Governor to a police chief and they are overworked and stressed going through suspects, combing for clues and dealing with a hostile civilian and criminal population that wants them to get that goddamn killer. The coppers break up a speakeasy and even the loving criminal underworld led by The Safecracker (Gustaf Gründgens) calls a crime boss meeting to catch the killer on their own to stop the police from hounding them by using beggars to spy on and protect children. Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) finally is named and given some screen time as he attempts to lure child number 10. His mannerisms are nervous, and you aren't sure if he's trying to fight he urges or follow them when he whistles Hall of the Mountain King. But its when he plays that tune in front of the blind balloon salesman (Georg John) that he finally fucks up and the blind man remembers someone whistling that song the day Elsie was killed. Calling to Henry, a member of the Beggar Union (this was 1930 and poverty was rampant. People subsisted off of thrown away food and cigarettes like proto freegans), they watch him corner a young girl and put two and two together about him. While spying on him hanging out at a candy store and carving an apple with a switchblade, Henry makes the signature M mark on his hand with chalk and walks over to slap Hans on the back, marking his jacket with M.Of course, the police aren't entirely incompetent either, they check out Beckert's apartment and notice not only that he shops the same cigarettes found at one of the crime-scenes but noticed similar hand writing on his windowsill to the letters sent to the police. Beggar Sect continues to follow Beckert, the little girl notices the M on his back and tries to clean it off but Hans freaks when he starts hearing whistles. The chase is on. Child Killer manages to lose them by hiding in a office building closet, but the beggars and criminals know he still in the building. The criminals break in at night at get their hands on Lorre after searching the whole building, but are almost all caught when a guard trips the silent alarm. All but one of the criminals escapes with Hans while the one the police got spills the beans one what they're going to do with Lorre. The Criminals set up a Kangaroo Court to sentence Beckert to death and he pleads to be given to the police. Lorre is given a lawyer that doesn't win him much favor from the jury hungry for a killing. Lorre then gives a speech where he says his crimes are unintentional moments of weakness that he later regrets while the criminals pretending to be his peers break the law willingly. His judge is wanted on three accounts of Totschlag, which is an intentional killing, yet lacks certain aggravating specifics to be slightly different and less punishable than manslaughter. Maybe someone more knowledgeable about German criminal law can talk about it better than I. But the cops stop the trial before they can kill Hans and the movie ends with the real trial, mothers lamenting that killing Lorre won't bring their children back and YOU SHOULD ALL BETTER GUARD YOUR CHILDREN, SOCIETY browbeat. What does this have to do with anything?: While some people think the Homicide desk still has trapping of doing something to help anyone, to me this is where Phelps becomes a total unrepentant glory hound. From Skipper to Rusty, all the Homicide cares about is a juicy moral conviction they could pin on a nice political target and actual Justice only becomes an issue when, oops, it looks like they falsely accused everyone because Phelps' hunger for fame was right, it was a bigger case after all! The victims aren't really people so much as "dumb broads that yapped their mouth at a bar and got handled", the falsely accused aren't given any sort of real investigation because Phelps needs to apparently keep his video game reputation of ending cases in a single day and at the end of the day, none of it matters. The Werewolf was dead but they can't say anything because he's the brother or son of a politician. Phelps is good and dirty enough for a Vice desk. Much like how M puts a shade on a Justice system that only seeks vengeance against the guilty instead of solace for the aggrieved or better protections for society on a whole, Phelps and Rusty were nothing but hammers looking for nails to clip.
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Jun 29, 2016 02:30
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I'm dissapointed the serial killer didnt turn out to be the riddler.
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Jun 29, 2016 06:27
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Iretep posted:I'm dissapointed the serial killer didnt turn out to be the riddler. He basically was. Only real difference is that Cole is fine with using guns.
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Jun 29, 2016 06:39
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I've never seen a still from the shower scene where Mother's eyes are visible, it really caught me off guard.
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Jun 29, 2016 13:02
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Oddly enough I had the same thinking that I wished 'M' could be included. In some ways German Expressionism provides the roots for film noir's style.Crabtree posted:Mörder unter uns AKA Murder under Us or just M. Nitpick: A better translation of Mörder unter uns is "Murderers Among Us".
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Jun 29, 2016 14:20
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:He basically was. Only real difference is that Cole is fine with using guns. Well the other diffrence is instead of robin following him around he has an alcoholic Harvey Bullock following him.
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Jun 29, 2016 14:53
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Crabtree posted:Many of you likely have no clue who Fritz Lang is We're not idiots, dude.
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Jun 29, 2016 20:55
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Gargamel Gibson posted:We're not idiots, dude. Speak for yourself. However, I did watch Bioshock Infinite
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Jun 29, 2016 23:59
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Skippy Granola posted:Speak for yourself. I actually went and watched Metropolis because of that very LP. Glad I did, too, it was a rather interesting experience
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Jul 1, 2016 03:24
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Overall, I'll say this about the black-and-white experiment: I'm glad I did it, but I'm also glad I only did it once.    
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Jul 4, 2016 17:07
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Notes: - Newspaper is dated 3rd of September. - How did the dead guy know the combination to Jermaine Jones' radio stash? It didn't seem like they were ever in direct contact. - Considering the syrettes contain liquid morphine solution, you'd think they would be damaged from being frozen.
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Jul 4, 2016 19:25
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...What's a wop? Guy said "I pay my cut to the Wops, and they pay their cut to the LAPD."
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Jul 4, 2016 19:54
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Spiritus Nox posted:...What's a wop? Guy said "I pay my cut to the Wops, and they pay their cut to the LAPD." I think it's a slur about the Japanese.
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Jul 4, 2016 19:56
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No, Italians.
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Jul 4, 2016 19:57
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bman in 2288 posted:I think it's a slur about the Japanese. It's actually a slur about Italians.
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Jul 4, 2016 19:58
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Isn't Wop a slur on Italians?
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Jul 4, 2016 19:58
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I do want to say, Roy's suit is hideous.
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Jul 4, 2016 19:59
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Well, this goes to show that I know nothing about being offensive to anyone. i must rectify this.
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Jul 4, 2016 20:00
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Every time I think about that particular piece of history it feels so surreal. Big ice was a legitimate thing! They had as much power as modern day oil conglomerates by importing giant ice cubes from the arctic. It's almost inconceivable nowadays. Just imagine how screwed that whole industry was once refrigerators started to become more common. Eventually freezing became so simple that the classic ice boxes started to disappear. So ice depots like the one at the end of the video couldn't stay in business anymore. So I guess that's why that particular one started moving drugs instead. The history of ice is weird. Spiritus Nox posted:...What's a wop? Guy said "I pay my cut to the Wops, and they pay their cut to the LAPD." cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Jul 4, 2016 |
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Jul 4, 2016 20:43
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Kopijeger posted:Notes: Cornell's a musician, it's reasonable to assume he had contact with a Talent Agent, and considering he was an addict and Jermaine involved in dealing the drugs, it's possible that JJ was his.
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Jul 4, 2016 21:02
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What's strange is that the guy is complaining about Italians when the Jewish mob was the ethnicity in charge of Los Angeles. Both Bugsy Siegel and Mickey Cohen were Jewish.Kopijeger posted:- Considering the syrettes contain liquid morphine solution, you'd think they would be damaged from being frozen. Apparently they'd do well enough in a block of ice. Not to the point that a hospital would accept them, but drug dealers wouldn't complain.
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Jul 4, 2016 21:05
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Manic_Misanthrope posted:Cornell's a musician, it's reasonable to assume he had contact with a Talent Agent, and considering he was an addict and Jermaine involved in dealing the drugs, it's possible that JJ was his. Funny, Earle claimed that one of them was a small time drug dealer (if that's what "worked in distribution" means). Did he somehow get morphine both directly from Jones and from the food hut? Bobbin Threadbare posted:What's strange is that the guy is complaining about Italians when the Jewish mob was the ethnicity in charge of Los Angeles. Both Bugsy Siegel and Mickey Cohen were Jewish. Australian developers misunderstanding American slang? quote:Apparently they'd do well enough in a block of ice. Not to the point that a hospital would accept them, but drug dealers wouldn't complain. I was thinking more about the container itself: presumably the solution would expand when frozen and possibly burst the wall of the syrette. Kopijeger fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Jul 4, 2016 |
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Jul 4, 2016 21:48
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I loved how the truck got slowed down from the collision, but he still pushed the fridge out the back, so it just kind of launched horizontally from zero momentum.
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Jul 4, 2016 23:40
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If the best part of LA Noire in the facial capture they used then Roy is the best part of LA Noire. No other main actor in the game manages to make such good use of it. Being a smug rear end in a top hat isn't the most subtle role of course, and there are other characters that manage to do more subdued performances really well, but Roy just embodies smarm.
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Jul 5, 2016 00:39
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