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monster on a stick posted:Now that the DLC is finally over - I suppose the placement here was due in part to the desire of the publisher to rip off cases for DLC, and the inability to remove certain cases that were tied to a story arc (all of Homicide and most of Arson), but it really demonstrates how gutted Vice and even Traffic feel with two cases removed from each. I don't think there was ever a "good" place to put Nicholson Electroplating - originally it's late in the game and is really jarring as Bobbin points out, but I'm not sure if it would have been all that much better earlier in Arson. Phelps is supposed to keep his head down, and while a bunch of housefires will keep him moderately busy, a high-profile building explosion (complete with TV coverage!) isn't something I'd see the higher-ups be happy about even if they still consider him a good case man. Then the mission goes off the rails with Phelps shooting at Army troops because. Like "The Naked City" was effectively a Homicide case shoehorned into Vice, this case is an espionage story shoehorned into Arson. Phelps and Biggs weren't ever dispatched by their superiors to investigate, they go to the site of the explosion of their own accord (plus, no arson actually occurred at the factory). It would actually fit better with the timeline and all if it was on the Traffic desk. Kopijeger fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Aug 31, 2016 |
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Aug 31, 2016 09:03
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Outpost22 posted:The last movie better be Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or I'll never watch a Bobbing LP again. 2nded 
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Aug 31, 2016 15:24
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resurgam40 posted:What you said about camp is very resonant with me too; I've always recognized and admired labors of love and real effort, even when the products haven't really been good, or even approachable through common means. This is why a lot of fascinatingly bad films gain cult status too- not for being traditionally good, but for being bad in the most fantastically weird ways you couldn't replicate if you tried. Over in the movie thread, there was a goon who posited that the near universally reviled Transformers series by Michael Bay was actually a cunning satire on militarism and the loss of humanity through violent, and having finally seen the 4th one about a while ago, God help me, but I think she might have been right. I will fully admit that many of my favorite films are cheap, corny, over-the-top, and made with so much genuine effort and love that I can forgive them any of their other shortcomings. I need to watch "The Last Dragon" again.
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Sep 1, 2016 00:03
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Outpost22 posted:The last movie better be Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or I'll never watch a Bobbing LP again. The surprise twist will be that, instead of the movie, Bobbin will talk about the original novel. If that actually happened I would laugh.
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Sep 1, 2016 00:28
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GodofDiscord posted:The surprise twist will be that, instead of the movie, Bobbin will talk about the original novel. well, if that's what you really want...
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Sep 1, 2016 03:49
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Sep 5, 2016 18:03
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Fun Fact, the Elysian Development guy that Kelso beats up is played by Ron Rogge. His is better known as Captain Mitchell in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.
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Sep 5, 2016 19:15
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Notes: - An article from some gaming site pointed out how the opening is typical of a period film noir. Only in this case, you play through a long backstory before you reach the film's actual plot. Possibly, they wrote Kelso's plot first and came up with the Phelps plot afterwards, to establish the background. It is certainly one possible explanation for Kelso having more chemistry with Elsa than her supposed lover Phelps. - Once again, the adversarial conversation system means that Kelso has to prod Elsa for information she should have given freely. - The letter at the beginning (in the case file) is dated 1st of March 1947. Why did Elsa receive the check in September and not earlier? - No newspaper in this one, but the demolition order is dated 22nd of September. - Considering the number of Mad Men actors in the game, it is a shame they didn't get John Slattery to play Benson. - The film reel is a truly bizarre plot device. Instead, Kelso could have discovered some incriminating documents and then a newspaper-style cutscene would play to visualise the contents for the player. - The cement receipt: it isn't obvious to a layman why the stated recipe is wrong. Should have added a comment from Kelso informing the player of what it should have been. - Keystone Films closed down in 1935, not 1941. - Why does Kelso refer to old, clearly dried-out lumber as "green"? The term typically refers to freshly-cut lumber that hasn't been dried out yet. - Why did he wait to visit the second site until after the meeting with Elsa? - Why no police reaction to the car chase? Or, for that matter, any legal consequences to shooting the foreman?
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Sep 5, 2016 20:04
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Kopijeger posted:- Why no police reaction to the car chase? Or, for that matter, any legal consequences to shooting the foreman? As an insurance investigator Kelso is also above the law - he can assault people at will, commit premeditated murder, drive recklessly and (while not shown in the video) he can also car jack people with impunity. The video from Keystone Pictures has been pointed out repeatedly, it's oddly high production values and the questions as to why it exists in the first place since there's no obvious audience you'd want to show it to nor is there a reasonable explanation as to why a bunch of rich co-conspirators would want to implicate themselves film. What seems even more egregious is that Jack just leaves it playing instead of grabbing what could be a valuable evidence and sending it to the press or holding on to it or something. It's just a really ham-fisted way of spelling out the plot all in one go instead of creating an actual narrative through the game that explains what is going on. I wonder if it was some last minute stopgap they had to throw in after making so many cuts, leaving huge gaps in the story. I never really saw Kelso as the 'actual' protagonist though, more of a 'meanwhile elsewhere' type cut to give us a picture of what's going on behind the scenes. Cole still does most of the leg work through the game and he still has a role to play here and much of the game center's around him and his story. And who gave him the performance review at the end of the mission? And how did he perform valorously?
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Sep 5, 2016 22:34
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This is the part of the game where you have to turn your brain off because it just stops making sense. The film may not even be the worst offender. Do they think none of the construction workers is going to get drunk and blab about the bad lumber being used to build GI homes? edit: also who exactly was the film made for and why do they have a fancy projector with it in a dilapidated movie studio lot complete with couches that look like they were picked up from the streets of the local U on moving day? monster on a stick fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Sep 6, 2016 |
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Sep 5, 2016 23:46
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Kopijeger posted:- Why does Kelso refer to old, clearly dried-out lumber as "green"? The term typically refers to freshly-cut lumber that hasn't been dried out yet. It looked green, like it was moldy or something.
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Sep 5, 2016 23:54
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Psychotic Weasel posted:
kelso answers to god
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Sep 6, 2016 00:39
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Psychotic Weasel posted:And who gave him the performance review at the end of the mission? And how did he perform valorously? who even cares
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Sep 6, 2016 01:28
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Cole stamped it on his hand as he was being loaded into the ambulance. Cole had to take five whole stars out of his own collection to give to Kelso; isn't he nice?
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Sep 6, 2016 03:57
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Can I just interject here that Chinatown is my favourite movie of all time? Also it has objectively the best movie poster of all time. 
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Sep 6, 2016 06:05
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I did think for a minute that you were going to save your next film for the finale, as someone in this thread suggested, but there's really only one way to end this ride, isn't there?
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Sep 6, 2016 08:14
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The most obvious justification for there being a film of the meeting would be that one of the men in the Suburban Redevelopment Fund wanted blackmail material on the others to... I don't know, threaten with in case they started bumping off their own members, maybe? It's all ruined by the newsreel leader and multiple camera angles. I realize just a film of mostly their backs from a viewpoint at the far end of the room wouldn't be very interesting, but drat, that was jarring. I had no idea Kelso echoed Cole's retractions when you try to catch Elsa on a lie. That was funny. When I played this part of the game, I didn't appreciate having to drop Cole for Kelso. We already had way too little on Cole's private life, and now he gets shoved aside. I think I could've enjoyed it more had they alternated cases between Cole and Kelso in this last part of the game. I know of Chinatown mainly by cultural osmosis, but now I realize the scene of a guy getting a knife stuck up his nose that freaked me out as a kid is this movie. I'm putting that at the top of my list of movies to watch.
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Sep 6, 2016 19:58
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Green lumber turns grey eventually and, for most kinds of lumber is more brittle when aging. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/76/Green_wood_visual_comparison.jpg/220px-Green_wood_visual_comparison.jpg
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Sep 6, 2016 20:07
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I figured the shift to Kelso was supposed to let them explore the other type of noir protagonist, the two-fisted detective type who figures things out by sheer gumption and having to fight off 50 million thugs sent to make sure he "backs off" (if you think COLE had a ton of unneeded combat in his cases, hoooo boy...). He is obviously a lot more noble than "flawed protagonist" Phelps too, and of course his involvement in the case starts when a mysterious woman with a hidden agenda comes in to manipulate him into taking it. EDIT: Regarding the Double Indemnity office thing, yeah the California Fire & Life office is a direct reference to that. MadDogMike fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Sep 6, 2016 |
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Sep 6, 2016 22:41
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Kelso owns and I want a sequel starring just him, or maybe just somebody like him.
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Sep 6, 2016 23:37
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Great Joe posted:Kelso owns and I want a sequel starring just him, or maybe just somebody like him. You're going to be waiting for a long time if you want a sequel to this game.
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Sep 7, 2016 05:57
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Kopijeger posted:- The camera is explicitly stated to be a Minox model C. Not only is this grossly anachronistic (this model was introduced in 1969), it seems unlikely that T. Okamoto could get hold of one of the Latvian models produced between 1936 and 1943. It would have to be either a pre-war import or stock seized by Allied forces during the war. Actual production of Minox brand cameras did not resume until 1948. The Minox C is anachronistic, but Minox cameras were produced during the war intermittently under both German and Russian occupation and used by spies. Japan also took to cameras with a fierce love as soon as they were introduced and had a ton of camera and lens makers in the decades before World War II, so it would be pretty expected for a Minox from Riga to end up in the hands of a Japanese spy.
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Sep 8, 2016 02:20
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Another timeline thing: In Kopijeger fucked around with this message at 08:18 on Sep 11, 2016 |
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Sep 9, 2016 12:43
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Almost forgot today was Monday.
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Sep 12, 2016 20:10
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Notes: - Date on newspaper is 24th of September. Seems like Kelso spent the 23rd recovering from his injuries. - Elsa puts her purse on her shoulder without putting on a coat and/or hat first. - Benson's residence is based on the Mauretania Apartments building commissioned by actor Jack Haley, best known for playing the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. - The girl seems like she was modelled to look older than "almost 13". Plus, note the tie: it is there to cover the joint between the head and the body. - It seems bizarre for Benson to claim that his superiors consider Los Angeles a backwater given that it has had a greater population than San Francisco since at least 1920. And "capital of the 20th century" when it is nearly half over? Such statements would actually make more sense if the scene took place in 1920 or earlier. - The insurance payout is 200 times the premium, not 200 percent. - "Suckerhud Industries" - obvious reference to a certain Coen Brothers film. - The shootout in the registry office: was the clerk in on it? Possibly the guard at the front desk as well? - Firefight with automatic weapons at a wealthy and influential man's mansion draws no attention from the authorities. Admittedly, this is par for the course in this game. - Secretary's desk has a white telephone, probably the only one in the game. Not sure if there is any connection, but it reminded me of this. - Lucky that shooting Monroe in the leg did not rupture an artery. Otherwise, he would bleed out quickly and not be able to talk. - Did Fontaine prepare the syringe beforehand? It seemed like Sheldon showed up unannounced. - The name "Reginald Barclay" in the report on Fontaine seemed familiar somehow. Apparently this is a minor character from Star Trek TNG, but the reference may be unintentional. - Cutscene when reaching the mansion gives time as 11:00 PM. Not only is the secretary still at work, but so is Herschel Biggs when Kelso calls the police station. - Book cover at 46:05 or so: "killer cream pies" might have been innocuous when it was published, but these days it is an unfortunate turn of phrase. - Come to think of it: how would "playing pattycake" actually work between a human and a toon? - Final film review is obviously L.A. Confidential. Kopijeger fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Sep 13, 2016 |
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Sep 12, 2016 22:14
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Heh, Kelso's face briefly loses the wounds when he withdraws his accusation at Benson. I wonder if the idea originally was for Jack to use Benson's pedophilia against him? As it stands, it's just to underline he's a scumbag. Every time I see Elsa in a blouse and pants, I feel like she looks kind of anachronistic, though that might be intentional to show that she's a bit of a pariah. Or I might be completely wrong about fashion in those days. It's real nice to finally have Jack and Cole meet and talk, even though humility comes real hard on Cole. I like Jack's monologue about how courage is a fragile thing. Still wish the game had gone for a few alternating cases as Jack and Cole, though.
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Sep 12, 2016 22:40
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davidspackage posted:It's real nice to finally have Jack and Cole meet and talk, even though humility comes real hard on Cole. I like Jack's monologue about how courage is a fragile thing. Still wish the game had gone for a few alternating cases as Jack and Cole, though. See, that's why I figure Nicholson Electroplating was placed between this last case and the final one. Problem is, it caused the endgame pacing to grind to a complete halt in the process.
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Sep 12, 2016 23:06
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit? rules. I grew up watching that film and as a youngster I did indeed take not much else from it except that it was cartoony fun and hey it's the guy who played Super Mario, but watching it as an adult it does have so much more to it. The hand-animated style holds up pretty nicely today, too. I can't wait for the final review. Genuinely one of my favorite films of all time.
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Sep 12, 2016 23:13
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God, Courtney is such a loving idiot
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Sep 13, 2016 00:14
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Spiritus Nox posted:God, Courtney is such a loving idiot he died as he lived, making one continuous mistake
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Sep 13, 2016 00:48
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Having watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit as both a kid and as an adult, it's still easily one of my all-time favourite films. It's an amazing blend of comedy, tragedy and action, beautifully animated and executed. As an aside, I'd like to recommend The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams. It's a pretty hefty book but it is incredibly informative and helpful if you're remotely interested in cartoons and animation. As for the game, there's really not much more to say than what has already been said in this thread. I'm pretty excited to see the denoument to this whole clusterfuck though. I also found Phelp's and Kelso's little talk very cathartic after a game's worth of tension and bitterness, even if it happened rather abruptly.
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Sep 13, 2016 00:53
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On the subject of recent family films, all I can do is put in a hearty recommendation for Kubo and the Two Strings. I don't get to watch a lot of movies that are still in theaters but even as I was watching it, I was noticing that what kids would take as simply taking care of a sick parent is a clear allusion to an adult caring for a family member with dementia. It's pretty and emotional without being sickly sweet in the least. I've enjoyed all of the film reviews because, as I said, I don't generally watch movies. Would anyone care to go through the ones Bobbin has talked about and list where they can be streamed?
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Sep 13, 2016 01:12
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I had nightmares about the end of Roger Rabbit when I was a kid. Those dagger eyes... shuddertown, population young skippy. Not for nothin, I had a pretty poor time playing this game when it came out because I could never figure out the right time to doubt. Ended up quitting just before the Kelso switch, which is a pity because things look like they're getting pretty spicy in the story.
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Sep 13, 2016 03:39
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Fun fact: Disney was actually in a creative rut in regards to animation around the time of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?'s production. The Black Cauldron bombed badly and actually got beaten by the loving Care Bears movie if you can believe it and the animation crew had been moved to a shithole building as a result. This movie was what convinced the executives at Disney that animation was still viable and allowed the Disney Renaissance to happen in the first place. Thank you Roger Rabbit, for basically saving animation as a medium at Disney.
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Sep 13, 2016 07:11
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Yeah, another nightmare-sufferer thanks to Who Framed Roger Rabbit here. I would've been seven when it came out, though it could be that I didn't see it until it was on TV. Either way, far too early for me. That movie is horrifying.
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Sep 13, 2016 10:01
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Roger Rabbit never gave me nightmares, even as a kid, but to this day I still can't watch that scene where Doom dissolves the shoe in Dip without turning away or closing my eyes at some point. That poor little thing just wanted to be friends 
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Sep 13, 2016 11:52
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I only watched it for the first time about 2 years ago. It's an extremely good movie and yeah, Judge Doom is pretty terrifying.
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Sep 13, 2016 16:14
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i could feel my pulse pick up as soon as you even mentioned the -name- of the movie. That poo poo scarred me when i was a kid :|
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Sep 13, 2016 16:36
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CommissarMega posted:Roger Rabbit never gave me nightmares, even as a kid, but to this day I still can't watch that scene where Doom dissolves the shoe in Dip without turning away or closing my eyes at some point. That poor little thing just wanted to be friends Yeah, I myself was never afraid of judge Doom or his transformation at the end of this movie ( it always seemed too much to me to be scary, or maybe I had just blown my nightmare wad years earlier with Little Mermaid), but the casual cruelty of the shoe scene just got under my skin something fierce. Like just stomping a cat that tried to nuzzle your leg... It's meaninglessly horrifying.
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Sep 13, 2016 16:54
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I never found the girl in Benson's place.  Does anyone else feel like they intended to have one last newspaper cutscene where Fontaine gets killed?
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Sep 13, 2016 18:14
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